Tuesday, October 28, 2025

an awful falafel?

Pepita has gamely worn her donut...



...but now it's off and she's footloose and fancy free!


We've had our first frost...




...but she's still out on the trail.  I bought so many size S and M coats for her, but she's a lot more...stout...than we anticipated.  She's a short dog, but pretty stocky.  Still, a few fit.



Despite the frost, the days are warm enough that bees are still buzzing around.




A few butterflies and moths too, but mostly I find reminders that their time is nearly up.


Despite virtually no attention, we still have quite a few flowers blooming.




I'd planted morning glories in a pot by our porch in MAY.  All summer long, I hauled jugs of water for it, but we just had a lot of leaves.  Disgusted, I stopped caring for it in September.  The pot dried up.  The leaves drooped.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, it started blooming. 


Another head-scratcher...we didn't have any apple blossoms (or apples) this year because of a fungus.  However, six months late, we're starting to get a few blossoms!  Crazy!


We've been hearing coyotes almost every night, and close.  Deer regularly visit the yard, including this buck...


...with the same leg infection that we've been seeing all summer in local deer.


Claudia is thriving in the barn but refuses to go outside, even on nice days.  That's all right...we have a new feral cat to focus on!  His name is Falafel, a word that I think is really fun to say.  It works on two levels, too, because Todd isn't keen to have stray around...just in case Claudia decides to come out.  So he can call him Fal-Awful.  But I've already decided to feed and house Falafel this winter.  We've got stray cat houses and electric water bowls, so I'll set up a feeding station in our white barn.  Yay!


Just a little bit of yard work in these waning days of October...



But for me, the weather has turned and I'm mostly hanging inside with the cats.


Loving fall so much this year.


Have a great week!


Tuesday, October 21, 2025

donuts, cakes, and pies, oh my!

 It's late October, and it's crazy how much is still growing in the garden.







Still, it's time for a tear-down.  I finally finished up the perennial garden by the house...


...but the "big boy" is still waiting:  the annual cutting garden, huge and wild.  Truthfully, I prefer to leave this job until spring.  There are still so many insects still out there:

chinese mantis

yellowjacket

speckled sharpshooter leafhopper



Yes, lots of bees are left.  By tearing out the garden, I'm removing a food and shelter source for insects, not to mention their egg cases.  I've found several.  A couple of mantis oothecas...



...and here's a potter wasp nest.


Wild rabbits, too, use the pathways for shelter and the greens for food.  I've found their scat everywhere:



So I really hate to do it, but I'm slowly making inroads...


Spring is going to be just too busy to hassle with this garden, so it's got to go...this fall.  Todd is busy burning all of the leftovers.


I'm alway covered in seeds when I finish.  It's dirty work and I'll be so glad to be done!


It's been busy around here in general.  Work, plus all the little things.  Todd just celebrated his half birthday with one half of a coconut cream pie!


We both really, really hated to miss our local No Kings protest (we will definitely be at the next one), but we had a birthday party to attend!  Two people told me that this was the best chocolate chip cookie they'd ever had.  Here is the recipe!  


Pepita is still tolerating her donut, but we are pretty tired of the restrictions.  It will be so nice to turn her loose!



The kittens are...just exactly the same as always.  Mostly lounging.  Almost always together!  



Troublemakers!


More beautiful sunrises coming our way.


Have a great week!