The backyard is full of color this fall.
This photo shows the Hawthorne, Red Oak and Cottonwood. The Red Oak seldom has this nice of color, another time was when we built the sun room on 17 years ago.
This might be the last year for the Hawthorne as half of it is dead. I am in hopes it will come back, next spring will be the deciding factor.
The Red Oak, again. We also have Burr Oaks, but they generally have brown leaves. There is a hint of color in them this fall, but a cold front is coming in next week so that will probably turn the leaves brown.
I feel like we didn't have much of a summer, dealing with all the building. And now we are half way through fall, speeding toward the cold months of winter. I am in hopes the windows will be fixed soon so that winter stays outside.
And on the window note, an engineer is coming all the way from Iowa next week to look at them. Some how I am suppose to be impressed with that "all the way from IA" part. Heck, that was an easy drive last fall when we went to the quilt show in Des Moines. All I have to say is that it is about time someone got out here.
This last photo is of the Aspen. I am the most thrilled to see it dressed in pale yellow as it is one of the two times they have been anything to look at in the fall. Brown is their usual dress color.
Hope to post a few photos of the studio this weekend. It is finally coming together, I am hoping by the end of next week I have moved most everything from the studio and some of the items from the sewing room in the basement.
If I knew how to put a large red circle with a slash through it I would put it on these Eagle windows made by Andersen! They are nothing but a piece of very expensive junk!!!!! And if you are thinking of buying Andersen windows, think long and hard before throwing your money down the drain with all the dirt you will be cleaning out of them!!!
What you see on the INSIDE ledge of the window is dirt, not just dust, but dirt and other particles of debris and I cleaned it up once before this photo was taken. And there was another one that was worse yet!!!
These windows are the brand new windows in the studio, office and bedroom. There are twelve of them and every single one of them leaks air, therefore dirt, dust and whatever else is blowing around in the air, when the winds are blowing, comes right under the the window. If we had a blizzard it would be snow coming in and ruining the windows.
We purchased them through our contractor who is building the studio from a local dealer here in town. Of course I got the usual lip service of it being an easy fix with this and that, well guess what, that didn't work and it has been a couple of weeks now and the dirt has blown several more times since the initial big blow and there has been more dirt and dust.
Andersen is suppose to be sending some replacement weather stripping. If it is the same stuff that is in there now, it won't work. It is a poorly designed window!!!! That seems to be the name of the game these days, proclaim you have a high quality product and sell junk. Two of the casements aren't even square. One is over 3/8" out of square. That is Eagle quality by Andersen!!!!
We spent extra money on the insulation in order to help keep dirt and dust out of the studio, extra on the can lights to keep dirt and dust out of the studio to no avail because of the windows.
The studio is coming along, but at this point in time, I wish we hadn't built it because of the issues with the windows.
The Red Oak, again. We also have Burr Oaks, but they generally have brown leaves. There is a hint of color in them this fall, but a cold front is coming in next week so that will probably turn the leaves brown. 
I feel like we didn't have much of a summer, dealing with all the building. And now we are half way through fall, speeding toward the cold months of winter. I am in hopes the windows will be fixed soon so that winter stays outside. 
