Jack O Lantern

We have a couple pumpkins all dressed up for Halloween.

Night Walks

We shift our walks to night around this time of the year to catch Halloween decorations then of course Christmas lights. Love seeing what the nieghbors are doing to welcome the season.

Minus Boys

First pumpkin harvest without the boys along. A little sad but it was we made the best of it.

Pool Shark

Actually I'm the pool shark, beating Sam 5-0 on a rainy afternoon at The Rack in Des Moines. Had a great weekend with the kid, parents and aunt. Unfortunately my trips to and from DSM averaged 7 hours of delays each due to computer failures, rebooking on different days and weather. I did make it to Des Moines 7 hours late on Friday, missing dinner with everyone and got home 7 hours late on Monday, missing a good workout. I'm sure I will return regardless of the issues.

Yellow

The trees are turning on campus.

Drake Morning

Long day yesterday but woke to a crisp fall day. Covid cancelled the football game but we will find something else to do.

Stuck in Chicago

Flight one was early, flight two, cancelled. Instead of arriving at 3:30 and having dinner with mom, dad, Sam and Robbie, I'm eating crap from the United Club by myself. Looks like I should be in Des Moines by 9:15 now.

Morning Moon

I kinda like getting into the office when it's dark. Still going in Tuesdays and Thursdays and it should be dark at 7am for most if the next few months, minus a week or two after DST.

First Fire

It's barely cold enough but a cold front came in while were at Dylan's rugby game and dropped the temperature 15 degrees in 3 minutes. It was followed by a ton of rain and wind which made the end of the game fun. The longest summer in recent memory is finally gone and the chimney was swept so a fire is in the box.

Fall

No fires yet but the chill is on the way.

Forward

This is from last weeks game against Maryland. They won big and Dylan played a full game on B side. He was good on all his conversion kicks and ran and tackled well. They have the weekend off and he's headed home on the train today. It will be good to have him in the house for a few days.

Back

Third time back in the office since March 2020. Trying out a Tuesday and Thursday schedule right now to mix things up a bit. The building has been open since August 1st on a voluntary return to the office policy and I figured a change of view would be nice. I do have windows on three sides of my office and nice views of DC with a lot of light. While the commute is still annoying, the change in space is kinda refreshing.

Grays Lake

We did a lot of walking in Des Moines including Grays Lake. Lots of public trails in that area that all hook up to other trails. Good walking city.

First Drake Football Weekend

Not the game result we were looking for but fun to see Sam for a few days.

Pre Game

Bulldog Rally before the boys head to the locker room.

Earth Drawings

The fields on the way into Des Moines look like some sort of massive art project.

Parents Weekend

Arrived in Des Moines this afternoon and checked into the Hilton across the street from the Drake campus. Nice fall weather and dinner with Sammy soon. Haven't seen that kid in over 7 weeks.

Game Day

Dylan had a good first outing on the pitch last weekend in a loss to Penn State. He was thrilled to be playing again and with his new teammates. Nicole and I had dinner with him and a friend of his on Friday night and with just him on Saturday before the post game team party. Rugby players tend to party a bit.

Morning Calm

Nicole gets up at unreasonable hours to get her long runs in before it gets hot. The benefit of that is quiet pictures like this.

Miller Time

Miller, the dog hanging out at the mountain house.