~
Saturday, October 31, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
56 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
A bright band of sky stretches across the eastern
sky, and the sun is almost visible.
it is very windy this morning, blowing from the south as
it did all day yesterday. We
had a long walk up the Gomer Hill Road, with the wind at
our backs for the first two
miles, and then we leaned right up against it on the
return. Fortunately, it wasn’t very
cold and the wind buoyed us up instead of beating us down.
I found some red clover
and yarrow blossoms that hadn’t yet been killed in
the recent frosts, and made a beau-
tiful little bouquet, with bright red strawberry leaves
for fill. Tiny white asters are still
blooming as well, but if you pick them they close right
up and look very drab indeed.
All of our leaves have finally come down, and yesterday
we cleared away the last of
them, giving the grounds a good back-scratching before
they will be covered up with
winter snow. I can no longer see any colorful leaves in
the view from my window,
not in the whole valley that stretches out before me. I
believe we have time to un-
load and split a “free” truckload of big maple
rounds before today’s rain sets in,
chunks so big we will need to use the tractor and tongs
to remove them and
place them on the splitter. At least there won’t be
any mosquitoes.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
48 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We had a thick cover of fog here on Gomer Hill from late
afternoon yesterday
until a little while ago. As I drove home from Boonville
after work, I could see
the fog like a solid entity, a fringe of wisps drifting
here and there, perched like
a winter hat above the village of Turin. The laundry I
had hung in the morning is
still out there, twice as wet as it was when it came from
the washing machine and
nearly touching the ground. The forecast for today
carries the promise of sunshine;
if that’s the case the south wind may blow the
linens smooth and dry in no time at
all. I need to get the dog out for a long walk, he is
already raring to go. I think
we shall stick to the main drags today, as I saw many
trucks heading up the
Hill earlier today, bound for the woods to get this
year’s venison.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
46 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
I had hoped to finish up with the annual autumn
chore of airing
out the linens, but I don’t know how much sun we
will see; it looks
like these clouds may be here to stay for a while. I got
most of the job
done under Tuesday’s sunny sky, but still would like
to hang the spare quilts
and blankets out just to freshen them. Yesterday we had a
wonderful ride to
Watertown, about an hour north of here. The St. Lawrence
Seaway has a
moderating effect on the weather up there, and we were
delighted to find
that many of the trees were still fully leafed out, with
the foliage at 100% of
its fall coloration. Most of the stately big homes in
town were gussied up with
mums, and even in the rain the colors stood out against
the red leaves of burning
bush and the deep greens of arbor vitae and boxwood
bushes. It rained pretty hard
up there, and from the large amount of water running in
the ditch across the road I
would guess we had more than our share here on Gomer Hill
as well. We were
driving home past the Snow Ridge Ski Area and a chicken
was happily pecking
at the roadside gravel, an unusual sight since there are
no farms in that neighbor-
hood. We were chatting with the Area manager this morning,
and it seems that
two chickens had escaped from the Turin Fireman’s
Field Days where a game
of chicken-poo bingo had taken place last July and
they have been wandering
around ever since. One disappeared, no doubt victim to a
neighborhood dog or
raccoon, but the other is still at large, having avoided
capture by many folks who
have tried in vain to bring it home for the winter. When
the snow starts to fly,
she won’t stand a chance outdoors; hopefully,
someone will have lassoed
her by then. Maybe we will get up a chicken wrangling
party this week-
end, see if we can surround her and take her home. She
should at
least get a merit badge for surviving this long on her
own.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 6:30 a.m.
49 degrees, breezy, overcast
It is blacker than black outside right now,
with not even a hint of dawn’s early light. We have
early appointments in Watertown, and it will be a nice
change
to head north instead of south for a day off The Hill.
Yesterday was
one of the best we have seen in a while, and we took
advantage of it to
scrape up all of the leaves that had come down. Many of
them were
hauled over to next year’s potato patch, to help
acidify the soil.
The rest were piled at the edge of the meadow, next to
the
horse manure, to rot down into mulch for future use.
I will leave you this morning with a poem
that tells it like it is this time of year.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Harvest
by Louise Gluck
It's autumn in the market—
not wise anymore to buy tomatoes.
They're beautiful still on the outside,
some perfectly round and red, the rare varieties
misshapen, individual, like human brains covered in red
oilcloth—
Inside, they're gone. Black, moldy—
you can't take a bite without anxiety.
Here and there, among the tainted ones, a fruit
still perfect, picked before decay set in.
Instead of tomatoes, crops nobody really wants.
Pumpkins, a lot of pumpkins.
Gourds, ropes of dried chilies, braids of garlic.
The artisans weave dead flowers into wreaths;
they tie bits of colored yarn around dried lavender.
And people go on for a while buying these things
as though they thought the farmers would see to it
that things went back to normal:
the vines would go back to bearing new peas;
the first small lettuces, so fragile, so delicate, would
begin
to poke out of the dirt.
Instead, it gets dark early.
And the rains get heavier; they carry
the weight of dead leaves.
At dusk, now, an atmosphere of threat, of foreboding.
And people feel this themselves; they give a name to the
season,
harvest, to put a better face on these things.
The gourds are rotting on the ground, the sweet blue
grapes are finished.
A few roots, maybe, but the ground's so hard the farmers
think
it isn't worth the effort to dig them out. For what?
To stand in the marketplace under a thin umbrella, in the
rain, in the cold,
no customers anymore?
And then the frost comes; there's no more question of
harvest.
The snow begins; the pretense of life ends.
The earth is white now; the fields shine when the moon
rises.
I sit at the bedroom window, watching the snow fall.
The earth is like a mirror:
calm meeting calm, detachment meeting detachment.
