Let's see now....
Thursday - I cleared my schedule and took the day off to finish some of the chores around the yard. It was supposed to be the last of three days without rain. Not really long enough to make a huge difference, but something to grab at while it lasted.
We had a load of topsoil dumped into the hole in the front yard and I started spreading it around. Got that half done by the time the hubby came home, and he almost finished it.
I moved some of the gravel from the big pile where it got dumped into some of the places it's supposed to end up.
I got all the herbs clipped back and added some more mulch in some areas. It's getting increasing difficult to see where the thin spots are because of the leaves falling all over everything.
Friday - Rain. Lots of rain.
Saturday - Little bit of rain. Took a trailer full of yard waster to the dump. Unable to lift (between the two of us) the second laundry T bar that came out of the yard when they put the septic in, because it has a large block of cement attached to it. Also a large concrete block from the old patio that got dislodged in the septic replacement process.
Today - oh my. It was supposed to be simple. The final little bit of leveling out of the front yard. You would think the Gods didn't want us out there. We literally had a snow storm drop out of nowhere while we worked. We finally let it chase us back in the house.
Crazy.
Ya know, there was a point this summer where I looked around at the yard and gardens and thought "it's all good, my garden doesn't need me anymore" and felt a little bereft.
I don't think that's true anymore. And the spring is going to be a busy one. Let me go away and make a list of chores...
Karen
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Irregular Programming
With apologies, we briefly interrupt to bring you this important, and deeply heartfelt message:
STOP RAINING! STOP RAINING NOW!
(and don't be tricky and replace it with snow instead)
We now return you to your regularily scheduled programming.
--------------
I'm okay with seasonal change. Really I am. But there are things to do in the yard that must be done before the darned Canadian landscape gets buried for the next few months. I'm running out of time and the weather just isn't co-operating.
The ground needs to dry out considerably for us to be able to finish making the yard flat enough to seed, if we don't want a yard full of ankle-twisting holes and divits.
I'm depressed every time I look out the back door.
--------------
Oh well, if it won't stop raining, then maybe snow isn't so bad an alternative. Let's cover up the damned eyesore with a quiet blanket of white stuff and I can just bury my head for the winter and deal with it in the spring.
Karen
STOP RAINING! STOP RAINING NOW!
(and don't be tricky and replace it with snow instead)
We now return you to your regularily scheduled programming.
--------------
I'm okay with seasonal change. Really I am. But there are things to do in the yard that must be done before the darned Canadian landscape gets buried for the next few months. I'm running out of time and the weather just isn't co-operating.
The ground needs to dry out considerably for us to be able to finish making the yard flat enough to seed, if we don't want a yard full of ankle-twisting holes and divits.
I'm depressed every time I look out the back door.
--------------
Oh well, if it won't stop raining, then maybe snow isn't so bad an alternative. Let's cover up the damned eyesore with a quiet blanket of white stuff and I can just bury my head for the winter and deal with it in the spring.
Karen
Monday, October 16, 2006
Fence and Flower, Berries and Bush
We got the fence back up.
Still need to do:
Flatten the lumpy mud that is the back yard and seed it. It's been too wet for the last two weeks.
Add more dirt to the front yard and seed it.
Plant some bulbs.
Cut up the pear tree we killed (because it was falling over, being unstably rooted).
Move the woodpile.
Spread the gravel over the will-be-a-patio-someday area.
Spread the gravel over the shed side drive area.
Clip the herbs back for the winter.
Re-establish, and possibly expand, the firepit.
*sigh* When it stops raining long enough to do the work.
Berries on the madder plants. I'm waiting for the plants to be in their 3rd or 4th year to use the roots for dying.
This delphinium flower has established itself rather well. We planted it just last weekend and it seems very happy.
And this is the elderberry bush, with it's leaves turning red. Now, this thing - I'm not sure it's happy. I didn't see any berries on it this year.
Karen
Still need to do:
Flatten the lumpy mud that is the back yard and seed it. It's been too wet for the last two weeks.
Add more dirt to the front yard and seed it.
Plant some bulbs.
Cut up the pear tree we killed (because it was falling over, being unstably rooted).
Move the woodpile.
Spread the gravel over the will-be-a-patio-someday area.
Spread the gravel over the shed side drive area.
Clip the herbs back for the winter.
Re-establish, and possibly expand, the firepit.
*sigh* When it stops raining long enough to do the work.
Berries on the madder plants. I'm waiting for the plants to be in their 3rd or 4th year to use the roots for dying.
This delphinium flower has established itself rather well. We planted it just last weekend and it seems very happy.
And this is the elderberry bush, with it's leaves turning red. Now, this thing - I'm not sure it's happy. I didn't see any berries on it this year.
Karen
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Green Tomato Recipes
Anti-V (aka Vandy) has been blogging her Green Tomato Recipes for me. :)
Go and take a look, if you're interested, and while you're there, scroll down to the picture of her back porch. That's only 1 hour north of us.
Today dawns cold, but not freezing, and wet, but not raining.
The dog's been out already.....
I did mention the septic tank replacement recently? Large portions of yard dug up and not yet restored beyond being flattened? Oh good.
I've decided to make the Green Tomato Mincement. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.
Karen
Go and take a look, if you're interested, and while you're there, scroll down to the picture of her back porch. That's only 1 hour north of us.
Today dawns cold, but not freezing, and wet, but not raining.
The dog's been out already.....
I did mention the septic tank replacement recently? Large portions of yard dug up and not yet restored beyond being flattened? Oh good.
I've decided to make the Green Tomato Mincement. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.
Karen
Thursday, October 12, 2006
green tomatoes?
Does anyone have some simple recipes for green tomatoes?
The snow, she has started to fly by this afternoon, so I guess this marks the end of the growing season for us.
Karen
The snow, she has started to fly by this afternoon, so I guess this marks the end of the growing season for us.
Karen
Monday, October 9, 2006
Thanksgiving
What are you thankful for?
I'm thankful that I'm Canadian and we get to do this holiday a month earlier then in the USA. :) More separation from Christmas = less stress.
Bogenschuetzenfest was it's usual mellow good time, although they moved the shooting site and it was a less then satisfactory change. More room for parking, less room for archery. Sorry, no pics this year.
I'm thankful for mellow good times, in great weather.
While we were out at Bogenschuetzenfest, the machine guy came by and finished spreading the mountains of topsoil in the yard as much as he could, given that the ground was still quite wet and the clay-based topsoil wouldn't spread well.
On Sunday, we begged off the family stuff on account of coming down with colds. No need to infect the relatives and lots of need to do work around the house while sniffling. We planted a lot of new acquisitions in the garden.
Here's a few pics of the remaining flowers.....the fall aster and mums were a pleasant surprise in the front garden. I do remember planting them, but I didn't think they'd turn out so well.
And these calendula flowers are quite simply the craziest things I've ever seen. They're still going strong, and they self-seed so abundantly, they are almost weed-like in their replication.
I'm thankful for pretty flowers. :)
Today, we managed to get fence posts up. Big holes, leveling, cement. It's the bare bones start of replacing the section that had to be pulled down to allow big machines into the yard to dig it up and put the septic in.
I'm thankful that we could afford to replace the septic.
A simple turkey dinner was achieved nonetheless - a breast for himself, and a leg for me. Dressing, potato, peas, and a pumpkin pie. Modern shortcuts were employed - microwave, frozen pie crust, and Stove Top dressing. I'm capable of doing it from scratch, with perfect ingredients but I'm low on energy these days and there's so much to do.
I'm thankful for turkey sandwiches for the rest of the week. :)
Karen
I'm thankful that I'm Canadian and we get to do this holiday a month earlier then in the USA. :) More separation from Christmas = less stress.
Bogenschuetzenfest was it's usual mellow good time, although they moved the shooting site and it was a less then satisfactory change. More room for parking, less room for archery. Sorry, no pics this year.
I'm thankful for mellow good times, in great weather.
While we were out at Bogenschuetzenfest, the machine guy came by and finished spreading the mountains of topsoil in the yard as much as he could, given that the ground was still quite wet and the clay-based topsoil wouldn't spread well.
On Sunday, we begged off the family stuff on account of coming down with colds. No need to infect the relatives and lots of need to do work around the house while sniffling. We planted a lot of new acquisitions in the garden.
