MonkeyCat and the WoodMan

The WoodMan is certainly looking his age, about 14YO as far as we know. All the brown parts are turning white, even while most of the black is still black. But he is definitely not acting older, even with that awful diagnosis a year and a half ago where they offered to euthanize him for us.

We didn't accept the offer.

I am not sure what is going on with MonkeyCat and the WoodMan. It has come to be a daily thing where Monkey walks to get ahead of Woody, and then cuts him off, repeatedly. It is quite funny to watch. Even funnier because Woody doesn't care.

Monkey will even walk underneath him while Woody is still walking, and somehow neither one gets tripped up or stepped on.

Fall is definitely here. Our 80° days are gone and replaced by temps in the 60°s.

The black-eyed susies just outside the windows are going to seed. The goldfinches and other small birds are out there for most of the day eating as much as they can.

And the Monkey is just sitting there, wishing he was an outside cat. When it gets to be too much, he swats at the window and sends them all flying. But they always come back.

Autumnal equinox

To celebrate the first day of Fall, Mother Nature sent us a crazy mix of weather. Earlier there was a good drenching rain, then some sun, then some more rain. We are still alternating, but with the addition of some strong winds and much cooler temperatures. At 2:30 in the afternoon it is only 59°, when yesterday it was up to 75°. 

Change is good. I love Fall!

And, for all you pumpkin haters out there—I get it. No spiced pumpkin lattes for me. Just a nice crop of New England Sugar Pie Pumpkins grown by Farmer Husband, and 1 little mum to make up for the shabby condition of my window boxes this year.

The big flat white-ish pumpkin is the only one of my favorite Long Island Cheese Pumpkins that grew this year. It will be a good year to see if the New Englands are just as sweet and tasty in a pie or some pumpkin butter as the Cheeses. The little green pumpkin is just that, a youngster, little and green.

 

Home, home on the range

I wanted to wait until I got the article in the newspapers before I broke the news about the rodeo that took place here on Sunday morning.

A total of 7 cows got loose from a nearby farm about a month ago. Two of them have been roaming around Don on the Hill's hill, which means they were most likely on our property as well. With the creek for water and plenty of weeds for forage, they landed in a sweet spot.

The owners hired some New York cowboys to come and round them up. I heard when the first bunch came out a week or so ago that they were wearing chaps and spurs, but these 3 looked pretty casual in their jeans and baseball hats.

Of course they showed up when I was back at the house, even though I had waited in the Firemen's Field for over an hour. Friend Erin took that first shot while I was making a nice cup of tea back at the house.

It took a few hours of searching our property before they figured out that the 2 young heifers were hiding exactly where Don said they were, in the swamp at the bottom of his driveway. They caught the first one fairly easily, but her sister managed to escape the 3 dogs and 3 men on 3 horses. Magically, she found her way home all by herself the next day. I guess she missed little sister.

Nice story for our little local newspaper that is struggling with no editor and no reporters—just 3 tough ladies who work really hard putting out a paper every week.

Katydid and the 3 cowboys

I don't want to spoil the fun and post too much about the cowboys, because we are going to make it a newspaper story this week. 

So I am featuring Miss Katy (I didn't even take the time to check if this is a katydid on my hydrangea) and I will fill you in later, with more photos, about the cowboy story.

So much excitement at Lester's Flat!

Down on the farm

The Husband gets credit for these blue-sky farm photos from yesterday. 

Beautiful weather continues down on the farm. The leaves are just starting to change on the one red maple, but I think the warmer than usual weather will keep the rest of the green in place for awhile.

We haven't had any recent daytime visits from the fox, so we finally moved the broody hen and her 4 grown chicks to the big coop. Daddy Roo was probably happy to have some more companions, but he seemed a bit puzzled when I opened up the crate this morning.

Mama came out immediately and took a prolonged dust bath. The kids stayed inside, not quite sure what was going on.

Fire in the hole, and a cruise with cousins

I am loving the new firepit and patio, and the weather has been just about perfect. We are getting some much needed rain today to keep all the plants happy. End of summer, got the garden going late, now is the time when we start to reap the rewards.

The buzz around town is that it already feels like fall, and you know what happens after that, but I say enjoy these perfect summer days and quit yer whining about winter and snow. It's supposed to be in the 70°s and 80°s for at least the next 10 days, low humidity, so what is your complaint exactly?

My only complaint is that I have too many things on my chore list now that the gardens are doing their job. Husband is bringing in pounds of tomatoes every day, I still have the pears from Terry and Alice, and Don has far too many plums on 2 big trees this year. Where do I begin?

Thanks to Greg for the cruise around the lake. Snacks and wine and catching up with the cousins...it doesn't get any better than that!