What lives, lives underground.
What dies, dies without struggle.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
43 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
High silvery clouds seem to be thinning and
stretching out, with more
and more sunshine being revealed as the morning
progresses. Today is a
good day to launder bedding and kitchen linens, and hang
out quilts and blankets
for a good airing before the hard weather sets in. We
recently noticed that the dog has
a few fleas, and where there is one there are likely
hundreds more, so we have dosed all
of the critters with Frontline and are vacuuming the
nooks and crannies, as well as drown-
ing the pests that may have hopped onto the couch throws
and scatter rugs. There has been
a stretch of several years since our last flea invasion;
if you catch them early on it needn’t be
too big a deal. When the dog first showed up at our house
eleven years ago, he had so many
fleas that I am amazed he wasn’t anemic from
donating so much blood. That was the worst I
have ever seen fleas on any animal. No, I take that back;
we once had a barn cat that passed
away, and we laid her on a white towel as a shroud before
we buried her. Hundreds of fleas
streamed from her poor little corpse, like rats leaving a
sinking ship. I would imagine every
feral animal would be a good host for all kinds of
parasites, especially at this time of year
when bugs are looking for a warm place to winter over.
Yesterday morning we walked up
the Evans Road, and were pleased to see five ducks taking
a break at the small pond by the
old farmstead. They were mallards, and we wondered if
they were descendants of the orphan-
ed ducklings that made their way into our yard several
years ago. We managed to raise two of
those fluffy chicks to maturity, and released them to
that pond when they were ready to make
it on their own. The water level has risen to brimming
from recent rain, and it is as full as I have
ever seen. While we were walking home, a fighter plane (we
have seen many of those lately,
probably from Fort Drum) made a low pass overhead, banked
a steep turn, and then a
flaming ball dropped from it and plummeted earthward. The
sight of this stopped me in my
tracks, and I knew a primal terror that I had never
before felt, as I waited for an explosion
that was almost certain to follow the tracer. My spouse
told me it was likely a flare, drop-
ped on purpose as a marker for either another plane or a
ground crew on base. I was
instantly grateful that we live in a place where bombs
falling from planes are not a
normal occurrence, and thanked my higher power for the
peace that we take for
granted every day. Nutritious food, clean water, a dry
warm place to sleep,
and personal safety from tyranny, all basic needs that
most of us are
indeed fortunate to possess, great gifts from the powers-that-be.
Have a grateful day,
Daisy
Monday, October 26, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
43 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Thick fog filled our view at dawn, but it has
rolled on down the
road to come to a complete halt at the neighbor’s,
and the entire
valley is lost to sight, buried in heavy mist. The sun is
brilliant atop
Gomer Hill, illuminating every surface it touches with a
high gloss that
is almost painful to behold. My pupils dilate just
thinking about the shim-
mering green of the lawn, the sleek moist mud of the
gardens that seems to
be living and breathing like gargantuan slumbering
ancient bears on such a morn-
ing; even the manmade macadam of the road glitters
like obsidian. I feel sorry for
the flatlanders, who are probably thinking that this is a
dull and drab morning, when
they need merely ascend a few hundred vertical feet to be
immersed in this awesome
October scene. Yesterday we walked in the afternoon,
cavorting around the nearby
hayfields, keeping clear of the forests on the second day
of deer season. I let the
dog follow his nose for a while; he scared up a dozen or
more small critters, and
dug down after a couple of them until I urged him to move
on. He had spent most
of Saturday cooped up indoors, and really needed to romp
leash-free for a while.
We left the shorn fields and then stayed on the main road,
with a clear view of
meadows all around. I was mindful of safety, myself
bedecked in a safety-orange
pinnie and festooning the dog’s collar with neon
bright ribbon; still, we didn’t hear
even one shot fired yesterday. We heard plenty of ruckus
all day Friday, as neigh-
bors and seasonal camp owners sighted in their rifles.
Sunset has been coming
earlier every day, and yesterday’s was a real beauty,
framed by shifting clouds
and quite colorful. We walked before bedtime for a little
while, and it was a
gorgeous night, not too chilly and fairly calm; the stars
were bright, the
moon just about halfway to full, a perfect ending to a
near-perfect day.
Have a perfectly wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 25, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
43 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
The rain has stopped for now, but we sure received
more than
our share of it yesterday. Fortunately it wasn’t too
cold, and so even
if I got wet as I ran some errands in town I wasn’t
uncomfortable. Parking
lots were inches deep in water, and for sure I was happy
to be wearing wool
socks inside my sneakers. We kept the home fires burning
low, and there was a
nice contrast between the cool dampness outside and the
fragrant warmth inside,
with a pot of apples and dried cranberries stewing slowly
on the back of the range,
releasing its whiff of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
These slightly sweetened apples
are versatile, becoming a healthy alternative to apple
crisp with the addition of some
nonfat vanilla yogurt and a sprinkle of crunchy granola.
As a side, it provides a touch
of cool and sweet to the hot and spicy of any main dish,
be it a meat entree or vege-
tarian casserole. Here is the simple recipe, with the
secret ingredient revealed: Sliced
peeled apples, dried cranberries, your favorite spices to
taste, vanilla, a shake of pure
cane sugar, and bourbon, yes bourbon to marry the
flavors together. Mix it well be-
fore cooking it very slowly in a heavy pot with a tight
lid, and don’t stir it again, not
even once. I didn’t give amounts, because that
depends on how sweet and juicy
the apples are to begin with. Mmmmmm, think I’ll
have a little snack right now !
