Closed For The Season...

Sadly, I am out of the chicken business...

Decided I didn't want to fuss with winterizing the coop, then the need to shovel a path out there and keep it maintained and I didn't want to make numerous trips out there each and every day throughout the winter either.  Although, not a huge burden and worry, it was always on my mind.  Worrying about the cold weather on the girls, snow in general but heavy wet snow on the roof.

It's only been a month since I rehomed them and I can honestly say I do miss having them.  I miss the fresh eggs and recycling foods out to them.

Once they were picked up, I spent some time cleaning the coop out, including the nest boxes and laying down the last of bale of straw.  Sill using the upper part as storage but for now - NO VACANCIES!

DIY Door Swag

Made me a Christmas door swag from items I picked along my walk the other morning!  I went prepared, planning to pick these items, so I brought along my trusty hand pruners.  A snip here and a snip there and WALLA!

A nice big White pine branch, a bright red Winterberry branch, some Bittersweet and a couple pine cones, all tied together with some fishing line and BAM!

Rather be creative and resourceful, versus using my hard earned money on items mass produced by others.

Camouflaged No More

With all the leaves down now, it's much easier to spot critters that might otherwise be camouflaged well. Like this impressive hawk.  Perched atop an old dead tree, perhaps looking for a rodent in the litter below.  Didn't seem to mind me walk up to it, as close as I was able, to take a pic.

A Surprise Boo-Boo

Honestly, don't recall what I did to get such a bruise on my palm?!  A bit tender but not something that I was even aware of at the time and didn't notice it till later in the evening.

I helped an elderly family friend the other Saturday - chain sawed up a very big oak branch that fell onto her chain link fence, cleaned all the gutters on her house and raked some of her yard. Finishing it all off with the leaf blower to clean her high traffic areas, garage, porch and driveway.

Somewhere during that work I obtained this souvenir.

Leaning Poplar Tree Of Ye Olde Homestead

A couple weeks ago we had a rain storm come through the area with super high winds.  Following that storm I noticed the neighbors Poplar tree, which is just over the property line, and had been 100% vertical is now leaning almost at a 45 degree angle.

I'm thankful that it's leaning in that direction versus over the chicken coop.  I suspect this dude will come down at some point during the winter, perhaps following a heavy wet snow fall.  Of course I would prefer it NOT fall on my property but it'll prolly get hung up in the neighboring Boxelder tree, which in essence will force it to fall my way.  Shouldn't hurt anything falling in that directions it's leaning and it sure would be nice that when it does come down it takes a bunch of the Boxelder tree limbs with it!

Stay tuned...

Thanksgiving Power Red Donation

Another Power Red blood donation in the books!

My next donation will put me in the 7-Gallon Donor club!

A huge THANK YOU to all the Red Cross works who have helped me in my blood donation journey!

Unimaginable Pain

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the below picture?!

No Wok But Delicious Anyway

This - 

Plus this -

And some sautéed chicken breast, and I created this delicious dinner - 

With enough leftovers for dinner the following night too.

Add a couple frosty Coor's Lights and all was good!

Egg Casings

During my fall yard cleanup and as I cut back all the old flowers, grasses, veggies, etc. I always check for praying mantis egg casings, seen here above.  Although, I don't always see these dudes during the summer, these casings are proof they were there and prolly watching me.  I want to pay careful attention to these so they're not discarded and hauled away to the town landfill.  I most definitely want them to hatch here on the ole homestead, so they can help with insect control through the summer.

Pictured above is one of two casings I discovered this fall.  Hoping there are more out there that I didn't disturb.

 

Working Smarter These Days

I took a new approach this fall to my ornamental grasses.  In years past I would cut each clump by hand using hand pruners, which was a slow and tedious task for sure. To even take it a step further, since I don't really have a place to dump or compost this still stuff on my property, I would then cut up these shoots into small pieces that would fit nicely into a large landscape barrel.  My neighbor, thank goodness for him, would take the barrel to the town recycle center, with his yard waste and dispose of.

This year, however, I tied each clump of grass to keep them bundled, then pulled out the ole chain saw and whacked each clump, ten in all, right down at the ground level.  Once cut, I hauled them to the driveway, where again my awesome neighbor, backed his trailer right up to them for easy pesy loading, and off to the recycling center they went.

SO much more efficient and SO much time saved!

All Shrunk Wrapped!

I agree it's not the most attractive looking but from a efficiency perspective it sure does make a noticeable difference. 

Love our bay window that looks out over the driveway.  So glad we upgraded from a flat set of windows to this bay back in 2013.  Although, the bay is so much more pleasing it does take more to heat the room that it's in.  Installing the plastic shrink kit makes things a bit more comfortable.

I will tell you that Oliver, our cat, does NOT approve!  He loves to jump up into this week to take in the sights and can often be found napping here.  However, with the plastic he's SOL until spring time when the warmer weather returns.

Fall Detailing Time

Before draining and putting the hose up for the winter, I washed my car.  I didn't want to spend the time afterwards detailing, instead tended to the leaves and finished getting the yard to bed, so I parked her in the garage.  That was a Sunday.  On Monday after work I spent a good hour in the garage waxing her!

I 'm not a doting car care person generally in terms of washing, waxing vacuuming, etc. but always like to put a fresh coat of wax on before the winter hits and the snow flies.  Helps to protect from our salty New England winters, as well as helps the rain, snow and ice fall and wipe off that much easier.

Another fall item from the "To Do" list completed!