October 26, 2015 A Bear, A Garden & Working Down There

Branch wood stacked on the porch.

Fall colored aspen wayyyy down in the canyon.

Friday 10/23. As plans often go, ours didn't today.  Instead of using the tractor, we took down the tipi which has been up for almost a year and a half.  We really don't like to leave it up for more than one winter in a row.  It was the small 12-ft tipi, which is much easier to handle than the 18-ft.  We cleaned up everything that was in it, including some more straw that we gave to the girls.  They love all the straw in their hen house, and seem to be spending most of their days inside.

The overcast sky cleared a bit overhead and our high for the day was 54.  It sure didn't feel much cooler than yesterday's 62.

Saturday 10/24.  It was 38 and overcast this morning when I got up at 7:00 am to get ready for my day Down There helping Elsie in their shop.  We were busy and the day passed quickly.  But we did have time to chat, and Elsie told me about the bear she watched in their yard eating apples.  She had a small pile of over-ripe apples near the tree that the bear discovered.  He would spear one with a claw and take it a few feet away to eat.  Then he would come back and spear another one, take it a few feet away and eat it.  This went on for quite a while and she couldn't figure out why he didn't just sit by the pile and eat the apples instead of walking back and forth. . .

Rain fell for a while during the early afternoon, but stopped just before we were done for the day.  I ran a couple errands and was soon on my way home, but met neighbors on my way up the main canyon road.  So it took me quite a while to get home, but it was so great so see and chat with everyone.

JB fixed my computer while I was gone.  Our son suggested that he uninstall Google Chrome and install the latest version.  That solved the problems I was having, thank goodness.

We watched Midnight in Paris this evening, which has to be seen at least once a year, as many Woody Allen movies should.

Sunday 10/25.  It was 38 and overcast again this morning.  Lately we have been having a hard time getting out of bed by 8:00 am.  JB thinks our bodies are getting ready for the time change next week.  I just wish we could stay on standard time all year round.

No big Sunday breakfast, as JB decided to make a big fritatta for dinner.  After lunch we went outside to put the raised gardens to bed for the winter.  JB used the tractor bucket to load the compost pile into the wheel barrow so we could wheel it inside the fence right by the beds, where we shoveled it all in.  Then he used the bucket to scrape up all the small debris and dirt from the splitting area, and we shoveled that on top of the compost.  Tomorrow I'll use the pitchfork to mix it all into the soil and will continue to dump the chicken manure on the beds during the winter.  They should be good for growing a nice garden next year, and get better each year we use them.

The sky remained overcast all day and by late afternoon the clouds had lopped off the top of the mountains.  Our high for the day was a cool 48.

Rain began falling a little after 6:00 pm and was steady until 9:30, then off and on all night.

Monday 10/26. It is 40 and partly cloudy this morning.  I can see snow on the mountaintops that are not hidden by the clouds.

Thought for the day: I would rather be a hot mess of bold action, a make-it-happen-learn-on-the-fly kind of person, than a perfectly organized coward.  Brendon Burchard