Have a sweet day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 24, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
45 degrees, windy, overcast, fog, rain
The fog is so dense that I can barely see the
beanpoles that are
fifty feet from the window. The cats were clamoring to go
outside
at first light, but took one look at the bluster from the
doorway and
high-tailed it back into the warm kitchen. They are very
happy that the
tiles under the range have been cleared of bean-drying
racks, and two
of them are stretched out basking in the glow from the
firebox above.
It is a good day to stay inside, I think, and catch up
with the minutiae
of everyday chores that have been pushed aside to work
and play out-
doors. We can feed and trim the houseplants, clear out a
drawer or two,
organize the pantry shelves, bake some cookies, and maybe
even get to the
mending pile, you know, the one that has been saved for a
rainy day. There is
a neverending supply of picky little jobs that somehow
fill a day without the sense
of any serious work being done: vacuuming out the furnace
vents, tearing the worn-out
sheets and towels into rags, answering letters, editing
photos, oiling winter boots, replacing
shoelaces, chasing cobwebs, and on, and on, and on and
before you know it, dinnertime has
crept upon us. Best to thaw out the main course now,
before that small thing gets lost in the shuffle;
what a pleasure to root around in the freezer with so
many good things from which to choose!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 23, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
31 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Even after an entire day of leaves being ripped from the
trees and
zipping through the air like festive little missiles,
there are still plenty
of them remaining hanging to declare this a beautiful
autumn morning.
The sky has been taken over by clouds, but they are
artfully arranged
by shape and height, with the most striking being those
over the Black River,
stretched out etheric puffs of silver that look as if
they could disappear at any
moment. The Adirondack Mountains sit under a brighter sky,
filled with broad
stripes of alternating pearly white and slate grey.
Directly overhead is smooth po-
lished pale dove grey, with a bright circle of light
indicating that the sun is up there,
trying to shine through. Yesterday turned out to be a
very nice day, unseasonably
warm and sunny until late afternoon, when the wind
shifted to the northwest and
drove some icy rain through the neighborhood. We cleaned
out our water system
while the weather was fine, draining all three tanks and
purging the lines to clear any
lingering bits of sediment. We have a wonderful strong
underground spring that we have
corralled in a huge tank three tiles deep, which spills
into a settling basin and then into a
third tank with a submerged pump to push the water uphill
into our home. We have a
second pump attached to the holding tank in the cellar,
which helps restore prime to
the submerged pump after we do the fall cleaning. A big
filter in the incoming line
traps any organic impurities from the water, while still
allowing vital minerals through.
Pure water is one wonderful perk of living in the country,
one not to be taken lightly in
this time of pollutants and contaminants just about
everywhere. When we travel, we
always pack a gallon or two of our own spring water so
we’re not at the mercy
of chlorinated/fluoridated municipal water, or have to
pay a ridiculous amount
of money for the bottled stuff. As the sun rises higher
in the sky, it has be-
come brighter, and looks like it may break through at any
moment; per-
haps it is a good day to hang out some laundry, then hike
through
the nearby forest, the last day to do so without being
caught
in the crossfire of the first day of deer season.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 22, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
55 degrees, windy, partly sunny
There is a bluster blowing in from the west, and
leaves are flocking
past the window at a dizzying rate of speed. So far it is
a much nicer
day than I expected, but if I want to get much done
outdoors I think it
had better be soon, as rain is predicted for later,
although for the life of
me I can’t find it on the Nexrad site. We have been
cleaning up the flower
beds, cutting old stalks and dressing them up with
composted horse manure.
We have dug up the dahlias and once again wonder whatever
will we do with
two wheelbarrow loads of bulbs. Those beautiful plants
multiply just like potatoes;
plant one, dig up two dozen. The trouble is, unlike spuds,
dahlias are not edible. We
are running out of friends to give them to, as they are
now all in the same boat as we are.
Pretty soon the entire North Country will be covered with
huge magenta and crimson flower
hedges all summer long, and in late autumn wheelbarrows
will be lined up end-to-end along the
roadsides, filled with bulbs and signs reading FREE.
Years ago, when we lived closer to the city,
I had put out a wheelbarrow of extra cucumbers with a FREE
sign, and when I glanced out the
window someone was loading the barrow into their truck,
the cucumbers having already all
been taken. That was a fast trip down the stairs and out
the door to clear up the misun-
derstanding. Now we have five good wheelbarrows, and
often they are all full at
the same time with bulbs, carrots, kindling, you name it,
if it fits in a wheel-
barrow it ends up there before finding its final storage
place. And now,
off to haul away more garden detritus in (what else) a
wheelbarrow.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
44 degrees, calm, partly sunny
It is a still quiet morning, a rarity on Gomer
Hill, not a leaf twitching, the
lovely pastoral scene disturbed only by folks headed off
to work and school.
The part of the sun that is showing is the entire surface,
blazing crimson between
layers of pale grey clouds. I have been up since 4:30,
having awakened in time to go
out to view the Orionid meteor shower, which occurs every
October as Earth passes
through a cloud of dusty detritus left by Halley’s
comet. The comet itself swoops across
the sky every 76 years, making its last appearance in
1986. There were a few stars visible
from the bedroom window, so I bundled up, turned off the
yard light, and hiked a few hun-
dred yards up the road with the dog to view the show. The
only thing on the playbill was a
thin layer of clouds moving in as I watched, and one by
one the bright orbs winked out, with
nary a shooting star to be seen. There was no wind, and
the temperature wasn’t too chilly,
so we enjoyed our little walk in the dark, even though it
was not what we had expected.
