Feeling October

I'm opening this blog with what I hope is my first successful attempt at posting video. If it works, expect more of these home movie snippets from me in the future...

So! October has finally arrived. It's chilly around here. We haven't had that first hard frost yet, but it's been cold enough to bring the potted plants indoors and keep a fire burning in the furnace.

That seemingly endless supply of green beans we had this summer has finally dwindled away. We've picked our pumpkins and pulled the corn stalks up out of the garden. We planted winter onions and the day lillies that Hope's aunt gave us.

All of that leisurely wicker in the green house has been pushed aside to make way for firewood.

Jon is almost done with the "winter" chicken coop. It has four solid walls and a door and is heavily insulated. We'll hang a heat lamp from the ceiling. All Jon needs to do is build shelves for nesting boxes.

The past few weeks have been all about apples. Our neighbor (the one with a farm) has generously let us pick as many apples and pears from her trees as we thought we could use.

I've been making apple pies and canning jelly, sauce and pie filling. We've found that Emma's allergic to many store-bought jellies (maybe the pectin?), but she does fine with home-made jam made from fruit and sugar. I do "fine" on the home-made stuff, too! We've happily munched our way through two jars of Grandma Jane's strawberry rhubarb, two jars of Mark Valaskey's wicked mixed berry, and our neighbor Candy's sweet blackberry jam. Now we have a half dozen pints of apple butter and spiced pear jelly to work on!

My brother John came for a visit last weekend. He picked fruit with us and visited the farm. We played board games (Scrabble was a highlight!) and helped entertain Mom and Dad, who also came for a visit.

He admired our chickens until he noticed how large and nasty their droppings can be... especially when plastered on the steps of our foyer. It's charming to see chickens milling about, just outside your door, but there's definitely a down-side...

John, the kids, and Mom and I went to Goodwill and the Halloween super-store in Eau Claire, looking for costumes. Mom did not care for the overweight Vegas-era Elvis costume we saw there, or for the prices... costumes ranged from $30 to upwards of $60 at the Halloween store. We didn't buy anything yet... still looking for ideas. Emma was happy with several costumes she saw, but Michael didn't find any Hercule Poirot costumes (the 1930s Belgian detective he admires) and brother John saw nothing remotely like an Ottaman Turk.

Go figure.

Lots of grim reapers and French maids, though.

Yesterday afternoon Johnne (our neighbor with the farm), Leila and I visited Emma's third grade class. The other night at conferences Emma's teacher, Mrs. Cox, had mentioned to me that the class is working on a science unit centered around "simple machines". I suggested that we demonstrate how an apple peeler works (and then let the kids eat the apples that they peel). I had talked to Johnne before about bringing apples for the class, and she was all for it.

As it turned out, Johnne was able to come along and help. We had three apple peelers: Johnne's, the teacher's, and mine (thanks, Dad!). We set up three apple peeling stations and the teacher had the kids line up. Each child selected her own apple and used the peeler to slice it up.

It was a good time for all. We had come at the end of the school day, just after recess, so the kids were hungry and glad to have apples. The teacher made sure they did a little math (how should 20 kids divide themselves among three apple peelers?) and thought through the mechanical aspects of the peeler (screws, clamps, etc.). The third-graders also seemed to thoroughly enjoy Leila, who toddled around their classroom in her rubber boots and raincoat, eating apple slices and accepting their hugs.

I'll close with a few pictures of Jon cutting down a tree near our house. He was worried that this large tree, which leaned toward our house, would fall down in a wind storm and damage the roof.

Removing the tree was a challenge. First he had the kids and me leave the house and stand way over by the garden, in case the tree didn't fall in the right direction. Then he leaned a ladder against the tree and climbed about 30 feet into the air. He tied the ladder to the tree, and he also tied himself to the tree.

I made a little joke about "Don't cut down the part of the tree that you're tied to." And he said "Yeah, it sounds funny. But many people have done that before."

I started getting a little worried. His plan was to cut the tree down in sections, starting with several big, heavy limbs. I wasn't as concerned about those limbs falling on the house as I was on how he would manage to drop the branches without hitting himself or the ladder, just inches away.

To cut each limb, he had to reach upward practically on tip-toe (nothing like dangling a running chainsaw over your head), and cut away a wedge from the tree-- at just the right angle so that the branch would fall away from both him and our house.

It was nerve-wracking, and he probably shouldn't have attempted it on his own, but he did it.

Whew-!

I should mention quickly that Susan and Jay are definitely coming to visit in December, and hope to meet as many members of Susan's family as possible. They're flying over on December 5th and staying at our house. Jay will stay five days, then fly back. Susan will stay through Christmas, and then drive back with her mother and David.

We are very excited to see Susan and David again, and meet Jay.