and "Just Like That"...

Summer has given way to Autumn it seems. We are promised a few more days next week of temperatures in the 70s, but our 80s are gone and abruptly so. It will be in the low 60s again today and the rain has begun. For good measure, we had a power outage in the night just to get us in the proper Autumnal mood. Last weekend I canned more jam as John continues his mission to denude all the blackberry bushes. It's unlikely he will succeed, but a man has his dreams, right? Meanwhile, the blackberries continue to show up in the kitchen and so far the freezer is managing the overflow. I also tried my hand at making dill pickles from the hearty supply of cucumbers that we have received from our Farm Share. If they turn out well, I will distribute them to pickle-loving friends and family as we won't be able to consume them all. By "we" I mean "me" as John won't touch the things. Our own garden is yielding a few beets, some carrots, and loads of John's beloved runner beans. Whether we manage to get any winter squash is still up in the air. There are two wee squashlings on the vine, but they have a long way to go and will have to do it during the Fall with much less sun and cooler temps. We have a fair amount of shallots and will enjoy those if Zoe doesn't eat all the tops. In spite of a reluctance to eat her expensive prescription food, she enjoys hopping into the garden bed and munching on shallot greenery. Go figure!

The hard-headed brown dog has been, well,,,hard-headed, of late. She obviously feels much improved but has become picky about eating. Not wanting her to decline, the humans in the house are trying all kinds of things to entice her to her food bowl. Whether it's old age and loss of appetite or part and parcel of her chronic kidney state we don't know. But she is confounding us with her stubborn stance. And I thought cats were finicky!

Our shed started going up last week.On Monday, I arrived home to a large hole dug in the lawn/meadow/jungle clearing. Since there's no level ground on the property, and since we didn't want the front of the thing to rise 6 feet above ground (that's a bit tricky for getting the shiny red tractor inside), a backhoe was called in. There are pictures at the end of this post. It has steadily progressed through the week and will be finished by the end of this one, we are told.Then we'll have to figure out some landscaping. Amazingly, the backhoe missed cutting through the invisible fence wire in that corner! Literally a quarter of an inch more and it would have been severed. John tried to map its location out before the digging began, but carrying Zoe's collar while touching the sensing posts turned out to be a bit of a "shock" (or in the invisible fence lingo, a "correction"). We decided to just go with the flow and if it was severed to deal with it. Fortunately it survived.

Knobs and handles for the kitchen cabinetry have arrived! They are a lovely brushed nickel finish. Two years into the house, they will make a nice "improvement". I will work on installing them over the next week in the evenings while John is (yet again) in California. For the third straight week, he is traveling south. Less than ideal, but necessary. It's always nice to have him home and out of that rat race they call the Bay Area.

It was the year of the 40th reunion for my high school graduating class. We had planned to go but weren't able to swing it after all. Still, a classmate wrote and presented a nice tribute to the times we all grew up in and I have included the link to his blog where it is posted. Enjoy:  40 Years High School Reunion. Thanks Dave.

Today it is cloudy and has been raining in the night. It looks like a good day to be inside. Maybe we'll watch a little football later. The football that is soccer to us Americans is already on and being absorbed by the resident soccer veteran. I have a sewing project to begin and later I will start some lamb shanks for dinner.And then it will be another week. Just like that...

Photos of the Shed this week: