If you had asked me 15 years ago what my favorite season is I'm sure I wouldn't have hesitated to say summer. When I was a kid I LOVED summer. School was done, my birthday is in the summer. Did I mention school was done?
As I got older and into gardening, I thought maybe spring was my favorite season. Spring may bring seed starting time, but it also brings a ton of rain, mud, slush ... you get it.
Now, I would say, without a doubt, Autumn is my favorite season.
Well, for one, the mosquitos go back to the hell they came from.
When people would tell me they couldn't wait for fall, I always thought that was kind of weird.
But now I get it!
Even if this time of year means crazy busyness for a gardener, I think we would probably all agree that it's the best time of year. All our hard work over spring and summer is providing us with a bounty. I enjoy this season the best.
But, also, there is just something about this time of year for me, now.
I said to to my friends the other night; there is something in the air and I can't put my finger on it. The temperature was just right. There was a breeze. I don't know. I felt myself come alive. Which was funny, because I had a heck of a time falling asleep that night.
This past long weekend was fantastic. Got to spend time with my family. We ate great food and celebrated my hubby's birthday.
The weather this weekend has been fantastic. Really couldn't ask for better weather.
A couple photos from the garden.
I'll be sad when these guys are gone.
I'll need to get my Christmas cacti in the house pretty soon.
Fall stuff is about to start in earnest this week. I know what is going to happen. I'm going to get myself psysched up for all this stuff that needs to get done. The weather is going to get really nice after I have everything all ready for winter, and then I'll need to redo it all again. Cause that is what happens. Every year. Ha! I should really know better by now, right?
It wasn't until I opened up blogger to set up for this blog post that I realized it's been a quick minute since I've last written.
Oops.
Sorry.
I've been ... not in a mood or out of sorts. Something has been off and my body has been reacting to it, and my attitude has not been what it should be. Kinda cranky. Kinda tired, kinda out of sorts.
A bout of insomnia has started up. My body was acting like it was in defense mode, or something, too.
It wasn't until Nancy the Disorderly Stitcher said something in one of her videos about the school year being just around the corner that it hit me. The change of the season will soon be upon us.
Who else is with me on it feeling like we have had not that much of a summer this year?
After hearing Nancy's comments and realizing I was probably a bit wore out and burned out I decided to take a couple days off work and have a long weekend.
Apparently it was just what I needed. Though it would have been great it was a just a bit longer of a break. For those who may be curious or wondering, I'm *still* healing. The one doctor said it can take months. Lovely.
Thursday I decided to have a bit of a mini-retreat at home. I spent the morning sewing and quilting. It was fun. I also decided that it takes me a stupid amount of time to make WIP bags. I had five bags to make and I actually completed the last one last night, right before bed.
I remembered some cross stitch ornaments I had stitched up close to the beginning of the year. I pulled them out and went and found some fabric for backing.
The ornament charts were ordered from Fat Quarter Shop, and are a design by Erica Made Designs.
Fat Quarter Shop did a video showing how to finish them. I was debating on whether to add trim. I like how they look with just the wooden hoop and I'd probably make a mess with the hot glue gun.
I discovered I missed completing a bunch of stitches on one of the ornaments. I need to go track down the floss and get it done.
Friday I dragged my son with me to go to a couple state parks that are in the area. The day trip to the parks was a lot of fun, though it was kind of humid out.
We first went to Amnicon Falls. I haven't been there in at least six years. Maybe longer. I went there with my friend Dawn when she came up for a visit many moons ago. Our boys had fun jumping a side stream and finding frogs.
Some photos in no particular order.
After Amnicon we went over to Pattison State Park, home of the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin.
The weekend was full of bike rides and bumming around in the garden and around the house.
The few flowers I have growing this year are really pretty.
These cosmos are volunteers. I'm keeping an eye on the flowers so I can collect seeds for next year.
I know I've shown photos of the flowers before but I can't help it. I love them.
The hollyhocks will always remind me of my mother-in-law.
My first year being successful with Bachelor Buttons.
They are so delicate looking.
While I was pruning tomato plants I spotted these jewels.
