feline work shirk

A wonderful sign of fall...our apples are starting to darken up.

This continues to draw deer, but I'm happy that they're satisfied with eating fallen apples and don't venture into the mammalian smorgasbord that is the flower garden.  A few apples and then a mad dash to the hedge.

They're becoming fairly comfortable with us watching their antics, and don't seem too annoyed...

...except by the biting flies that proliferate in late summer.

Another late-summer proliferator...the cleome.  These tall, spiky pink flowers were a bit of a surprise.  I'd forgotten how bold they were when I sprinkled a few seedlings around the garden...they're now the dominant force there.

They're a bit wild and unruly, so I'll be more careful next year.  They're annuals, but are rabid re-seeders.  I've collected a huge bag of seeds already and if I'm diligent, can probably quadruple the amount I currently have.  I could seed a whole field with these guys!

Eriophyid mites have infected another group of coneflowers...

...but otherwise, things are calm in the garden.  I'm seeing delightful signs that summer - my least favorite season - is nearing an end.

Autumn Joy sedum is starting to bloom.

My pure white Little Lime hydrangea is starting to get a tinge of fall color.

And a great fall bloomer, ironweed, is coming up everywhere in untamed meadows beyond the fences.  If you see a splash of purple looming in the roadside weeds and fields, it's probably ironweed.

It's actually a member of the sunflower family and named ironweed for the tough stem.  These tall fall visitors are great for butterflies and bees.  The tiny flowers look like little asters when opened...

...and thistles when closed.

They make great fillers in bouquets, although I had to be careful when picking these from along an overgrown fence line.  Todd found a hornet's nest out by the white barn, and hornets are busily entering and exiting the nest all day long!

They're great pollinators and die off when the weather gets cool, so normally we'd just leave the nest alone, but I'm not sure we'll be able to mow in the vicinity of the nest if it's occupied.  We're still deciding what to do.

Speaking of barnyard companions, Claudia is keeping an eye on us.  Sometimes she's in the tree...

..or keeping careful watch from the vicinity of our outdoor activities.

She proudly delivered another dead vole this weekend, proving herself to be both a cuddly, joyful cat and a great worker, too.  We love having her around!

Our other cats are somewhat less motivated to work.

That's okay...we'll still keep them around.  :)

Have a great week!

digger figures

Amidst all the digging and pounding, something has finally been completed:  the front door has been repainted and our metal snail door knocker/family name plaque attached.  I present to you:  the Chamberlain family mollusk.

I love it!  It's nice to have one completed spot, no matter how small, because this week was especially noisy.  Excavators put in trenches for drains...

...and dug about half of the cattails out of our front pond.  Thankfully, there are still plenty of nest spots for our red-wing blackbirds this spring!

Drywall is nearly complete on the addition, which is garage/mud room/hallway/dining room.

Todd reminded me that we've been without a dining room for over TWO MONTHS.  It's not just having to eat on the couch in the living room, but the plywood nailed over the doorway and window makes the whole front of the house so dim.  With three big windows, an enlarged kitchen doorway, and a big glass door at the end, the new dining room will let in a lot more light, and not a moment too soon!

The garage remodel is coming along nicely as well.

The back of our property is completely ripped up, as our neighbor enlarges and deepens the back pond.  It was so pretty before...

It's nearly bare now.

We needed the brambles removed...the pond will be much larger and deeper...and we'll have two nice pathways down to it now.  I know the area can recover and we'll assist by planting new trees after the dust settles a little. 

With all the noise, sometimes going on until well after dark, I'm surprised that more of the little creatures around here haven't been scared off.  But I'm still seeing a big buck several times a week, stepping into our side yard to eat fallen apples.

Of course, the rabbits are daily visitors.

The usual birds are still around.  I'll catch a blue jay glaring balefully at me through the living room windows, irritated that I've let the feeders run low.

They are so beautiful!

Claudia is always lolling on our front porch, even with the frequent contractor traffic.  Tabitha keeps a close eye on her activity.

I've finally been able to do some work upstairs.  Fabric is put away in my new shelving units.

The top white bins hold scraps, 2" to 5", in rainbow color order, for scrap quilting.  Shelf inserts will go in the KALLAX on the right.  That way, the fat quarter boxes can rest on a shelf above a row of plastic bins holding supplies, so that all the space is nicely utilized.  Notice that I had to leave bed room for the cats on that same right shelving unit.  Spoiled! :)

I still need to wallpaper the back wall, find a couple of rugs, install bookcases for books AND puzzles, and get the rest of my supplies out of storage...by October?...but I hope to have this room basically put together by the beginning of November.  Baby steps!  When I get discouraged, I think about the BEFORE picture of this room:

Dark, dingy yellowed walls, nasty stained blue carpet.  It's already much brighter and more cheerful.  I can't wait to get it fully renovated.

