Fall Miscellany

Every Fall I decide again that it's my favorite season of the year (never mind that I do the same thing w/ Spring in April).  The drastically changing seasons is one thing I love about the midwest -- Fall comes as a blessed relief to the heat and humidity of summer, and makes you appreciate it even more.  The only thing I don't appreciate so much about a Midwest Fall is the crazy wind!!!  

I took the first picture on a Tuesday, thinking I probably had another 2 weeks of gorgeous Fall tree in the backyard.  This is the view from my kitchen sink (I LOVE having a view from my kitchen sink!  I love living in my own house!  Hurray for no more itty bitty rented apartments!).  But the over the next 2 days the wind kicked in and the tree was bare by Friday!  But it gave the kids a good excuse to rake the yard and jump into piles from the swing and bury themselves and have a quintessential joys-of-childhood fall day. 

I made a little bench for our front porch.  I long for one of those gorgeous craftsman style homes with the beautiful covered porch, but I get to work w/ what I've got, right?  So I cut up some more of those old living room balusters and made a sweet little bench for free.  Yay!  I had Girly A draw faces on pumpkins as I was cleaning the car one afternoon and she autographed the concrete under the bench. :) I love her wobbly handwriting.

The beautiful oak in the front yard takes quite a bit longer to change colors and loose it's leaves - I love the progression of fall around the yard. :)

In love w/ mums and ornamental kale (Joseph: "Is that kale?!  Can I eat it??")

We lost 3 of our 4 chickens in the heat of the summer. :( Sad and lonely little Rocky was confused and in need of a flock.  Here she is wondering if she can join us dinner.

 And here she is trying to go to bed a little closer to us -- this was when I realized she was becoming quite emotionally unbalanced.  :)  No one should go to bed on top of the potting shelf on the back deck when there is a cozy coop waiting for them on the other side of the yard.  So we went for a drive one Friday afternoon and picked up a few more hens.

We watched the sun set on our way home with 4 new chickens clucking in a box in the back of the swagger wagon.  You can see forever out here.  Makes for some pretty good sunsets and sunrises.

This is Pepper II (Pepper the first succumbed to the horrors of death by heat).  She was just a little one - a few months?  Quite a ways from laying, but we just thought she was so cute we bought her anyway.  She reached an untimely end after an encounter with what must have been the neighbors' cat.  The chickens were all super freaked out one afternoon and I went to the open coop to find this poor little lady in pieces.  Literally.  Blech.  I could never be a real farmer.  Much too sad and messy.  And sad.  

Rocky had started molting when she was alone and weird, but now she's getting better.  Poor Rocky!  She's still my favorite.  The 3 surviving new birds (Ginger, Goldy and other Goldy) are all scared of me and flighty -- they're rubbing off on Rocky a little.  I'm hoping they'll mellow out.  At least we're getting a few eggs again!

One beautiful afternoon, Girly A and I chased this lovely around the back yard. :)

"Mom! I saw a butterfly!!!"

Exhibit B for why I am not farmer material:  this nasty thing was on the pepper plant in our kitchen.  So super gross.  I'd dug the gorgeous big plant out of the garden and put it in a pot to see if it could survive inside for a while.  Didn't know it had a couple hitch hikers!  The plant is not so big and beautiful anymore, but I think all these critters (tobacco worms that turn into hummingbird moths - shudder shudder shudder at the thought of hummingbird moths IN MY HOUSE!) are finally dead.  When I found this one I almost started dry heaving.  I pried it off the plant with my kitchen tongs and seriously considered just throwing the tongs away afterwards.  Joseph was fascinated and decided we should let J-boy keep it for a pet.  No, thanks.  I'm definitely not farmer material.