Halloween 2010

I don't care if you celebrate Halloween, All Hallows Eve or Samhain. I hope you all had a blessed day.

Here are some photos of our day. Well, photos of the children enjoying the day.

Ooo, pumpkin guts....

K10 learns the way of the drill to make holes in his pumpkin.

J16's creation.

They are strategically placed to be visible from the road.

We got exactly 2 trick or treaters. Oh, well....

J16 ditched her planned costume and went as a raver

glow sticks and glitter are great things.

I13 as a construction worker

considering how long they have been working on the highway, this was probably the scariest costume out there tonight.

He collected candy in a traffic cone!

K10 went as "Hank the janitor"

All the costumes were no cost and ready in about 5 minutes.

My kind of costumes.

Ooo... scary

K10's is bottom left- pumpkin with shotgun blast to the face.

Only a 10 year old....

Look at that haul-

Sugar rush- here we come...

Busy, Busy

Today flew by. I didn't get several of the things on my original "to do" list done but I got lots of others done. It was such a beautiful day that V decided that we should burn some of the brush that has accumulated over the summer. So, we were outside most of the afternoon tending the fire. We kept it fairly small since there was a little breeze and there is lots of dry grass about. While we were out and about, since we started the fire in the barnyard, not too far from the garden, I decided to get started cleaning out the garden. I gathered frosted tiny pumpkins and pattypan squash and started pulling the tomato supports. I got just over half of the tomatoes pulled. I probably would have done more but we ended up having visitors.

Our friend Jim stopped by with two other friends who were interested in getting pumpkins. All of these people had already had the experience of one of our fabulous pumpkins and came back for more. So, between the three of them (and picking up for another friend who was working today) we parted with seven pumpkins! Woot! I've got 4 reserved in the house for us, one for the guy who is the food writer for the local paper (maybe we'll get a feature!) and still have at least 6 more in the shop. I'm still waiting for one other person to come pick up some (tomorrow or Monday) so hopefully I'll have a much more manageable number. I've still got some leads out there to give away some more. They need to find homes or be moved into the house because it's getting far too cold for them to remain in the shop. It was kind of fun to see the expression on their faces when they saw the pile of pumpkins and learned that they all came from two little seeds. I gave up weighing after a while but our best estimate is about 450 pounds of pumpkins. Yowza! The bounty of nature is AMAZING!

It felt good to be putting the garden to bed and now I'm tired, a good tired, from working outside in the fresh air, laughing with friends and eating good food (and of course, getting to burn things!!). I've still got some more to do but tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day. Of course, we still haven't carved pumpkins for Halloween- we're a bit behind the times. And it's my turn to take the children trick or treating tomorrow night.

J16 is at a birthday party for one of her friends this evening. She chose for a gift, a jar of the July Gelatinous Yum (peach jam) that she and I made this summer. What a great gift, although I was somewhat reluctant to part with it- that means less for us to eat! She is hoping to be able to practice some of her bellydance moves at this party. This particular friend (who is a Muslim of middle eastern origin.) is the one who got her hooked on bellydancing a few years ago.

Well, I've got to get the dishes done so I don't have a mess to clean up tomorrow. I've got plenty enough other things to do.

Good food, Good friends

V and his friend Eileen

Yes, he is stooping down, he is much taller than she.

V and I took a much deserved break last night. We drove an hour and a half to Clinton, IA to have dinner at Rastrelli's with his friend Eileen who is in the midwest on a job. It was a wonderful time and the place was closing down around us before we finally left. I met her once, about 20 years ago, which was the last time V had seen her as well. We had a lovely time, shared photos of children and laughed a lot.

Now, back to reality... laundry, dishes and bread baking await....

NOW it really looks like a room!

We had our delivery this morning. It's beautiful!!

In Chili Pepper Red.

It fits just like the room was designed around it ;)

Oh, yeah, it was....

The master craftsman takes a well deserved lie down!

We hope to finish the other end of the room soon. That's the end with the built-in entertainment center and bookshelves. I can't wait to have family movie night on the new couch. WOOT!

There is still a lot of work that needs done before the room is completely finished- but that can be said about most of the house.

We did have our killer freeze this morning. It was down to 25*F out there. So, the 2010 garden is officially done. Time to start planning for next year....

Tonight, V and I leave the children at home and head to Clinton for dinner. One of his high school friends, who now lives in suburban DC, is in Eastern Illinois to meet with a client (she is a professional copywriter who has subcontracted work to V in the past) so it was decided to meet midway for dinner. It should be fun.

