October's Bright Blue Weather?

Rain, rain, and more rain – that pretty much sums up our week. We needed rain. I was even praying for some, but not that much. It started on Monday and continued off and on every day for the rest of the week. When I checked my rain gauge on Saturday (it was still raining then) it was full to the top and overflowing. That means we had more than five inches fall in less than a week.

It’s October! This is the month that we transition from bright fall colors to winter drab – usually in a very short while. This year the colors haven’t been very bright, at least not so far. At the rate the leaves are coming down, I don’t think we’ll have our usual fall spectacular. The weather was not conducive to it. We’re headed for winter drab already. Some years are like that. I’m hoping the rain and clouds will leave soon and we’ll be treated to some of that famous “October’s bright blue weather.”

The last of the dahlias.

This is pumpkin month. You see them everywhere – decorating porches, for sale in every store and at makeshift stands along the roads. Most people buy or grow them to use as fall decorations or jack o’lanterns and then throw them away. At our house we eat them. We cut them up, pressure cook them, mash them, freeze the mash, and use them all year long in cookies, cakes, and pies. I did put a few on the front porch stairs as a decoration, but they won’t be there long.

A few pumpkins to decorate the front porch.

On Friday afternoon our friend Rhoda Lent delivered straw to us. Ten bales brought right to the barn – not such a big order, but enough to get us through the winter. It was nice of Rhoda to deliver them and to visit with her for a bit. It feels nice to have bales in the barn. We scattered two bales on the barn floor and filled the nesting boxes with fresh straw. The chickens love new straw. This week we’ll put the winter windows up in the barn. Then the chickens will be set for the winter. We’re going to get new chicks in the spring. I like thinking about that.

Josiah unloading straw bales.

Hauling the bales to the barn.

Ready for winter.

We’ve decided to get rid of our three turkeys. They are four years old now. We’ve had them for breeding stock for three years. Their first year they hatched out 12 poults. The second they gave us two. This year though they laid nearly 100 eggs, none of them hatched. I think the tom turkey is too heavy now to breed effectively with the hens and their eggs are infertile. We decided to get new turkey poults in the spring and start over again. It seems a waste to keep these old ones and feed them all winter. We couldn’t bring ourselves to eat them, we’ve known them too long, so we are giving them to some Amish friends.

Sarah and Tosh are coming tonight with a friend to spend a few days with us. We’re so excited! We haven’t seen them since June. They are bringing us a new car. Our old Subaru has expired. Last Sunday it gave out on Stacey when she was driving back from Rochester. She had to leave it in Arkport, New York, and Kurt and I had to drive up and get her. On Wednesday she and I drove up and nursed it home. We took it to our mechanic and he gave us the bad news – it needs a new head gasket, new rear axle, new rack and pinon on the steering, and other things I don’t remember. The cost of repairs exceeds what we originally paid for it. So Tosh, who is a great wheeler-dealer when it comes to cars, got a great deal on a new used car for us and they are bringing it to us.

I’m excited for Sarah to be here (and Tosh too). I’m thinking of all the things I want to do while she’s here – start a batch of sauerkraut, process some pumpkins, can vegetable stock (I grew some gorgeous celery this year and I want to make stock with it). Plus it’s always fun just to be together.

Pumpkins to process.

Celery.

This is General Conference weekend. We watched all the sessions yesterday at home. Today we will go over to Shillig’s and watch the last sessions. Yesterday in the afternoon session three new apostles were sustained as member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. One of them, Elder Dale G. Renland, is the husband of Julie’s cousin. When Kurt and Julie went to Africa last year, it was to visit Elder and Sister Renland who were living there because of his calling as an Area Authority Seventy. We were excited when they announced his name yesterday. Conference has been wonderful so far and I’m sure today’s sessions will be as great as yesterday’s. So many timely messages have been given. I love listening to the Lord’s servants.

The weather has turned chilly. We used our new wood stove several times during the week. It actually works too well. It puts out so much heat that it heats up the wall behind it. We’re getting some stove board to put on the wall and that will take care of that. Until then, we can only build small fires in it. Because of that, yesterday we had to give in and light the furnace. We usually try to wait until November to light it, but the house was too cold. Once the wood stove is fully functional, the furnace will only be used for backup.

The wood stove.

It’s a chilly, gray, peaceful Sabbath morning. I’m writing this early because we will be over at the Shillig’s most of the day. Everyone else is sleeping in this morning. I, as always, am not sleeping in. My body won’t allow it. So I’m sitting in a Sabbath tidy house, listening to an excellent recording of Handel’s Messiah, reviewing last week and looking forward to the week ahead. In a little while I’ll wake everyone up for breakfast and away we’ll go.