With 0.59” of rain this week, conditions are near normal for early November. With the gate open, the Pascoag Reservoir continues to slowly drain and is now down below 7’.  At this pace it will be about 2 more weeks to fully drain.  With windy conditions this week, most foliage has dropped and we are down to a few oaks holding onto their leaves.  There is still a bit of color from wild blueberry bushes but there is very little left.  We did our big leaf raking effort yesterday which is about 3 weeks earlier than usual.  Just a little raking of blowing leaves is left for this year (yay!).  Winter birds like chickadees, sparrows and woodpeckers have been active but we’ve also had a lot of blue birds and migratory ducks like buffleheads too.  The lawn has slowed way down too and didn’t need mowing until 2 weeks since the last cut.  Probably once more before putting the lawnmower away for the winter.  George Washington state park is still posting Low for fire danger.