Preparing for Fall

If you can believe this, I finally finished moving all seven cords of wood, and as much as I love stacking the stuff, I am so done with all that. It's not so much the actual stacking that got to me but rather the notion that I had to move it AGAIN. Total bummer, but it's done, and I have to confess, it's rather impressive to look at all the wood in one big pile.

So now that that is all done, I can start focusing on raking the leaves and shutting down the garden. Ruth has done a beautiful job of clearing things, and I guess I could always go and just yank stuff out. Truth be told, our garden didn't yield as much as I had thought it would. The squash had so many blossoms, and only yielded, at most, about a dozen squash, if even that. As for the pumpkins, we got some nice big ones, but Ruth planted a bunch of small sugar pumpkins and we got none. Strange.

Either way, I'm thinking that it would be best to finish all garden/yard work before we head off for Europe, since it might be too cold once we get back. Man, I can't tell you how glad I am to get the wood pile done.

Now that Fall is here full swing, it begins yet another seasonal cycle in New England. The community dinners seem to kick in, as well as the new round of jobs and activities that need to be taken care of. The ones that seem to loom large in my mind are raking the leaves and thinking about snow tires. As I may have mentioned, I'll wait until Spring to think about chainsaws.

I've been chasing balloons a lot lately, and it's killing me. I enjoy helping Gary, but man, I don't have the time, and it really throws off my day. I will say this, however, the foliage has been spectacular, and I think Gary has been getting a lot of business at this Fall rush. I'm happy for him.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a look at the shingles that I want to rip out of the front. The 80 feet of clapboard that I just got is calling my name.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.