Here's a few pics of the remaining flowers.....the fall aster and mums were a pleasant surprise in the front garden. I do remember planting them, but I didn't think they'd turn out so well.
And these calendula flowers are quite simply the craziest things I've ever seen. They're still going strong, and they self-seed so abundantly, they are almost weed-like in their replication.
I'm thankful for pretty flowers. :)
Today, we managed to get fence posts up. Big holes, leveling, cement. It's the bare bones start of replacing the section that had to be pulled down to allow big machines into the yard to dig it up and put the septic in.
I'm thankful that we could afford to replace the septic.
A simple turkey dinner was achieved nonetheless - a breast for himself, and a leg for me. Dressing, potato, peas, and a pumpkin pie. Modern shortcuts were employed - microwave, frozen pie crust, and Stove Top dressing. I'm capable of doing it from scratch, with perfect ingredients but I'm low on energy these days and there's so much to do.
I'm thankful for turkey sandwiches for the rest of the week. :)
Karen
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Random Thursday
This is random burblings day.
The yard is still a mess - piles of dirt waiting to be shoved back into a flat state of being. Theoretically, that happens tomorrow. And once it's flat again, we can seed the lawn. I'm eager to get those seeds in.
We've bought bulbs and some new perennials half off in the end of season sale - waiting for a day that's warm enough, in which we have sufficient energy to plant them. We had friends over last weekend who took away some of the things we needed to split.
This weekend is the annual Bogenschuetzenfest. It's one of the first events of the largest Oktoberfest celebration held outside of Germany. Now generally, I can't much stomach this annual celebration of drinking, bad music, bad food, and eye-bleedingly bad costumes, but Bogenschuetzenfest is a silly fun archery contest that generally avoids ... well, at least the rabid drinking.
Now, that's the part of the weekend that I'm most looking forward to - there's also pies, various and sundry family gatherings and a bit of Canada's history suggested for the rest of the weekend. I'm just not sure I feel like waking up for sunday or monday.... at all.
And speaking of sleeping..... I finally got to the store that keeps very-short-hours-during-my-workday and bought this light alarm. So far, so good. But I think the devil's in the settings and there are quite a few of them to choose from.
Also on the sleep frontier - we're still considering moving off the waterbed and onto a Tempurpedic mattress. We slept on Tempurpedic mattresses for two nights during the recent vacation and have mixed feelings about them. They weren't as soft as expected and I still woke up with some soreness - just in different spots. Now, there are different models and the ones in the hotels are on the lower end of the spectrum. They can get cushier, and more expensive. Any forewarnings? comments? recommendations? If you have a Tempurpedic, which model do you have?
Karen
The yard is still a mess - piles of dirt waiting to be shoved back into a flat state of being. Theoretically, that happens tomorrow. And once it's flat again, we can seed the lawn. I'm eager to get those seeds in.
We've bought bulbs and some new perennials half off in the end of season sale - waiting for a day that's warm enough, in which we have sufficient energy to plant them. We had friends over last weekend who took away some of the things we needed to split.
This weekend is the annual Bogenschuetzenfest. It's one of the first events of the largest Oktoberfest celebration held outside of Germany. Now generally, I can't much stomach this annual celebration of drinking, bad music, bad food, and eye-bleedingly bad costumes, but Bogenschuetzenfest is a silly fun archery contest that generally avoids ... well, at least the rabid drinking.
Now, that's the part of the weekend that I'm most looking forward to - there's also pies, various and sundry family gatherings and a bit of Canada's history suggested for the rest of the weekend. I'm just not sure I feel like waking up for sunday or monday.... at all.
And speaking of sleeping..... I finally got to the store that keeps very-short-hours-during-my-workday and bought this light alarm. So far, so good. But I think the devil's in the settings and there are quite a few of them to choose from.
Also on the sleep frontier - we're still considering moving off the waterbed and onto a Tempurpedic mattress. We slept on Tempurpedic mattresses for two nights during the recent vacation and have mixed feelings about them. They weren't as soft as expected and I still woke up with some soreness - just in different spots. Now, there are different models and the ones in the hotels are on the lower end of the spectrum. They can get cushier, and more expensive. Any forewarnings? comments? recommendations? If you have a Tempurpedic, which model do you have?
Karen
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