Summer’s End

Posted on September 10, 2020 by TJ

Autumn weather has definitely arrived. Although at this time of the year we can still get warm/hot days, we are seeing more cool days. I’ve been wearing jeans and jackets now, and I put a couple more blankets on the bed. This is the time of year when we always play a game called “How long can we last before we turn on the furnace?” It’s not yet cold enough to give in.

However, the low tonight is expected to dip down to 39 (F) degrees tonight and EJ read that we could get some frost. To be safe, I lugged my house plants back inside. I always put them out on the deck in the warmer months and bring them back in when it gets cooler. It took me all afternoon to bring them all in, partially because Theo, our outside cat, has recently discovered that “there is a wondrous world in the house” and he keeps trying to sneak in. Trying to get the heavy pots through the door, while keeping the outside cat outside and the inside pets inside was a difficult task, and I finally took a break to wait until Theo wandered off. I also transplanted some of my favorite herbs into pots and brought them in. I’d like to try to keep them alive over the winter, although I’m usually not successful. Still, I can always hope.

Over the summer the deer ate the sunflowers I planted outside the garden fence, but I planted a few inside the fence and they are now blooming. I’ll save the seeds and next year I’ll plant them INSIDE the fence. I love sunflowers because they are so cheerful and bright. If I can ever get enough of a crop, I’ll start roasting some of the seeds for eating rather than just planting.

Two weekends ago we bought 20 bags of poultry feed at the farm store, most of which I scooped into kitty litter buckets to keep it safe from the mice. Last weekend we return to the farm store to buy two 50lb bags of dog food, two 40lb bags of cat food, and four bags of cracked corn for the chickens. Digesting the cracked corn actually raises the chickens’ body temperature so I add it to their feed in the winter.

We still need to get bales of straw for the coop, and I’d like to get a winters’ supply of seed for the wild birds (and whatever critters come to the feeders to eat what the wild birds don’t).

Last Saturday we went to a nearby lake because we had heard that there was going to be a boat parade and I really wanted to see it. I’ve seen videos of them in other places and they look really cool AND they will be part of history. We had heard that the boats were starting off from a point about midway down one of the large lakes in our area. Shortly after 1 pm, which is when they were supposed to take off, we headed to the lake and we set up chairs at the beach near their destination. We waited for two hours but never saw them. We finally gave up because we were getting chilled, but we drove along the shore for a while to see if we could spot them before heading for home. Later we saw videos on FB of the parade. They either got a later-than-expected start or they went north up the lake before following it back to the south end where we were. Bummer. Oh, well. The day was very beautiful and it was peaceful sitting at the lake. Also, we enjoyed chatting with a couple women who were also there to watch the parade.

Usually, we take Hannah Joy with us when we go anywhere but we left her home when we went to the lake because we didn’t know how many people would be there or how she’d react to them. Hannah hates being apart from us, and she’s been very clingy ever since. Poor dear.

I finished repainting my “welcome” sign on Sunday. When it stops raining, we will spray a protective coating on it and then put it back down along the driveway. I made a new house number sign because the old one is getting faded, and I also am working on an “eggs for sale” sign. I use boards from wooden pallets for my signs, trace around wooden letters (the wooden letters themselves don’t hold up to the weather), and paint them. I won’t put the “eggs for sale” sign along the road because I’d rather have customers find me through word of mouth contacts or FB groups. But I’m going to put the sign where our driveway branches off from our neighbors so new customers know they’ve found the right place.