Fall Weather and First Snow

It's fall here in Eastern North Dakota.  The breeze has turned stronger and chillier, blowing the falling leaves in showers of autumn colors.  We've been swamped with pulling the last tomatoes, peppers,and eggplant from the garden and getting everything ready for winter.  The hard freeze on Wednesday night did in the last summer crops including the sweet potato vine that I need to wrangle and chop up into compost. 

The apple trees are holding onto their leaves (barely) and the marigolds somehow still look quite vibrant.  That may all change if we get some snow over the weekend.

From the National Weather Service:

THE FIRST ACCUMULATING SNOW OF THE SEASON IS POSSIBLE SATURDAY
NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. THERE COULD BE A BAND OF 1 TO 3 INCHES OF
SNOW ALONG A LINE FROM AROUND DEVILS LAKE TO GRAND FORKS TO
BEMIDJI. THE LOCATION OF THIS SNOW BAND WILL BECOME MORE CERTAIN
ONCE THE EXACT TRACK OF THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS KNOWN. IT WILL
GET VERY COLD BEHIND THIS ALBERTA CLIPPER...AND NORTHERLY WINDS
WILL INCREASE SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. THE UNSEASONABLY COLD
WEATHER WILL CONTINUE NEXT WEEK.

We'll be busy as little beavers putting the rest of the garden to sleep for the winter, raking and chopping leaves and adding them to the raised beds.  As always, there's so much to do and so little time.  Nothing is quite as motivating though as the threat of snow, it's one heck of a deadline.