Where is it written that people have to rake the leaves off of their lawns every fall, so that no leaves remain? We have neighbors here in MN and had neighbors in ND who worked daily in the fall to remove any traces of leaves. We are not raking people.
In our ND town the City was of no help to people who needed leaves hauled away. People had to haul them away to the landfill themselves. Of course, this was the City that wouldn’t remove snow from residential streets unless 4 or more inches had fallen. (It’s going to melt eventually anyway, and we don’t have it in our budget to plow anything but major arteries.)
Luverne has a much different attitude about this. I attribute it to the proximity to Northwest Iowa and a Dutch influence regarding neatness. The other day while it was raining we saw several street sweeping machines washing streets. The City sends out leaf suckeruppers several days in October and November to remove leaves that residents have swept into the gutter. Snow of any amount is also plowed up.
We like to leave the leaves for ground cover and pollinators. We sweep up leaves that collect on the sidewalk or deck, though. I remember the smell of burning leaves in the fall when I was a child, and loved it when my mom and dad would make leaf piles for me to jump in. Leaf burning is illegal now, I think. I am glad we have better things to do now than rake.
What are your leaf raking, leaf jumping memories? Are you a raker?
I have to admit it. I turned on the furnace last Thursday. It was chilly in the house, with a hard freeze predicted for Friday night/Saturday morning. I hate being chilly and just dressing more warmly indoors doesn’t help.
I set the thermostat at 70°. Who can argue about 70°? None of my housemates complained, not even Boommate who is always too warm. Now that it will be warmer this week, I doubt the furnace will kick in very often. But should the house temp drop below 70°, I shall still be comfortable. The dogs have been snuggling closer at night since the temps dropped.
I love fall weather. I love wrapping up in blankets. We have several Pendleton wool blankets, a really warm and fuzzy Norwegian wool blanket, quilts, and several down comforters. We are set for cold weather and chilly nights. I find my cooking plans have changed somewhat this past week, too, and I am finding soups and stews more appealing than salads. Husband picked all the tomatoes Friday before the freeze, and they are ripening in boxes in the garage. The Swiss Chard survived the freeze, but as I have frozen pounds of it already, I think we shall let it face its fate in the coming weeks. I, in any event, will be warm.
What is your cue to turn on the furnace? Favorite chilly weather foods? How do you keep your garden going through early freezes and frosts?
i don’t know what got into me this weekend, but I fulfilled one of my priorities and did all the ordering for my Christmas baking. It involved ordering:
Glaceed orange peel, glaceed lemon peel, glaceed cherries, and glaceed citron, 4 lbs of pecans from an orchard in Georgia, my yearly purchase of 10 lbs of a really nice chunk of parmesan from Italy (it is cut from a wheel and lasts for a year), eight 2-cup containers of leaf lard from a Pennsylvania butcher shop for pie crusts and lefse, Swedish pearl sugar, sliced almonds, black currants, golden raisins, Danish marzipan, and a gallon tin of Turkish olive oil.
Now I will be set for any baking needs for Christmas and for the year. Then I started to think about other winter preparations. I filled the water softener with salt and changed out the furnace filters. We have two furnaces in our home due to an addition to the house a few years ago. Did you know you can get furnace filters with small batteries that will alert you when the filters need changing? Husband did some yard and flowerbed clean up yesterday. I heard from a foster parent I know from western ND who told me she had to scrape frost off her truck windows Sunday morning. The bison at the park here are getting furry. Winter is coming and I couldn’t be happier.
What winter preparations do you need to complete? How good are you at changing furnacefilters?Watch Game Of Thrones?
When YA was four, we had a nice day at the zoo. As we went through the Minnesota Trail, there was a beautiful lynx right in the middle of its habitat. YA was mesmerized; she stood right in from of the glass and stared at the lynx. The lynx stared back; they literally had locked eyes. The two of them stood still like that for a good five minutes. YA broke eye contact to look to me and at that point, the lynx bolted for another part of the habitat. I probably should have realized at that moment that YA had some animal whisperer talent. Maybe it started that day – the lynx has always been one of her favorite animals.
We get emails from the zoo so we were aware that there were two lynx kittens born at the zoo in late spring. The email announcing that the kittens were out for viewing came a couple of weeks back; YA has been on me ever since to get to the zoo.
Yesterday, since I had Blevins in the afternoon, we zipped down to Apple Valley at opening time, 9 a.m. The plan was to go see the lynx first, then see other stuff, then circle back to the lynx before heading home.