Rain is moving in tonight, so this morning was probably
the last chance we had at spot-
ting the Orionid show. We had a good long walk yesterday
afternoon, and mentally
marked the location of several new logging trails to
explore later this year on skis;
for now there is too much mud to explore where they all
lead. One old farm lane
has been widened to accommodate passage of a big combine,
and we followed
it back to one of our favorite hidden meadows, recently
stripped of its straw
and hosting a big flock of turkeys gleaning the oats that
escaped the thresher.
We saw plenty of deer tracks of all sizes in the soft
dirt by the side of the
road, with only a few more days until they take to the
deep woods to
hide. The crimson sun has suddenly dashed behind some
clouds,
and the entire sky is pink to the east, very pretty
indeed.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
48 degrees, windy, cloudy
I am amazed how many orangey-gold leaves are zipping past
the window
and yet there are still so many left clinging to the
maple trees. The colors on
Gomer Hill are better than any in the valley, perhaps
because we had such a late
frost up here. I know there are many factors that
contribute to varying the intensity
of autumn’s foliage hues, and every time I look out
the window or venture outdoors
to walk between the leaves above and below I find myself
thinking we have a winner !
The meadow grasses are still a lush bright green, and the
colorful trees all around create
a perfect scene, a standard of pastoral beauty for
October. Pale yellow pansies that were
planted by birds and deep purple violas still bloom in
the garden closest to the house, but
most of the other flowers have gone dormant or died from
exposure. It is already warmer
today than it has been for a while, and although there is
a slight chance of daily rain we
have a fine week ahead of us. I have shelled out all of
the dry beans I picked last week,
and the scarlet runners will continue to cure on
their vines until they are either all harvested
or snowed over. Popping beans from their dry crispy pods
is a mindless task, repetitive and
robotic, yet immensely satisfying; you start with a funky
looking pile of brown and grey stuff
that looks like it should go straight to the compost pile,
and end up with bowls full of beauti-
ful beans and buckets of dry husks suitable for kindling
winter fires. I confess that I grow
varieties for their good looks, and it is a boon that
they happen to be tasty as well. The
most impressive are the scarlet runners, huge flat
purple beans with black stripes and
speckles. The runner-up for striking beauty is the tiger
stripe, tawny mid-size flat beans
with deep maroon swirls, untested in my kitchen so far.
Two heirloom beans that were
gifts from friends are grandma rosa’s and friendship,
both brought over from Italy
many years ago but as different from each other as night
and day. The former are
fat little creamy gems of with brown swooshes, and the
latter are white with
purple stripes. I also shelled out some providers
that had gone to seed,
and they are deep red, like a small kidney bean. There is
perfection
in each small package, and the promise of generations
of beans held in every seed: a true miracle!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 19, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
34 degrees, breezy, sunny
The back meadow is awash with wild turkeys, plump
eating machines
stuffing themselves to pack on as much winter weight as
possible before
all the good forage disappears. Turkey hunting season
ended a few days ago,
so now the birds are free to wander unmolested by man;
they are still fair game
for anything on four legs, and I would guess that they
are also in danger from some
of the larger hawks and owls. I have been calling every
night to the barred owl that
lives in the woodlot, and more often than not he answers
in deep spooky tones, Hoo-hoo,
hoo-whoooooooooo!. I have been reluctant to call to
coyotes, as there is still a gang of “hunters”
in our neighborhood that run them down on four-wheelers
and blast them into their next life, claim-
ing that they are cleaning up the North Country. (If
they truly wanted to clean the area up, they
would put mufflers on their loud stinkin’ rides and
stop tossing their Bud Light cans in the ditch.)
I hesitate to even mention any local coyote sightings,
for I don’t know who reads this column
and I sure don’t want to unintentionally lead any of
the beautiful critters to their doom. This
much I can tell you; I used to count the coyote among my
most frequent wildlife sightings,
finding dozens of scat piles and hearing their high-pitched
yodels nearly every night when
the skies were clear. Now their tracks and other signs
are rare, and I can count on the
fingers of one hand the number of concerts I have enjoyed
this past year. There has been
an increase in field rodents, coons, and skunks; the deer
population has been out of control
for several years, damaging crops and creating a hazard
for night-time driving all over the Hill.
Mother Nature has a plan, and when her plan is messed
with, the delicate balance becomes un-
hinged. Taking a deer or turkey and using the meat for
food is one thing, and ethical hunting has
its place in the grand scheme of things; wholesale
slaughter of an entire species is irresponsible.
Take care,
Daisy
Sunday, October 18, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
41 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
This is a perfect morning for any season, but superbly
representative of autumn.
Foliage has completely changed color, and about half of
the maple leaves are on
the ground. I am completely surrounded by gold whenever I
stroll through the yard.
I gathered enough leaves to pack around the carrots; they
are crunchy-dry and I feel
compelled to shuffle my feet to release both the earthy
fragrance and childhood mem-
ories. It is not yet time to rake, for that would be
futile until the trees are mostly
bare. We have a stretch of dry sunny days ahead of us,
and plenty of time
to make even more memories to stash in the bank for
future enjoyment.
Don’t waste a minute,
Daisy
Saturday, October 17, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
37 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
A hazy pearl of sun gleams dull in a cloud-filled sky,
its warmth a
promise withheld for a while, stranded in a sea of grey.
Our leaf-covered
yard is alive with robins, a flock of about fifty birds
passing through on their trip
to a warmer place for winter. I am used to seeing such
large numbers of robins every
spring, but this is the first autumn that they have
stopped here en masse on the way south.
I have not yet seen our bluebird gang; it is possible
they came calling while I was busy else-
where, but they always stop for a final splash in the
birdbath and to show their kids where the
nesting boxes are for next spring. We walked a few miles
yesterday and scared up many deer,
enjoying the last week of freedom before hunting season
begins next weekend. There have been
a few bow and black powder hunters on Gomer Hill, but the
real traffic will begin on Saturday.
