Fall color has been later and perhaps a little more muted than in years past. Even so, our river view was quite beautiful this evening. When we moved in last year, we had just missed peak color so it has been a real treat to watch the progression this year. We are all set to close on our second house, hereinafter referred to as the “road house,” tomorrow. We will live there while our current home, now called the “river house,” is demolished and rebuilt. I suspect this will take from 18-24 months. My day was spent wiring funds in advance of the closing, setting up insurance, internet service, and transferring utilities.

Until our new house is built, I will not have a permanent shop for some time. With another move on the immediate horizon and the renovation work I am helping Kyle with, I decided to invest in portable storage for my collection of cordless and hand tools. This stackable, rolling system by DeWalt is just what the doctor ordered. I found it on sale on picked up the full kit this afternoon.

Despite very inhospitable weather conditions, I spotted this pair of swans bobbing for breakfast in front of our house this morning. We are getting hit with the front end of a Nor’easter which is expected to deliver an onslaught of rain in combination with very high winds over the next 72 hours. Fortunately, temperatures are still high enough that the threat of snow is not a concern.

I happened across this tiny structure while running errands today. It appears to be a detached office or guest quarters for a nearby home. For all its simplicity, I think it is very beautiful and would love to discover the story behind it. On the home front, I interviewed our ninth potential builder and feel like we finally have the right match. It has been challenging trying to find a company that has the right mix of experience building high-performance homes, a culture of building right the first time, and an openness to allowing me to participate in aspects of the construction work. Assuming their contract terms are reasonable, I think we have found the right partner.

I spent the morning in Haverhill where my soccer team faced the local club. We won handily bringing our record to 7-0-0. I notched my second goal of the season when I found the ball on my foot during a scrum in the box and punched it in with my right. Our team has scored 25 goals this season and only conceded 1. After the match, we enjoyed an Irish breakfast at the Peddler’s Daughter (an Irish pub and restaurant) where I also found this dramatic mural in the adjacent parking lot.

I followed the flight of this Monarch butterfly into the high branches of a pine tree where I was able to photograph it. Had I thought to take one, I would have liked to post a picture of Kyle, Maya, and the demolition project we are working on in his basement. While the kids moved lumber and removed drywall and ceiling tiles, I installed a heat pump water heater to replace the gas-fired unit there now. It is more efficient than either a gas or electric water heater and will be easier to relocate later when Kyle has a new HVAC system installed.

This rare breed of dog can only be observed in the week before Halloween. Scary enough at other times of the year, this is one canine that you do not want to mess with.

Maya produced these photographs for a design class she is taking at Olin. The prompt was to create a poster of a recipe for something that you’ve made. This week her coffee club decided to make pumpkin spice latte so she used that for her subject. She was up at 5 AM to prep the ingredients and take advantage of morning light. If she ever gets tired of a career in engineering, I think she could easily make a living as a photographer.

Occasionally, we see some pretty unusual things in the river. Today’s entry features what appears to be a two-person kayak fitted with an outrigger, gas-powered engine, and battery-powered motor. Other features include two dashboard-like consoles with storage, a windshield, a map holder, and an over-land wheeled cart. I apologize for the blurry photo but this thing was moving along pretty quickly and I had to run for my camera.

Born in San Francisco, Reuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970) graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a degree in engineering. He later entered journalism and moved to New York, where he became a syndicated cartoonist.

His whimsical and overly complex machines designed to solve the travails of modern life endeared him to generations of engineers, scientists, and everyone else who encounters the wonders and headaches of modern technology.

Some road-side business signs stand out more than others.

The Jaffrey Mills is a historic mill complex in the central business district of Jaffrey, New Hampshire. It consists of a connected series of primarily brick buildings flanking the Contoocook River. Its oldest buildings, the original mill and office building, are on the west side of the river (left). They were built in 1868, and feature mansard roofs and banded dentil brick cornices. In 1872 the building on the east side was built, and the two sides were joined by timber-frame bridges in 1897.  The mills have since been converted to residences. This afternoon, after a morning of planning HVAC ducting for the new house, I ventured out to enjoy the fine fall day only to have the clouds roll in as I reached my original destination of Mount Monadnock.

My sister Alissa and my mother both performed ballroom dance exhibitions at the Mall of America in Minneapolis today. My mother, 93, partnered with her former teacher from New York in an Argentine Tango. My sister reprieved a performance she recently did at the Crossgates Mall in Albany. Both were in fine form. The same cannot be said for my performance on the soccer pitch today. With many of my teammates sidelined with injuries, I played far more minutes than I am accustomed to and my lack of conditioning showed. Even so, I managed a couple of decent attempts on goal and we came away with a 3-0 win.

Nobody looks as good in a hat as Jeanine. This afternoon we attended the Conantum (name of our neighborhood) harvest gathering where she was wearing my favorite one. Held at our communal gardens, members of the neighborhood enjoyed an opportunity to get to know each other better. I arrived towards the end of the gathering because I was waiting for Nicolai and his friends to arrive at the house. They borrowed our kayaks and our neighbor’s canoe for an extended outing on the river. The sky was cloudy and the winds quite strong but still a great day to be out on the water.

Without a doubt, the stinkhorn mushroom pictured here is the strangest-looking fungus I have ever seen. I found a trio growing in the yard while doing some fall clean-up. This was a quick “grab shot” taken with my phone and I hope to post a better version taken with my “real” camera.