Monday was Labor Day and we used it as a day of labor. Stacey had to work, but Miriam and Hannah did not – at least not at their usual place of employment. I put them to work here. I decided it was Wing Trimming Day. Every year I trim the long primary feathers on the chickens’ wings to limit their ability to fly. The old hens had molted and regrown their feathers and the young chickens had never been trimmed, so it was time to do it. The young chickens were flying out of their fenced yard. And they’ve decided to roost for the night in the branches of the trees in their yard instead of inside the coop with the other chickens. Even on cold nights or in pouring rain, they stay up in the trees. I’m trying to discourage them form doing that, so I thought trimming their wings would make it harder for them to fly up into the trees and force them to go inside for the night.
By the time we were ready to start trimming, Rachel and her girls were here. Tabor had to go to Idaho for a funeral and Rachel didn’t want to stay in their new house to unpack alone, so she and the girls came up here for a few days. Everyone went down to the barn for the trimming. First we had to herd all the chickens into the barn and close them in. Chickens are not herding animals. They have no concept of cooperation. It took us a while to get them all in. Once inside, Miriam and Hannah worked at catching them, one at a time. Once caught, they brought them to me for the trimming. When I was done trimming, Hazel took them and gently put them into the holding pen. The chickens were pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal and Hazel felt the need to comfort each chicken before releasing them. She’s a funny girl. So now they are all trimmed for another year. And after all that, the young chickens were still roosting outside in the trees. Even with trimmed wings, they were still flying up to the lowest branches to roost, so I cut off the branches. The next night a few diehard hens had moved to the branches of another tree, so the next day I cut those branches off too. Last night there were still a few who tried to find places outdoors to roost and I had to go out with a light after dark and pick them up and put them inside the coop. This morning when I went down to do the chores I found two that I missed last night. I’ll get them all tonight. I’m determined to win this battle. I can outwit a chicken – I hope.
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| Miriam helping me trim wings. |
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| Hazel comforting the traumatized hens. |
Last week we got a new (used) car. Our old car was declared almost dead. It would not pass another inspection. A friend of ours helped us pick out a new car – a 2005 Subaru Outback. It has a lot of nice features. It’s nice to drive and we feel blessed to have it.
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| Our new car. |
The weather has turned decidedly autumnal. These cool and sunny days are the best time to go on long walks. Knowing what lies just ahead and how quickly it all changes, combined with the utter beauty of these fleeting days, gives me the wanderlust. I take every chance I get to grab the camera and head for the hills. I took several walks last week and hope to take many more before winter makes it difficult.
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| Scenes from one of my walks: heading up the Rapley Road. |
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| Looking toward home from the top of the hill. |
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| Walking through the woods. |
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| The Burrell's old rose bush still blooming. |
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| Burrell's barn from across the pond. |
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| Looking toward Gold. |
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| The beaver pond. |
September is our busiest harvest month of the year. We’ve already canned relish, started a batch of sauerkraut, and frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and raspberries. Last week I canned the first batch of applesauce. I also blanched and froze chard. Even though my tomato vines have been ravaged by late blight, there are still tomatoes hanging on and I think they will ripen if we don’t get a freeze. I’m hoping to get enough tomatoes to can some salsa and sauce. This week I will can beets and carrots.
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| One of my Winter Luxury pumpkins. |
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| Apples almost ripe. |
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| Honeycrisp apples. |
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| Bosc pear. |
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| Harvesting carrots. |
While Rachel was here this time she and Miriam began another project. They are going through our family history files – the physical ones in the big filing cabinets, not the digital ones – and reorganizing them. They take each file, one at a time, put the old photos into archive-quality storage envelopes, and sort through the documents. I’m there to help them know what is what and to tell them the stories that go along with the names, dates, and faces. It will take us a long time to go through all the files. We’ll work on it every time Rachel comes to visit.
While sorting through files we came across a photograph of this house. It is the earliest known photo, taken in the 1910's. The oldest part of this house was built in 1869, so the house was already more than 50 years old in the photo. It has changed a bit since then, but is easily recognizable. The big outbuilding in the photo is gone, as well as the coal shed attached to the woodshed (I still find pieces of coal when I dig on that side of the house), and the chimneys (which were removed when the house was “modernized”, unfortunately). This is a great old house. I’m so glad we live here.
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| Our house circa 1910's. |
Speaking of Rachel visiting, on Thursday morning she and her girls left for home. It’s nice that they only have a four hour drive now. Next weekend we are going down to visit them. And the following week they are coming back up here for the weekend. I wish all my children were close by.
And speaking of children who are not close by – Daniel seems to be doing great in Thessaloniki. We have an app called Telegram that we all communicate back and forth through. Daniel messages us and sends pictures all the time. Last week he sent us a photo of the bed he sleeps in up on the roof of a house. Then he sent a photo of his bed with mosquito netting. Apparently the mosquitoes are bad at night. He also sent us a photo of one of the meals he made. He tells us that fresh vegetables are plentiful and cheap there. He spent 6€ which is $7.22 on a basket of vegetables that he says would have cost him $30 here. This morning he sent a photo of himself getting ready for church. He and Emma walk four miles to go to church. They attend a tiny branch in Thessaloniki with about 10 members and 10 missionaries. It looks like he’s having a great adventure. I think he is leaving Greece and going to Italy at the end of this week.
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| Daniel's rooftop bed. |
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| His bed with improvised mosquito netting. |
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| Headed out for the 4 mile hike to church. |
This morning when I went down to do the morning chores, the thermometer at the house read 34°, but when I got to the barn, I found a light frost on the grass and on the goldenrod across the road along the edges of the beaver pond. The land lies a little lower there and the cold settles there first. So we’ve arrived at the beginning of the frost days, the end of the growing year. I used to fret about frost. I tried to cover everything every night to keep them alive for as long as I could. Now I’m more resigned to the inevitable end of things and I leave most things to their frosty fate. I’ll cover the tomatoes, but even that hardly seems worth it as they have been decimated by blight already. Once the frost finishes everything off, I can clear it all away and tidy the garden for its long, long winter sleep.
After church today we took the scenic way home over Whitney Hill. The leaves are starting to change and the colors will be more intense later (I hope), but the day was so sunny and clear we couldn’t resist taking in some vistas. When we got home, I took a walk around the garden to admire the sunflowers. They are at their peak now and they are as bright and cheerful as the late summer sun shining today.
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| Our drive home from church today. |
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| Sunflowers. |
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| Sunflower. |