Going in the cool morning was great! All the animals were up and about (except the beavers). We even got to see the two martins, who are NEVER awake normally. The wolves, who are usually all sacked out in the back of their area were up, rolling around and even coming right up to the windows!
Saw the red pandas, the sloth (who is usually sleeping when we’re there), all the otters, the caribou, the big moose. Even the prairie dogs were all up and working on their breakfast.
We did go back to the lynx – the kittens had found a way to climb up to the top of their habitat and were looking down at all of us. Even though we could hardly see them and they weren’t doing much, YA had us stand there almost 10 minutes.
All in all, it was a glorious day at the zoo. I think we’ll probably head out early and get there at opening from now on!
On Sunday evening Husband took our terriers for their third walk of the day. They have rather elaborate hair styles, with skirts, beards, long brows, short hair on back and tail, and longer, curly hair on their chests and legs. They have short legs with long bodies that are pretty close to the ground.
Husband is usually careful to only walk them on paved paths and not let them stray into long grass. They both got into some longer grass Sunday night though, as Husband gave some other walkers wide berth as they passed one another. He doesn’t want the dogs to jump on other people. The grass was full of tiny burrs the size of BB’s that stuck to the dogs’ coats in every place imaginable. It was impossible to brush them out as they stuck so securely.
Boommate is a former vet tech and also worked for a groomer for a while. She came to the rescue with a small electric clipper. Husband and I held the dogs securely while she patiently cut the burrs out of their fur. The dogs were very unhappy being manhandled and restrained. She said she had encountered these burrs before, and they can cause severe problems if animals ingest them or get them stuck in their mouth or throat.
After about an hour of clipping and brushing, the dogs were burr free. In the event this happens again I ordered a portable dog grooming table for easier management. The dogs go to their regular groomer next week so they can get their coats all evened out and trimmed.
Who has come to your rescue? Any incidents of burrs or stickers on you or your pets?
It’s been so dry here this summer that hint of possible precipitation gets me all worked up. So, when there was a forecast for rain for yesterday morning, I was happy to hear it, even if it meant getting a bit damp doing my errands. When it didn’t rain… well, grumpy-city!
Time to cave and set up the sprinkler. I did the backyard first and about 20 minutes later, as I was putting something in the recycling on the back porch, I looked out the back door and saw a good handful of sparrows having a frolic! It was so cute. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture – the dog barked before I could get a shot. But here is a video that looked a lot like the scene in the back:
(This is a bit long for what it is… won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t watch it all the way through!) I’m not sure why I was so taken with this. Maybe because we are barraged on all sides daily with such ugliness, seeing something sweet and unspoiled is even more special. I know, I’m getting a bit mawkish here, but it was just one of days!
Anything sweet and unspoiled to report in your world this week?
No, the Straw isn’t baled yet. Keeps freaking raining every two or three days. I checked it Friday morning and it’s wet underneath, so I’ll be raking it, AGAIN, and planning to bale my last 100 bales on Saturday. I have a neighbor lined up for Sunday to round bale whatever is left. I am optimistic for Saturday though. Monday evening I double raked the one field that had not been raked yet, and then I re-raked the field I had Padawan do and then it rained on Tuesday, about half an inch, the wind came up and the temperature dropped and something happened somewhere because our power went out for about an hour. But according to the electric co-op website, there was like 400 people out of power, so something major happened somewhere, but it didn’t take long to fix. And Friday afternoon I raked it all again.
Yeah, So anyway the straw is not baled yet.
I did get the new spark plug wires made and put on the swather and went to change spark plugs and discovered the guys at Zumbrota NAPA, that seemed to know everything, evidently do not know what kind of spark plugs the swather takes. The ones they gave me sure didn’t fit. I picked up the proper ones in Rochester the next day. Haven’t gotten them replaced yet. Maybe Saturday. I greased most of the swather last Saturday, so will finish that and run it around for awhile just to make it feel needed.
We added the 250 bales from last week to the pole barn on Sunday.
Padawan did OK. He’s not a rockstar at this and he sure complains a lot. I asked him later why does he think everything is supposed to be easy? And I thought to myself ‘where does that come from’? Did he not have enough challenges in his life?
He has really nice hair!
The straw this year sure isn’t that bright golden color you’ve come to expect. And there won’t be much oats left in it after the rain and all the raking. That tends to knock out all the loose oats that is left after harvesting. The strawberry farm likes it better that way. I’m just trying to get the stupid stuff done. At least I don’t have anything planted with it that would be getting smothered. In the old days, and sometimes still, oats is just a cover crop to get alfalfa started. Meaning with all the rain and the straw windrow laying out there for a month, it could be smothering the alfalfa underneath. As it is, the grass and weeds are coming on strong and I need to get it dug up soon in order to plant cereal rye. Too much grass and it won’t go through the tillage machine very well.
