The trees in November look all bones and knuckles. I like to see the leafless trees. The fractal structure of their branches and twigs fascinates me. And stripped of their leaves, I can see at last where the birds made their nests this year. I’m always surprised to find nests in places I never suspected. As much as I love the beauty of the naked trees, I think they are even more beautiful when clothed with frost or snow. It won’t be long before that happens. The snow comes and goes right now, but soon it will come and stay. Winter serves a purpose. Trees, at least the trees in this part of the world, need so many days of freezing weather in order to grow properly. Most apple trees have a chill requirement of around 1,000 hours. Without sufficient chill hours, they will not bloom the following spring. I remind myself of that fact all winter to make the cold days seem more bearable.
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| Bare trees in the sunrise. |
We’ve had a problem with a skunk the last few weeks. I don’t mind skunks, usually. But sometimes they can be a problem. Last year we caught two in the live trap and relocated them to the woods up on Cobb Hill. This one has been rooting in the lawn here and at Shillig’s house. I think it must have been looking for grubs in the soil under the grass. Whatever the reason, it has torn up huge swaths of lawn and made a big mess. Kurt tried catching it in the live trap, but it never fell for that. He tried scaring it away with firecrackers, but it wasn’t afraid. At our house we decided we would just shoot it if we caught it in the act. Well, we don’t have to worry now. On Friday I found a skunk killed by a car down on the road in front of the chicken coop. I’m assuming it was the offending skunk. I hope it was.
We did a lot of work during the week. It’s so nice having Daniel and Miriam here. They did most of the work as I was at school most days. We pulled up the old carpet in my workroom. I knew that under the carpet and padding there was an old linoleum floor. The carpet was spattered with paint and coming apart in many places. The linoleum is old and worn too, but in better shape and easier to clean than the carpet was. This is real old fashioned sheet linoleum too, not vinyl. Somehow the room looks bigger without the carpet.
Daniel spent most of two days cleaning the rain gutters and power washing the house. It looks so nice. He also straightened up the woodpile and he tilled the big vegetable garden. Someone has given us dozens of canning jars – a great blessing – and Miriam spent a lot of time washing them and getting them ready to go down cellar. I hope next year we’ll be able to fill most of them up. Miriam is also quilting. I like having a busy house.
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| Daniel cleaning our the rain gutters. |
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| Stacey taking things down cellar. |
Saturday was a busy day, the kind I like. We got to check off a lot items on my “Things To Do Before Winter” list. I cleaned the woodshed and the back porch. I brought all the potted plants into the house from the back porch. Josiah and I packed the dahlia roots and gladiolus bulbs in bins full of peat moss and put them down cellar for the winter. I harvested my cabbages – six big heads each weighing about ten pounds. I also picked one more batch of broccoli. It’s nice to still be harvesting things in November. We also put the garden hose and the rain barrel down cellar for the winter. That evening we put up our outdoor Christmas lights. Daniel, Josiah, and I tested all the lights and then Hannah and Miriam joined us in putting them up on the front porch, the back porch, along the picket fence, and in the last pine tree by the road. We won’t turn them on until after Thanksgiving, but we wanted to get them up before the weather got too cold.
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| Harvesting cabbage. |
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| Josiah and Daniel testing strings of lights. |
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| Daniel and Hannah putting lights on the fence. |
Today is my sister Mindy’s birthday. She would have been 52 today. She’s been gone for six years now. It seems longer than that. I miss her and look forward to seeing her again someday.
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| Mindy. |
We’re home from church. Daniel has a nice fire burning in the wood stove. Dinner is in the oven, pasta al forno. Miriam is baking a cake for our treat later this evening. We’re listening to the Winter Solstice albums. Outside it’s cold and gray, but inside our house everything feels nice and cozy.
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| Rosemary and geraniums still in bloom as I bring them indoors. |
