~
Monday, October 31, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
34 degrees, breezy, sunny
A few wispy high clouds are barely there this morning,
although they did reflect the rising
sun with a riot of flamingo pink earlier. Thick frost
covers the land, and our vehicles’ windshields
are opaque with ice. We put the birdbath into storage for
the winter yesterday, as it had become more
of an ice rink the past few days. This is the first year
our local bluebirds didn’t gather in the yard before
taking off for the winter. Perhaps they did, but I just
didn’t see them. our nesting boxes were only half
used this past season, with three successful hatchings of
tree swallows and one of bluebirds. We also
had one nest of brand new bluebirds abandoned, which is
heartbreaking. I cleaned all of the boxes
out for winter and already squirrels have used three of
them for storing seeds, mostly sunflower from
the gardens. The other boxes will probably be used by
mice at some point in harsher weather, either as
shelter from a storm or as a warm place to have their
young, snug in a nest made from cattail fluff. When
I check the boxes in March to get them ready for the
returning bluebirds, nearly every one has been used
by something other than a bird for the winter months. I
would like to build a couple more and expand the
trail for next spring; they are easy enough to assemble.
One good plan is available at npwrc.usgs....htm.
If you live anywhere near open land, try putting up a
couple of nesting boxes next spring.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 30, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
32 degrees, windy, sunny
We didn’t receive even one little snowflake from
that wicked nor-easter that blew inland
from the east coast last night. Power lines have been
knocked down by snow-laden trees
all over New England, with as much as two feet of snow
falling in some areas. We are used
to having a white Hallowe’en in our neck of the
woods, but it will be a first for many along the
east coast. A stiff northwest wind makes for a very cold
morning here on Tug Hill, in spite of the
bright sunshine that streams over the land. Geese were
seriously on the move yesterday, with huge
flocks appearing one after the other, all headed south. A
large number of snow geese passed over
just before sunset, and the way that the slanted rays
bounced off of the bright white plumage lent a
strobe effect to the whole flock, rippling with every
wingbeat. I heard the haunting song of geese on
the move well after dark; this morning sees fewer flocks
but still quite a few birds. Blue jays have
shown up in our back yard; I don’t know where they
spend the warmer months, but every winter
we have two or three jays that will hang around until the
snow melts. We don’t have bird feeders,
but the jays seem happy to munch on the spruce cones,
rose hips, and birch seeds that are naturally
abundant every year. There was a steady stream of trucks
headed up the hill before dawn both yester-
day and today, so I doubt that I will be hiking in the
woods or even on the back roads on the weekends
until hunting season is over. There has already been one
accidental shooting this season, and even when
decked out with bright orange garb, the possibility of
colliding with a stray bullet increases as the num-
ber of hunting camps in our neighborhood has tripled
during the past five years. There is plenty to
keep me entertained just on our property, especially if I
clean up the perennial beds and get
them ready for their eventual spring blooms. Now that all
of our big jobs are done for the
season, I can pick away at the little things that
probably fall into the hobby category.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 29, 2011, 7:20 a.m.
28 degrees, calm, partly cloudy
The sun won’t be up for another fifteen minutes or
so, but there is a very peachy glow
to the east framed by strata of darker clouds. We should
have a fine day of chilly sunshine,
and then we may be kissed by the far edge of the
nor’easter that is chugging up the coast. Friends
in Massachusetts are tucking in, anticipating high winds
and up to eight inches of wet snow sometime
tonight. The deciduous leaves have only just begun to
fall down there, so they expect power outages as
overburdened branches will likely break and fall on the
lines. As the forecast for our neck of the woods
stands, we should see some snow and wind, but probably
not enough to cause concern. Yesterday I took
a bucket to the north garden to cut some broccoli for
supper, and deer had been all through the row, eating
every single tasty little floret. I guess I am lucky that
they waited until the end of October to make their raid,
allowing us dozens of good late summer broccoli feeds.
Just about the only things left in the garden are swiss
chard and spinach. There is still some lettuce, but the
frost has wilted the outer leaves. Perhaps if there is a
warming trend next week it will perk back up and give us
enough greens for one last salad. We only have
three tomatoes left, as many of the unripe ones I brought
into the house have developed black spots from
late blight and turned into inedible slime. Most years we
have enjoyed homegrown tomatoes through the
end of November, but not since the blight found our
little patch. Next year I won’t grow all of our tom-
atoes in the same spot; instead I will plant them in
pairs all over the place and stake them individually
instead of tying them all to one trellis. If blight finds
us again, at least some of the plants might
be spared, using the eggs-in-one-basket paradigm. Ah,
here comes the sun !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 28, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
28 degrees, breezy, sunny
We finally had a hard frost last night, and I imagine it
was cold enough to set back even
our hardy crops like broccoli and swiss chard. I will
finally be able to finish picking the shell
beans, which had still been growing up until last night.