I started doing some tillage Friday, made three rounds and the tractor overheated and I had steam coming out under the hood. So that took care of that.
If you look at the header photo, it’s interesting that this year there’s so many soybeans right around here. The farm out on the highway is soybeans, our neighbors are soybeans, and then the fields along our driveway are soybeans. It doesn’t mean there’s more soybeans than corn this year, it just means these 50 acres right here are soybeans. Still, interesting. Next year the neighbors will be corn and mine might be oats. Crop rotation. Corn and soybeans for some guys. Soybeans, oats, corn for me.
On Tuesday when the cold front came through, I was standing out on the college theater loading dock talking on the phone with Kelly and I realized there were bees flying around me. Yellow jackets were coming back to the nest. They knew the weather was changing. It was kind of interesting watching them all return.
The college name is The Yellowjacket’s.
There was an online auction that ended in Plainview on Tuesday. I picked up a couple of small things: some barb wire and a wire stretcher tool, and also a couple lots of assorted tools that Padawan can use. It’s always interesting how things sell.
I’m just about out of diesel fuel and gasoline for the Farm. I keep watching the prices, especially on diesel fuel, but it sure doesn’t seem like it’s going down. I filled the truck in Plainview at an off brand station, saving $0.10 / gallon compared to the name brands.
Driving into town one morning and the shadow of my car was directly in line with the lane of the road. I chuckled at the Vehicle / Stonehenge similarity.
WHY DOES PADAWAN COMPLAIN SO MUCH? *
WHO TOLD YOU LIFE WOULD BE EASY?
*I’m beginning to realize sometimes he’s just talking, but it’s his tone. And I told him, If I didn’t know him, I’d fire his ass because his attitude sucks.
Boommate and I hoped to go to a matinee at our local movie theatre tomorrow see The Odyssey. Our theatre, the Palace, is a 100+ year old former Vaudeville theatre that the community has restored and renovated for our local theatre group productions, movies, and concerts. The Missoula Children’s Theatre was scheduled for a workshop and a production as well. Tuesday we got the word that everything was cancelled. During the recent Green Earth Players production of On Golden Pond a bat was noticed soaring around the very tall ceiling. It apparently brought quite a few friends along, too. The bat mitigation company can’t come until next week. The Missoula Children’s Theatre has been moved to the Catholic church.
I am pretty sure the Palace was first movie theatre I went to as a child. Boommate and I took a trip to Sioux Falls on Tuesday to run some errands. Our travels took us to downtown Sioux Falls where we noticed the State Theatre, where we both remembered seeing The Sound Of Music when it first came out. It was the only theatre that had a big enough screen and modern sound system to accommodate the movie. My dad took me and it was memorable. I was about 7 years old.
Our 8 year old grandson is coming to stay with us for a few days next week and I hope the bats get removed before he arrives. The Palace always has children’s movies during the week and I would love to take him. I really want him to experience the Palace.
What was the first movie theatre you remember going to? Any bat or rodent stories?
*Thanks to JimEd Poole for the phrase and T-shirt suggestion.
The vacation is over. Farming sucked this week.
The highlight of my week was putting a new windshield wiper on my car because it actually clicked into place and stayed there when I turned on the wipers. I’m calling that a win.
To sooth my mood, I listened to the music of Les Paul. Are you familiar with him and his wife, Mary Ford, and their multi track recording of “How High The Moon? It’s really pretty cool.
He’s a pioneer of the solid body electric guitar, and his use of recording techniques such as over dubbing and multi track recording was revolutionary.
Mary Ford was an outstanding musician herself. Reading about her reveals 4 marriages, alcoholism, and sadly, died at age 53, of complications from alcohol abuse, after eight weeks in a diabetic coma. Kind of broke my heart…
One of my favorite recordings is “Chester and Lester”, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. Which leads me to “Neck and Neck”, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. Which takes me to Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris and “All The Roadrunning”.
And that’s all the duos’s I can link because I don’t have any other Emmylou Harris.
So the farm.
