It's raining leaves!

My mower seriously looked like a plow in the front as I was mowing the pasture today. The trees that lose the leaves have done so for the most part now. The trees that change colors of their leaves are beginning to show up in areas from the mountain tops to the valleys and the tree lined banks across the river. At night there is a chill in the air that lingers until early morning, then the sun comes up and reminds me we are just at the beginning of October. After the rush of spring and summer came and left I had a very easy September with only a few bookings. I am not going to lie; I welcomed the slow down at that time. It gave my husband and I some time to go out and explore more of our Ozark area. We now have firsthand knowledge of some of the most popular destinations like Blanchard Springs caverns, Mirror Lake, OK trading post horseback tours, Ozark Folk Center, and some new tasty spots for the best coffee, burgers and service. We also found some hidden gems that's all within the popular destination area and our cabins. Instead of running around in fast mode I was able to get things done at a slower pace. I cleared a nice spot for cabin one to have a cool private sitting area to just gaze at the river and I will be moving its firepit to that area instead of where it is now, I went fishing on the river with only shrimp as bait and caught the ugliest carp I ever saw. It looked like it had human lips! It had eyes that had expression, and I was talking to it about how it would have to stop flipping for me to get the hook out of its big lips. While I was at the riverbank my neighbors that live about a mile away came up on their kayaks with friends from out of state and we visited for a spell before they paddled onward. I learned that October the White River is usually at its lowest because they stop releasing from the damn, and the river is also at its warmest. The river is still too cold for me to get in even then! When October rolled around and I only had one booking I got a little nervous. I enjoyed the break, but let's face it, I am in the vacation rental business. I started to worry if I would be able to sustain the business with just the spring and summer blast of bookings. My husband reminded me that we were slow last year at this time, and we had already over doubled our bookings from last year. He was right, and before I knew it, the month of October is getting booked up. The scenery is alone worth the trip, but during this time there are lots of big festivals in the area too. My new daily chore right now is leaf blowing. I sat one day at the front of the pasture overlooking the mountain and watched the trees when a breeze came through and I thought to myself......It's raining leaves!