I do not recall if I mentioned the coleus I have growing in the greenhouse. My coleus were pretty wimpy until the last couple of weeks. They are coming in to their own now. Not as glorious as the plants I had back in 2019 or 2020, but pretty amazing, considering the weather we've had this year.
Oh! Something I almost completely forgot until my husband just now brought it to me.
Last week we harvested the peaches off our tree!
Yes it's peeled. He peeled it for me because I'm a princess. No, it's because he knows I'm not keen on peach skin. It was the peaches first year here. I hope from now the tree produces like mad. Enough to make a peach cobbler, at least.
So, in a nutshell, that is what's going on. I've been cross stitching almost every night. Or a bit of sewing and quilting. Slowly I'm knocking my works-in-progress list down. I told myself I wasn't going to start any knitting projects until next month. Just in time for hunting season.
It was a lovely weekend. I also got a big project (or two) taken care of!
Saturday I got to see a little yellow finch out in the garden area. I didn't have my phone with me so I couldn't take a photo. It flitted off pretty fast so I doubt I would have been able to take a photo.
My son told me that Sunday evening he saw a "little black and yellow bird" using the birdbath out there.
I'm so glad birds are using that bath.
Back to Saturday ... while my guy was puttering in his tidy, well-organized garage, I was out picking the first flush of ripe cherries off the cherry tree that seems to not realize it's out of sync with the other cherry trees.
We were bums around the house for most of the rest of the day. One trip to town to get some car oil that was on sale.
I know -- such excitement!
Saturday evening I started back to work on my floss master set project. I was up past 10:30 working on it, but it is almost complete!
I have the DMC card, but there is something a bit more tangible about comparing the colors in the actual floss.
This is all the floss from the Temu set I have. I don't know how many colors. I was just grabbing skeins out of the bag and setting them on floss drops, so they aren't in any particular order.
I organized them into color groups, for the first go-round. Then used the DMC card to organize them in to 20 groups, according to the color card.
It was easier and harder than you'd think.
They are so lovely in their groups. I have 40 colors I need to get and then I shall have a complete set.
I did have one issue with a couple skeins of the temu floss. Two skeins had the same color number. I managed to match the correct one. I have one skein that I can't confidently match up to anything else.
The color it matches on the DMC card I already have a skein of.
It's nice to have this project basically complete.
Saturday evening we had a thunderstorm. It was pretty mild. I'm sure I have more branches to pick up out in the yard.
Sunday wasn't quite a bum-around-the-house day, but it was a pretty easy and laid back day. At least I thought so.
This weekend we wrapped up the last bits of what needed to be done in the garage organization project. I think. Then my hubby started on a different project and I think he may already be done with it.
Me, I wrapped up the last bits of the most recent YouTube video I recorded. It was a major pain to export, for some reason. Then it didn't upload correctly. I think I worked on it for at least 10 hours, off and on. Finally. Success! I'll be working on the more complete show notes soon. Not only are they show notes they are also my project notes so I try to have progress photos and all the pertinent information.
One last bit: My hubby took these photos for me. It's a hummingbird who was taking it easy during the rain.
I really enjoy being able to see these birds just outside my window. At one time there were five hummers buzzing around and chasing each other. I haven't seen that many together at once in a long time.
P.S. I found out what kind of spider this is. I asked in a Wisconsin Naturalist group and had several people let me know it is a Lichen Orb Weaver.
I went looking for it today. The web was gone. Likely due to the rain and storm from yesterday.
Right after I hit publish on my last blog post, like less than a minute after, the weather at my house changed. It went from being dead still to the wind blowing who knows how fast. Like, really fast. Knocking tree branches down and I had concerns for the vents on the greenhouse.
So I went out there and buttoned up the greenhouse. It was doing fine, but I wasn't willing to risk it.
When I was walking back to the house I heard a noise in the front of the house. I thought it was this chair I have in the front yard, so I can sit like a princess when I'm out there with my guy. The chair was tipped. A reasonable assumption.
Until I turned around and saw carnage.
Ugh ... The wind blew in a such a way that it knocked my gazing ball out of it's holder, which is right next to the house.
You know how many gazing balls I have gone through over the years? This is so annoying.
I went in to the house and heard a noise from the back yard. Concerned it might be the table umbrella lifting up, or something, I went out the back.
This time it was something more "serious."