I have laundry to hang and then we will head off in a
different direction for there is much to
see even when the sun hides. Perhaps I will follow the
crows that are so noisy this morning.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 16, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
28 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
The sky is pale blue with a few streaks of cloud
here and there,
airy little swatches as if an artist were trying out
different shades of
white with a dry fan brush. It is very cold out there,
with a northeast
breeze that feels very wintry indeed. Yesterday we picked
most of our
shell beans; three varieties had dried well on the stalks,
but most of the
scarlet runners need another week or so of freeze-drying
on the poles.
Even if we didn’t harvest one single bean from that
variety, the masses of
beautiful red flowers that attract hummingbirds and
butterflies all summer long
is reason enough to grow this wonderful heirloom bean. A
row of providers that
we enjoyed fresh has quite a few dried pods as well, so I
will gather those in today.
Any bean is good as a shell bean, so even when they get
ahead of us and become
large and tough, a few weeks later you can peel open the
pods and enjoy them in
soups or combined with rice for a complete protein. One
old italian variety known
locally as grandma rosa’s beans makes the
best succotash when combined with
sweet corn and a little grated onion. Allow any bans to
dry on the vine, and they
can be stored in jars for use all winter long. Pioneers
used to string fresh young
green beans on thread and air-dry them, and reconstitute
them in milk or broth,
a fine way to enjoy string beans out of season without
canning or freezing them.
Just before the freeze earlier this week, we had picked
the last of our fresh beans,
and while not as snappy fresh as in August, they were
still darned good slow cook-
ed with onions, mushrooms, and a little bacon. The only
fresh thing still looking good
in the gardens is the parsley; I think you can eat that
long after the temperature falls
below freezing. In fact, I’ll bet it even stays
fresh as tomorrow under the snow. I know
that next summer these same few plants will send up long
stalks, erupt into beautiful
umbels of bloom, and go to seed to reproduce itself a
thousand times over. Mother
Nature has such a wonderful variety of ways in which to
surprise us, but the power
that rests in one little seed simply renders me
gobsmacked every time I think about it.
Have an amazing day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 15, 2009, 9:00 a.m.
28 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Anything with water in it froze solid last night,
with the low temp
at twenty-four degrees. The birdbath, a few rain buckets,
hard as rocks.
Thank goodness we drained and disconnected the garden
hoses, and brought
all of our carrots into the cellar until they can be
properly stored in their leaf-filled bins.
We are removing screens from the windows and doors,
confident that several nights below
freezing have killed most of the flying insects that
pestered us all summer long. The flowers that
bloomed so beautifully just a week ago are now mostly
black slimy mounds; even the goldenrod
has all turned into greyrod, and the scene outdoors is
changing from autumn to winter before our
eyes. The western part of the state has a measurable
amount of snow in tonight’s forecast, and
we may see some flurries here on Tug Hill Saturday night.
Maple trees are still decorated with
lovely foliage, and several ash trees in our hedgerow are
festooned with deep crimson keys,
more numerous than the leaves that have already blown
away. Nearby cornfields are
golden, with not a trace of green anywhere; many have
been shorn by heavy equip-
ment, and the stubble is as shiny as the stalks were,
especially in the low-slanting
rays of last night’s perfect sunset. The turning of
seasons is always a good show,
especially up here at the top of the world where the view
is far-reaching.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
33 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
There wasn’t any frost this morning, but the
birdbath is still sporting a
layer of ice with colorful leaves captured in suspension,
like some kind of
crazy jell-o salad. The wind is straight out of the north,
and it is some kind of
zippy little morning out there. The cats went out first
thing; they all high-tailed it
back inside at the first hard gust, preferring the
ambience of hot tiles under the
kitchen range on such a chilly morn. Now that we have had
a hard freeze, the
pole beans are beginning to dry nicely on the vine and
after a sunny breezy day
or two we should be able to harvest several bushels of
crispy pods. Popping
the husks open to reveal the colorful dry beans inside is
a pleasant task, and
makes us appreciate the hearty soups, chilies, and baked
beans even more,
having been up close and personal with the ingredients.
Deer have been eat-
ing carrot tops, so we will pull the rest of those as
soon as possible. We have
some appointments to keep down in the Valley, and will
take the Fish Creek
Road from Constableville to West Leyden as a detour to do
a little leaf-
peeping on the way. There are some wonderful less-traveled
roads in
this neck of the woods, and in autumn they are especially
alluring.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 13, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
41 degrees, overcast, breezy, drizzly mist
Some rain fell during the night, and although it
was very cold,
it didn’t morph into snow as expected. Some fine
mist lingers in
the air, and the sky looks ominously like more rain could
drop at
any time. Fog fills the valley, and there is a hint of it
atop Tug Hill as
well. There is snow in the forecast again for tonight,
but it has been
removed from the end of the week, with chilly but sunny
days ahead,
perfect for autumn activities in the great outdoors. My
day pack contents
have shifted from bug spray and alcohol wipes (for stings
and bites) to gloves,
warm hat, scarf, and dry wool socks. The pack is also
handy for carrying a dis-
carded layer of fleece as we warm up from exertion. At
all times of year I carry
plenty of water and some snacks, plus a firestarting kit,
flashlight, and whistle. One
of the coolest things I own is a combination light, radio,
and siren, and it all runs on
power generated by a hand crank, thus no batteries to run
down. If you hike with
your dog, don’t forget to carry treats and water for
them as well, for you can’t
count on streams or potable puddles in unfamiliar terrain,
and dogs run low
on energy after a few miles just like we do. Now the
breeze has picked up
a bit, and leaves drift by the window in little clusters
of bright color on
this otherwise dull morn. The sky is brightening with
every gust, and
perhaps we may see some sun after all; that would be nice.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 12, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
29 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
There is so much frost on the ground that it looks
as if snow has fallen.