Last Saturday the neighbors came out to combine oats. They made a round and a half, plugged up the combine with the grass, (remember, I said that was going to be a problem) And then, I think they were hot and dirty and mad and they went home. I’m sure he was as hot and frustrated as I would’ve been. I said that I thought they started on the worst field, and they should try some of the other fields because there was a lot less grass in them. And I don’t know why, but they never came back and they told me I’d have to cut the oats, sort of the traditional way of swathing it and then picking it up from there. That gives the grass a chance to dry out. Well if I’d have known I was going to swath it, I’d have got my swather ready before we went on vacation for a week. I tried Saturday afternoon to get the swather started and it’s always a bugger to get going at first. Sunday I was working on a show all day. And Monday was hot and humid and miserable and it was a Monday all over. I went to three different auto part stores, and I know I’ve talked about this before; the swather has a Chrysler ‘slant 6’ engine in it. These things were bulletproof and there was a million of them around back in the 70s. But the trick now is finding a mechanic old enough to know what a slant 6 is. And that’s been my problem. I’ve gotten a lot of parts that don’t fit and we can’t seem to find ones that do fit. John Deere doesn’t carry parts for the motors anymore. And I was in quite a foul mood most of Monday. By Tuesday I had mellow out a bit and by Wednesday hired a couple of guys to come and swath the oats for me. What’s a couple more hundred bucks to hire them…
Hired guys swathing oats
And now, of course, after a month of no rain, now it’s raining on Friday. Need the rain, just not right now. Because now my oats is laying down. But at least the oats was standing well when it was cut! Yay! I’m afraid it’s dried up to nothing, so maybe some rain will help it rehydrate. And then eventually the swath will dry and then we’ll get it combined and then I’ll get some straw baled. The neighbors have had their Oats and Straw done for two or three weeks. But we’re not talking about that. 
It was a nice gentle all day rain, and we have over an inch. I did bookwork, and other computer stuff, then organized the pencil drawer in the shop, and fixed a crack on the hood of one of the lawn mowers.
That’s better
I did take a couple hours of one afternoon, when I wasn’t doing anything else, and painted our downstairs bathroom that’s almost done being remodeled. It’s done except for the countertop and sink, and toilet. The countertop is coming August 10 and I would expect a plumber a day or two after that. And while I was painting over the pink bathroom I was singing to myself Lou and Peter Berryman’s “Why Am I Painting My Living Room“.
The padawans were out and we started replacing boards around the bottom of the pole barn. It was hot and one of them complains a lot. Eventually I give him a new rule: “No Bitching”. Then he gets moody but I can handle that.
Front boards done; working on the side. And the door needs to be rebuilt.
I had rock delivered for the road. Ten loads of 18 tons each. Spending money hand over fist again. Can’t take it with you.
Never underestimate the value of a good driver who knows how to spread rock.
I also got stung by a bee working with the boys. Cripes. No allergies or anything, just another annoyance.
I cleaned the radiators on the big tractor, (AC, hydraulic oil, and water radiators) and worked up a small field that a friend plants for a deer plot. (His theory is the deer will eat that instead of my crops. It’s a nice thought that doesn’t work). And after the oats and straw is finally done, I’ll be planting cereal rye as a cover crop.
cleaning the radiators.
Chicken mama is down to 3 chicks… but the co-parenting guinea mom still has around maybe 15? She keeps them out of site most of the time and it’s hard to get a good count of them.
Guinea moms and babies
I mowed some more weeds. I finished lighting one show and started another, and this one is a drag show and a lot of fun.
There was a turkey buzzard sitting on a fence post one day. I thought, ‘well if that doesn’t sum up my week.”
I’ll end with this:
WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF A FOWL MOOD?
HOW MANY YO-YO’s DID YOU HAVE AS A KID? COULD YOU DO TRICKS? 
About a month ago we had quite a bit of rain and the humidity stayed quite high into the evening. I was delighted to see small lights flit here and there all over the yard, and realized they were fireflies. We also saw them in the woods near our rental a couple of weeks ago near La Crosse. Grandson was entranced. There aren’t many fireflies in Brookings, SD.
It seems fireflies like heat and humidity, and we never had them in ND or in Winnipeg since it is so much drier there. There were tons of them the year we lived in Southern Indiana. We were pretty close to the Kentucky border. It was really hot and humid. The fireflies are my favorite memories from Indiana. Husband did his predoctoral internship there. We moved to Indiana after several years in Winnipeg. It was a pretty awful place after living in Canada. At that time Indiana was considered the most politically corrupt US state. It was very socially conservative. I was glad when our year there was up.
I can’t imagine there weren’t fireflies here in Luverne when I was growing up, but I really have no memory of them. Neither does Boommate. It was great to see them the other night. They seem magical.
Got fireflies? What are the best and worst places you have lived?