Ooo, Bamboo

V was a very busy boy today.

All together now... Oooo, Ahhhh.....

Mad as a wet hornet!!

Ok, I'm due for a bit of a rant. So here goes.

What is wrong with people???

I got home this afternoon and I13 nonchalantly informed me that, not only did several trees get blown over at the junior high today because of the high winds, but that he was nearly hit by a car as he got off the bus this afternoon. Now, I was a bit puzzled at first. The bus drops him off at the end of our driveway, on this side of the road. Apparently, this person was either so impatient or so distracted that they couldn't stop for a stopped school bus, lights flashing and the doors open. This driver drove around the school bus ON THE SHOULDER barely missing the doors. Thank every God out there and all the lucky stars and everything else I can think of that I13 was still on the bus steps. He said he could have stuck out his foot and kicked the car door as it went by.

It terrifies me what could have been if he had been just a few steps further.

Fortunately, he says that his bus driver was able to get the license number of the car. I hope that driver PAYS! I'm ANGRY that some people are so careless and/or thoughtless to take the lives of other peoples children into their hands. GRRRRR.

End of rant. We will now resume regular programming.

More construction and harvests

I took off work a bit early, hoping to come home to get some work done. V had already been at work- I just can't stop that man- broken hand and all.

The northwest corner of the rumpus room.

I had to get the full effect.

A few bamboo sections.

Isn't it beautiful?!!

Of course, we can't start laying the floor yet. The subfloor still needs to be Tapcon screwed into the floor to provide a solid base. V is hoping to do that tomorrow but I'm not sure his hand will tolerate using the big drill that much so maybe I'll be busy after work. We also can't lay the floor yet because the wood needs to acclimate to the house. The problem is that the temperature and humidity in the shop where it has been stacked is vastly different than in the basement so we need to give it time to get used to it's new home before we put it down.

All the boxes of flooring, opened up and "breathing".

I think that once we start laying the floor that it will go pretty fast. We aren't doing any sort of complicated pattern and the room is a nice rectangle so I'm not too worried.

But, enough about construction, I've got more to report. I'm still harvesting from the garden!! In LATE October! Unbelievable.

Somebody stop me before I harvest again!

We're finally forecast for a killer freeze (into the 20's) later this week so I thought I'd see what I could find out there.

It's Monday and time that I usually do my Independence Days update. So, here goes:

1. Plant something- my male Kiwi finally arrived and I got it planted. J16 has named them Romeo and Juliette.

2. Harvest something- tomatoes, peppers, an eggplant, one amazing last cucumber and... wait for it... cauliflower and lettuce. If you're now scratching your head in amazement saying "but I thought she didn't do any fall garden planting" you're right. The cauliflower was a total fluke. It is from a shoot that came up from the roots of the one I planted this spring and formed a beautiful, fist-sized head. The lettuce is an even more amazing gift of nature. Very early this spring, I made a mini bed on the South side of the house, hoping that the sun exposure there would let me get an earlier start on a few leafy greens. I used some old seed and it really didn't do well. But, apparently, one went to seed and I was out and about the other weekend and discovered the section of the yard between the house and my flower bed is a mass of little oak-leaved lettuce. Look:

A 5 quart pail of lettuce and a few leaves of sorrel that is still going.

We're having home grown spaghetti sauce and salads from the garden tonight. Yum.

3. Preserve something- um. I think only my sanity. Oh, and my marriage- I'm not in jail for murdering my stubborn husband.

4. Waste not- I can't think of much to exciting here.

5. Want not- I stocked up at the store. They were having sales and coupons for things we actually use! Coffee, flour, sugar, butter, chocolate chips, canned tuna, frozen peas (mine didn't do much this year) and frozen french fries. I know, frozen fries aren't local or sustainable but they are a fairly quick addition to meals that I know the children will eat- well, except for K10 who doesn't like potatoes in any form.

6. Build community food systems. Nothing I can think of.

7. Eat the food- spaghetti and salads for dinner tonight. We will have one last fresh pepper feast for the week until the hot peppers are gone.

Well, gotta go make salads. J16 should be home from orchestra soon. Tonight is out late dinner night.

Construction update- Girl power!

I've promised a construction update with pictures. V's hand is better today than it was but he still can't do any heavy labor. He tried today to drive in a few screws and found it quite painful. Of course, will he listen to anyone about going to the doctor? Of course not.

First, a few "not new" developments in the basement.

The glass block wall section.

