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Monday, November 4, 2019

Goodbye daylight, my old friend.

(You can thank Terry for that heading.  I've been humming Simon & Garfinkel for days.)  My biggest beef (or tofu, for you vegans) is that shorter days happen just when you need them to be twice as long as normal.  My neighbor across the road/up the hill sent me a concerned email saying that he had seen bobbing lights early in the morning and in the evening in my front yard.  Yes, I said.  You saw my headlamp.  The only way I can stay even ten steps behind where I need to be, is by squeezing in to-dos by the light of my headlamp.

Ergo, the dahlia bulbs got yoinked up and placed in a feed sack with peat moss by the dim light of my headlamp.  The peonies got trimmed down and support cages put away by the same headlamp.  The rest of the kale has been harvested (in what weak daylight we've had), along with most of the Swiss chard, although I have left some under cover to see how long it holds up.  My herbs have been harvested, handed out and hung to dry.  My tiny onions have been wept over (kidding - sort of) and the garden has been pretty much put to bed.

In the midst of all this, we got a hellova storm.  It seems, nowadays, that every change in temperature comes with its own near-catastrophic event.  Thursday it rain all day.  Then, around 11P, I awoke to the sound of a train rushing past the house.  I'm used to these high wind gusts, where you clamp your teeth and hope that you don't hear something large go 'thump!' in the night.  But this was a long, seemingly endless gust.  I was sure that nothing would be left when I went out in the morning.  It didn't even blow the lid off the trash can.  Apparently, it was a high wind.  They measured 56 mph wind gusts in my area.  Geezloueeze.

There is still a lot to dead-head out in the beds, but it is now the least of my worries. I have done my food shopping for November, moved tools into the barn for the winter, given Slimmie's room and good cleaning and reorganizing (of which he was none too pleased - cats are such creatures of habit), the winter curtains are up, summer curtains washed and stowed away.  I got a load of firewood in and my sister (bless her heart) came down to help me with the pre-winter coop cleaning.  I am always so amazed at how fast a job goes with more than one - and how much more fun it is.  I made another pot of soup, so now I have at least two weeks' worth of lunches in the freezer.

I also got a text from Marianne saying that they had a lot of shiitake mushrooms and did I want some?  Into the car I hopped and came back with 'some' in a box (I would have inserted a photograph here, but Blogger had other ideas).  Envision a box that held a dozen pint canning jars.  Now envision a mound of shiitake mushrooms the size of cup saucers - about 5 pounds of them!  I got out the dehydrator and got busy.  I now have about 2 gallons of dried shiitake mushrooms that should last a while.  A decade or so.

I find it ironic that, when I finally remember to pull myself together and take pics for you, Blogger decides it is not allowing the insertion - nay, even the ability to connect with them - of any images.  I will add them randomly to a later post.

Yesterday, taking advantage of the extra hour of daylight, I firmly yanked my BGPs up to my armpits (you're welcome for that visual) and tackled the carport.  I hauled out all the remaining flotsam of the ill-fated yard sale, sorted my garden supplies, moved all the garden implements to the barn, hefted, sorted, cussed and finally got it to the point where I can get 95% of my car inside.  I have to spread some straw and align my wheelbarrows and I will be all set.  I took photos of all the yard sale remnants and put them on Facebook for free.  Six of them will be marched out the door tonight.  Progress!  I'm giving the rest a week, then off to Goodwill they go.  Virtuosity is my middle name.



21 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Isn't it the same every late fall? No matter how much we promise ourselves we'll get the last of the pre-winter necessary chores done before the time change or two feet of snow falls or something really disastrous happens . . . we're always out in the worst weather wearing our headlamps saying bad words while our frozen fingers take twice as long to do the tasks. Being "retired" from outside jobs doesn't seem to change the situation. We just take on bigger To Do Lists because . . . well, we've got so much more time, right? Hee-hee-hee.

Congrats on your mushroom bonanza. Mmmmmm, good! Before I dehydrated them, I would have eaten a plate of them sauteed about 6 meals in a row!

Ed said...

Normally I am ahead of schedule when it comes to buttoning up things for winter outside but this year between a still not functioning kitchen due to our remodeling and three busted ribs, I'm way behind. I've managed to do the bare minimum but the rest will have to suffer through winter without me.

Goatldi said...

I am so far behind. “how far is that?” While you are putting yours to bed I am just watering my Fall garden for the second week. And I planted my garlic today. But wait if I don’t stop I will have nothing to share in a blog post!

Shall I sing a chorus of “it’s a small world after all?” That should be good for a few days of humming on your part.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

yes! mushroom heaven. one of my most favorite things in all the world! i have been having fits for 3 days now trying to load pics to the blog. they must be (very slowly) updating it. i thought it just might be me. for all i know, i could have a pierogie wedged in my computer innards. we might get snow this weekend. i am so excited i can hardly contain myself!

Joanne Noragon said...

Getting the car under cover would be way up on my list of musts.

tpals said...

Thank you! I had forgotten about the dahlias.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

You'll be enjoying those shiitake mushrooms all winter!

Susan said...

I think we are all salivating over the mushroom gift. Humans are odd creatures, the only species on the planet who doesn't dial it back for winter. I suppose the chicken and sheep of this world have got something right, letting us two legged folks do the heavy lifting.

Susan said...

Oh, did I not mention the huge plate of sauteed mushrooms with butter and thyme that comprised my dinner? No? You are so right - there is no "retired" from this lifestyle.

Susan said...

I'm surprised you kept your sanity, let alone get all the outside jobs done. Hope your ribs are healing up - you still have a long haul before you. HOWEVER, that kitchen is going to be drop-dead gorgeous by the time it's finished.

Susan said...

What is that Pennsylvania Dutch saying - the faster I go, the behinder I get? That is going to be my new motto. (Curse you for that tune! Egads!)

Susan said...

Mine, too. Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I imagine you might not notice if one of your hundreds of pierogies got loose! Yes, I am braced for it - we are supposed to get snow on Thursday.

Susan said...

Mine, too, Joanne. My car was always outside until the arrival of this carport and I haven't looked back. I don't mind having it outside during clement weather, but not during winter. I do not miss having to spend a half-hour scraping ice and snow off my windshield.

Susan said...

You're welcome! :)

Susan said...

You bet I will. For many winters!

Retired Knitter said...

Wow - food shopping done for November!! The whole month??? You must be one organized woman. I happy if I don't make any extra stops between my weekly food shopping trips. Ten pounds of mushroom! Yum ...

Nancy In Boise said...

I hear you, can't see my hens when I go to work, and they're in the coop when I get home from work, dark, dark...

Nancy In Boise said...

I was going to add to I think sometimes it's easier to edit some things on Blogger after you publish it. I know that I've had some odd random problems with spacing and if I publish it and then go back then I can adjust a little bit easier

Sam I Am...... said...

Good for you! I'm still trying to get my shed painted....this will be the 3rd year! LOL! It requires 3 coats so only a few more to go but not sure the weather will hold out.
Your storm was on the news! Big one with trees down and lots of power outages! Take care!

ellen abbott said...

now that we are back to real time it's dark here by 5:30, 6ish. I can't imagine having even less daylight. another reason to leave the cold dark snowy north to others.

Rain said...

Hi Susan :) Yes...the headlamps are out here too! But thankfully I got all of the yard work done while I still had light out. Now it's just dog-potty duty by the light of the head lol...Blogger was annoying the last week with photos. I found a way to get around it though. I just dragged my photos from my computer into the actually post and it worked that way!