No freeze yet - astounding!

I'm still harvesting tomatoes and zucchini. We have not even come that close to 32 degrees except one morning when I had plants covered. I depart today for two weeks and I CANNOT imagine that we won't freeze during that time. I canned four pints of my tomatoes a few days ago - that may be nearly a first for my time here in CO (hard to get enough tomatoes to can!).

Did a great hike yesterday up on Cumbres Pass and saw what's likely the peak of colors (photo is not great but I only took a couple).

Have planted about 15 perennials (shrubs & flowers) the past few days; that would normally not be happening but the soil is still pretty warm so I think the plants will do OK. Planted fleabane, nanking cherry, three leaf sumac, Mexican hat coneflower, pineleaf penstemon, lamb's ear, hymenoxys, Rocky Mountain orange daisy, basket 'o' gold, potentilla, blue mist spirea, prince's plume, fernbush, desert 4:00. Probably more that I forgot. Hope they all survive the winter (if we have one!).

Harvest nearly over as is Caddy's long life

Though we haven't had more than a very light frost, harvest of vegetables seems to be nearing the end. I picked the last green beans two nights ago, the last of the Daikon radishes, some swiss chard, tomatoes, and garlic. I still have lots of winter squashes to pick up, but will wait until after we get a REAL frost, which is not yet in the forecast.
As soon as I get some time, I'm going to plant some late season (lettuce, greens, maybe beets & carrots) crops and then cover them with a small hoop house (metal stays and Agribon row cover material). I want to see how late I can feasibly grow food.
Days have been beautiful, clear, sunny & dry, in the 80's. Sandhills were first heard back in the valley two weeks ago today. A few V's of geese have been spotted too.
Caddy the 16-year-old dog is aging rapidly; her mobility is nearly gone, and we frequently have to pick her up after she falls over during her stumbling sojourns around the yard and house. Smooth carpet-less floors are her nemesis, as is the smallest obstacle. We've talked about euthanasia many times over the past few weeks, but the time does not yet seem to be right or necessary.

Eight raspberries harvested !!!

Finally I have some raspberries, though only eight! There are a few more that need more days in the sun. Still not sure that raspberries are worth the water; I'll likely never get enough from my own plants to actually make JAM! A few other raspberry canes are in the vegetable garden but are semi-smothered by all the squash vines.
Today I harvested roughly a two-gallon bucket of green and gold beans, then made about 15 pints of "dilly beans" (pickled beans with dill, garlic cloves,& chile flakes for some zing!). Also made a "chocolate zucchini cake" and two more loaves of zucchini bread, which went to the freezer. Then shredded a bunch of zucchini and stuck that in the freezer too.