A far away meadow along Route 26 looks more like an ice
pond than hay
stubble. I hope the ragweed finally dies, that awful bane
of allergy victims every-
where. I will miss the other, more colorful blossoms of
the season, and am glad that
I picked so many from our gardens before the frost
arrived. One of our indoor cactus
plants has a large red bud, and will soon be the center
of attention in any room where I
place it. We brought in all of the geraniums yesterday,
and they are loaded with flower buds
as well, so we will have some colorful touches indoors
for quite a while. Yesterday was very
chilly, with a high temperature of only forty-one degrees.
Today may be a bit warmer, with a
small chance of rain for tomorrow. Snow is in the
forecast for the end of the week; we had
better finish the garden cleanup while the days are fine.
Not too many leaves have fallen,
and those that did have blown away, so there is not yet
any raking to do. As the seasons
wind down, so does our list of chores, and the long
winter rest is nearly upon us. Every
season has its highs and lows; I am looking forward to
morning coffee by the heat of the
wood range, and evenings of slow-simmered stews and fresh
fragrant bread, some good
books and a few old movies. I am even looking forward to
the occasional wild blizzard
and the surreal beauty of a sunny wintry world buried
under many feet of snow. Of
course there will still be the daily routine of household
tasks, but winter is a time to
relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor, spiced up with
outings in the snow on skis
or afoot. Nights are long and cozy, and days are ours to
do as we please; even
the day job is a little more laid-back in the winter. I
love this time of year !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 11, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
44 degrees, windy, partly cloudy
What an outstanding autumn morn ! We have been
trimming the
privet hedge and cleaning up the perennial beds, and
shall continue
with dozens of little outdoor housekeeping tasks as long
as the weather
holds. Yesterday we drove down Route 28 to Little Falls
to pick up staples
at the Community Co-op. I recommend that route as one of
the most colorful
in the whole Mohawk Valley at this time of year. We
pulled some carrots when
we returned home, each one different from the next but
all slipping easily from the
soft wet soil. When we got to the end of the line, every
one was misshapen in some
way, many looking like little dancing fools, legs all
akimbo. This part of the row had
been shaded in between dill and sunflowers, and I
don’t know if that was the major
factor in their odd mutation, or if the shade kept the
soil soft enough so that the roots
could wander wherever they wanted. We have always noticed
carrots with multiple
legs growing among the straight and narrow, but this is
the first time they all turned
up in the same place. We harvested a heaping wheelbarrow
of the sweet crunchy
roots, and are on our way out to gather in another load,
which should take care
of all the carrots on this side of the road. There is
another long row in our bean
patch, but they can stay put until the threat of snow
forces us into action. Frost
will only improve their sweetness, and if we can keep the
deer from pulling
them up they will continue to grow well into November if
the weather
cooperates. A freeze is predicted for tonight, so make
sure you
bring in those geraniums and hanging baskets that looked
so pretty on the porch all summer long.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 10, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
40 degrees, windy, overcast, fog
I hear that some sun is possible later today, and
the threat of snow has
been removed from the weekend forecast. While it will
remain seasonably
cool, it should be a good afternoon for a long hike, as
long as we dress in layers
with good sturdy boots. Leaves are zipping past the
window with every gust, and
we may not have much time to enjoy autumn’s gorgeous
colors if the wind keeps up.
Yesterday was a fine day, although it looked a little
dull from inside the house. Once I
got out in the mist and breeze, I found it to be
refreshing rather than daunting. I cleaned
up the last of the lettuce from the garden, and we will
have most of it fresh in salads and
on sandwiches. Some of the tougher outer leaves will go
into today’s soup, along with
some green shell beans, little fat nuggets that
haven’t dried yet and are as sweet and
tasty as baby limas. I picked two buckets of flowers,
expecting that the weekend
weather might spell the end of fresh blooms until spring.
There are vases of dahlias,
calendulas, zinnias, marigolds, gladiolas, and black-eyed
susans, with sprigs of purple
flowering oregano and ruby red peony leaves tying some of
the arrangements together.
I had hoped to have some sunflowers at our entryway, but
when I got closer to them I
could see that the petals had been shredded by
Wednesday’s wind; they look better
from a distance, so I left them all standing tall in the
garden. The calendulas have
been particularly beautiful this year, a mix of
traditional buttery yellow and
a variety called red heart, which is orange with a
crimson center.
The flowers are larger than I have ever seen, perhaps a
result
of plenty of water during the growing season.
Plenty of water, an understatement...
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Friday, October 9, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
49 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The sky is bright with clouds, layer stacked upon
layer but thin and
transparent enough so that everything is bathed in soft
light, as when a
sheer scarf is draped over a lamp to create a romantic
mood. It looks like
some of our maple trees have become saturated with
orangey goodness almost
overnight; where yesterday they were still halfway green,
this morning they are all
ablaze with autumn color. One of our white birch trees
has been blown completely
bald, and the other one sports leaves the same shade of
gold as a Werther’s butter-
scotch candy. The poplar tree right outside the window is
all a-flutter in the breeze,
but the leaves are still more green than most; that is
just about the last species to
change clothes in the fall. We lost many leaves in
Wednesday’s ferocious wind;
they blew off the trees and right on through the yard,
ending up scattered in the
east meadow, how convenient! We still have a few weeks
before we will begin
to rake up the yard, a job that takes me back to the days
of my youth when I did
it for a few dollars a job. Our own house didn’t
have any big trees to clean up after,
so I went door to door with a friend offering to do the
raking. In those days, leaves
were dragged to the curb to be burned, and the whole city
would sit under a pall
of smoke as October drew to a close. Now we pile the
leaves onto tarps and
haul them to the gardens, adding organic material and
providing a good home
for thousands of earthworms who enjoy stirring things up.