This is the wall between the rumpus room and the room that will eventually be a bar/summer kitchen (maybe). There are no windows in the rumpus room and this will allow some natural light to enter the room from the south window near by. The other room- not even started yet, has lots of cabinets and counter space as it had been the lab in the old animal hospital. There is even plumbing for a sink although there isn't a sink there. That room is a project for another time- currently those counters and cabinets are tool and supply storage for the renovation.

One corner of V's study/work room.

There are built in shelves in this room as well as his work table and the door into the well room.

But, on to today's progress. Today was the day of the girls. Since V was laid up with his hand injury, he was relegated to supervising, giving advice, taking photos and measuring.

Measuring for the last piece on the west wall.

J16 is quite enthusiastic about being the "mapper"-

writing down measurements so we can cut accurately.

J16 and I cut the last piece of the day.

I got to use the big drill. Oooo...

K10 posed as "screw boy".

I think he has NO idea how funny that name is!

Our progress for the day.

We got the West wall hung and most of the North wall insulated (for soundproofing). Tomorrow will see completion of the dry wall on the North wall and maybe a few other bits. Then, all that is left is flooring. We have decided that we won't get the entertainment center and built-in shelves completed before the couch arrives but they are on the opposite end of the room.

We did get out this afternoon and pay off the balance on the couch, make a run for more insulation and dry-wall screws and stop at the grocery store.

Now, it's about time to watch Sherlock Holmes on PBS. Gotta run- time for family night.

Set backs

We've had a slow down on basement progress. Sigh. V hurt himself yesterday. He most likely broke his hand but won't go to the doctor. He was drilling holes in the floor joists to reroute an electrical line when he hit a knot in the wood. The drill bit stopped but the drill didn't and torqued around, twisting forcefully into his knuckle. Ouch. And if that wasn't bad enough, he was still trying to work, using that hand (his left and he's left handed) to brace something while he worked and managed to hit the same knuckle with a hammer. Duh. So, he's a bit out of commission. He and the children did manage to finish the wiring today. He supervised and had J16 wire up the new switch box while the boys helped pull wire through the joists.

He's hoping to be well enough that we can hang dry wall tomorrow. J16 and I volunteered to do it this afternoon but he nixed the idea because he's worried we won't be able to get the sheets safely off the stack. We had a delivery of 100 sheets and the stack is pretty tall. We weren't worried. So regardless, we will probably be working on walls tomorrow.

But, since we weren't working on the walls, I took time after I got home from work to try to get a bit more organization going in my craft/sewing room. I finally got the shelves in my craft cupboard and J16 and I unpacked 3 big boxes of craft/sewing supplies. It's amazing all the things I've got. I really should give some things away since I have all this stuff that we did when the children were small that they're really too old for now. I'm still waiting for my other cabinets to get mounted on the wall because I have some more stuff to unpack. And I need to find a home for all my patterns where they are accessible. The room is still the storehouse of many things that will eventually live in the rumpus room but don't have homes yet. Maybe soon I'll be able to really organize it. I can't wait to get out my quilting stuff again. I've been looking at it on occasion, dreaming. Of course, I'll be able to work on it in all my spare time ;)

We're still hoping to have the rumpus room finished by Friday. So, I think I'm going to be VERY busy every evening this week.

Having fun

With the new(ish) stats feature on blogger. Does anyone else find this cool?? I love to check out where people are visiting from and what they're looking at.

Of course, V tried to burst my bubble by telling me that lots of the hits it tracks are just from "bots" out cruising the web. But I hold out hope that people from all over the world are actually interested in what I say. Aack! Maybe I need to be more "appropriate".

Anyway, if you're stopping by, please delurk and let me know what you like, don't like or would like to see more of. Old friends are welcome to let me know as well ;)

Of course, you're always going to get more construction updates, gratuitous photos of my children and general life lessons learned as well as seasonal garden information.

Other than that, there's not much going on here. Construction on the basement continues. The glass block section of wall was installed (photos coming soon) and drywall will follow as soon as the outlets are wired up again. V is hoping to start on flooring this weekend. Hmm, maybe it's not such a bad thing that I work on Saturday.

J16 and I are saddened that after tonight we only have two belly dancing classes left. However, she said that she would offer 3 or 4 classes out of her home/studio in November/December and then would have classes at the rec center starting again in January and March. J16 and I have been having so much fun that we want to continue.