Have a great week! 

a vole-t from the blue

Late summer...a time for relaxing, enjoying the beautiful flowers...and a little teeth-gnashing and fist-grinding as well.

They're ba-a-ack!

Every flower from this root system is infected with pernicious eriophyid mites.  See the green sprouting in the centers?  These flowers are goners and my only hope is that cutting the stem back to the ground keeps these mites from spreading. 

And speaking of pests...aphids.  Aphids!  My foxgloves are infested.

They may look like an anime character come to life...

...but they are major trouble and desiccate the plant.  I hate using chemicals, so I sprayed them with Dr. Bronner's castile soap.  They seemed dead (but still clinging) the next day, so I gave them a good shot with the hose.  It was pretty satisfying.

I probably say it every year, but I'm really looking forward to fall.  I'm trying not to look for signs yet, since we're about a month away, but I keep noticing hints.

Acorns!

Geese in formation, or very nearly...

An occasional fall-colored leaf...

...and it's the time of year for spiders to come creeping.  For a while, I cleaned our front porch of webs every morning, but they're just back again the next day.  So I let them be.

(The next couple of photos are not for the spider-averse!!)

We've got a female orb weaver in our front window, absolutely massive.  By day she huddles in the exterior window frame crevice...

...and by night, she sits in the middle of her web and waits for food.  Yesterday, I noticed two very oddly-shaped spiders near her sleep-spot.  Is it just me, or does this remind you of the position you'd take when watching Saturday morning cartoons?

It's a male and the same species as the female but much smaller.  At first I thought he was dead...maybe a post-mating snack for the female...but I gave him a little poke and he sprang startlingly to life.  Apparently this is just the male sleeping pose.  She will probably eat him pretty soon...I check every day!

There's a lot of things happening on the porch besides the mini-dramas of spiders.  Claudia has been vigilant about catching rodents.

I originally thought she'd caught a mouse, but closer inspection revealed it to be a vole.

Voles are terrible garden pests, eating bulbs and plant roots.  Claudia is earning her keep for sure!

Construction dust continues.  The pond behind our property is undergoing a major expansion, so the back fields are full of bulldozers and dump trucks.

On our property, there's constant hammering and activity.  Construction is ongoing with both the barn and house. We don't quite have a dining room yet.

It seems like our little house is just full of holes right now.  The electrician is running new lines...

...and the mud room is waiting to be walled in.

Meanwhile, I ripped the carpet from the stairs and am trying to decide how I want to finish the job. I like the look of painted stairs, but might just go with some kind of wood cladding.

I can't put my craft room fully together until our drywall guy does the finish work on a just-moved window (and, of course, I unearth the rest of my craft items from storage)...but at least the cats are getting some use out of those Kallaxes!

I did put the finishing touches on a little space in my office, though, and for an amazing price.  Have a look at my new puzzle station! 

I scored this wooden adjustable draft table at a storage unit sale for THREE DOLLARS.  I bought some felt and velcro at JoAnn's ($8?) and Todd affixed it to the surface of the table (it's removable, so I can use the table for watercolors later).  The side table is metal, with drop leaves.  I found it for $10 at the IU Surplus Store.  Spray paint was $5.  So this amazing station came together for around $30!  I have a lot of trouble with neck and shoulder pain, and the felt - which the puzzle pieces cling to - allows me to look straight ahead instead of staring down.  It's a huge work surface...nearly 4' x 3'.  The puzzle above is 2000 pieces.  Here's how a normal 1000 piece puzzle fits:

There's even room for the box lid, which naturally clings to the felt surface.  I'm very excited about this little oasis amid the chaos!  I'll upgrade the rug and chair when I have time, but for now, it's perfect.  I used to start feeling pain after about 20 minutes with a puzzle, but this completely eliminates the problem. 

We HOPE the dining room is done by next week, and then we'll tackle the flooring and painting ourselves.  We HOPE the barn is done within three weeks, and then we'll empty our 6 storage units and finally move all of our belongings and business merchandise to our property.   Then it will just be a month or so of finishing touches.  Done with everything by Christmas?  A girl can dream!

Have a great week!