Sunny living room snooze

Fall color is almost gone, but there is still plenty of sunshine. Nice day for a morning nap.

Before they fall

I know if I wait to get a better photo of this oak tree out by the chicken coop—one where a blue sky and the fall-colored mountain is in the background facing east, or the setting sun is behind our house in the west—that it will be too late.

So before all those pretty leaves fall to the ground, I will have to live with these.

(Shout out to Barbara and Kimberley: hope you enjoyed the peach cobbler. I don't think there was enough for Jack.)

Two dogs and a sunset

We had some visitors for the weekend—Sue and Joe came up from Pennsylvania to eat some food (with help from the Barnwell Inn where they stayed) and to drink some wine with us, all while putting up with our misbehaving children.

Much fun was had by all, and we have enough goodies leftover from their breakfasts at the inn to last us the rest of the week. I offered to take some into work, but Husband won't let the peach cobbler leave the premises until he has finished every crumb.

While The Husband was out entertaining the visitors yesterday, I stayed home to make some pizzas for dinner and to take care of those misbehaving children. We sat outside for a bit to watch a gorgeous sunset from the porch. These photos pretty much sum up the difference between the 2 dogs: Cyrus is content to chill, while Woody is more interested in finding out what's for dinner. And he won't give up until I go inside to start cooking...

Sadly, the visitors missed the peak fall color by about a week. The young maples and oak in our driveway are still sporting some pretty leaves, but a few frosty mornings have pretty much killed off the rest of the color. Even the goldenrod is brown.

Dog talk

Cyrus and Woody are still enjoying the enlarged fence. It came just in time for me to weasel out of walking them the last 2 days when it has been raining and cold.

They are arguing over who gets to chew on the garden stake. I wish I could understand the conversation.

It reminded me of the second photo, taken in July 2009, when all we had was a driveway to our future house. Lester loved the water and swimming. Sophie would only go in up to her knees. Also a great conversation, I am sure.

Eagles and the new fence!

The video below will tell you everything you need to know about the new fenced yard. The dogs were slow to discover the beauty of it, but once they did... The current plan for the deck/patio is patio and firepit only. Deck was too expensive, and probably not necessary.

Yesterday while I was sitting out there—the eagle parent and 2 youngsters passed overhead. While I would like to believe they were admiring our new enlarged backyard, I suspect mom or dad was showing the kids where our chickens live. Either way, I am always happy to see them. We had an eagle siting or 2 in NJ, but nothing like this.

Frost, fog, a new fence and frogs

We had our first frost of the season on Friday night, which made for a very foggy Saturday morning. You could see the moisture in the air. It looked like rain coming down, but as a very fine mist.

Even though I covered my heirloom tomatoes with blankets, the frost did enough damage that I think they are done. I did manage to save about a half dozen that were mostly ripe, and I left the green ones out there to see what happens. I have not had much luck ripening green tomatoes indoors, and there is no predicted frost for this coming week.

What is predicted for this week is the installation of our new improved dog fence. I call it a dog fence, but it serves a larger purpose—keeping the critters out so that I can have a larger space for gardening. I am also planning a firepit, and patio and/or deck inside the fence, but that won't happen any time soon.

Bart the Handyman dropped off the fencing materials last week with a bit of help from his 2YO son Beckett AKA Bucket. Out there in his diaper and bare feet, he helped Pops unload the truck. He will need warmer attire if he returns. :)

Pre-frost, when the garden was still looking lush, I happened to hear something fall or jump from the porch railing when I let the dogs out in the evening. I thought it was a spring peeper (in Fall?) but when I saw this photo enlarged, I realized there are 2 peepers, oddly hanging out together.