Concord. First frost (white)
Ther [Thermometer] Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1918 [September 11, 1918] Wea [Weather]
38 [degrees] -62 [degrees] -50 [degrees]. Fine.
  Brilliantly clear with light
N. [north] to N.E. [northeast] wind. First hoar frost
whitening all our fields at
sunrise, doing little or no damage
hereabouts but very much to
tender crops in other places,
especially near Lowell & Fitchburg,
according to the newspapers.
  Renewed scarcity of birds. All I 
could find during rambles about
our farm, to the Ritchie place & thro
Berry Pasture were 3 Robins, 3 Catbirds
2 Song Sparrows, 4 Towhees (at grapes)
4 or 5 Jays, a Purple Finch (heard)
a White bel. Nuthatch [White-bellied Nuthatch] in dooryard elm,
cawing Crows heard far & near.
The general absence of all woodland
bird life & total absence of
migrant Warblers are marked features
of this strangely birdless season.
  Rambling about in forenoon.
In house most of P.M. Not feeling
right all day.

Mr. & Mrs. Garfield called this evening (8-9).

Concord.
Ther [Thermometer] Thursday, Sept. 12, 1918 [September 12, 1918] Wea [Weather]
Fair
Mostly sunny but partly cloudy
& very hazy, with cool easterly wind
but no frost. That of night before
last killed all squash vines at
Ritchie place, George says.
Except for a maple branch here &
there in swampy places there is no
aut. [autumnal] coloring yet.
  4 Cat birds, 4 Robins & 3 Cedar birds
eating elder berries in dooryard, 6
Towhees feasting on our choicest grapes
(Moore's early, Brighton, Rogers, Worden)
of which they have left scarce a bunch
intact. They do not commonly devour
them but pick into one side & suck
out most of the juice. As if to add
insult to injury they have befouled
the clothes (with excrement) that I put
over two vines hoping to safeguard the fruit.
Two Nighthawks passing south at
eve. No other migrants noted.
  Spent forenoon superintending work
of men, afternoon in picking
strawberries (4 quarts) & raspberries (3 quarts)