If the top of this birch had fallen in the other direction it would have landed on the deck and probably caused some serious damage.
I knew what I was doing on Thursday. Fun times. It took me an hour-and-a-half to clean everything up. In sticky, gross heat.
Then I walked the yard, looking for fallen branches and picking them up.
Look who I almost ran in to!
No idea what kind of spider.
I'm going to figure it out by posting the photos in a Fac3book group for my state.
The rest of the day and today have been quiet and I've been able to spend a wee bit of time out in the garden ...
This is a volunteer holly hock from last year's plants.
I'm surprised and pleased to see a volunteer sprout and bloom so soon.
I am definitely feeling more confident about my flower growing skills.
This is another volunteer from last year. Cosmos seeds from MI Gardener.
When I was walking back to the gate I accidentally took a photo. I thought it was a neat angle, so here it is.
For those who are in to that sort of thing, I recorded a flosstube/crafting video. I still need to edit and hope to load it by the end of the weekend. *Fingers crossed*
This weekend I have *grand* plans of doing some garden work, cherry picking and helping my hubby with any garage-related projects he may have percolating. We'll see. It depends on the weather, too.
Oh! One more thing, before I forget.
Ta-da!
This may not seem like much. It's the huge pack of embroidery floss I got from T*mu way back when.
The goal is to turn it into a master color set. I don't know how many floss is there. The next step or two is to get the color groups going and then see what colors I don't have, and then either order them or get them from one of the big box stores.
This type of blog post is for when I have a lot of little things I want to share, or when I feel the need to catch up.
So, grab your coffee/beverage of your choice and join me.
If we were having coffee ... I'd say I took a nap. Well, not really, but this is what I tell myself that I did when I laid out on the hammock during my lunch hour today. Even though I had bug spray on I felt little insects bumping me and the chickens kept making noises.
It must have done me some good, though. When I was laying there, trying to focus on one thing and relax, each time I felt it was necessary to swipe away a (most likely not even there) insect my limbs felt heavy. Not from the heat either.
Sidenote: My jerk of a roo may have his days numbered. You can see him in the background of the photo above.
"Why?" you might be asking. Well, cause he's a jerk. For some reason he has decided he hates me and he didn't do his job this weekend. More on that later.
Back to it: Can I whine about the weather again? I feel like I'm such a broken record about it. I've been in a bit of a funk the last several days, give or take maybe a week. Or a month. I've been trying to put my finger on it and it dawned on me that this is the first summer in a very long time that I haven't spent a lot of time outside. Thanks to the weather. Maybe I've said this already. I don't remember. I'm getting older and the brain ain't what it used to be.
So I have been trying to remedy this. Spending more time outdoors, I mean. Course now the weather is quite warm and moist. Currently the temperature is 87 with a real feel of 97. Last night when I went to close up the coop the air was so full of moisture I felt like I could open my mouth, take a deep breath and drown.
This year I seem to do okay with the warmer weather. I think my internal thermostat has slowed, or something. I can tolerate the heat better. Don't ask me to do heavy labor. I do everything slower when it's really warm out. I do appreciate our a/c, however. Don't get me wrong.
If we were having coffee ... I'd blather about the garden just a wee bit. The garden is liking the warm weather that we are (finally) getting and things are starting to catch up to where they should be.
Calendulas in bloom.
Dainty bachelor button at the garden entrance.
*sigh* I've come to the conclusion (stopped being in denial) that I once again have collard greens in the garden. This was supposed to be cauliflower. This makes it three years in a row that I planted collards. I thought I had fresh seeds this year, too. It will have to be fresh greens for the chickens and Feffer.
Volunteer ground cherry plant. Plant once and have them forever. It's all right, I really like them. I've been seeing baby plants pop up all over the yard. The chickens see them too and chew them up to bits. I'm not to happy about that. I'd LOVE to see these growing all over the place.
My pepper plants are taking off! Now they just need to grow me beautiful little peppers.
Cabbage! I want to make so much sauerkraut.
Some of our tomato plants.
Pretty little zucchinis.
I have cucumbers starting to grow. I have to remind myself to get out there and water these plants every morning.
Tomatos!
Look what I found among the onions and violas.
I don't know if I've ever shared this. This is Furby's final resting place.
