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!  

an udder thudder

 Some warm, sunny fall days!

A little bit of color...but not much yet.

It's nice hiking weather.

But our regular hikes are over for a while...with Pepita, anyway.  She was spayed on Thursday morning.  She was one sad pup...spay instructions are NO hiking, running, roughhousing, jumping, or climbing...for two weeks.  No walks, no fetch, no jumping up on the couch...nothing.

She had to wear a post-surgery suit to keep her away from her stitches.  The website we ordered the suit from said to prioritize body length over other dimensions, but because she's part dachshund, she has a really long body.  Because she's part pug, she has a stocky chest.  The suit wasn't a great fit.

I had a lot of trouble getting the velcro straps off and on, although Todd got really good at it.  We ended up ordering a blow-up donut.

It's been a rough few days!  She doesn't seem to be very tender, but her pain meds (a prescription NSAID) caused diarrhea.  Particularly at night.  Because I'm such a light sleeper (and a terrible one...if I get woken up, I can't get back to sleep), Todd volunteered to sleep on the couch and take Pepita outside every hour all...night...long.  He's on day #3 and is really feeling it!  Once I realized that there was a meds connection, I stopped giving her the pills.  We're cautiously optimistic that tonight will be a little bit easier!

Somehow, amid the chaos, I finished the Halloween decorating.  Same stuff every year!  I can't help it...I like what I like.

A little bit of activity on the trail cams!

On the last video...I read that fawns bang on their moms' udders to stimulate milk flow.  Interesting!  We also saw skunks, possums, and coyotes on the cams.  

Looking forward to more of the same...have a great week!  

that's a wrap!

 Still hot and dry.

The heat, though, means that the garden is still producing.  I'm getting a ton of tomatoes...and the flowers look great!

ageratum

celosia

cosmos

zinnias

Where there are flowers, there are insects.  

leaf-footed bug

katydid

milkweed bugs, adult

milkweed bug, juvenile

planthopper

Still spiders about...

orb weaver

...and butterflies!

silver checkspot butterfly

A lacewing larva, nearly hidden beneath a camouflaging pile of fluff.

A mantis, drawn by our many moths, has been hanging around by our front door.  I am not a fan.

Check out those formidable weapons!

Other creatures are still creeping, too.

fowler's toad

I'd been seeing caterpillars everywhere, but they vanished in the last week.  Just a few tussock caterpillars still hanging around.  

I've been trying to get into the fall spirit despite the high temps.  I'm baking more...

apple fritter bread

...and knitting again.

not quite half of a wrap

I haven't had too much free time, but I try to take 15 minutes at least a few times a week to work on a puzzle.  Here is my setup:

real drafting table covered in felt, so I don't have to hunch over a table that's parallel to the floor!

I've usually got a puzzle going at any given time.  I've got a lot to choose from!  I pick them up at thrift stores pretty regularly, and occasionally buy them new, if I see one that I really like.  

There are two rows of stacks on the floor, and the three stacks in the center are puzzles that I haven't gotten to yet.  These are next in line to be completed.  I finally got this mess organized and pulled out a ton to donate last week!  More will be on the chopping block...I really need to thin this down.

Pepita is doing well!  She's got a new cat-filled territory...

...the kitchen and the living room!  It's gone a lot smoother than expected.  No territory beefs.  If all goes well, she'll get a hallway and another room next week.  I think we'll be more excited, because we've been hassling with baby gates all over and we can finally get rid of them!  

She has just graduated to thirty minute daily walks...

Waiting to be released!

Puppies have developing joints, so you have to slo-o-o-owly extend their walking times, 5 minutes per month of age.  She'll be able to walk for a full hour by April, just in time for our long spring hikes!  We just have to work up to it.

In other news, I was reading about a really beautiful sea slug last week...and this week, I spotted a shirt at the thrift store that looked almost exactly like it!  Of course I had to buy it.

The sea slug (called a nudibranch) is a little more turquoise.  I am 100% knitting a sweater in these colors sometime.  

Cooler temps should be coming soon!  I can't wait.  Have a great week!