I regret that I didn’t go around to the flower
beds yesterday and cut a few last bouquets, but I was
tied up with appointments for most of the day.
We brought the big pots of geraniums in, and after I trim
them up for winter I should have enough red
and pink blossoms for at least one small arrangement for
the dinner table. I need to repot some other
houseplants, and as long as I have the growing medium out
I might as well start some basil for the
windowsill, a wonderful fragrant herb best used fresh. I
can either start it from seed, or buy a bunch
of hydroponic basil at the market, and pop those rooted
plants into dirt after trimming off the top leaves.
I think I will bring in a parsley plant as well, if it
hasn’t been frosted beyond redemption. There is
still a
scattering of snow leftover from Wednesday night’s
drop, and combined with the frost and frozen rain
it makes for a very shiny view. The back step is slippery,
and the grass whispers a satisfying crunch
with every footfall. Change is in the air, and even
though the next few days are going to be sunny,
they will be cold. Time to trade in the sandals for wool
socks and winter shoes.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 27, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
29 degrees, breezy, fog
About an inch of heavy snow fell during the night; I
heard the rain stop all of a sudden,
and looked out the window to see fat flakes plastering
themselves to the north sides of
our trees. Now the shrubs hang low to the ground under
their burden, and the grass is
covered in white. Hunters will have good tracking if the
snow lasts through the weekend.
Fog rolled in at first light, and no doubt is feeding on
the snow this very moment, so our
pretty wintry view probably won’t stick around. I
imagine that as I travel to the bottom
of Gomer Hill later this morning the roads will be bare
and the meadows snow-free. Still,
the first snowfall is always a little bit exciting for me,
a taste of wintry goodness to come.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
41 degrees, breezy, cloudy, rain
Today’s chilly gloom is a perfect balance to
yesterday’s dazzle.
I am spending the day shopping for supplies in the Mohawk
Valley,
and the big decision is whether to wear shoes or sandals.
The final choice,
wear sandals and tuck shoes and warm socks into the trunk,
just in case. I like
to leave my feet free to breathe as long as I can. I was
just admiring the foliage
around our property; trees are mostly bare, but shrubs
and bushes are lovely
with golden and red leaves. The willows which delight us
in early spring with
their fuzzy catkins are now haloed with a brassy glow,
and our forsythia hedge
is brilliant with just about every warm hue that exists.
Every property ought to have
at least one forsythia bush, for it is not only beautiful
at all times of year, it provides a
sweet tangle of twigs that shelters birds and other small
critters in every season. When
left to grow in full sun, our so-called dwarf variety has
expanded to a huge shrub that
has been pruned into an eight foot dense globe. The hedge
that grows in partial shade
is full and thick, and in spite of having a tree fall on
it last spring is almost back to its
normal height of five feet. There is a pitcher full of
forsythia branches gracing our en-
tryway, with a few late gloriosa daisy blooms tucked in.
As pretty as the daisies are,
it is the maroon, red, copper and green leaves that steal
the show. When flowers are
scarce, look outside the box for ways to bring the
outdoors in. And now, off to the city!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
40 degrees, windy, partly sunny
There are some awesome huge clouds stalled out over Gomer
Hill,
and little wisps of fog rise up out of the valley like
ghosts to join with them.
When the sun does appear for a brief instant, it is like
the opening scene in an
intensely religious 3-D film about creation. Let there be
light! While the temperature
may not make it out of the forties today, when the sun is
shining we are warmed in a
way that has little to do with thermal units. As the days
continue to grow shorter until
the winter solstice, we need to remember to use every bit
of sunshine that comes our
way, to brighten our hearts even as we arise in the dark
and start our morning work
with the kitchen lights ablaze. We will be topping off
the kitchen woodpile before
closing in the last bit of back porch for the year, and
you bet I will pause every
time the sun beaks trough to let the beams soak into my
very being.
A day like this is tailor-made for shining moments,
don’t you think?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 24, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
55 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy, spotty rain
I just made a mad dash outside to rescue the sheets and
towels from the clothesline,
and got there just in the nick of time. We had a fine
start to the day, with lovely sunshine
and bright blue sky, so I got all of the weekend linens
washed and out in the breeze before
breakfast. We bid goodbye to our guests mid-morning, and
then took a short bike up the Smith
Road, just to work the kinks out from a weekend spent
mostly on our feet. Now all of the chickens
are in the freezer, the equipment squeaky clean and
stored in the barn, and all that is left is to finish
ster-
ilizing the feeders, cutting boards, and plastic pails
that were called into play during the past three days.
