Yard

The Oaks are slowly dropping their leaves in our yard. 

 Not sure how much time I will be able to spend on the lawn mower mulching leaves this year.  

We will see...one day at a time. 

Far Side

Oh Crap

 The bear is still in our area, eating chokecherries and messing up ant hills.  

He left a calling card.

He has all but torn down our cedar fence in the wild gardens.

Chokecherry bushes broken off in our driveway.

  

We have not seen him in the daytime ...yet.  My husband tells me that the bear would be afraid of my lawn mower when I am out mowing...and just maybe the bear has heard that I am too cranky to mess with.  

Apparently the bear likes the ants...they must be a delicious. 

Far Side

Slow going

 I startled a turtle looking for a safe place to lay some eggs. 

He is a long way from the lake and had to cross two roads to get into our yard from the lake.

Later I saw her heading toward the lake....apparently she was done in our yard. 

The Veronica is still blooming nicely.  We had some very nasty winds on Saturday.

Far Side

Sprinkles of Sunshine

 Imagine small sprinkles of sunshine all over your lawn. 

With the rains came green grass and abundant sunshine for the bees:)

I am going to be like Thumper "If ya can't say something nice don't say nothing at all."

Far Side

Lilac

 The Lilac buds are expanding.  This is a Donald Wyman late blooming lilac

Far Guy saw a Oriole, the grape jelly feeder is out and waiting for them.  I saw a Hummingbird, so I quickly made the sugar water for their feeder.  Not much is blooming here in the boonies.  The Pin Cherries are about to bloom and sunny spots have a few dandys. 

 Far Side

Yard

 The yard is in early Spring mode.  We need rain badly. 

We put out the bird feeders again and have our usual Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Chickadees.  The Junco's are here on and off flying through...so far they have not brought us snow.   Far Guy saw a Robin in town, my baby brother had a Robin at his house.  As far as I can tell we have one bunny rabbit. 

See that patch of tall grass/wildflowers past the trees in the yard...I will mow that in the next few days so it can green up if it rains. 

Such is life here in the woods.  Yesterday it was 72 F or 23 C eh! It was a very nice day!

I am still muddling through the big sort and Far Guy felt good enough to go out to his garage and transfer tools to his new tool box.

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Happenings

 Not too much snow left yet. 

June the snow bank is barely hanging in there.

Far Guy had blood tests and a chest x ray.  No pneumonia although his white blood count is up, after two days trying to get a script to the correct pharmacy I recalled a bottle that had a fill left on it.  Who knows when or if the script will get to the correct pharmacy.  No one does their job anymore.  Anyways...I am trying my best to keep Far Guy out of the hospital. 

My other baby brother called Wednesday morning, our brother in law Dean was in an accident and life flighted out to St Cloud and the puppy Lolli was with the Highway Patrol.  We went to the scene of the accident to get the puppy. We found out later that Dean has a broken sternum.  I took Lolli and gave her a quick exam...she seemed okay...everything worked.  I dropped her off at my baby brothers, he has Baxter and dog food.  He discovered a small spot near Lolli's anus after she pooped...he took her to the Vet and she has a rectal bruise. Poor puppy.  My baby brother and his bride, Baxter and Lolli went to St Cloud to see how Dean and my sister were doing.  My sister Julie was on her way to work at a Regional Office in Thief River Falls when she got the phone call about the accident....so she had a really long drive.  We are thankful that Dean will be okay eventually, he will have pain for a really long time. 

Far Side

Snow on Sunday

 We got a tiny bit of snow.  Nothing that amounts to much. 

Not even shovel worthy.

If we get no snow this Winter we can thank/blame by other baby brother as he bought some expensive snow removal equipment.  He wants it to snow everyday!   He wanted nice weather through Thanksgiving and now it can snow!

Far Side

Fall Stuff

 Far Guy got the sheep water tank on top of some cement blocks ...all ready for next years tomato growing season. 

I messed with the solar lights and got some new ones put out.   We recycled and I put "some" of the yard decorations away...not all! 

I spent most of the afternoon mulching leaves in our yard and over at another property we call Kates. 

The leaves are almost completely out of the trees.  In my estimation 80% of the leaves have fallen.

The Juncos are here I call them Snowbirds.  We are headed for very cool weather especially at night with Freeze warnings.  I brought in the rain gauges so they will not break when it freezes.  Far Guy took care of all the water hoses....one project at a time to get ready for Winter. 

I must get out my warm Winter boots.  

Far Side

Wednesday stuff

 I have a real pretty spinner in my flower garden.  I splurged on it last Spring...after all I didn't buy any flowers.  Last night twin fawns were in the yard...I am sure they would have eaten all my flowers if I had any. 

Sometime it is the little pretty things that we enjoy the most!

Far Guy and I had our teeth cleaned and checkups...look Ma no cavities!  Cross something off our list.  Bonus that it was a Wednesday and the Bakery was open...can you say Finnish Flat bread...so yummy! 

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Lawn catch up

 Finally got around to mowing.  The grass really grew after the rains. 

It looks much better now.  It is not a perfect lawn but it is green:)

Right now I have two baskets of flowers that belong to Jen. 

Far Guy picked them out for her and hopefully we can keep them alive and away from critters for her. 

I do not have any flowers this year...the squirrels, rabbits and deer ...

I have a garden of metal art and solar lights....no need to water...

It works for me. 

