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Friday, September 25, 2020

Whoa!

 My, how time does fly when you spend it mostly whining.   We've had four frosty mornings in a row, so it is so long, farewell to the garden.  The kale and Swiss chard still stand, bless them, but everything else has bowed out for the season.  

Excuse the utility pole - photo of my favorite maple tree, across the road. (Curse new blogger - I still can't figure out how to insert captions.)

Gratuitous image to illustrate how I feel about summer ending and the onset of autumn.  We are in a warm-up phase, but that will only last over the next week - when we are going to enjoy our first Arctic weather visit.  Geez.  I managed to get my furnace service scheduled for just before the cold strikes, thank goodness.

Still no communication from the Mothership - I guess they have more important things to do, like take over the world.  I've applied for SS and am in the process of applying for Medicare, although it is now taking up to 60 days to go through. 

My sisters and I were able to squeeze in one more girlz night at our favorite watering hole, and I am so glad we did.  My youngest sister stayed with me for three nights and I took full advantage of her (relative) youth and dynamoism (if not a real word, it should be - with my sister's picture next to it in the Webster's).  We hauled in the Meyer lemon tree and repotted my Norfolk pine.  She tut-tutted over the state of my deck and giant hops vine and proceeded to sweep, organize and prune the heck out of the vine.  It looks like someone else's deck.  We unboxed and set up my deck rocking chairs - which are perfect, except for the fact that they are very low and it takes me a half-hour to get out of them.  We also tackled the wilderness/jungle in front of the compost station and finished weeding the garden.  AND she cleaned all the kitchen surfaces.  I wonder if I can lure her back for a month.....

As of today, my office is closed.  The movers are coming to transport the furniture, the signs will be removed and the keys turned in.  So ends my 22 year run.  I had gone in a week ago to pack up my personal stuff and to make an inventory of the office.  I will not miss the commute.  I will also be better at posting.  It is a slippery slope, waiting for just the right inspiration.  Sometimes a post, in its entirety, will pop into my head like an early birthday present.  But, most times, it's like pushing string and herding cats.  Thank you for being so patient...






17 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Yo, friend! Good to see are alive and well. We shall all forgive you for not showing up lately. You've had the whole no-more-office thing to deal with and, oh my, how lovely to have your sister's visit and her help-with-your-fall-tidying-up work ethic. If only I had a big bottle of her elixir to chug myself. I've never felt so tired and done with it all as I have end of this summer. Bring on the days in my quilt room and evenings with a glass of wine and handwork in front of the fire. I may even follow your example and get up more frequent blog posts. (Wow, wouldn't that be somethin'?)

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i miss your posts! we have a few more days of summer and then the arctic blast hits us as well. i can't wait!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Wishing you a happy and fulfilling retirement!

Goatldi said...

The crowd looks up in stunned silence “she lives!”

My dear fiberish (my word for the day) friend I do believe we are tied for Queen of the lagging post contest. But Blogger hasn’t threatened to send either of our blogs into the ether so I guess we are ok. Well don’t take that literally.

My sister loves your writing style as I pass your blog post on to her. Especially when you cover a topic near to her life lessons at that point. We both love your maple tree. We will be back next week to uproot it and put it in my livestock trailer to transport westward. Then we will flip a coin to see whose yard it goes in.

I think you are doing great. A role model for all who know you. Hang in, hang tough and hang out😊

ellen abbott said...

my 'retirement' days are mostly very busy, but then I'm not housebound by snow and ice 8 months out of the year. I'm housebound by the heat. hahahahahaha. still I'll take heat over snow and ice any day. but yeah, my goal is to post every other day. I don't always make it. like today. wtf, got nothing to talk about except that which make my afib go haywire.

Florida Farm Girl said...

You'll soon be so busy you wonder how you ever had time to work! I've not found the new Blogger to be much of a problem, just takes a minute to figure out the new method. As for adding a caption, insert the photograph and then select the photo (single left click). It will be blue and read for editing. Choose the font and it will let you add a caption. I'll admit that its easier when they just use the words instead of symbols. I noticed this morning that a couple of our trees have less bright looking leaves. We won't have color really until the end of October. I miss the maples. We have few of those.

Ed said...

Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year so I understand the gratuitous photo! Fortunately, we haven't gotten a killing frost yet so things are still progressing with their growing in our garden though we aren't actively harvesting anything more. Except for the squash and pumpkins, the rest is just fertilizer for next year.

Debby said...

You know, if you just chained your sister to the wall, she couldn't go anywhere. Just an idea.

Michelle said...

Yes, we will both leap for joy over the changing seasons. Today feels like deep fall here, with rain and wind and temps in the 50s. Poppy is cold (and has an upset tummy, poor dear; my bed cover is in the wash and my entry rug is drying out) but I am happily wearing a sweatshirt. I will probably get to see my sis in a month; can't remember the last time I saw her!

Susan said...

Dumped from your job, applying for government programs, so NOT good for the psyche. Go lay in the leaves and stare at the clouds, does wonders for the soul, in my humble opinion.

Joanne Noragon said...

You have a wonderful retirement, and do what you've always wanted to do. I love your sister, too.

wyomingheart said...

Great to see —- You’re Back! Not that we’ve missed you or anything! The big shift from running everyday for work, to running everyday for yourself , has begun! I am excited for you in this new chapter! Your sister visit sounds like a sweet treasure !

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Well, hello hello! It is good to hear from you. Those fall colours are lovely. We are seeing them here as well. Holy cow your sister sounds amazing. Such energy! I'm going to see how you do in retirement - post about it ok? I'll be on your heels in January, so I want to see what life can be like :) I love that sheep picture and can only imagine what the caption would have been. -Jenn

Nancy In Boise said...

glad everything is going well and yes that is a gorgeous tree! if you're not familiar with it I would suggest installing the free Picasa if you have a personal computer or laptop for editing photos. It's what I use all the time and have for years. I basically use it to crop photos and I always add a watermark to my photos. It's free and easy to use. it's kind of funny that you see all over the Internet that it's not supported anymore, which is true. The only thing that it doesn't do is synchronize all your photos to Google. Since I backup all of my photos on external hard drive that's a moot point for me. It's great to have younger sisters! I keep wanting to clean up my two daughters front yards because they're both a bit overloaded with having 4 year olds and husbands who have little interest in gardening. but since we've offered several times and have been turned down we've decided to just look the other way when we going to their house. we had our first little bit of rain last night but it sounds like you're definitely going into the deep freeze here pretty soon,still mild here, supposed to be the 70s next week

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

Good to hear from you as I was just about to write and see how you were doing. You are blessed to have sisters. I was an only child. I could use your sisters help too. Could I tempt here with some warmer weather in the middle of winter and free room and board?
So you are officially retiring then? I didn't think you were old enough but then I think everyone is younger than me until I met Mama Pea. So far she is the only one older than me. She is my role model.
Time to get out the knitting! It's been in the 60's here in the morning which is my perfect temp for working outside. Enjoy that beautiful maple tree!

Steve Reed said...

That's a beautiful maple and I'm glad you got in a few rounds of drinks to celebrate this next phase of your life!

ElaineChicago said...

Congratulations!! The Kids will be so happy to have you home all the time. I’m so happy you landed ahead with purchasing your “Farmette” a few years ago. Now you can truly enjoy it!!