Doings

Fall is nipping at our heels, and I for one am glad. Fall is my favorite time of the year.I have far more motivation in the Fall.I am not sure what it is...maybe the cooler air? The gorgeous foliage? The feeling that winter is coming and I need to get things done? Perhaps it's a combination.

Fall also brings hunting season,which is a focal point of the menfolk. They have been out almost every morning,scouting areas,putting out their tree stands,and checking the photos daily from their game cameras to see where the animals are.Today is opening season of bow hunting for deer and turkey,I believe,and they have spent the last two weeks perfecting their aim. One thing that they have been hunting recent weeks is squirrel. I have tried squirrel,and if I had nothing else to eat,I could live with having it as a source of nutrition (it's actually not that bad). Brother B was quite pleased with himself a couple days ago-he made himself squirrel soup. Squirrel,carrots,potatoes,and onion,with some beef bouillon thrown in,plus some seasoning. The veggies were from our garden,and the squirrel from our neighbors back 40. He kept saying as he ate it,"You can't get much fresher than this!"

Monday I cleaned out some of my garden beds.Next year I will have to make new trellises. I pulled the sad looking cuke vines out (which I deposited into the compost pile),cut off some tired tomato branches,and did some weeding(the chickens loved it!) I picked some carrots,tomatoes,and pumpkins. My green beans are going through another growth period- I have some white blossoms and new beans on the bushes.My corn never recovered from Irene,but the stalks will be great for decoration.There is no great loss without some small gain,as Ma Ingalls used to say.

There are some things that we wanted to get accomplished this year that will wait until Spring. The deck and the screen porch will have to look sad one more year,I'm afraid. Rick has had a problem with motivation,which I think stems from his new prescription of Ritalin.He was on it 3x a day,and now he is on a once day extended release. It doesn't give him the drive like before.He is going to talk to his TBI Dr about it when we see him next week.Rick hopes he can go back on the 3x a day prescription. Of course, we have had a bit of rain recently,so that doesn't help,and when it's really humid or hot out he can only stand to be outside so long.So we are going to concentrate on the kitchen and the bathroom,both of which are sorely in need of remodel. I am going to slap a coat of paint on our front door and steps,though.Both are looking quite worn out.

The other day we were driving home from the store,and we saw a few folks in the middle of splitting wood for the winter. Rick commented how lucky we were not to have to worry about that this winter. We have 4-5 cord of wood from the tree length that we got last year and finally got cut up this spring. We shouldn't have to get more wood for a couple of years,and even then it wouldn't be because we were running out,it would be just to season it for when we needed it.That is a great feeling,to know we are a few years ahead of the game.

I am hearing thunder outside,so I should probably sign off. I hope your day is wonderful!