And before you say anything about the amount of little statues on there, I did it to help pretty up the chipboard we put down to ensure nothing came and dug the space up. The squirrels keep knocking those statues down.
If we were having coffee ... Speaking of chickens ... we had a predator attack on Sunday. I don't know if it was during the afternoon or in the early evening. We lost one of our younger hens. I still feel sick about it when I think about it. The predator got really close to the house and snatched her. Right next to Feffer's enclosure.
This guy ... didn't do his job.
The only reason I keep him around is so he'll protect the flock. I am not fond of him at all and the feeling is mutual. I have to keep an eye on him when I'm outside cause he'll try to sneak attack me.
Getting rid of roosters is part of having a flock and deciding to have roosters. He's the meanest one I've ever had. I know it's because I didn't hand raise him.
If we were having coffee ... Speaking of our boy Feffer.
Recently I mentioned how he's getting up there in years. My son realized Feffer's age and I think that he realized Feffer's time with us is very limited now.
He's been spoiling Feffer something awful, ever since.
My son went out to the woods and brought back patches of moss and all sorts of things that he thought Feffer would like, and help him feel like a "real wild and independent bun."
At least that is what I think. My son has also been bringing veggie scraps home for him too, Feffer has been getting very spoiled.
He thinks he's so hidden!
If we were having coffee ... I had a thought. Now I forgot it.
If we were having coffee ... I'd let you know that I remembered what it was. I feel like I'm still in a very boring phase of the year/life right now. Still not a lot going on, cause I'm not really doing anything. I have a feeling that will probably change in mid-to late August when garden produce starts ripening.
My hubby and I did do a thing this past weekend. We've taken to watching a few YouTube channels together. About automobiles if you can believe it. Now I'm not a motorhead or anything and really I have very little interest in car things, but I have been finding some of these channel's content interesting. So when we are all settled in to watch tv in the evening I pretty much hand the remotes over to him and grab my knitting or cross stitch, or whatever I decide to do that evening.
All that to say that one of the channel guys has a garage organization system that could make you green and owly. It's pretty nice and even I took notice.
It inspired my man to want to do something about our garage. We ordered new shelving, pulled everything down and went through it all and got rid of what we don't use, didn't want, or got trashed from the non-paying tenents who live out there and are very inconsiderate little jerks. Mice. I'm talking about mice. And chipmunks. Grrrr. It's a part of living out in the country.
So, yeah, the hottest weekend of the season so far and we were out there. Granted, he was out there before me and did most of the work, but I helped with what I could.
And now the garage looks SO good. There's a place for everything and everything is in it's place.
It's a much more work-friendly space, and I'm so happy that he's happy about how it turned out.
This was my project on Sunday afternoon. Sorting through the loose screws, nuts and bolts. We ordered a drawer organizer and now we know where ALL the things are.
If we were having coffee ... I'd say "When did knitting needle stoppers become a thing? I mean that in all seriousness. Back when I started knitting I think very few people used them. Now they seem to be all over the place. I tried using DPN things from KnitPicks, way back when and I did not like them. I ask because I'm playing the newest episode from Coggie and she mentioned her needle stoppers.
Speaking of notions ... I got a few new notions. About a month ago I had a really odd thing happen. I got a sore nose and I have no idea how it happened. It was like I got bopped. My nose was tender enough that it was really difficult to wear the cheater readers for working on cross stitch. So, I decided it was time to get a magnifier that I could clip on to my Hope stand. I ordered one off Amazon and was not pleased with it. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. The item description stretched the truth a bit. Back it went.
Whined to my guy about it and he said something I don't remember and I said "You find one for me."
He did.
I am really happy with this magnifier. It's 10X so I am tempted to give evenweave another try.
I put an order in with Sweet Autumn Stitch for some new needleminders. I actually contacted the shop owner and asked if she had any porcupine graphics. All she could come up with was hedgehogs. They were so cute that I couldn't say no and I ordered them.
I guess that is my segue into saying that I have been diligently knitting, crafting and all the good things. I'm hoping to make a vlog real soon. I think it's been three weeks since the last one. I have a few things to share. Just need to get my notes in order.
Oh, one final thing. Does anyone recognize this bird call?