We will take our time mucking out the chicken house, and
after a good pressure-washing it will be all
ready to use as a warming shack for our winter parties,
made snug with a little woodstove tucked in
the back of the building. We are promised one more fine
sunny day before Old Man Winter will start
to horn in, with a real cooldown for Thursday, and the
possibility of some snow flurries lasting into the
weekend. For now, I am headed to the barn to pack carrots
into leaves before hauling the pails down
to the cellar for the winter. It will be nice to listen
to the rain on the tin roof, finally letting it sink in
that
the really big jobs of this growing season will be
finished as the last carrot is covered. I know there are
a
few broken and split ones in the barrow, but I can cook
those up to enjoy with tonight’s chicken dinner.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 21, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
41 degrees, windy, overcast, fine rain
We are experiencing a very windy, cold, and rainy morning
here on Gomer Hill,
one entirely unsuited for the task of emptying the ashes
from the brimful catch-pan
of the wood range. I took them to the compost wearing
flip flops, and when I was done
I looked like I was wearing grey leg-warmers. A quick
rinse was needed, as ash has the
potential to be caustic on human skin. A friend of ours
is headed up from Massachusetts
on his motorcycle. It is sunny and warm there today; what
a woeful surprise he will have
along about Amsterdam. At least our house will be warm
and dry for his arrival. We fed
the chickens their last ration this morning, and by this
time tomorrow we will be leading
them to the light... that’s the light in the lid of
the freezer... so I won’t be writing
until the dust settles from that big job, probably Monday.
Have a great weekend,
Daisy
Thursday, October 20, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy, rain
A little drizzle has been with us since late yesterday,
and very hard rain began to fall just before sunrise.
An expanded view of the Nexrad radar map shows that the
worst is upon us right now, and the front thins
a bit to the south, but still it looks like we might be
in for a fairly rainy day. The wind is from the southeast,
and the window over the kitchen sink streams with little
rivers that obscure the view of the east meadow. I
will be spending quite a bit of time at that window this
morning as I prepare food for the weekend, hearty
dishes that can be popped into the oven with little fuss
to feed the friends that start rolling in today. Lasag-
na, venison stew, meatloaf, baked beans, broccoli
casserole, honey roasted carrots, oh my! And of course,
cookies are a staple, dark chocolate cookies with dark
chocolate chips, and some snickerdoodles if I have
the time. I have been scanning the sky to see if any
birds are hardy enough to weather this rainstorm, and
so far I have only seen big purple maple leaves swooping
by from our lone red maple in the backyard. I
don’t know what cultivar this tree is, but the
leaves are a deep red all summer long; we planted it
twenty-
five years ago, and it is beautiful at all times of year.
It is one of the last maples to shed its leaves in autumn;
most of the sugar maples in our yard are leafless since
last weekend’s gale. We hauled a few loads of leaves
down to this season’s potato patch to help acidify
the soil for when we next plant spuds there in four years.
Now the rain has stopped, and the sky is brighter to the
south. Clouds are moving northwest with great
speed, on their way to Canada from the looks of them.
This could make travel a bit difficult for migrat-
ing geese who have to fight a headwind. I’m happy I
can stay in one place on a day like this.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
48 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Fog sits in pools in the valley, looking more like a
small chain of lakes than clouds.
We are fog-free here on Gomer Hill, but the air hangs
heavy with moisture from yester-
day’s numerous little rain showers. We were awakened
in the wee hours by a very loud thun-
derclap, followed by some bright flashes of lightning,
and more thunder but no rain at all. The storm
passed through very quickly... so fast it forgot to rain,
I guess. We are getting all of our equipment in
order to butcher chickens this weekend. We have brought
the giant picker out of storage, and the scal-
der and various stainless steel work stations are
arranged in one half of the garage, ready and waiting to
process about fifty-five birds for the freezer. We are
taking some birds to a local slaughterhouse
this after-
noon, to see if their work is up to our standards of
excellence. (Seriously, the poultry you buy in the super-
market would never pass inspection at our place.) If it
is, this could very well be the last time we will have
to deal with the hard work and mess that goes along with
the whole operation. We are fortunate to have
several friends who are willing assistants, which
makes the project much more enjoyable on every level.
After a hard day on our feet, we will quaff many frosty
beverages and sit down to a delicious dinner of...
lasagna! It is pretty much like any other festive
gathering, except for the blood, guts, and feathers.
(That’s more like a fraternity party...)
