AUTUMN - WINTER 2011/12

I took the above pictures yesterday (or was it the day before?). We had the local wild turkeys visiting our front garden early in the morning, and the dogs were going nuts. They, being herding dogs, would dearly love to run out the front door, down the porch steps, and over to those strutting turkeys and herd them all into a nice neat little pack. But I don't give them the chance. It would be too wild and noisy if I let them out to do that, so they just had to be content to observe the wild birds from inside the storm door.

I wish I could give them more of a free-wheeling country life, but we live in a city, and even though we are in a rural-appearing corner of our city, next to the Salem Conservation woods even, there are many, many nearby neighbors who do not appreciate loud collie voices, especially in the early mornings, so I try my best to keep it to a minimum.

But it's very hard.

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We've had high temperatures here lately, back to summer, and I had the A/C's going all day yesterday. Don't like that much, but then again, a few days ago we had almost frost temperatures and I actually put the heat on for an hour or so just to take the chill off the house while I typed.

I cannot type (for work) when my fingers are frozen. After I retire, which at this point will be in 18 days or less, if all goes as planned, maybe I can stand the house a little cooler all day whilst I am in it. But for work, I really need warm fingers. It's bad enough my fingers ache all the time with arthritis, which seems to be progressing to most of my other joints daily.

Wow. 18 more days.

I think I will go into some kind of culture shock when I find myself with all that free time on my hands. I've gotten myself somewhat accustomed to doing little projects around the house, of which there are hundreds if not thousands that need doing, so at least I have a "to-do" list and piece by piece, step by small step, I am getting things done that I've been putting off doing for years. If I had better physical health, I would tackle the outside of the house, as well, but right now I just can't do it. Paul has had to pick up the slack and do all the yardwork himself. And he's got very little, if any, free time at all so only the very bare minimum yardwork gets done here now-a-days.

He did put in a kidney-shaped garden out front near the street (you can see it in the photos above where the turkeys were lingering) where he is planting various plants, shrubs, flowers, greenery, etc. It looks much better after he mows the grass surrounding the little garden. But we have other planting areas (in the corners) that are weed-filled and need his attention, as well. Maybe once all the leaves are down from the trees, he'll take a whole day out there and clean up good. But it has to be a day when he can't possibly go lobstering, which is usually a very blustery windy day. He won't give up a day of work for gardening. Oh no.

Well, back to my project, which today has been vacuuming the furs up from the floors and walls and ceilings (yes, they climb the walls and deposit themselves on the ceilings here) and I may even get out the dustcloth and get rid of a layer of dust on the furniture. That would lift my spirits - seeing a surface with no dust on it for a change! I also have a new recipe I want to try, pumpkin cornbread, that I found online so that could be on the table tonight with supper.

Happy Columbus Day!

Cheers,

Bex