We're expecting patchy frost again here tonight. We'll see what is left in the garden. I'm being bad- I didn't go pick the peppers clean. Honestly, I'm about tired of processing hot peppers. I've got some in the fridge drawer that we can stuff a few more times and a few tomatoes ripening but I'm ready for the 2010 growing season to be over. I'll probably start a few greens in a window box or other container under my grow lights in a bit. 3/4 of K10's beans are doing well in the pot under the lights. They are getting their second set of true leaves. The other one was, I think, a bit abused coming home in his backpack and I don't think it's going to make it. C'est la vie.

Have a good Thursday night and Friday.

Did you wear purple today?

I did.

So did J16.

So did many others.

I guess I'm intolerant of those who are intolerant.

Does that make sense?

Date night and other items

V and I had DATE NIGHT!!! Last night we went downtown to the Englert Theatre for a concert by The Wailin' Jennys. We had hoped to be able to go out for dinner before the concert but, fortunately, we never got around to making reservations because we wouldn't have made it. We had a busy, busy weekend. V was busy in the basement and I was busy outside and in, leaving me lots for updates.

1. Plant something- I got my day lilies planted and a horseradish start that I was given. Fortunately, the weather was lovely and it was such a pleasure to work outside. Sunny and low to mid 70's is amazing for mid-October in Iowa. K10 and I also worked to plant something:

K10 waters his experimental beans.

They are doing a science unit in school on plants, studying seed germination, pollination and growth (all that good stuff that he already knows pretty well from being around me). They just concluded an experiment on how different environmental conditions influence seed germination. He had two ziploc bags with two seeds each on moist paper towels. One was the control and all students bags were under the grow lights in the classroom. With the other bag, each child got to decide what conditions to provide. One child chose to use an energy drink rather than water (they molded- yuck- not going to do that with my seeds!), others put them in the fridge or provided different lighting conditions. K10 chose to put his seeds under black light (he uses a black light as a nightlight in his bedroom). All 4 of his seeds germinated beautifully, then they were allowed to do with them what they wanted. He (of course, being my son) wanted to plant them (because you can't just let them die!!). So, we got a pot, filled it with potting soil and carefully planted them. They're all doing well so far. I'm just not sure where we will put them when we bring them inside. They are Great Northern beans and K10 wants to build a stick trellis so they can climb up. I think he thinks he's going to be able to harvest beans this winter. Who knows- maybe they can live under my grow lights since I won't be starting seeds for a while. It could be fun. We have grown lettuce under grow lights in the winter- but it's a bit easier to contain than semi-vining beans.

2. Harvest something- Still getting a few tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. It's supposed to get down to near freezing this evening (they're forecasting 35*F) and I'm not planning to cover anything. It's time.

3. Preserve something- I made pear chutney yesterday. Yummy!! It's the same recipe I used last year that we really liked. This year I used a mix of pears and apples since I had some dropped apples that I needed to use before they went bad.

The raw ingredients.

Pears, apples, dried currants, dried cranberries, onion, garlic, hot peppers, brown sugar and lots of spices.

Filled jars, ready for lids.

The finished product

Oops, my hard water is showing- I forgot to add vinegar to the canner.

4. Waste not- Not much different than usual here. Composted, used cloth shopping bags, repurposed when possible. V did manage to fix my old craft cabinet so I don't need to get a new one.

5. Want not- I stocked up on 30 lbs of potatoes. The local store had a sale at 10 lbs for $1.97. At that price, I couldn't pass it up so we got plenty for storage. The sale goes through tomorrow so I may try to stop and pick up one more bag since we have storage space. We also picked up a couple of whole pork loins locally and cut them up ourselves and repackaged for the freezer.

6. Community food systems- pork loins, not much else local this week. I'm still trying to arrange pick up with a few people who want pumpkins since I would like to reduce the population before it gets cold enough that I need to move them into the house. I've got space for food storage but not THAT much.

7. Eat the food- we had a fabulous pasta sauce made from the last tomatoes, peppers and eggplants last night. We figure we have enough peppers for more stuffed peppers and we will have one last caprese salad tonight with our local beef burgers.

I finally got notice that my male Kiwi has shipped so that should be arriving soon. Then, I think my planting will be done for the year. Time to put the garden to bed for the year and concentrate on the inside of the house.

It ain't over yet

Today's harvest

Still going... and finally two little bell peppers!

I see some sauce in the future- tomato, eggplant, pepper and basil. Mmm

Spaz, the mighty hunter.

He caught another mouse in the house this week. That brings our total to three in the past few weeks. Hmm, I wonder how they're getting in....

We knew this day was coming...