Far Side

Barn and Yard

 My other baby brother called and said "Come look at the barn Steve ( neighbor married to Jo) made for me!"  

It sits next to the desk at his office.  A wonderful replica of the barn at the farm where we grew up. A real work of art! 

As you can see our yard looks tidy.  There are leaves in the woods but not on the lawn.  Not many leaves left on the trees.  The Bur Oaks drop their leaves. 

The Red Oaks along with Northern Pin Oaks will keep their leaves most of the winter,  wind and snow knock some to the ground.  Swelling new buds in the Spring will force the old leaves off.  

Big word alert.  The leaves have marcescence ...they wither but remained attached by the stem. 

Far Side

Second Snow

 At this rate Winter will be here early.  The third snow usually stays:(  

We woke up to the second snow. 

By afternoon it had melted.  

We had a fairly productive week.  Only two more windows to wash and the screen door.  It may or may not happen.  Ranger Blue was cleaned out before the cold weather and windows were washed.  We brought in "stuff" from the garages that would freeze.  Far Guy cleaned up Tilly's garage and did some work in the greenhouse/woodshop.

 Leaves were blown around and mulched.  One more time around the yard might happen.  So far I have mulched our yard seven times this Fall.  I mulched at my other baby brothers...he has lots of leaves yet to fall.   The leaves in our yard are 90% down.  

The last of the ant hills were doused with borax/powdered sugar.  The no trespass signs were put up.  

Are we ready for Winter...not completely but in the next two weeks we should be. 

Our quiet snowy day yesterday was spent mostly inside...Far Guy began painting the Christmas Ornaments. We watched Blue Jays and Juncos out the windows.   I cleaned the bathroom and did some laundry and organized some craft stuff. 

We both are a bit headachy and tired from the high dose flu shot.  Naps were high on our priority list in the afternoon.  Far Guy cooked supper...hamburgers without a bun but with some bacon, waffle fries in the air fryer and peaches.

Far Side

Fairy Lights

 Usually I put up some Fall decorations on the wreath outside the door.  This year I saw some little battery operated lights that I could not resist.  They have a timer and are on for six hours and off for eighteen. 

We can all use a bit of light in the dark evenings! 

Yesterday we got a few more Fall projects crossed off our list.  The No Trespassing signs are up and we took care of a few more ant hills.  We blew some leaves in the yard with the leaf blower and trimmed the grass around the Lilacs that Far Guy planted a long time ago.   They we just little sticks that we got from neighbor Jolynn and a couple of them are really taking off.  

I spent part of the morning with my other baby brother checking on some things for my parents.  

Far Side

Leaves

 The leaves are almost peak...we have just a few more days to enjoy them.  

Our yard.  As you can see I will be mulching leaves this week. 

The driveway.

The Burr Oaks are turning golden this year...they usually don't have the best color. 

We went for a Ranger Blue ride....some of the color out there is just fantastic! 

We visited several cemeteries along with my baby brother, his bride and Baxter.  Checking to see what needs tending before it snows. 

Far Side

Growing Grass

 I sprinkled some grass seed in the spot where we ripped out that tree.  Last weekend when it rained there was germination! 

Success!  

Fall lawn work has begun.  I have mulched leaves twice now....yesterday it wasn't raining when I went out to do the side yard...then it began to rain...less dust in the air if the leaves are a tad wet. 

Far Guy moved his woodcarving to the garage where it is a tad warmer.  Our weather turned cold and it may freeze soon. 

Far Side

Onward and forward

 No choice except to soldier on and make the best of everyday. 

Joe Pye Weed along a creek,

The only thing you can do for Lymes is take the antibiotics and rest.  I am doing that.  We live in the woods...ticks happen....deer and other animals spread them around.  We have a new camera system that made us aware of a wild kitty cat and a skunk. 

Far Side  

Home work

 I got the lawn mowed, it was a sad sight with the dandys shooting up their seed heads.  It is better now for a few days. 

Still have not decided on flowers.  Procrastination.

 My Late Lilac is just about to bloom.  

Today I will tackle weeds and thistle....and maybe some ants.  Yes it will be mass destruction and I will enjoy it! 

We are hoping for a good rain shower to settle the pollen.  Far Guy has been held hostage in the house most of the past couple of weeks.  He goes outside for very short periods of time.  Another week and we should be over most of the pollen.  Far Guy is feeling short of breath and wheezing which irritates him.  He wants to get out and do "stuff."

Far Side

Green grass and tomatoes

 The front yard looks pretty good as it should with the rain that we got last week. 

Freshly mowed with no dandies raising their ugly heads...but give them a couple of days.   No regular flowers like Impatiens or Salvia have been purchased or planted...yet.   I haven't decided what to do....maybe next week.  

We planted two tomato plants this year...a Yellow Pear and a Roma.   The Yellow Pear already had blooms and now has tiny starts of tomatoes.   Our sheep watering tank works well for tomatoes and the dog fence keeps the critters out.   It ain't fancy smancy but it works for us. 

Color

 We still have some flowers in the yard....and leaves. 

The trees on the driveway are changing colors.

A few more yellow tomatoes were ready to pick.   They sure are good...we shall miss them when we get a frost. 

I auditioned  some of the yarn skeins upstairs for my newest Crochet Along Project....nothing is written in stone when it come to yarn colors.  Changes will be made. 

Far Guy is still not well.  I have given him my opinion...just worth 2 cents or less. 

Far Side