Soggy Halloween

It has been raining all day.

We haven't had very many children visit

 for their annual trick-or-treat shake down/bribe.

If you think about it, it really is extortion -

"Trick or Treat = Give us a treat, or we'll do something naughty."

And parents come along to make sure they do it "correctly".

Then the parents wonder why the children are confused about how to behave properly the rest of the year.

Anyway, it looks like there may be a lot of candy left over.

It may be a good thing that I bought candy which hubby can eat.

The mix this year contained fun size 100 Grand bars, a SweetTarts variety bag, Nerds, and Darkside Skittles (which are actually better than regular Skittles).  All of them are within acceptable tolerances for saturated fat content but of course fail miserably on the sugar content.  

Cold Snap

Been busy gathering the garden's bounty before it freezes.

 The dahlias liked being planted in the compost pile,

even if their planting was an afterthought.

(So much of an afterthought that it was probably mid-June before I remembered the bulbs were still sitting in the basement in a bucket - Oops!)

 Some apples from my aunt's place, beets from dad's place, and swiss chard from here.

 Dad gave me all of his green tomatoes.

The really big ones are the Burpee Big Mama Hybrid variety.

The ones that ripen will be use to make marinara sauce;

the ones that don't will find a home on the compost pile, unless someone is willing to share a really good recipe that uses green tomatoes.

(I still have plenty of meatless mince from last year to finish.)

 It was not a very good year for pumpkins.

I am not sure if it was just the cool weather or if some cross pollination happened between the musquee de provence pumpkins an the miniature ones.  The musquee de provence pumpkins seem a lot smaller this year, but some actually managed to ripen on the vine too - not all bad.

 Some carrots and more beets from dad's garden.

And the last of the carrots from my garden.

Not pictured are a copy paper box of pears and a copy paper box of apples from my aunt's place.

The two laundry baskets full of swiss chard are now cleaned, de-veined, blanched, and frozen.  I did not bother freezing the stems this year.  Freezer space is precious, and I like beans better than swiss chard stems.

One advantage of the frosty weather is that a good sized rabbit finally suckered for the half rotten pears in the live trap.  Rabbit stew anyone?

Now it is time to make some rabbit stew and can some beets.

Hope you all are warm and well.

Colorful Things

Sorry, this batch doesn't have any matching cars.

Although, I'd like to see someone make a paint to match the blue of the morning glory below and put it on a Maclaren.

(And I mean the car, NOT the stroller.)

 Carrot puzzle - this time it is two carrots.

Enjoy the sunny weather.

Sauced!

 Well, most of the apples are at least.

This one was a later batch

with a bit of carmelization-oops

plus lots of cinnamon.

Stumped

Maple #1

Stump #1

The sickly Hackberry

Stump #2

And the reason why it was sickly -

Look at that crack!

Maple #2

Stump all ground into little bits.

All went very well.

The tree removal folks managed to remove the trees without landing any branches on the neighbor's house, mom & stepfather's house, or anything else.

The neighbors were surprised at how big the yard looks now.

A deer even checked out the changes,

I found a couple hoof prints in the mound.

Well there is still some cleanup and more work to do outside.

I bought some bulbs and have a spare rose bush to plant in the mound of dirt mixed with chips.  Other plants will be started from seed in the spring.  There is a pile of shredded stump mulch that needs to be spread under the pine trees along the lot line.  The clothesline cross-bars need to be re-attached and lines restrung. And the shephard's crook for the bird feeders needs it's supporting outrigger bent back.  I ruined a 1" wood chisel and straigtened the shephard's crook outrigger getting that blasted thing loose from the root of Maple #1.  If the outrigger is work hardened, that may involve a very hot charcoal fire, a hammer, and a vice.  Then there is the issue of drainage.  A lot of digging needs to be done to keep the driveway from flooding in the late winter when the ground is still frozen and things start melting.

Have fun folks!

Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts!