October Projects and Updates

Wednesday was a a busy day.  We were up early to make the trip to the dentist so that Far Guy could get his tooth filled.  It was horrible for him.  Since having his teeth cleaned last week and a filling this week his Trigeminal Neuralgia kicked into high gear...it is no fun to be him.  There is nothing I can do to make him feel better.  The pain just has to run it’s course and burn itself out.

The weather has been beautiful.

We washed all the windows upstairs.  Neither of us could recall if we did those windows last fall…Far Guy says he is sure he did the outsides… he usually does that part while I do the insides. For the life of me I cannot remember doing them.  This year I did them, cleaned the shades and vacuumed the drapes.

Out on the patio we sprayed a mixture of bleach and water onto the pavers.  Hopefully the bleach will clean the surfaces and kill the green stuff and maybe after a good rain they will be really clean.

Far Guy’s garage has been completely cleaned…what a project.  He said I should take a picture of it….a picture doesn’t say much if you don’t have a before.

I am off on an adventure today (Thursday) Jen needed company while she attends a conference…Noah is with Far Guy doing guy stuff and they have all the dogs. Andy is home with Adam who is sick with a cold and a cough.

There is a lake here… the weather is supposed to be nice.  I will try my camera in manual mode tomorrow…I have the whole day to practice.

We walked down to the lake last night…the stars are beautiful and the air smells of lake and leaves.  Jen asked “Mom do you ever miss the lake?”  “Yes” I replied “Sometimes I do.”

Wistful Wednesday : 64 Years later

It was my parents wedding anniversary last week.  They were gone on vacation.

Here they were 64 years ago.

 

I talked them into a photo on Monday October 13, 2014.  It was also my Mothers 85th birthday.  Dad was 88 last week, October is their month.

My sister was there with her slow camera…and she kept trying to capture a kiss…until both of them began to giggle too much……

Dad was giggling so hard I am sure Mom was helping to hold him up!

Both are okay for the moment, Dad has ups and downs…he is a bladder cancer survivor starting his 28th year…and he has Celiac Disease (Gluten Intolerance)…both have some arthritis.   They are still active, Dad grows a garden and Mom has flower gardens.  They live in their own home in town.

Autumn Joy

I have a Sedum called Autumn Joy.  Last winter was real hard on it but it still had a couple of blooms.

Usually it is covered in bees in the fall…not so much this year.

Another joy of autumn is the Tamarack trees or “Larch”  they are a deciduous conifer.  It means they lose their needles and grow new ones next spring.  The go through the winter totally naked and dead looking.

Ashley’s Road

That last golden hour of sunlight in the evening illuminates the golden trees.

Laws of Nature

Strange the way things happen sometimes.

Two Bald Eagles and a whole bunch of crows.

Leaving the scene of the feast.

An Eagle flying near the tree…most likely to wait until the coast is clear. Note you can almost see where the“orange” pine trees start along this field.

Too many deer, the population is way up.  They get hit by cars and become Eagle food.  Seems to me that a death with a well placed bullet would be better than the bone shattering impact of a vehicle and then having your flesh plucked from your bones.

Gophers, leaves and a garage

One of the Gophers met it’s demise.

Here are the gopher trappers.  They live next door and are my great niece and great nephew. One gopher down and one to go…we think there are two gophers.

It was nice and fat probably from eating all those yummy perennial roots in the wildflower gardens.

Far Guy and I worked on leaves again.  We raked and blew more leaves into the woods. In a few more days I will mulch one last time and clean up the mower and put it away for the winter.  The end is in sight!

The leaves get caught in the rocks that are next to the house…snow comes off the roof with such force that nothing would grow there anyway.  After the leaves were removed I used up all the Round Up I had on hand to kill some of the weeds in the rocks.

We worked in the garage again….sorting.  We have lots of nails…probably enough to build another house.  I only sort…I don’t throw anything away..well a few bent nails with permission.

Nice Day

It was a nice day yesterday.  It started out a cool 19 F or –7C eh!  The sun came out and it warmed up to 45F or 7C eh!! I am wearing socks with my crocs!

