Fall is in the Air, sort of.

How to tell Fall is here, hummm let's see there are the thousands of Asian lady bugs that appear everywhere. I would love to find the people who thought they would be a good idea to import, they rank up there with the love bugs in the south. We have to resort to
spraying everywhere to try and keep them out. As companion to the lady bugs we have box elder bugs, yuck!! The goats are getting shaggy and the cats fuzzy. We had a couple of nights of frost last weekend which singed quite a few things. Jim helped me cover some of the pumpkins which helped and I had some row covers to put over the tomatoes and peppers. That was Saturday night, then we remembered we had a huge tarp which we spread out for Sunday night. Lots of leaves died but the stems still seem ok. A lady who came to buy eggs saw the pumpkins and thinks we should take the biggest ones to the pumpkin contest. I think it would be fun, so if there is time that is on the agenda. The Maple trees we planted have grown quite well and are starting to turn color, not like in some areas, but still pretty.

Once again we had a disappointing apple crop, I believe part of it is no bees and the other the tornado. The apple trees were in line of fire when it came through and now their are sections that don't look so good. The new trees are doing well and Jim is making cages to go around them so they do not get attacked over the winter. So much to do to prepare all the plants for the sub zero weather to come. Lots of work but well worth it when you see them come back to life in the Spring.

Jim's job hunt continues, all the offers involve moving and none pay well enough to allow him to consider taking an apartment. He is getting some nibbles for work in this area doing handy man type things. We printed up some fliers and are leaving them all over the place, if he could get enough coming in that way we would be alright. I am slowly but surly mastering my job, still lots of stress but not the panic when the phone rings,lol. The basic calls go well and the emergency calls are better. I am able to be calm and remember everything the first time through. There are still challenges in trying to find some of the locations when they are out on the highway.
For me the major stress with the highway calls is time, I want to get them done as quickly as possible and feel inadequate when it takes me too long. I know how awful it feels to be broken down beside the road and how scary. Advise from the older agents is to take deep breaths and keep going and it will all fall into place.

I am so happy with all Jim is doing around here, not only did he put the new windows in the attic but has been repairing all the old wood windows. They have been neglected for years so they leak and are loose in the frames. He has been slowly recauking them and making them weather tight. Some of them the glass was so loose it almost fell out of the frame. The majority of the windows still have the old wavy glass and we are trying to preserve them. He is also rebuilding some of the frames where the weather has damaged the wood. All kinds of new skills.

All the critters are happy and thriving, we now have a kitten room in addition to the bird room. We brought in all the barn kittens as there had been some hawks hanging around and I was worried they might get killed. It is a riot, Jim and I laugh so hard over their antics, he plays goalie when I open the door to feed them. There is an avalanche of small furry bodies pouring out the door. Each so cute in their own ways and funny, we will stand there with hands full of squirming , purring babies and it just makes the day so much better. They love attention and will try to climb your legs to get picked up and petted. All those precious little faces and the trust that you will take care of them.

I don't go on the phone until 5 today and it promises to be nice and warm so will pick peppers and maybe can some more. I did 12 jars of banana pepper rings and am thinking I will do some jalapeno and Hungarian hot wax rings as well. I promised a friend some jalapenos so will pack some of them up to send to her. I guess I will dry the Poblamos and not sure what to do with the Anaheim s. I have used some of my dill and will dry the rest, the basil plants are all in and have given several away. Still have not figured out how to harvest the horseradish,lol another new skill. I am already planning the garden for next year, trying to learn from what worked this time and what didn't.

Wishing much happiness from the small things in life to all my friends,

Barbara