Sunday, October 2, 2016

Busy in the Garden

Saturday, Brett and I worked feverishly outside.  The temperature was dropping, with an Alaskan storm on its way, and I wanted to get the garden planted before it hit.

I decided to switch from vegetables to flowers, in the hopes that the ground squirrels would leave them alone.  We walked around the nursery and I loaded our cart with flats of pansies, violas, snap dragons and poppies.  I mentioned that I also needed six bags of bedding mix.  Brett shot me a look.  "We brought the Subaru, not the truck."  He went out to the parking lot, put down the back seat, and we loaded everything in.  He drove home very slowly so the 60 lb bags of soil wouldn't slide down on top of my flowers.

I pulled out the vegetables, topped off the beds with soil, and got to work.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we also stopped and looked at bulk bark and boulders.  I want to create another bed, with hardy perennials.  So, while I worked in the garden, Brett took the truck and his dump trailer back to the landscape materials place and loaded it up.

Then, he looked at my "new" garden area.
"How big do you want it?" He asked.
"A little bigger than this bare patch and the area where the nectarine tree used to be."
"Like this?" And he drew a big circle with his shovel.  Did I say big?  Huge.
"Um, sure.  I think I'll need to get more plants than I originally planned though."
We thought about it, and then Brett outlined my new big garden bed with the boulders.
And then we realized that a planter that big, was going to require its own sprinkler line.

So, my little garden bed turned into a major project.

In the evening, we went to a fund raiser for the equine therapy center where Brett and Pistol volunteer.  The temperature was dropping and people shivered as they ate dinner.  We stayed through the first set of music and the live auction (our friend Nancy had donated a quilt and we wanted to see how much it went for).  And then we bailed.  I was watching a steady line of cars leave as I paced in the back, to keep warm.

This morning was sunny, but cold.

I lit the first fire of the season to take the chill off the house.  Rain started up mid-day and it has been cold and stormy, with claps of thunder, ever since.

I felt compelled to make an apple strudel.

I love this weather.

15 comments:

  1. Our garden time is drawing to a close. Our day was rainy here so I made a roast beef dinner and some squash soup to freeze for lunches. :)

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    1. This is the first time I have planted a fall garden; usually I let the garden rest. It will be interesting to see what, if any, of the annuals make it through. Roast beef and squash soup sound heavenly!

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  2. Funny, we had our first fire last night! A little milder today tho, no heat needed. I wish you lived closer, we are picking bushels of tomatoes and peppers. That strudel is a major tease!!!!!

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    1. Just think of all the trouble we could get into together if we lived closer together.

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  3. Dang Annette the strudel picture made me completely forget what I was going to say...

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  4. The chimney sweep just visited, these people keep getting younger. By law you have to let them in twice yearly to check your chimney and clean it if necessary. They arrived, two young people in cute black outfits with brass buttons with black smears on their faces. Since we rarely make fires, they didn't take long. Last time we visited Seattle my step dad was infuriated that we must let the chimney sweep people in our homes, he saw it as a loss of personal freedom. I see his point, but the outfits are so cute I'm not offended. Also, they're considered lucky *lol*

    http://tinyurl.com/jqorytt

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    1. They sound like something out of Mary Poppins. Our chimney sweeps show up in jeans and a tee shirt. And they aren't cute. LOL

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  5. Replies
    1. I used frozen puff pastry so it was super easy. We ate the whole thing...

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  6. An American in TokyoOctober 3, 2016 at 5:08 PM

    Your apple strudel looks soooooooooo yummy!
    I am still waiting for fall weather. Today we are back to mid-summer temps again. This year's weather has been very odd. I can't wait until everything cools off and I can turn off the a/c!

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  7. We made our first wood stove fire recently, too!
    I wanted to let you know I made my recent (new) blog public.
    http://gifts19.blogspot.com
    Thanks for all your support!!

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    1. Good to hear from you -- and I'm glad you are blogging (where I can read it) again. :)

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  8. Our weather has turned brisk, breezy and wet too. October 1st, we enjoyed our first fire to take the chill off the house. Felt so good! And I made a pot of broccoli soup and cooked it atop the wood stove...but your apple strudel has my mouth watering. Yum!

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    1. I have never cooked on our wood stove. But, soup would be perfect there. I'm going to have to try that!

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  9. Isn't it nice that the cold weather is finally coming to CA? No rain here yet, we really need it. Good luck with the ground squirrels, they can be so pesky.

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Thanks so much for commenting!