I have no obvious, or even semi legitimate excuse for it, but I'm in a bit of a mood today.
Cranky is not my default setting.
(No. Weird is your default setting. Everyone knows this. Move along.)
Zen.
Zen.
Zen.....
Anyhoo... I went outside this morning... wait. I took myself by the scruff of the neck and hauled my cranky pants out to the garden this morning with no particular plan in mind. As a matter of fact, I tricked myself into actually exiting the front door by telling myself I was just going to go look around in the garden.
This is such a depressing time of year to be a gardener. Oh yes, to be fair, there are ripe tomatoes on the vines, or nearly ripe. But they have yellowed leaves and broken stems, or are lying splayed around on the ground, looking like elephants have been cavorting on them in the moonlight.
The Zinnias are in absolute alt. Blooming as if it is July instead of September. Spaghetti squash are hardening off and are nearly ready to be picked. But the overall effect of being in the garden is one of chaos and gloom with a side of visions of past glories. Lost to the searing heat, and the weeks on end of smoke filled air.
The fires, thanks be to God, are on their way out. Not OUT mind you, but no longer raging.
So, once I got my feet on the garden soil, I started to pull up the bleached and crunchy sweet pea vines. Followed by the failed lima bean crop that never could overcome being planted too late in the heat of summer. All that went into the burn pile and I wandered up to the chicken coop, where an equally sad sight met my gaze.
Little Miss is molting and there are feathers everywhere. I cleaned off the poop board and hauled the bucket over to the other side of the ice pond and dumped them in the bushes because I don't want to put that many feathers in my compost pile.
Then finally I meandered to my back yard area where I recently got a load of oak delivered.
This is a little less than half of it. The bulk is down at the barn waiting to be stacked.
It's lovely black oak. However it's a little on the green side, so I'm letting it dry out some before I stack.
But I picked through the pile for a little bit and found some of the dryer bits and stacked them here and there according to size.
All this putzing around took less than forty five minutes or so, and I called it a day for the outdoors. I just don't have it in me today to do proper fall cleanup chores.
I actually have a knitting commission, and reading to do, so I'll stick with those for the rest of the day.
But I know I cannot ignore the outdoor preparations for long... because even though I don't know a lot about it, because I have only seen the first two episodes of Game of Thrones, I keep hearing the meme... "Winter is coming." And let me tell you, I know it to be true.
It's lovely black oak. However it's a little on the green side, so I'm letting it dry out some before I stack.
But I picked through the pile for a little bit and found some of the dryer bits and stacked them here and there according to size.
All this putzing around took less than forty five minutes or so, and I called it a day for the outdoors. I just don't have it in me today to do proper fall cleanup chores.
I actually have a knitting commission, and reading to do, so I'll stick with those for the rest of the day.
But I know I cannot ignore the outdoor preparations for long... because even though I don't know a lot about it, because I have only seen the first two episodes of Game of Thrones, I keep hearing the meme... "Winter is coming." And let me tell you, I know it to be true.