Mid-morning, new year’s eve. Apparently the deer don’t eat dead pumpkin.
Gardening
Autumn
The dwarf Japanese red maple in the blue bench garden on Sunday morning. Also in this picture is one of our largest white oaks, directly behind the blue bench. Sadly, it’s so badly damaged at the base by boring insects that it has become a hazard to the house.
Clematis overwhelming the light sensor
Winter’s last gasp?
About an inch of snow overnight, followed by a day of light drizzle mixed with snow.
Our first miniature daffodils
Our first miniature daffodils opened yesterday, in time for a good soak today.
No spring flowers for St David’s Day?
No spring flowers opened in time for St David’s Day yesterday. But these two are getting ready:
We do still have some winter flowers in bloom:
Sun rose again today
Hurricane Sandy
Sandy and I survived Sandy. Lost power from about 9pm to 6am, slept in the basement for fear of the house being blown away (or bashed by the nearest oak tree). Outside things are quite wet and a little battered . . .
. . . but doggone, I need to get out with the chain saw to fix the back fence before the next time the dogs need to go out.
Hurricane Sandy weather statistics from near Heflin Road, a couple of miles from our house:
Tomato harvest completed
Columbus Day yesterday, a Monday holiday for the federal government and a few lucky others. We pulled out the tomato plants, pruned the forsythia, and grubbed up three or four heavy bagfuls of wild mushrooms from the new patio garden. Sandy made pumpkin muffins from the new church cookbook, but they’re not lasting well.
Autumnal Equinox
Enjoying the afternoon sun on the last day of summer.