Welcome to November

It’s November, the month when it seems like time speeds up as we rush on to the end of the year. November is always a bit bleak. The last vestiges of autumn color are fading away. The days are short, the nights are long, and the cold settles in for its long, long reign. November is a graceless month, made most memorable by the events historical, gastronomical, and familial that help to lessen its severity.

We have a lot of birthdays in our family in November, my sister Mindy on the 9th – she would have been 59 this year, my nephew Matt on the 10th, my niece Jennie on the 11th, my granddaughter Ellie on the 12th, my daughter Hannah on the 26th, and other great-nieces and nephews, plus some wedding anniversaries throughout the month.

The most memorable November historical event to me, although it took place forty years before I was born, was the official end of World War I. We observe it now as Veterans Day (in other parts of the world it is called Remembrance Day). It is a day whose true significance, I think, has been forgotten by a lot people. I have long had an obsession with World War I, which began when I discovered that my grandfather Howe was a soldier in it, and involved my reading dozens of books and watching many movies on the subject. Because of that, I feel a deep connection to what the people who endured it called The Great War or The War to End All Wars. Its official end took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. It was a terrible war that dramatically changed warfare and the world forever. The period 1914-1918 was history’s single largest revolution in military tactics and technologies. Virtually nothing about standard battlefield operations prior to 1914 remained valid after 1918. It saw the introduction of trench warfare, machine guns, the tank, modern submarines, air warfare, and weaponized poison gas. When it began, Germany was ruled by a Kaiser, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was ruled by an emperor, Russia was ruled by a czar, and the Ottoman Empire was ruled by a sultan. When the war ended, all of that was gone. Forty million people were dead. National boundaries were changed and new nations created. And the stage was set for the prosperous and decadent Roaring Twenties, followed by the Great Depression, and then World War II.

My grandfather, Lawrence Evered Howe.

The great November gastronomical event (it is a historical event too, but the food overshadows it) is Thanksgiving. We started hearing weeks ago that holiday food items would be scarce and expensive due to our present political situation, so we made our menu and took an inventory of what we already have on hand, either purchased or produced ourselves, and found that the only thing we really lack is a turkey. In years past we would have had that too, but I haven’t raised turkeys for several years. In taking that inventory I realized that we have so much to be thankful for. I’m the sort of person who feels richly blessed when I have a few cords of firewood stacked up, a big box of raisins in the pantry, a bushel of potatoes in the cellar, and jars of honey and applesauce on the shelves. Weather permitting, we will have a houseful of family for Thanksgiving and that is the biggest blessing of all.

November, as if eager to live up to its dismal reputation, has given us cold and frost every day so far. We even had our first taste of snow during the week. On Monday the weather was clear, but chilly. After school I spent the remainder of the daylight hours (which are not many these days) working in the garden. I cut weeds and trimmed bushes. I moved all the potted plants off the back porch stairs. The angel’s trumpets went into the cellar for their winter sleep, the rest of the plants either went to the compost pile or onto the back porch where they are more protected. The back of the house looks forlorn with its bare steps. The front porch steps are empty now too after we tossed the jack-o’-lanterns to the chickens and sent the spent mums to the compost. The exterior of the house will look rather plain until we put up Christmas lights, which we will do soon before it gets colder.

The empty back porch steps.

The empty front porch.

There are still some splashes of color here and there, but they are growing rare. In the long boarder, the calendulas that bloom late and don’t mind a bit of cold were still bright orange at the beginning of the week, but by Friday they at last succumbed. Out in the hazel hedge along the edge of the orchard there are still a few leaves with lovely, smoky colors. The woods around us are mostly bare, but there are spots of lingering color here and there. The oaks and beeches, the last broad-leaf trees to turn, have taken on their rusty tones and the larches, a deciduous pine species, are starting to turn yellow. They mark the very end of autumn color in the trees. Oddly, the dominant bright color now is the green in the lawns and mowed fields. But what colors remain will not stay long. By the end of November things will be pretty monochromatic, just shades of brown and gray and white.

Calendulas just before their demise.

A bit of subtle color in the hazel hedge.

I found a wooly bear (the caterpillar of the Isabella Tiger Moth [Pyrrharctia isabella]) in the garden and took note of its colors. According to folklore, the amount of black on the woolly bear in autumn indicates the severity of the coming winter. The longer the black bands, the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter will be. Similarly, the wider the middle orange band is the milder the upcoming winter will be. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest or hardest. If the head end of the caterpillar is long and dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is long and dark, the end of winter will be the worst part. I was pleased to see that my wooly bear had a big orange band with the widest black band at its head and a narrower band at its tail. That means, according to the lore, that our winter will start cold and snowy then turn mild and not linger on at the end. That’s almost the opposite of what the almanac predicts. I’m hoping the wooly bear is right.

The wooly bear I found.

I was not in school on Tuesday and I spent every minute I could working outdoors. I worked at chopping down weeds in the woodland garden. I began wrapping the trunks of the smallest fruit trees in the orchard to protect them from the rabbits and voles that like to chew on their bark during the winter. It was a chilly day (40°) and as I worked there were brief snow flurries, but they didn’t amount to anything.

