Winter is Coming!

I just looked at the weather on my phone, and we have a FREEZE warning 

for tomorrow night, Friday, into Saturday morning! 

Yikes!

I need to unhook all the hoses, and will cover the 

mums I just planted on Monday on the deck, in hopes of saving them. 

I bought four big rounded mums from a local 

charity, as a fund raiser.  

They are a beautiful color of red, 

but sadly, I found them to be very root-bound. 

Here they are before I planted them. 

I went through and pulled out a bunch of the deck flowers, they are fading fast. 

I cut those darn poplar seedlings down, I am convinced that is what was 

growing in my rectangular planter, and I KNOW I did not buy 

poplar tree seeds. 

What the HECK? 

I pulled out all the woody stems, then decided to dump the whole container.  I'll plant it next year with 

something very low-growing. 

There are still a bunch of tomatoes on the vines in the garden, 

but I did not pick them.... I did bring in three from the deck before 

I pulled those plants out, but they have not ripened in the window. 

I have cut the yard for the last time, and most of the pasture.  I had only one small section to do down there, but I am going to let it go. 

Next year, I'll keep it all trimmed down, I did not this year. 

My helpers are always interested in what I am doing. 

We have had some beautiful fall mornings, but it seems like it went from 90 degrees (wait, it DID).... 

.... to mid-sixties and even lower.  

We have had rain off and on, too. 

Granddaughter Paiton is back on Ice, her original mount, since 

her regular ride Appy was sold a few weeks ago.  

Ice is big enough that Paiton has trouble getting his feet up to clean, so Grandma leaned in and lifted for her this last weekend. 

I need to get a close up of her, I'm really glad she is still riding, it's been a year and a half. 

She is turning eleven this weekend, we will see if this carries over another year, or boys enter the picture. 

I hope she sticks with it. 

I was going to use that bag of potting soil to plant the mums, but 

found flowers growing out of a small hole in it, they were from seed dropped by plants on the table next to them!  Wow! 

They will die tomorrow night, but still, it was remarkable. 

I am going to collect seed from the balsam today, so I can plant it next year. 

I wrote last week about the ducks and part of the chickens being gone. 

My chores are about a third of what they were, I did not realize how much time I was spending with the ducks.  I do miss them, but I also have spent half of what I was spending on chicken feed now. 

I have decided to put Singleton and his girls back in the old henhouse, where they lived before.  Yes, it means I have to cross the yard, but they will be comfortable there, and my idea is NO ROOSTER FIGHTS. 

These two (Fritzi is up on the steps). 

I am struggling with their weight loss journey, 

they both need to lose and I am not good at keeping them on the straight and narrow. 

We are still trying. 

That's about the best I can say right now. 

Another shot of Toto in their final song at the Uptown on the 27th, 

what a fun night it was for me. 

Grandson Chris and I are going to go to a concert next week together. 

(If I can find someone to lock up the chickens that night!)