Our new couch for the basement will be delivered on the 29th. Ack! We still don't have drywall or flooring in the room -although all the walls are framed and one set of bookshelves is in. It looks like a hard two weeks of work ahead of us. We will be picking up the flooring this weekend. We have chosen to use bamboo rather than a hardwood laminate. Then, we will be spending some quality time as a family hanging drywall. Oh, the fun we have together. At least now we have a definite target date to get the room finished. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

In other events, the final installment of my order of day lilies arrived today so I'll be planting tomorrow. Now, I'm just waiting on the male Kiwi. Who knows. I may have to send them a message asking about it. J16 is also planning to send them a message. We ordered her blue climbing rose last spring and planted it soon after we bought the house. Last year it set buds right before the first frost and even though it has grown tremendously this year (all the way to the porch roof!) we still have had no flowers. How odd. The rose I planted this year is doing really well and still blooming.

We have also had some sad news here. The mother of one of J16's good friends died suddenly on Monday. She was only a few months older than I am. J16 and some of her other friends are planning to attend the funeral tomorrow morning to support their friend. Sometimes, things like this make me realize what a great kid we've managed to raise. It also makes me realize that we never really know what's going to happen and to make sure we make the most of life and make sure the ones we love know it.

Enough waxing philosophical- I gotta get the pizza out of the oven.

Mixed emotions

V and I just returned from a lecture by writer and environmentalist Bill McKibben. I must say that I'm having mixed emotions at the moment.

First, I was feeling amazement. The lecture started at 7. The doors of the theater where it was held opened at 6:30. We arrived at about 6:32 to find the line to get in stretched almost 2 blocks. AMAZING!! There was some fun with others standing in line, wondering if we would make the cut- being a block and a half into the line. We made it. We were sitting in the nose-bleed section of the balcony, but we made it.

Then came the lecture. First, it was quite depressing, he gave facts and figures about climate change that hit too close to home. Then, things became a bit more hopeful as he talked about the global effort to raise awareness and combat climate change. He showed pictures from all over the world of the 350.org rallies that had taken place on Sunday- 10/10/10- the climate work party. It was inspiring.

Then things got a bit depressing again. He was driving home the point that we can do everything right- we can change every light bulb in our house, cut our carbon emissions, eat locally- all those things that we've been working to do- and it still won't matter if changes aren't made on a larger scale (think national or better yet global). And even worse, even if we can make enough changes to bring down the CO2 level in the atmosphere, it may be too late and the earth we know may be a thing of the past and we will need to learn how to live and survive in the brave, new world we are creating.

He did a lot to push political activism, hoping that if enough voices are heard, that maybe some of the powers that be may take notice. I'm off to check out the organization he started. 350.org. Why don't you come along... we can all get depressed and inspired and amazed and maybe even hopeful together.

A typical Monday night

As usual, we had a late dinner, with J16 at orchestra rehearsal from 530 to 7. I had to get up and go back to work today... Rough after a 5 day stretch of being off. Fortunately, it was a rather slow day at work so I could ease back into the swing of things.

Per my Monday norm, I'm doing my IDC update. I'll try to keep it brief because I'm tired.

1. Plant something- My female Hardy Kiwi. Still no word on the shipment of the male. Who knows.

2. Harvest something- hmm, I actually don't think I've got anything other than a couple of random tomatoes.

3. Preserve something- no again. I was hoping to get the pear chutney done this weekend but the pears are still a bit hard. This variety from my parents tends to go from hard to rotten in about 3 minutes so I've got them in the fridge drawer to help keep them longer. While not preservation of food, we set up the deer nets to preserve our little orchard from the hungry deer this winter.

4. Waste not- Nothing much more than the usual.

5. Want not- got some black beans, golden raisins and a couple of other things at Stringtown (the Amish bulk store in Kalona).

6. Build community food systems- picked up local cheese and eggs in Kalona. I'm also working to try to set up a time for one of the psych residents to come to pick up another couple of pumpkins.

7. Eat the food- made a yummy pureed veggie soup for J16 this weekend that V and I also enjoyed. Some more stuffed peppers, local eggs and cheese, Mmmm...

Now, to help V work on the final wall. There is one short section and then we have two decorative half walls- we'll be using glass block for one of them. Then, I'm off to bed.

They got talent!

This afternoon was the 7th annual talent and art show at our church. It was fun, as usual, with children and adults sharing their gifts. I took along an unfinished quilt top, just for show and tell. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to finish it soon.

I13 played a piece on his euphonium

J16 on the violin.