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
43 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Yesterday was a perfect October day, with a chilly west
wind and brilliant sun framed by big
dark clouds for most of the day. I hung out clothes to
dry, but needed my thin wool gloves to ac-
complish the task in comfort. Many items blew off the
line and I had to gather much of it from the
meadow, along with finding the clothespins that have
weathered to a dull grey, and are hard to find
in the leaves and long grass. I use the old-fashioned peg
pins, as the wind is usually too brisk for the
spring-clips, which simply blow apart when stressed. The
latter are easy to find in any dollar store or
hardware franchise, but the former are almost impossible
to locate except as antiques or collectibles.
New-made pegs are unsatisfactory, full of splinters and
made of inferior wood that splits in half if se-
curing anything heavier than a linen handkerchief to the
clothesline. I once found a real treasure at
a yard sale, a big ziploc bag of pegs for a quarter. Some
were very old, with wire bails at the
neck. I keep my eyes open at flea markets and tag sales,
but I still fear the day when I will
be out of them for good, as even the sturdier ones
occasionally break, especially if the
line is frozen. Hanging laundry out is not only an energy-saving
practice; I really en-
joy the sight of things flapping in the breeze,
especially if there is a bright array of
table linens and towels in the mix. It is a homely task,
but has a great
deal of artistic satisfaction as well as resulting in
fragrant dry laundry.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 17, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
44 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
There was a bit of fog misting the yard earlier, but now
the air is fresh and clear as a bell.
The wild and wooly winds of the past two days have pretty
much denuded the maple trees
and swept the leaves down into the east meadow, except
for a couple of truckloads that lodged
between the chicken house and the barn. I picked some
swiss chard yesterday and much of that garden
has been buried in leaves as well. We can let them rest
there for the winter, except for around the chard;
I raked those off so it can continue to grow. I also
found enough lettuce for a big supper salad, which was
a nice surprise as the deer had pruned it all pretty
severely a few weeks ago. Much of it grew back, with
crisp tight heads erupting from the ruined centers of the
plants. I’m glad we haven’t tilled that part of
the
garden yet. Yesterday we walked on the Smith Road, and
for a change there was very little ATV traffic.
Several wildflowers are having a late bloom, especially
the blue chicory and delicate queen anne’s lace.
I found a single small daisy, and a few purple knapweeds
to decorate our kitchen windowsill. Clovers
of all varieties seem to be enjoying a second childhood
as well. The row of annual flowers in the cut-
ting garden is still keeping our dining room table
supplied with gloriosa daisies, dahlias, and zinnias,
and the stella de oro lilies have made a splendid
comeback in the perennial bed. I love this time of
year, when ordinary things take on extraordinary
qualities simply because they take us by surprise.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 16, 2011, 10:00 a.m.
46 degrees, windy, partly sunny
When the sun comes out from behind the huge clouds it is
quite literally blinding.
After one good look out the window to admire the view, I
had to wait a couple of
minutes before I could see the computer screen well
enough to write this. It was worth it;
a huge flock of geese is running full-tilt up the Smith
Road, like some crazy poultry marathon
is taking place. Their plumage was glistening with
sunbeams as if they were all wearing pageant-
mom sequined blazers. It was quite a festive sight. We
had some fierce wind and rain late yester-
day, following a beautiful on-and-off showery display
that almost always presented a rainbow in
some surprising part of the sky. We went to Lowville
around noon and drove right under a huge
bright arc that lit up everything around it with a
supernatural glow; I was a passenger so I could
admire it at length. If I had been driving alone I would
have had to pull over and drink it all in.
When the storm front finally settled in I cancelled plans
to leave the Hill for a party; although
I feel bad that I missed a good time, it was best that I
not be out driving in the wind and rain.
We tucked in and enjoyed a leisurely chicken dinner in a
cozy warm house. The rain stop-
ped in the wee hours, and the wind has settled down to a
steady blow, a mere shadow
of yesterday’s gale-force gusts. It looks like it is
clearing, with larger patches of
blue sky than I have seen in several days. Time to get
out for a hike !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 15, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
48 degrees, windy, partly sunny, rain
We are being treated to a very rare western sky rainbow
this morning. The rain is streaming down
in sheets while the sun shines brightly from the east.
Most of our sun showers occur in the afternoon;
this is the first time I have seen a rainbow over the
neighbor’s cornfield. We are in for some interesting
weather today, everything from sun to thundery rain with
the wind steadily increasing in speed as the day
wears on. We have had some gorgeous light so far,
dazzling with sun-splashed raindrops and the psychede-
lic rush of bright orange leaves whizzing by. A stiff
west wind has taken down much of the foliage, and we
emptied the yard of vehicles so the leaves could just
blow on through. I will spend some time this morning
shelling the grandma rosa beans that we have
picked so far. The timing is good, as I just used the
rest of
last year’s to make baked beans for a potluck supper.
This is my all-time favorite variety of dry bean, a bit
like a pinto but rounder and more plump, firm yet tender
when cooked. It holds up in any recipe that calls
for dry beans of any description. We harvested about two
gallons of them last year, and it looks like we
will soon have a bit more than that. They are easy to pop
out of the hulls when they are crispy, and a
week under the wood range has dried them to perfection.
Yesterday we spent some time on the other
side of the Hill helping a friend put in her winter wood,
and the weather played fast and loose with us
the whole time we were there. Periods of deliriously
gorgeous sunshine alternated with torrential
downpours that lasted just a couple of minutes, but it
was warm and the rain served to cool
us off from the hard work of hauling and stacking big
hunks of wood. When we returned
home we put one more load of small wood on our own back
porch during the last sunny
spell of the day. Geese were honking, ravens mumbling,
crows calling, starlings soaring;
the whole task was blessed by a beauty that is the very
essence of autumn. To be part of
such a day has left me in awe of the power Mother Nature
has over us mere humans.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 14, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
Rain has stopped for now, and the wind is stripping the
wet leaves from our maple trees with great vigor.
We hope that the high winds predicted for the weekend
will take care of our raking-up job for this season.
We have enough dry leaves collected to pack away our
carrots and parsnips in the cellar, so everything else
is welcome to blow all the way down into Turin. The sky
is brightening up a bit, and the radar map shows that
most of the rain has moved off to the east, so today may
not be a complete washout. Yesterday afternoon had
some very pretty interludes, and it was fairly warm out
as well; perhaps today will be a repeat of that. We still
haven’t had a hard frost for much of our property,
so I think I will gather in a few bouquets of flowers
from
the cutting beds, and check to see if any more broccoli
florets have appeared. This year’s broccoli plants
never had any big heads in the center of the plant, but
there have lately been dozens of smaller side shoots
that are very tasty. I wonder why the center head never
developed? This has happened before, but that
was because deer had munched the middle out of the plant;
as far as I could tell, there had been no
deer nibbling on it this year. We have had enough to
enjoy fresh, but there is no broccoli in the free-
zer for this winter. Now I can see the sun shining on the
Black River Valley, what a pretty view !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 13, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, overcast
Light drizzle started yesterday afternoon and came and
went for a few hours before settling
down into steady rain at bedtime. Now it has stopped for
a while, and the air is fresh and cool
with a breeze right out of the north. We took advantage
of yesterday’s fine morning to head out
on bicycles across some of the back roads in our
neighborhood. We picked a bag full of elderber-
ries that were still plump and juicy, and another of
mountain ash that were hanging low enough to
reach. There was one huge grove of mountain ash trees
that were full of birds, robins, bluejays,
and sparrows all enjoying the bright red berries. We
passed a couple of bushes with small red
berries that oozed yellow goo when squeezed, and I have
no clue what they are. The back roads
are in perfect condition for our fat-tire bikes, and
there was little traffic to slow up down; it was
a perfect ride! We beat the drizzle home by only a few
minutes, and warmed our cold hands
around steaming bowls of chicken soup. We dug all of the
carrot yesterday, and have a
heaping wheelbarrow to sort for storage. Our atomic
reds yielded well, and we will
use them first as they do not keep as well as the danvers.
I also picked another
five-gallon bucket of grandma rosa shell beans and
they are spread out on a
screen by the wood range to finish drying. I see that
some fine rain has start-
ed to fall, so I will finally have a chance to catch up
on the indoor work.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
57 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Clouds have moved in, but the rain isn’t slated to
arrive until much later. There is a pretty stiff breeze
from the south, which may be why the geese haven’t
been around much this morning. They have been
on the move in small flocks for the past ten days or so,
but none have passed over our place yet today.
Yesterday we planted daffodils, four long rows of them,
which should be a beautiful sight this spring. We
dug up our old bed which was originally planted twenty
years ago, a dozen varieties that bloom over a per-
iod of several weeks. We mixed the bulbs up as we planted
them back into the ground, and in a couple of
years time those four proximal rows (which are now about
eight inches apart) should fill in to be a grand
bed of early spring color. We will put some sawdust on
top to try to keep the weeds down for the first
year anyway. The leaves have all turned a beautiful
orange and yellow, with very few red accents;
this change happened quite suddenly, and the ride home
from Boonville last night was very pretty.
Several large flocks of starlings lined the highway from
their perch on the power lines, and when
they took off in flight they did so as one big mass of
fluttering wings which shone glossy black
in the lowering sun. We are off for a bike ride on the
back roads of Gomer Hill;
I can’t wait to see the nooks and crannies in their
autumn robes.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
61 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
Leaves are falling from the maple trees and floating
straight to the ground, like little orange parachutes.
Now that there are dry leaves, I suppose I should gather
a tarp full to use for packing material when
the carrots are ready to dig. After tomorrow, I
don’t believe it will be easy to find dry leaves for
a
while. We pulled a few carrots yesterday to give to a
friend, and they are so fat and long that we
will need to take the spading fork over when we harvest
them all. I broke off quite a few tops try-
ing to slowly lift them by hand. I picked the rest of the
black coco beans, as the frost had crisped
them up nicely. The shell beans growing on poles have not
yet been frosted, but I can see that the
yield will be awesome this year. We cleaned out all of
our bluebird nesting boxes, brushing out the
wrens’ twigs and bits of leftover nesting material
from the bluebirds and swallows that used them this
season. Soon mice will move into them for the winter,
filling the space with cattail fluff and other soft
things for insulation. A couple of them need to be
brought into the barn for repairs; perhaps I will
make a couple of new ones while I am at it, there is
always room for more nesting boxes. Lady-
bugs have been all over the place the last couple of days,
landing on the laundry, perching on
the sunporch windows both inside and out, no doubt trying
to find a crack in the siding to
use as their winter squat. Several honeybees have found
their way indoors as well, and
are agreeable to being led to a piece of cardboard and
released in the yard. The
next week looks to be a wet one, so get out and enjoy
this beaut of a day.
Have fun,
Daisy
Monday, October 10, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
61 degrees, breezy, sunny
We have at least two more gorgeous indian summer days
before some rain moves in,
so I expect we will spend much of our day outdoors
picking away at those tasks that will
help ready our property for winter. We have some big
chunks of wood to pry apart with our
trusty hydraulic splitter, and then stack the pieces into
rows by the edge of the woodlot to continue
to dry for future use. I think one more tilling and the
ground will be ready to plant daffodils, so I need
to break up the big clumps of bulbs and sort out the
largest to poke back into the earth. Yesterday I
traveled to North River in the Adirondacks with friends
to shoot the rapids of the Hudson River, way
up near the headwaters where the water is pure and
sparkling and not at all like city folk think of when
they hear the words Hudson River. There were six
in our raft, and our guide had done the trip hundreds
of times at all water levels. The weather was perfect,
warm and sunny, and the foliage was at peak along
the banks and steeps, which we could admire briefly in
between sessions of furious paddling to keep the
raft headed into safe pathways. We traveled seventeen
miles of river, and most of it was whitewater, with
a few peaceful intervals so we could stretch out a bit
and enjoy the view. It was an outstanding adventure,
and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We were part of
the Adirondack River Outfitters (ARO) experience,
and I recommend that company with no reservations for
their professionalism, equipment, and experienced
knowledgeable guides. Check it out at http://www.aroadventures.com/
. We drove up in the dark and fog,
but the return trip was one of the prettiest routes I
have ever followed. The lowering sun lit up the vibrant
autumn foliage and it was hard to keep my eyes on the
road. The two and a half hour drive home was a
wonderful way to wind down from a pretty intense day of
fun. And now, back to business as usual !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 8, 2011, 9:30 a.m.
62 degrees, breezy, sunny
It feels more like June than October this fine sunny
morning. We lingered over coffee on the
back porch a bit longer than usual, watching geese fly by
and listening to the neighbors’ roosters
greet the day. We have decided to take advantage of the
great indian summer week ahead of us to
cut a little firewood for the winter of 2013-14. There
are a few trees that have fallen across our cross-
country ski trail in the woodlot, and as long as we are
clearing that away we might as well thin out the
maples and ash that are ready to cull. This is the
perfect time of year for outdoor jobs... no bugs, cool
breezes, and earlier sunsets so that we can’t work
the long hours of midsummer. We have fortified our-
selves with scrapple and eggs, and are ready for some
hard toil in the beautiful forest. Yesterday I pick-
ed two full pails of mature bean pods, and they are
continuing to dry on mesh racks in the sun. There has
been a bumper crop of Grandma Rosa beans this year,
but not too many scarlet runners so far. The pole
beans did not get hit by frost yet, so there is still
plenty of time for more beans to get ready. I only picked
about 20% of the Rosas; they really went to town
this year. I am headed to the Hudson River Gorge
for a whitewater raft adventure tomorrow; will get back
with the full report on Monday.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 7, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
45 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
It was another chilly night but not as cold as Wednesday.
We had no sign of frost this morning,
and the sun feels extra good as the northwest breeze is a
bit brisk. We have an excellent view of
the valley and mountains beyond, with thin trails of
smoke rising from countless chimneys and outdoor
furnaces. Our maple trees are beginning to show some
colors other than dull brown, although that does
seem to be the predominant hue overall. There are some
very pretty orange leaves here and there, and
the forsythia has started to shift into its beautiful
maroon phase. Yesterday we enjoyed a slow ramble
through the forest, which is rampant with many kinds of
mushrooms and tree fungi. Our dog spent the
entire time with his nose to the ground, at times
sniffing so deeply that I thought he would take in a good
chunk of duff through his little beezer. I had to keep
him on-leash, as his eyesight is failing and could easily
have become disoriented if following the trail of
something interesting. He pretty much led the way, and it
made for an interesting trek, tracing invisible (to us,
anyway) scent trails. We gathered two sacks of yel-
low birch bark from downed trees for kindling our morning
fires, as well as some fragrant pine twigs.
A huge flock of noisy crows flew nearby, and one sentinel
passed directly overhead. We looked
up to spot it, and were treated to a burst of brilliant
red maple leaves, the only real bright spot
of color in the whole woodlot. Today I will be picking
shell beans; the cold snap has dried
out many of the pods so it will be easy to tell which
ones are ready to pick. We have
nearly a week of gorgeous autumn days spread out before
us; make the best of them.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 6, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
42 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
A few wispy clouds radiate out from the eastern horizon,
so faint as to be nearly invisible against
the pale sky there. As the eye travels west, the sky
deepens its blue, and overhead it is the clear bright
color of a fair-weather day. We only had a trace of frost
in our upper garden, where the majority of our
shell beans grow on tall poles. If the leaves die back,
it will be easy to spot the mature beans and picking
will be a cinch. We gathered the rest of our tender crops
yesterday, right down to golfball sized green pep-
pers, which will be yummy baked whole with a cheese and
onion stuffing. We found a dozen baby zucchinis
tucked under the broad leaves and picked those, leaving
several even smaller ones in case frost didn’t show
up. Our lowest reading on the thermometer was thirty-seven
degrees, and the probe for that is here at the
house; it must have been just enough colder farther up
the hill for that garden to be affected. Our vehicles
were frost-free, as were the other three plots. It was
just forty when we went to bed, so I put a huge ket-
tle of chili out there to cool, and this morning I will
pack it into containers for the freezer. That was a good
way to use up some of the larger peppers as well as thick-necked
onions which won’t store well for win-
ter. We still have a dozen celery plants, which are
fairly frost-hardy. I have never seen home-grown celery
so big and perfect; it will stand quite a bit of frost,
and later we are going to try storing it in the cellar
packed into big pails with the roots resting on damp sand.
I will dry the tops for use in soup
and stew, and will also cut some, blanch it, and freeze
it for the same purpose. There
is a frost in the forecast for tonight as well, perhaps
we won’t escape this one.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
45 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
It is really nice to have a sunny morning on Tug Hill for
a change. I can see that the low valley folks
are not so lucky, as a thick blanket of fog follows the
contour of the Black River. There are several masses
of clouds that may be closing in on us, but for now
beautiful sunbeams put a shine to every bit of color that
has
started to paint the leaves with a subtle touch. So far
the fall foliage has not been too flashy, although the
swamp
maples in several places have been brilliantly red,
vibrating like neon lights in a roadhouse window.
Staghorn
sumacs have been very pretty as well, but for the most
part, leaves seem to be turning brown and blowing
away rather than displaying the full range of autumn hues.
We are expecting a hard freeze tonight, so will
spend the day picking the last of the green peppers,
beans, and zucchini. I must gather in a few armloads
of flowers, the last bouquets of the season to brighten
up our indoor rooms. We will finally be able to dig
carrots and parsnips by the end of the week, after they
have been tempered by frost. We dug up the long
row of mixed daffodils, and after one more tilling will
plant many of them near their former spot. The half-
bushel of bulbs that we planted twenty years ago has
divided many times, and now we have nearly two
wheelbarrows of them to plant back. The row had become so
full of weeds that we decided to start
over, never realizing how many bulbs we would haul out of
the ground. I have shared the bounty with
friends, and look forward to seeing lovely spring flowers
in their yards as well as ours next year.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, overcast, sprinkles
Light rain sweeps across the yard from the north,
refreshing in a way, like sea spray only not as stinky.
In fact, it smells quite good, like wood smoke and wet
earth, with a hint of skunk that let loose not too
far away. If you ask around, I think you will find that
quite a few people don’t find the skunk’s
signature
all that offensive, or maybe even outright enjoy it. (Or
maybe that’s quite a phew people...) I have lately
seen many dead skunks by the side of the road; yesterday
I saw a huge one on the way to Lyons Falls.
The white streaks were broad and yellow with age, and
I’ll bet it weighed at least ten pounds. What I
noticed was that it didn’t smell at all; perhaps it
died before having a chance to lift its tail. A little
bit of
fog has rolled in so now I wonder what the rest of the
day holds. I will be indoors processing tomatoes
for most of the morning, and hope to work in a good walk
at some point. Yesterday we trod up the Smith
Road, which was abloom with a second growth of red clover
and beautiful blue chicory. The ditches were
half-full of water, so the dogs had a chance to splash
around a bit, not exactly a swim but it still looked like
fun. Our little guy is growing quite old, and it is
wonderful to see him romp like a young puppy. Lately,
he would rather doze the day away, and he certainly has
earned a good rest. As I grow older myself
(as we all must, if we are fortunate) I often find that a
short nap at mid-day doesn’t seem like such
a bad idea, especially if the morning has been productive,
and there are no jobs lined up waiting.
Wow, it is really foggy now; I can barely see the edge of
the garden.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 3, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
50 degrees, breezy, fog
This is the third morning in a row that we have awoken to
thick fog, and the experience
has worn out its welcome. Fortunately, yesterday the mist
fled and the clouds parted to reveal
a very pretty afternoon filled with stunning sunlight and
crisp shifting shadows. It remained cold,
but once bundled against the chilly north wind it turned
into a pleasant day after all. Several large
flocks of geese flew over Gomer Hill during the time that
we were outdoors, the biggest movement
we have seen so far this autumn. I spent some of the
rainy hours shelling black coco beans, and found
several pods that had been invaded by some boring insect
that had eaten one or two of the seeds inside.
I expect that the warm sunny weather that is predicted
for the end of the week will help bring many
more of our shell beans to maturity; I wonder if the
other varieties have been munched on as
well ? I haven’t identified the pest yet, but so far
the damage has been minimal. There has
been frass (droppings) left behind in a few of the pods,
but so far no little living critters.
The fog has begun to brighten a bit; perhaps the sun is
on its way.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 2, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
39 degrees, windy, fog, rain
Rain has continued to fall off and on since yesterday
morning, and as the temperature dropped down
to thirty-five degrees at bedtime, I half-expected to
awaken to a snowy view this morning. It is foggy
and very wet out there, but no snow. Yet. The coolest
thing happened just a little while ago. I was
standing at the kitchen sink cleaning up some pots and
pans, and a flock of about thirty turkeys
flew through the yard, only about ten feet off the ground.
They landed at the edge of the lawn
and are still down there pecking their morning grub out
of the wet ground. What a wonderful
surprise on such an otherwise dull morning! I at first
thought that they were geese, gone off-
course because of the dense fog, but nope, we have a
gathering of big fat turkeys. In fact,
the geese really haven’t started to move south in
huge numbers yet, although we have seen
some smaller flocks now and then. As chilly as the north
wind has been these past few days,
I thought that the cold canadian air would trigger the
annual migration for sure. It is a good
day to be snug and dry indoors, although it may clear up
for a while later; that would be nice.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 1, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
42 degrees, windy, fog, drizzle
I love the word drizzle, and it perfectly
describes the fine mist that is blowing around,
mingling with thick fog on this chilly dank morn. Being
outdoors earlier was just like walking
around in the path of some giant vaporizer run amok,
without the soothing scent of Vicks Vap-o-rub
that permeats the memory of bygone childhood illnesses. I
wonder if anyone still uses a vaporizer? It is too
bad the weather is so daunting, as this is the day that
Boonville sets aside every year to hold its autumn arts
festival, with many nifty events in town as well as
village-wide yard and garage sales. Let’s hope the
rain
doesn’t keep folks from attending; it is fun for all,
just dress warmly. Yesterday was a real jewel of a
day, with that rare light that streams out from behind
big clouds, sharpening every image and bathing
the entire scene with a surreal glow. I gathered green
beans, broccoli, chard, and flowers and was
filled with joy just from performing these simple tasks
on such a lovely afternoon. I also picked
the first of the black coco shell beans, taking those
with brown pods and leaving the rest for
later. They will pop out of their casings easier after
they have become dry and crispy, so
they are currently spread out on a screen underneath the
wood range. And now, I
believe I will bring in one of our sling chairs from the
back porch and set it up
next to the range to enjoy my second cup of coffee and do
a little reading.
Then it’s off to the festival, rainy or not, because
it is always a good time!
have a great day,
Daisy
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