hot spot

Working on two full weeks with our Pepita!  She has somehow taught herself to fetch...

...and is working hard on SIT and COME HERE.  Still no house accidents, still sleeping through the night in the office crate, and now she rests quietly in her living room playpen for 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon, allowing us to get work done.  When not in the playpen, she is actively working with one or both of us.  Frances supervises from a safe distance.  He knows that she's been good, but cats are so interesting and new!

Pepita made her first trip to PetSmart this week...

...and managed her first 15-minute trail walk this morning!  She's making amazing progress.  

So is Claudia!  Her tubes come out tomorrow and I think she'll finally be able to leave the crate she's been living in and roam around the barn.  Todd has been spoon-feeding her (because of her cone), cleaning her crate and litter box, cleaning her incision and drain tubes, and making sure that she has plenty of pets and reassurances.  We'll both be glad for her to gain a little bit of independence!

Meanwhile, our hot weather stretch continues.  I open the windows every morning, no matter what, for a bit of fresh air.  It doesn't take long for our floors to become actually wet from the humidity and after we slide around for awhile, I grumpily close them.

 I keep trying to rouse myself to work in the garden, but between the heat/humidity and Pepita, I can't seem to get time to get anything done.  I did get the pumpkins planted, at least.

But the cutting garden (hangs head in shame)...we've got the saddest 4-foot sunflowers ever, and despite the fact that I spent an insane amount of time weeding at regular intervals until just two weeks ago, weeds are bursting out everywhere.  I'm definitely writing it off for the year.  At least the perennial garden has a ton of color...

daylilies

...and a ton of visitors!  The bee balm, especially, has drawn all sorts of butterflies...

eastern tiger swallowtail

zebra swallowtail

great spangled frittilary

pipevine swallowtail

...but also one of my favorites, the snowberry clearwing hummingbird moth.

They used to be a rarity, but now the garden is FULL of them.

You can see why they're called flying lobsters!

They're great pollinators and I love to see them around.  I also saw two really cool sphinx moths this week...the blinded sphinx moth (so named for a coloration quirk - they are not actually blind, but they don't have mouthparts and don't feed...just breed quickly and die!)...

...and the elm sphinx moth.

A couple of beauties!  

We're still catching lots of action on the trail cams.  Bobcats, coyotes, possums, deer, squirrels, skunks, turkeys, turkey vultures, herons, and so...many...raccoons.  I counted five in this video!

Todd has only seen two ticks so far this year, and I haven't seen any.  Our winter was especially cold (I wistfully remember) and that helps keep the population down.  However, seeing this deer on one of our cameras reminds me to continue to be vigilant.  There are still ticks around.  See those lumps on the backs of her ears and bridging the space between?  Those are ALL TICKS.  Yuck!!

Between trying to keep up with Pepita and Claudia, get work done, keep the house in order, and generally keep things moving forward while trying to survive in 90 degree heat, there isn't a lot of time left for leisure.  However, I'm going to try to take a cue from Pepita...

...and the cats...

a typical Frances nap

...and take a break every once in a while!  

Have a great week!  

apple ciders and horses, no riders

 It's almost time!

The house is decorated and we've watched 16 scary movies...15 to go.  The house is decorated, and I finally got around to decorating the porch.  It's pretty grim.  Our pumpkin harvest this year was abysmal...I'm just not sure what happened!

Compared to last year...sigh.  Next year I'll plant my pumpkin seeds in plastic cells, instead of directly into the ground, to ensure 100% germination.  

2022 pumpkin display

At least we have basically enough to go around...sparingly!

I got several ears of glass gem corn...

...but wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I probably should've left the husks on, but stripped back, so that they could be tied together and hung.  Next time!  

We're starting to get some chilly days, and more leaves changing.

...and we hike every...single...day.  Either with friends...

...or alone...rain or shine.

Although...it's nice to have other pups around.

It's also the perfect weather for baking.

apple cider caramels from Smitten Kitchen

pumpkin pie pop tarts from Joy the Baker

half cookie cake for Todd's half birthday on 10/15 from Desserts For Two

classic apple pie from Smitten Kitchen

These dark, rainy days are perfect for puzzles...

2000 pieces, completed last week

...knitting...

a "keyhole" scarf, which fits snugly against the neck and keeps the cold out, knitted for a friend's birthday...but I think I'm going to knit one for myself, too.  I don't like baggy cowls so this is perfect!

...and cat naps.

We finally set trail cams up around the property and have caught quite a few visitors!

large coyote

raccoon

white-tailed deer

Looking forward to spotting all sorts of wildlife as the season changes!  Meanwhile, enjoying the creatures that we see every day.

horses across the road

Have a great week!

pumpkin has-been

 It was warm enough this week for a little hike.  Our woods are full of beech trees, which are marcescent...meaning that they retain their dead leaves until spring.  Some theorize that the dead stem base protects the tender buds that are forming beneath.  

Lots of berries, too!  This is a smilax vine, a woody perennial with wicked thorns.  Early U.S. settlers made root beer with its roots, and the old-fashioned drink sarsaparilla is also made this way.  

A woodpecker has been here...

I was happy to see a little green...the putty root orchid!  Also known as the Adam and Eve plant (so named for the paired nature of its corms), the putty root orchid doesn't actually flower until May.  Still, it takes advantage of the bare treetops in winter to soak up sunshine with these thick, leathery leaves.  People used to repair broken crockery with a substance pressed from its corms, which is how it got its common name.  

I love seeing the different types of pine cones,  Each of these little sections is a seed!

Speaking of seeds, I finally was able to work on our porch pumpkins this week.  They were rotten, and the seeds were swimming in a foul, stinking mush.

I took way too many, and laid them out to dry.  I need to separate the bigger seeds from the stinky fibers, but I haven't quite gotten to it yet.  Yuck!

Goodbye, pumpkins!

Business as usual around the house.  We've both been working a lot, with a little help from the kittens.

Since I have my new glasses, I've slowly started looking at new projects to try.  I haven't embroidered for a long time, so I tried a small, easy flower from a Yumiko Higuchi book.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, but a little of the blue marking pen showed through.  It's water soluble, but it's always a pain when you wash an embroidery project.  Enter the wrinkles.

You have to somehow iron around the stitching, or lightly press it beneath fabric.  An iron will flatten french knots (here, the yellow flowers).  I do my best with the iron and try to get the rest of the wrinkles out by evenly stretching the fabric.  This week, I'll cut a piece of foam core and try to mount this properly.  Finishing details are my least favorite part of any embroidery/knitting/quilting project, because I have a heavy hand and an impatient spirit.  Still, it's good practice and maybe this will be my year to slow down and fine-tune.

Have a great week!