I got the flag changed and the pumpkin welcome is up!  Most of what I did yesterday does not show.  We carted away two lawn chairs to my garage and took up and put away all the lawn ornaments that would get buried in the snow. 

We worked at cleaning up and organizing Far Guy’s garage.  Let me tell you that didn’t go well…he is real possessive about his “stuff”…and apparently I wanted to throw everything away that hasn’t been used in ten years or longer.  We did a fair amount of sparring back and forth…I was certain the old worn out saw blade I found was something he had been searching for.  Alrighty then.  We are almost half done…having worked out there several afternoons last week.  I have been saving peanut butter jars for some time…they have been put to good use in that garage.

I am waiting for a few more leaves to fall.

As you can see our trees are almost bare.

The wild gardens have been mowed and there is a bounty out on those Pocket Gophers that showed up.  I called the local trappers ( Josh, Mason and Anna) and traps have been set.

We have never had a gopher problem before. I think Chance should herd them…but he isn’t interested.

Our after supper drives have come to an end because it gets dark at 6:41 PM.  We now have to go for before supper drives…and that is usually quiet nap time.

Pink Elephant and other stuff

Cross something off the list!  I made it to the Dentist! “Look Ma no cavities!” That new electric Spin Brush must be doing it’s job!  Far Guy was not so lucky…he has to return for a filling. It is on the right side of his face which is also the Trigeminal Neuralgia side. “Bad word, bad word.”  He suffered for two days just from the dental cleaning.

Chance and I wandered around town whilst Far Guy was in the Dentist.  We went to the bakery and got a Date Filled Cookie to share…you should have seen his nose doing double/triple time as soon as we went in the bakery door! 

We drove down to Spirit Lake.  We go to the Dentist in a itty bitty berg called Menahga.  Chuck has been our Dentist for about 16 years now…his lovely wife Leslie is just about the best Dental Hygienist ever.

There is a new bike/hiking path next to the lake.

Maple leaves…two different trees.   The orange is most likely a Sugar Maple and the gold a Norway Maple.

We drove out of town.  I wanted to see the new retirement community they have there…the lawn looks nice…of course the duplexes are cookie cutters with attached garages…but I could give up snow removal and lawn work if I had too.

On the way back into town I saw a pink elephant.

Notice the papery nest in his ear?  Wasp or Hornets or some stinging creatures have a cute little home.

I have been working in the yard, I spent another afternoon raking and mulching.  One more afternoon and I might be all done with leaves…unless it snows then I will really be done.  It is a filthy job, I came in again with only the whites of my eyes white…and now I have itchy eyes…remember a long time ago when we wore eyeliner all the way around our eyes and it would collect in the corner of our eyes?  You had to check your eye make up in the mirror all the time.  Well so much dirt collected in my eyes that it reminded me of those long ago high school days and dark brown eyeliner…except this time it was black crud in the corner of my eyes.  

The Moon

Wednesday morning I woke up as usual about 4 AM to go potty.  I looked out the window to see if I could see the moon…there it was with no clouds. Yeah me!!  I can take photos from the yard, I don’t even have to go away from all our trees.

I very quietly tried to extricate my tripod out of the closet…Far Guy said “Are you going out?” “ Well yes!”  “Wanna go?”  “Not really.”

I told Chance to give me a minute to chase small smelly creatures from the yard just incase any were traveling through.  I go out and bark and make lots of noise.  I let Chance out to do his thing and when his mission is complete I make him go back inside.  I didn’t need a skunk encounter to interrupt my photo session.

I watch as the moon is slowly covered.  A small plane is flying around…it is distracting.  I can hear a couple of cars out on the highway.  It is very quiet and the wind is not blowing!  Soon the door to the house opens and out come Chance and Far Guy…it seems Chance was crying…pathetically.  Chance ran over smelled the tripod greeted me and was ready to go back inside. Far Guy looked up and said “Well that’s cool, I just brought your dog out because he was upset.” It was 22 degrees F or –5 C eh. A tad chilly. I tried lots of different settings on my camera.

The stars were beautiful the air was crisp and clear.  If it had been a bit warmer I would have stayed out longer…next time I need a lawn chair and a warm quilt.

