35 below

No Christmas tree or decorations up yet. With the Scourge in the ICU, there are more important concerns. George wants to find floodlights to shine on the evergreens on the knob, thinking that would give the best visibility on the webcam. So check in the evenings, see if we’ve done anything yet. So cold this morning that I had to blanket Sage. While Coach always puts her winter coat on in September, he...

Mulder vs the Porcupine

The title says it all. Mulder forgot, ten years after his last experience, that porcupines aren’t cuddly. He had a snootful of quills at 10 p.m. and was in agony all night long.  I got about 3 hours sleep that night as he couldn’t sit, couldn’t sleep but wanted to be with me just in case I could help. (George was still away) We were at the vets the moment they opened the door in the morning, and...

Wind Damage

Yesterday’s storm was indeed a good’un. Mulder and I walked the property early this morning to survey the damage. One tree across the sauna roof. One across the north pasture fence, too big for me to deal without the chainsaw. I’ll have to rig up some twine to keep the ponies in. Several down across the high meadow. One landed on the...

First Snowflakes

Can’t call it “First Snow” really as it was just a tiny squall passing by, but the dog came in with snowflakes in his fur. The pond freezes over most every nights and I haven’t seen much of the ducks lately. But every day I can avoid hauling water and still use the hose to fill horse trough is a bonus. Very windy all day. The neighbour’s thoroughbreds are running around the pasture...

Fall Cleanup

We read that there should be snow this week, so the garden needed work right away. George got his horseradish out. I brought in the tomato plants. Am trying that ‘hang them upside-down’ trick, but we don’t have a lot of room in the house for experiments like this. They are in my office, hanging from the bookshelves. My office smells like...

Hard frost

Water in the dog’s dish froze nearly solid last night. Probably time to bring in all the tomatoes and hope that they ripen.

Front flower notes

Move the silver mound to front of deck. Move the pearly everlasting early close to spirea? Keep Alexander Mackenzie where he is for one more year, but think about swapping with Night and Day from the knob.

Veggie notes

Cosmos was a waste. Don’t bother planting again. Chinese cabbage. Got 3 crops, and took the early frost OK Keep the carrots away from the fence line. Coach has a long neck. Marigolds weren’t useful as cut flower. Different variety? Zinnias were good. Need to be cut early to promote more blooms. Lasting well in the frost. Cover tomotoes earlier. They needed more heat to start setting sooner. Carnations...

Autumn surely

A windy night last night. Most of the leaves are gone from the birches. There’s not much green left in the trees. Picked two dozen tomatoes, now peeled and frozen. Plenty left on the vines to ripen if we’re lucky not to freeze. Asters, zinnias and statice still content under the plastic covering. Just Joey and Morden Sunrise still have buds.