While the leaves
still cling to trees, it looks like a good weekend to
stroll underneath the
canopy, hoping that there will be plenty of blue sky to
set off their
brilliant colors. There is a small possibility of snow,
but it is the
partly sunny portion of the forecast that I will
hang my hat on.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 8, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
43 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Some pretty gusty northwest winds are leftover
from yesterday’s storms,
but it is a beautiful sunny morning, a welcome sight
after yesterday’s blustery
rain. The ground is very soggy, and although the sun
shines and the wind doth blow,
the grass is taking its sweet time drying out. Any off-road
hiking done today had better
include insulated boots and warm fuzzy socks. There are
certain to be some mushrooms
that have popped up in the forest after all of this wet
weather, if I can spot them under the
mass of leaves that blew down yesterday. I haven’t
seen any giant puffballs yet, which is the
only kind of wild fungus we will eat; there is no
mistaking those soccer ball sized snow white
beauties for anything poisonous. I wouldn’t look in
the woods for those; lawns, parks, hay-
fields, and golf courses are more likely places. As long
as they are pure white all the way
through, they are quite delicious sautéed in butter.
While in the woods today, I will also
look for some yellow birch bark (from dead trees of
course), as my supply is low and I
use it to kindle fires in the kitchen range. It has such
a wonderful fragrance that I often
dash outdoors just to catch a whiff of the sweet smoke
after I touch it with a match.
Sometimes our woodpile has some birch wood in it, and the
aroma hangs around
until that log has been consumed by fire. I save those
pieces for days when we will
be working in the yard. Simple pleasures are a way of
life up here; colorful leaves,
birdsong, sunshine on my face, sweet smoke from the
chimney, its all good !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
48 degrees, windy, partly sunny
There is plenty of blue sky but also scads of
thick dark clouds
scooting along at a good clip. Some are big and poofy,
while others
are pretty much solid curtains of sooty grey. After a
long night of heavy
steady rain, the lake effect machine has once again
kicked into gear, and the
day will probably alternate between dazzling intervals of
sunshine and brief spates
of downpour. I wouldn’t rule out thunder and
lightning, so I will unplug my modem
before leaving for the day. We have appointments in Rome,
and will take our time
getting there, driving over back roads and leaf-peeping
like any out-of-state tourists
would. We have a fabulous colorful view here on Gomer
Hill every single day, but it
is nice to check out the neighboring burgs as well. The
oranges and reds of autumn are
about halfway to totality here in the North Country; I
love it at this stage, when there is
still plenty of deep summer green left as a contrast for
the warmer colors. Our late sun-
flowers have bloomed, standing tall above the red and
magenta dahlias that refuse to
quit. Zinnias and marigolds echo the maple leaves that
have fallen around them,
blazing with wonderful flaming hues. Zinnias are a
wonderful choice as a cut
flower; they stay fresh in a vase for a long time. We
grow persian carpet,
a blend of single and double small blossoms in every warm
color of the
palette, from deep maroon to palest cream, indeed, all
the colors one
would fine in a fine hand-woven floor covering. There is
time for
a short walk before we must leave, better bundle up !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 9:30 a.m.
53 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
There were very few clouds in the sky earlier, so
we sat out
on what’s left of the back porch and enjoyed the
warm rays for
a bit before getting on with the day. After piling up our
winter supply
of kitchen stove wood there is barely enough room on that
narrow veranda
for two folding canvas chairs, a dog, and three cats.
Many flocks of geese
passed high overhead, and a long line of starlings
trickled through the neigh-
borhood, taking their time, two solid minutes of these
beautiful graceful black-
birds swooping past almost single file. I have pegged out
an impressive amount
of laundry, and hope that the huge black cloudbanks
rolling in are not actually as
waterlogged as they appear. There is no rain in the
picture until tonight, and then the
sky will likely open up for another deluge. If all of the
lake effect rain of the past week
had been snow, we would be up to our noses in the stuff
by now. The west wind blows
steady this morning, so the washing should dry quickly.
If any of the downed leaves dry
out, I will rake up a few bagsful to use for storing
carrots when we finally harvest them;
I can’t count on dry leaves in this autumn of nearly
daily rain. The quality of light has
been absolutely stunning when the sun does appear between
showers; every day has
had its jewel-encrusted moments. The full harvest moon at
night has been elusive,
but if you caught it as it dashed in and out of the
clouds you were likely awestruck.
Have an awe-some day,
Daisy
Monday, October 5, 2009, 9:30 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
The sun has just appeared for the first time this
morning,
a brief and glorious respite from the intermittent
rainfall that
began last night. We took a mini-vacation yesterday
afternoon
and chauffeured our houseguest around Tug hill, hitting
some of
the most beautiful spots in the world. We hiked along the
north rim
of Whetstone Gulf, and the late afternoon sunlight picked
out the red
and orange maple leaves of trees that cling to the south
wall. The stream
at the bottom ran swift from all of the recent rain, and
we could hear its roar
even two hundred feet above the riffles and falls. We
drove to the dam that holds
back the water of Whetstone reservoir; the surface was
smooth as glass, broken
only by the trail of some critter swimming across. We
traveled over narrow dirt
roads canopied by gorgeous autumn foliage, passed apple
trees with red, green,
and yellow fruits, not plentiful but shining, polished by
Mother Nature. We ended
our journey as the sun lowered in the sky, casting
gigantic strobing shadows from
the windmill vanes that were turning atop the Flat Rock
Road, like something from
a science fiction film. A rainbow arched over our house
and barn as we climbed
Gomer hill, and sunset was superb. Oh phooey, the morning
sunshine was
short-lived indeed, and now there is an absolute downpour.
