Fall Cycling on the Palouse and Preparing for Winter

With the heat of summer long gone and a crisp chill of fall in the air, the outdoor cycling season may be drawing to a close.  Like the midday sun already low on the horizon in the photo above, how many more beautifully sunny days are left on the calendar before Pacific Northwest is thrown into the long darkness of winter?  

Being in the mindset of preparing for an approaching long dark and cold period ahead, a sunny day with temperatures in the mid-50's F is not to be easily brushed aside.  Daylight hours can be short during winter and after the time change, it can be dark by 4pm.  After that, cycling outdoors can only occur on weekends.  With the changing colors of fall, time to head out on the bike and not lose this fleeting opportunity. 

A few snapshots from the GoPro on the mid-afternoon ride.

Also in mind as winter looms, is the annual ritual of preparing figures for the dark and cold days of winter.  That means a re-evaluation of 2017 Project Plans in an attempt to align annual goals with the remainder of 2017.  Wait!  I did not publish 2017 Project Plans in January?  No worry.  With only two months remaining in the year, planning should be made that much easier.   

Below are a few items I would like to prepare for painting over the upcoming winter months:

• 25mm Assyrian Wars - Yes, a few units are in the painting queue.
• 32mm ECW - while the project has been declared "complete" for a long time, I picked up enough Empress Miniatures' cavalry to field one regiment of horse.  That would be a nice addition to a project that has not seen any activity on the painting desk since 2011.  No painting of ECW figures in six years?  Shocking!  
• WWI Aeroplanes - with a rekindling of interest in Canvas Eagles, one or two aircraft ought to get onto the workbench.
•  15mm Samurai Battles -no units off the painting desk in 2017.  Time to correct that oversight.
• 28mm Napoleonics - Another project seeing no activity on the painting desk thus far in 2017.  Progress here would be good too.  A few battalions of Spanish in transit provides motivation to re-examine the project.  Plans to get the collection back onto the gaming table would help the motivation too.
• 18mm 1799 and 1859 projects - not enough work on either of these two projects in 2017.  Perhaps step it up?  Both projects saw repeated action on the gaming table, though.

That should be enough for a start.  If some of these see activity during the long winter months, I will be pleased.