My best shot of the blood moon….during the total eclipse.  I got some stars too…or planets…bright objects.

It was fun to see, the next lunar events will take place in April and September of 2015.

My toes were cold, it might be time to get out my winter boots.  I made some hot chocolate and warmed up the corn bag so I would get all cozy warm and go back to sleep.

Did you see the lunar eclipse?  Have you tried to take photos of it? 

Wistful Wednesday: Honeymoon 1950

My parents were married on October 7, 1950.  They were married in a little church near Evergreen.

This is the church.  They got married in the evening and had a dinner afterwards at my Father’s Parents home.

Here they are a few days later on their Honeymoon to Duluth Minnesota.

Happy 64th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad!

My parents have been on vacation the last few weeks.  They attended a wedding in Indiana and then went on to visit two of their Grandsons and wives…and Great Grandchildren Turner in Morris Plains, New Jersey and Presley in Fort Meade, Maryland. I think they will be done gallivanting for awhile after this trip.

Last of the blooms

A few days ago I walked around the yard to see what was left of the wildflowers and perennials.

Rudbeckia ‘Indian Summer’

Achillea  or Yarrow

Echinacea purpurea or Purple Coneflower

And finally the last rose of the season. 

It is kind of sad that there will be no more flowers…only frost..and then snow.

The snowbirds (Juncos) have showed up…right before the snow last week AND the little buggers are still here. 

Leaves and apples

My niece has apple trees in North Dakota so she graciously sent back apples for us.  I made an apple crisp at the retreat…it was wonderful!   Fall seems to be the best time for apple desserts.  I still have a few more of those apples…so I may make another apple crisp or maybe a pie.  

Crabapples at the house with the blue shutters.

The tree was loaded with crabapples.  Years ago I would have been tempted to cook some up and hang the cooked apples in a bag and let the juice drip…perfect for some jelly.  We rarely use jelly, I like it on pancakes or French toast…so one jar of jelly lasts us a long time. 

The Maples were beautiful this year.

With the help of my other baby brother and my nephew we got the gate up on the other driveway.  The mobile home that my niece and her husband used to live in was sold after she moved to North Dakota.  It was moved out last week.  They had to cut down a couple of trees, we will get them cut up and the brush hauled away this week.  It seems lonely over that way…they were neighbors for about nine years. Even Chance misses them, all those little kids were happy to throw his ball.  One time he even kidnapped a child…Jordan I think…the dog walked home and brought along a child. Luckily the dog and the child were safe and together.

Immature Bald Eagle

A few days ago, I rode along on an errand, luckily on the way out of the house I grabbed my camera bag. 

As we approached the stop sign on our corner, I noticed something fluttering. 

Crows were flying everywhere…and an Eagle.

He landed.

Then he took off again.

Saturday afternoon we saw him/her again.

We disturbed it’s road kill meal… most likely a raccoon or someone's kitty cat.   It was hard to tell.   The Eagles have a nest near the lake, I am sure this is one of their young.

He can fly…he/she just doesn’t fly real far at one time.  He/she has been out on this field about a week hunting and scarfing up road kill.

161 Days without snow

Yes.  I am not loony.  It snowed.  April 25 2014 to October 3 2014…is just 161 days without snow…not nearly enough.  Five months and 8 days.  Bummer.

That white crap in the air is snow.  I tried to ignore it all day long…the wind was wicked, it blew more leaves out of the trees.  The snow shows up real good against Far Guys garage.

It snowed off and on, melting as it hit the ground.   Chance caught a few flakes for me.

I made baked beans.  I make a large batch and then package them into individual servings and freeze them.  It made the kitchen all warm and cozy.  I could have cooked all day…well not quite all day but you get the picture.

There is snow in the air in this photo too.

I made such good progress with the leaves on Thursday.  Now there are more to rake or blow or mulch.  Gosh I love my mulching blades!  I drive that lawn tractor all over the yard…smiling.  Far Guy says now that he knows what really makes me happy more blades are on my Christmas list.  After the wind…I think 90 % of our leaves are down and out of the trees.