Thursday, October 09, 2008

Brrrrrrr!

It was a very nippy -9.5 degrees here this morning, warming up to about 5 degrees in the afternoon. I made an impromptu excursion to Kamloops today; it was a glorious day for driving. After the obligatory mug of tea upon arriving home, I finally got out into the garden. I mixed some sand and composted manure (thanks Buck and Rupert!) into one of the raised beds, and got the garlic planted. I hope I didn't leave it too late; if I did, I'll consider it a lesson learned and plant in September. If not, I'll probably procrastinate even more and leave it till November next year.

Mike and Cody are lounging around in Lansing, Michigan for the next 36 hours, and will be delivering steel to somewhere in Illinois on Monday morning.

All is well in our corner of the woods tonight.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Season's Greetings!

I woke to the first snowfall of the season this morning! We had heavy, wet flakes for a couple of hours, then some rain.

When the rain stopped, I decided to cut back some perenniels in the flower bed, and then finished digging out the last of the potatoes from the garden. There are still rutabagas, carrots, turnips and parsnips to bring in.

Mike and Cody are in northern Ontario today. The dogs and I are staying cozy inside this afternoon. There's a fire going in the woodstove, and the kettle is on for an afternoon cuppa.
Posted by Picasa

Friday, October 03, 2008

Autumn

After a beautiful "Indian Summer" extending into October, yesterday the weather turned and we were treated to a minor wind storm.
One of our aspens just behind the greenhouse snapped off. We have a few new leaning trees in the forest too. Except for two days of rain a couple of weeks ago, we have had a fantastic early fall. It was 25 degrees here on October 1st, and that night we slept with the bedroom windows wide open.

The fall colours are at their peak, and the trees are beginning to lose their leaves quickly now.

Mike and Cody left yesterday after a week at home; they are in Edmonton tonight and on their way to Montreal. Cody will have a new province to add to his travel list. And not only is Cody a great little trucker, he finds moose, too! On Wednesday morning after Mike let the dogs out for their usual 6 a.m. outing the big dogs were hanging out on the porch waiting to come right back in, but Cody was out in the pasture barking. Mike went to investigate, and found a big cow moose. I got myself out of bed with the camera, but it was too dark and the pictures didn't turn out.

Rupert is back to being enclosed in his pen (which is actually the size of a generous back yard on a city lot). We spent Sunday afternoon revamping the fence and adding a farm gate so we can get the tractor into his pen in the winter to clear the snow (it gets past his belly height!) so he'll be able to get around better. He has been lame for a week (that's the second time since August), and is doing much better since he's been confined a bit. When it's hay feeding season, he needs to be kept separate from Buck, as he polishes off his own rations, and then goes and shares Buck's as well. He is prone to hoof abscesses, and has a history of foundering. We're not sure what's going on, and he's been seen several times in the past by the vet for the same symptoms. He's getting bute for pain in delicious but small bran mashes, and seems to be doing just fine since we've been able to curtail his gorging.

Both Buck and Rupert are getting very fuzzy in readiness for the cold weather. I'll make them a farrier appointment next week, and they'll be all set for winter.
Posted by Picasa