Monthly Archives: October 2016

More News

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Our garden continues to produce.  On Tuesday, Sylvia harvested a few jalapeños from our four plants.  (They are more like bushes.)

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This bucket was nearly full.  A layer of bell peppers filled it to the rim.  That evening she gave away six dozen jalapeños.  We still had a bit over half of the original amount.  This was from one day’s harvest–we don’t harvest everyday.  This single “haul” was more than we would reap in a normal year from four plants.  Organic fertilizer works wonders.

One plant remains and it is loaded.  We are looking forward to fresh jalapeños in November.  We’ve never done that before.

Replacement Windows

Yesterday the construction crew returned to finish the job of replacing all the windows in this house.  Only a small amount of work remained.  In about an hour they had finished their work, cleaned up the work area, took my check and hit the road.  Thanks guys!  Good job, well done.

Sylvia and I will have to put on the finishing touches.  She’ll paint and I’ll shorten and install window blinds.

Projects in Progress and Done

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Looking into the living room last week, I saw this:

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The final phase of replacing windows in the house was underway.  It was a good feeling to see the guys at work.

I went back into the office to work on a website.  A bit later I returned and checked on the construction progress.

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One of the crew is here today to put final touches on the project.  Once that is done, Sylvia will paint and I will install the blinds.  We’ll be ready for winter this year.

Timber

I posted earlier about the tree that came down in a recent wind storm.  The County Road Commission sent a work crew to move the tree out of the road.  They left it like this:

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I made arrangements to have our lawn man cut the tree up so that we could toss it on our burn piles.  Before he came, neighbor Bob showed up with his chainsaw and started cutting.  Sylvia and I hurried out to help remove brush and stack the fire wood in a neat pile.  Before he left, Bob helped us burn the brush piles.  Recent rain did not allow the piles to burn completely.  Nevertheless, about two thirds did.  On Friday, we returned from running errands and saw that the wood was gone.  We were very happy.  The scene now looks like this:

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Autumnal Joy

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Beautiful fall day
Colors dance upon the trees
Perfect time of year

Helpful neighbors have made the last couple of weeks extra special for us.  It started with the gal that gave Sylvia a bushel of the best apples ever–crisp, naturally sweet, but tart and very tasty.  We made enough apple sauce for 26 pints.  Also an apple pie and some apple dumplings.  Sylvia’s benefactor had never had apple dumplings, so Sylvia took her two of them–softball size.  We still have some for eating fresh, making pie and dumplings.

I had lined up some help for this week to cut up the fallen tree that the road commission had pushed out of the way.  Last Thursday we looked up from lunch to see our neighbor at the tree with chainsaw in hand.  We quickly finished lunch and hurried out to help.  The mess is gone.

Thanks neighbors.  You prove the maxim: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”

Purple

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I went out to check the flower gardens.  Yes, we have three of them.  The theme seemed to be the color purple.  So many beauties clad in royal purple.  It started with the cone flower.

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This year, Sylvia decided to go with purple salvia instead of her usual red.  While not as bold, the purple has added a bit more elegance in my opinion.

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The purple that is most apt to attract your attention as you approach our door is the petunias.  I’ve always had a fondness for these and this year even more so.

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No pictures of the vegetable garden today.  It’s not very pretty but we’re still harvesting carrots, beets, jalapeños and a few green beans.

The forecast shows no frost for us in the near future.  First frost could come later that usual, which is okay by me.

Merry Gold

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We still have plenty of color in the flower gardens.  Sylvia has kept things look good out there.

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All that gold makes me feel rich beyond measure.  Wait.  It gets better.

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You can pep it up a step.  Or even two.

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The purslane adds such a nice touch of color that we’ve let it grow.  At least the ones we didn’t harvest earlier for our dinner table.  The succulent stems and leaves are good in a salad or steamed for greens.

This year, we’ve also added lamb’s quarters (yes, the weed) to our diet.  Thanks Sharkey for telling us about them.  The young tender shoots are best and can be added raw to a salad or steamed as greens.  In the later case a bit of balsamic vinegar adds a nice touch.  (Hint: they make good snacks when you are out in the garden or on a hike.)

Looking at You

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I stepped out the back door and found myself looking at this guy.  He was looking back at me.

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I got down on the driveway to get that shot and this one.

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This is about the largest praying mantis that I have seen.  I’m always glad to see them, because they eat other bugs.