On Wednesday morning when I looked out before dawn, everything was covered with a crust of snow. It melted away during the day, but all during the day little flurries blew through. When I got home from school I intended to do more work outdoors, but it was only 34°, so I just did the necessary chores and retreated indoors, hoping that the forecast of warmer days later in the week would come true so I could finish what I need to do.

The front yard on Wednesday morning.

The back yard on Wednesday morning.

One of the ladies at Stacey’s work needed someone to take care of her dogs for a few days and Stacey volunteered. So we have two little dogs staying with us. They arrived on Wednesday and will probably leave tomorrow. I think they are shih-poos, a shih-tzu/poodle mix. Their names are Lily and Rocky. We haven’t had a dog for more than eight years since Pancho died. The Fosters bring their dog Winston with them when they visit, but they take care of him while they are here. Taking care of Lily and Rocky has been interesting. They are old dogs. They make noise during the night, scratching, coughing (maybe I’m becoming an old dog because I do those things too). They have to be taken out on their leashes to do their business, which, if we aren’t mindful, they will do in the house. During the day when we were all at work, Kurt came over to take them out. They are always underfoot. They bark at odd times. We’re not used to having dogs around anymore. I don’t think we will ever have another dog.

Stacey taking Lily and Rocky on their morning walk.

Thursday morning when we left for school, there was a dusting of snow on top of heavy frost. We’ve arrived at that time of year when we have to allow time for the windshield to defrost before we can drive away. And I’ve started wearing gloves again to drive and do the chores. Next I’ll be digging out my heavy winter coat and then my fleece lined clothing. I’m not ready for it.

Friday was another frosty morning. That morning we dipped into the 20's for the first time in a long time. Being Friday, school seemed to drag by. When we got home at last (I say “we” because Miriam substitutes too and we go to school together), I did the chores and then spent the remainder of the daylight hours cleaning out flower beds. When it started to get dark, I went in to dinner. Hannah makes delicious pizza every Friday for dinner. We spent the evening the way a Friday should be spent – relaxing, eating pizza, watching a movie.

Yesterday morning when I checked the thermometer, it was 16° and there was very heavy frost. That’s our first dip into the teens since March. The sun rose in a perfect, clear sky, but had very little heat. I decided to forego my morning walk until it warmed up a bit. Finally at 9:00, I could resist the sunshine no longer. It was still cold, 19°, but I took my walk anyway. Everything was still sparkling with frost. Our little pond had ice on it. I walked along the edge of the yard and then came back, stopping to fill the bird feeders. I have a hawthorn tree at the side of the house by the bird feeders and it was full of cedar waxwings feasting on the red haws. I’d like to say the cold air was exhilarating, but it was just cold. 

My Saturday morning walk - frosty front yard.

Ice on the pond.

Walking back from the meadow.

Cedar waxwings in the hawthorn tree.

The forecast said the day would warm to 47° and I was counting on that because it was supposed to be a big work day. I had a list of things I needed done and didn’t want to shiver all day. The list wasn’t too long: get firewood, clean the gutters, finish wrapping the fruit trees, pick the very last of the apples, winterize the barn, trim and store the last of the onions, put up outdoor Christmas lights, plant bulbs. We accomplished some of the things on the list. Miriam and I got out the Christmas lights and checked them only to find most of them don’t work anymore, so putting up lights will be delayed until we get some new ones. Miriam and I picked the Caville Blanc d’Hiver apples, the last ones of the year. Miriam and I trimmed the last of the onions and bagged them for storage. 

One of the red onions.

Onions ready for storage.

Then Stacey and I went with Kurt to get a load of firewood. When we got back from that, the Thayns were here. They came up to spend a few days and help out with all the late fall work. While the rest of us stacked the first load of firewood on the back porch, Stacey and Tabor went back for a second load, which we then stacked out in the woodpile. Hannah worked on cleaning the gutters all afternoon. As evening drew on, we had a bonfire out on the edge of orchard. It was a good and productive day. Tomorrow we will work together on more list projects.

Loading wood at the Amish.

Unloading wood.

Wood stacked on the back porch.

The replenished woodpile.

Evening sunlight on the larch trees above Gold.

Headed for the bonfire.

June with Lily and Rocky.

Bonfire at dusk.

We had another frosty morning in the teens this morning. We turned the clocks back an hour last night, but my body clock doesn’t care about that. I will now be awake at 4:30 for a few weeks before I adjust to the change. Everyone else seemed happy for an extra hour of sleep. It’s sunny and a bit warmer today. The drive to and from church was beautiful with colorful patches of oak, beech, and larch on the bare hills and the bright blue sky above. We took the scenic route on the way home to see what color we could find. The back roads are still beautiful in places. Now we’re waiting for lunch and after that an afternoon of enjoying being together. This evening the Shilligs are coming over for a Sabbath Soiree.

Winterberry bushes on our way to church.

On the back roads on our way home from church.

The weather for the week ahead looks wonderful with sunny temperatures in the 50's during the day. The Thayns will be here most of the day tomorrow and we will have another work day. I hope we’ll be able to  finish our preparations for winter. Then I can sit back feeling a little more ready for whatever winter will bring.