It’s a good
thing we got out and enjoyed some beautiful autumn views
yesterday !
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 4, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
54 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
We are sitting just south of a band of lake effect
rain that should stay
north of us as it goes its merry way; if this were winter,
I would say
we wuz robbed! but since it is rain and not snow,
they can have it up
in Watertown, with my blessing. We have had enough rain
for a while.
Yesterday’s weather alternated between brilliant
sunshine and heavy
showers borne within huge black clouds that came and went
at will.
After our work was over, there was still time for a good
walk along
the Smith Road, where the view was enhanced by the
shining film of
water that intensified the autumn colors. I was about a
mile from home
when I heard several loud BANGs and realized that it is
early bear season
for muzzleloading rifles, and I was thoughtlessly dressed
all in black. We turned
around and headed for home with all due haste. There have
been several black
bear spotted in our neighborhood this year, and I
didn’t want to be mistaken
for one. I will be sure to wear my orange pinnie the next
time I venture out,
and have tied some safety ribbon to the dog’s collar
as well, lest he be
mistaken for a very tiny deer. The clouds seem to be
thinning
in spots; perhaps we shall see a bit of sunshine after
all.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 3, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
51 degrees, calm, cloudy, fog
What a perfect example that a day need not be
sunny to be stunning.
The sky and earth are bound together by a thick
mysterious mist, with
silent starlings, crows and ravens weaving in and out of
view. I have been
our for a small walk with the dog, and was overwhelmed by
a feeling of peace
and quiet that is a perfect start to any day. This day in
particular will be bittersweet
for us, as we will bid farewell to our only livestock and
say boy-howdy to a weekly
chicken dinner for the coming year. We take no great joy
in our task, but there is satis-
faction nonetheless in a job well done, and a supply of
meat that has an extremely local
point of origin. Few petroleum dollars have been spent on
this flock, just what was needed
to drive to Watertown to pick up the day-old chicks and
then grain on the way home. They
have also fattened up on oats that were grown in the
field next to ours, and drank pure un-
chlorinated spring water from deep in the earth in our
meadow. Their lives, while short,
were as comfortable as we could make them. If one chooses
to eat animal protein, this
is one way to make sure that there are no surprises
hitching a ride in the meat, no
pesticides or hormones, no unnecessary drugs, saline
injections, or other un-
natural enhancements. This is nothing but chicken, like
our grannies used
to fix. Maybe even a little better. And now, a good
breakfast,
and then off to get the job done.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Friday, October 2, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
41 degrees, calm, cloudy
Heavy fog obscures most of the view, but from our
treeline north
the air is clear. We had some lake effect snow flurries
yesterday morning,
not enough to stick but it was an early thrill
nonetheless. Last night was cold but
not frosty, so it looks like we will have at least
another week to grow broccoli and
lettuce. Tomatoes haven’t been frozen yet but have
definitely slowed down. I will pick
all of them that show a bit of color and ripen them in
the kitchen; these aren’t quite as good as
vine-ripened, but still a whole lot tastier than store-bought
replicas of the real deal. The fore-
cast has been revised to give us a chance of a partly
sunny weekend, which is good because
there are many harvest festivals and other events of note
taking place. We will be tied up
putting our chickens in the freezer, a messy but
satisfying job that will give us meat for
the coming year. If the rain holds off today, we will
take advantage of an out-of-state
visitor’s strong back to move in the bulk of our
winter wood, filling the woodshed
attached to the house. It is amazing how much smoother
that job goes with
three people sharing the work; two will get it done, but
it takes almost
twice as long. I’ll bet we hear plenty of geese
today; they are
really moving in huge numbers as the days grow shorter.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 1, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
37 degrees, overcast, breezy
Welcome to October, one of the prettiest and most
unpredictable months of the year.
We have had enough snow to cross-country ski on as early
as the 5th, and one time two
feet of the white stuff fell the third week that stayed
on the ground until the following May.
Yesterday, while September drew to a close, tiny motes of
grauple fell while I was working
outside, little opaque round pellets of fluffy ice. There
are flurries in the forecast for today as
well. I picked what may be the last of our green beans,
and wore thin knit gloves for the task.
The dahlias are still blooming profusely, and I gathered
a basketful of them to brighten up the
house on these cloudy wet days. I was also happy to find
several heads of leaf lettuce that
weeds had concealed from foraging deer; I finally found a
good use for the all-invasive
galinsoga, as camouflage! I picked enough for
about three big supper salads, and if we
manage to avoid frost for another week or two it should
continue to grow. I guess I had
better make one more trip through the tomato row, as many
of the fruits are showing color
as well; flatlanders find it hard to believe that we have
not had a killing frost here on Gomer
Hill yet, but you have only to look at the fresh green
foliage of the and tomato vines and beans
twining up the poles to know I ain’t lyin’. I
am hoping for a few sunny days to help speed up the
drying of our shell beans, which could use about a week
of curing inside their pods while still hang-
ing on the vine. We leave them on the plants as long as
possible; a couple of years ago I recall pick-
ing them during a lake-effect snowstorm. A friend was
helping me; if she didn’t already think I
was nuts, I think that sealed the deal. I can now see a
little bit of clear sky to the east, over the
Adirondack Mountains. It would be nice to have some
sunshine to usher in this new month.
Have a great day,
Daisy
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