Autumn Gold

We’ve had days of rain. Weeks of rain. Perhaps as much as a month of rain. Once in a while, we get a break from the rain. Like today. But then it’s back to rain, rain, and more rain.

The chickens scratch up the dirt in their pen and the rain turns the dirt into a morass of smelly muck that sucks at my muck shoes. When not covered with mud, my muck shoes are a cheerful yellow with drawings of chickens on them. I try to scrap the mud off the shoes before I enter the house with limited success. I used to take the shoes off in the hallway, but Hannah Joy likes to lick the boots so I switched to taking them off in the pantry/storage room where she can’t get to them. The pantry door is next to the garage door so I actually track in less mud. I’m certain the term “boot-licker” must come from dogs licking boots. It’s a disgusting habit.

The temperature is chilly enough now that we keep our furnace on and we wear our coats whenever we go outside, although it hasn’t yet gotten cold enough for us to wear our warmest winter coats and mittens. I thought that the days of warmer temperatures were over until next Spring. However, later this week the temperatures are forecasted to rise into the 60s. Michigan weather is temperamental.

We are now into the peak color of autumn, which is breathtakingly beautiful. The trees of our Enchanted Forest tend to be various shades of gold. In the early morning and evenings, the gold of the trees turns the air itself golden, which is beautiful. I tried to take a photo of it, but photos pale in comparison to the true beauty of the trees. I love autumn.

Our garden is pretty much finished for the year. I think we still have some squash to harvest and then we can let the chickens back into the garden to glean whatever is left. We have some green tomatoes, but they will never ripen so we are leaving those also.

A couple days ago we disconnected the garden hoses so we could put them away. This means that I now have to lug water for the chickens in a watering can. It’s easier to use the hose, of course, but it’s not that big of a chore. Even if it was a huge chore, it has to be done so I shrug and do it.

We ended up with two little chicks. There were three more eggs in the nest, but the hen wasn’t consistently sitting on them so I think they didn’t make it. I keep the hen and the eggs in the maternity ward for their safety. I don’t know if the other chickens would hurt then and I know they would be a tasty morsel for predators. I’ll let them all out when the chicks are bigger. It sure is fun to watch the little ones. I took this video a week ago. For some reason, it’s slightly distorted, but it’s good enough. You can hear Theo meowing in the background. He often follows me into the coop when I go out to do my chores

Once each week for about 2-3 weeks, we’ve been finding a large treat in our mailbox–obviously from the letter carrier who delivers our mail. We’ve never been left treats before so I wonder if we got a new letter carrier? Or maybe the old one just spotted Hannah one day. Our driveway is very long so we never really see who delivers our mail. Hannah loves the treats, and it’s so kind of the letter carrier to leave them, that I made a card “from Hannah” with a treat inside. We will leave it in the mailbox on Thursday, which is the day we find the treats. That way we can be pretty certain that the same letter carrier is getting the letter and treat.

After dark yesterday evening I took Hannah outside for the final time before bedtime. As soon as we got outside, she yanked her leash because there was a large possum near the herb garden. I was so surprised that I screamed a bit. Not really a scream as much as a yelp of exclamation. EJ said that he heard me scream (yelp) and saw me suddenly disappear (as Hannah yanked me forward). He thought I had fallen so he rushed out of his chair to help me. LOL.

EJ continues to go to exercise at the hospital gym twice a week. I go with him because he likes the company and we often do errands after his session since we are in town. I would walk around the little track while at the gym, but the staff told EJ that they can’t let me unless I have permission from my doctor. I haven’t had a doctor in eight years so <shrug>. When we first moved up here, I researched doctors and had a New Patient Appointment with one with high reviews. She was so awful–interrupting me before I could answer her questions, wanting to give me a bunch of tests to try to find if I had any issues when I didn’t have any complaints, and writing a prescription for dangerous drugs over my objections–that I haven’t been back to a doctor since. I’ve been very healthy so <shrug>. At the hospital gym, I sit at a table drinking coffee while I read a book or use my phone to study Hebrew or read the news until EJ is finished exercising. I feel a bit like a party pooper because everyone else is exercising, but <shrug>.