Fully fall

While the ornamental trees around the house still cloak themselves with their fall finery, the bigleaf maples in our strip of woods are flinging their frocks to the wind. The drive to the barn had a crunchy cover until Rick cleared it off earlier this week.

It's nice to have dry leaves to work with!

We're enjoying fires in the woodstove frequently now, and the dogs have a nice, new bed in the laundry room, thanks to a find at Goodwill. (Why pay big bucks for a giant dog bed when you can get a nearly new chaise lounge cushion that fits better in your space for $3.99?) Jackson is lame in the right rear foot, poor dog, which is slowing him down considerably. I hate to see him uncomfortable, but don't mind the reduced energy level!

Me; I'm lame in the left shoulder, but hopefully it's on the (slow) mend now that I've been to the physical therapist again. While the right shoulder just had tendonitis, the left had 'progressed' to adhesive capsulitis – otherwise known as frozen shoulder. :-/

One of my two least favorite occurrences happens soon – the artificial messing with the clocks. Until this fall, I thought this was an antiquated American invention. But I caught a reference to the time change in a Shetland sheep forum made by one of the members in the UK. So I looked it up, and lo and behold, we are far from the only idiots ones who semiannually mess with our clocks! Sigh; there goes any hope that we will stop the madness....

Before the darkness descends, I'm planning a little buying excursion. After moving to Oregon, I fell in love with Japanese maples. Their variety of size, form, and color make them year-round landscapers' darlings – and they are trees, one of my favorite parts of creation. I got the bible, and found a local propagator with lots of cultivars at reasonable prices. I used birthday and Christmas money to purchase some treasures, several of which I sadly lost in the moving process when we built this house (and another was destroyed by a rambunctious boy/dog combo).

When discussing landscaping ideas with my MIL recently, my love affair with Japanese maples was rekindled. I pulled out my book and searched online for the propagator I had purchased from, only to learn he died in 2010. However, the remainder of his stock is still being sold by an associate. I researched every available variety to create a short shopping list, and inquired about picking them up in person to save shipping costs. He agreed, and I will drive out after our homeschool co-op today, or tomorrow afternoon. I'm so excited!

(I started this post last night, but finished it this morning – with THIS happening over my left shoulder. WOW.)

That's it for today from . . .