Red straws

I don't know what these are. They're growing on the edge of one of the cornfields out among the vineyard parcels. What caught my eye were the vibrant magenta-colored stems. Their flower heads are clustered at the tops of the stalks, are bright green, and are shaped like little fir trees.

More fall color.

Nothing much is going on here at the moment. We're in waiting mode for the deck contractor (what else is new?) and we have an appointment with the central heating people on Tuesday to have the boiler's exhaust system shifted back to the chimney. The new boiler was installed in 2015 with the exhaust vent going through the wall next to the boiler. The problem is that the vent faces the predominant winds and they blow out the boiler's flame. I don't know why this wasn't a problem during the first couple of years, but it has been going on for several years now. The first year it happened, we called a technician who looked at the boiler and proclaimed, "It shouldn't do that," as if we were imagining the problem. And he didn't do anything to fix it. So, after several years and several unsuccessful interventions, we think we've finally convinced the heating company that the wind is indeed blowing out the flame (it doesn't happen on calm days) and that going back to the traditional chimney on the roof will solve the problem. At least we hope so, and so does the heating company.