K10 decided this afternoon that he had no talent and just wanted to watch. That's OK.

My friend Deb played the dulcimer.

In addition to the talent show, there was also an art show with everything from fingerpainting to water colors and bead work to cake decorating. The art show was a silent auction with all the proceeds going to the local homeless shelter.

J16 won the bid on a giant cupcake decorated by another friend, Tammy.

The girls with her are the children of my friend Debbie (different one from the dulcimer player). Their older sister, Cassie, was one of J16's best friends when she was small but was killed in an accident at age 8. It was a tough time for all but J16 has stayed close to the little sisters. I've posted before about the annual mitten drive held in Cassie's honor.

I also won a bid on earrings made by Deb (dulcimer player)

They are from one of her first forays into polymer clay.

I have a thing for trees ;)

And no one else had bid on them and they looked so lonely.

All in all, it was a great afternoon. I didn't get down to the sustainability rally- the talent show took longer than I anticipated.

But, we did get the final big wall (11 ft section) framed and up in the basement this afternoon/evening. There is only one short section and two sections of decorative half wall to go and the framing is all complete!! It's coming along!! Maybe we will have that room done by the time the couch arrives at the end of the month.

Sunny Saturday

Oh, it was a gorgeous day here in Eastern Iowa. The sun was shining brightly and it was HOT- 87 F was the warmest I saw it, but I didn't keep close tabs on the temperature. It was a beautiful day to be working outside. Of course, I didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted but that's typical. I did manage to get several things crossed off my list today.

I did get the female kiwi planted and mulched. Poor little thing, it looks so forlorn. Hopefully it's mate will arrive soon. We worked and worked, outside and in, until the sun was setting.

The sunset over the pole barn- look at all those jet trails!!

The orchard with new deer nets up.

V and I did get the deer fence up around the trees. We drove three t posts and made a triangle of the net/fence around each tree. We used fine meshed nylon(?) netting 7 feet high that is designed to keep out deer. It is so fine it is hard to see and I'm worried that it will also act like a net for birds. We'll have to keep our eyes on it. Or maybe tie little reflectors or something onto it so it will be more visible. Since it is small mesh, it should also help discourage rabbits. It will also help protect the trees from sledders, especially since we were volunteered to host another sledding party this coming winter. Everyone had such fun last year they want to do it again.

V relaxing on the deck at the end of the day.

I really like this photo of him.

I didn't get the garden cleared off but I've still got time. Those pumpkin vines aren't going anywhere. The only other thing on my list for the weekend is to make pear chutney. I've still got tomorrow- we'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, we have several other events taking up time so I'll have to work smart tomorrow.

There is a sustainability rally downtown tomorrow afternoon that I'd like to get to if I have time. And then on Wednesday, Bill McKibben will be speaking. Too much fun.

Tomorrow is 10-10-10. Have fun.

Random images

I had an appointment this morning in the eye clinic so I can get my next year's supply of contact lenses. I had my eyes dilated, which I hate, and it messed up my day. We are having near record warm temps (after the frosts of the weekend!) with temps in the 80's this afternoon. And I couldn't stand to be outside since it was too bright- even with sunglasses! I did get some cleaning and sorting done inside but I really wanted to be outside working. Grrr.

J16 seems to be doing well but we let her stay home from school again today so she could take her pain meds and rest up. She is still on soft foods and is anxious for "real" food.

Since I have nothing much to post about, I thought I'd share some random pictures of the past few days.

The Black Pearl Peppers in the Goth Garden escaped the frost.

Isn't it just the coolest thing ever?!

I love Asters, even though many people think of them as weeds.

Our compost surprise.

Marigolds near the pile where we composted the leaves and clippings from our old house last fall, volunteer seedlings from our old house.

The Moulin Rouge sunflower is still blooming- although they are small flowers now.

Ugh, Boxelder bugs are gathering again.

Not as many asian lady bugs as last year...yet.

My Kiwi arrived today- but only the female.

The male will ship separately.

Are they afraid of what will go on in the box???

A sunny day on the farm.

The leaves are starting to change.

Off exploring, but not visible in the picture are K10, I13 and his friend Nikki who came over after school today for a while.

I can't believe I've been home for three days and don't feel like I've accomplished anything. We did pick up fence posts for putting up the deer fence around the apple trees so we will probably be doing that tomorrow. I also hope to get some of the garden cleared out. We are forecast for upper 80's and sun for tomorrow. That's almost too hot!

I hope you are all having a great weekend.