Sundays are stay safe at home days, days to enjoy the outdoors while hubby watches football, days to get some outdoor tasks done, then prepare homemade Mexican dinner. Yet, Sundays are difficult for me as they have been at other times in the past. Sundays are family day, but for 4 years in college, it was a day to be homesick, no classes or other activities to distract me. As a young single woman, weekends were often backpacking trips with friends, and Sunday was the day we walked out and drove home to face another work week. As an older adult, a few weekends a year were spent with friends at fiber retreats, and Sunday was the day we packed up, hugged goodbye for months and drove home. I miss my kids and my grandkids. I miss my friends. I miss hugs and socialization.
To try to thwart the low feelings, I spend Sunday outdoors as much as possible. After pups and breakfast come taking care of the hens. They are a motley looking crew right now in the midst of molt so the coop, run, and surrounding yard are dusted with feathers, black ones, red ones, brown ones, feathers everywhere. Normally, it is just letting them out, making sure they have food and water. But yesterday, the coop was cleaned for the start of cold weather. When weather gets cold enough to freeze the water outside the coop, it is important they have water inside the coop, usually a bucket that will be dumped and refilled daily, eventually having to break the ice out of it each day. Because of the molt, there are very few eggs, only 1 in the past 4 days.
After the games began at 1, I brought out the riding the mower out set a notch lower than last week and mowed the front, sides, and back of the house. The orchard, pine trees, and well head areas are still growing, mostly too high to mow with the riding mower at this point.
The Dogwood near house is not a native variety, the native ones have small red berries this time of year. The one near the house has a larger knobby berry that looks like a big firm raspberry.
The deer have stripped the new leaves from the grape vine again. Now that they have found it, it really is vital to put a hot wire around it next year if there are to be any grapes to harvest. A task to be done on another day.
Night before last night I finished spinning the second color of the Shenandoah braid and yesterday morning finished the sample that came with the new spindle. I have already spun 56 2/3 grams of fiber this month and my first update photo shown below was posted. I should put it aside and work on the knits if they are going to get done. Soon being outdoors will be less enticing and fewer outdoor jobs to do and more knitting will be done, I did get several inches done on the sweater after dark.
Since it was a nice day, I attempted to burn the asparagus tops, the pulled tomato plants, and the dead sunflowers. Though it started nicely, it quickly went out, I guess it is still too green. Another attempt will be made after they have had a couple more weeks to dry or we get a real frost. This rids the asparagus patch of beetles and reduces the weeds as well as getting rid of the garden waste that doesn’t break down into compost for years unless shredded and we have no shredder.
More peppers, more tomatillos brought in, but the tomatillo plants really seem to have taken the worst hit with the frost. There are no new blossoms and only a couple dozen small fruits. The forecast shows no chance of frost again for at least 10 days. The garden will continue to grow and produce.
We ended a beautiful, busy weekend with an evening walk around the pond a couple of times. A flock of geese noisily circled the pond a few times and two landed for the night. Three ducks were perched on a log out in the water.
It was near dark by the time we got out. It is amazing how quickly it gets dark this time of year. In spite of all the day’s activities, I am sad that it couldn’t be spent with family, a visit to one our sons and their families, or a meal or hike with our daughter and hers.
Stay safe out there. Be responsible, I want family time again.