I'm not knocking November, but...

It has been an interesting month.

 The weather has been mostly beautiful – dry and sunny, with very little of the fog and rainfall we are used to seeing this time of year. November is usually our wettest month, and this one has been the driest on record (good for cleaning up leaves!). Lately it's been freezing hard at night, and not always thawing out during the day up here on the hill. Hard on the plants, I'm sure; it's definitely hard on the skin. It would be hard on a Christmas tree as well, to be parched before cutting and then brought into an even drier house. But there has been no talk here of getting one this year, so I may not have to worry about that. This year getting into the holidays feels like a side trip I don't need or want to take; that is for people with the luxury of more time, energy and interest. Low-key sounds good to me; "life" provides enough drama!

Take this morning. Rick stoked the fire, leaving the insert doors slightly open for airflow to get it going good. A piece of wood tumbled out onto the hearth – twice – smoking up the house and causing the smoke alarms to sound off. We opened doors and windows even though it was below freezing outside, turned on the ceiling fan and even engaged a box fan to no avail; the ear-splitting beeping went on for over an hour. I finally left, late and cold, for church; Rick and Brian came even later. I've been trying to warm the house back up ever since we got home; Rick has been gone to a memorial service, and Brian napped the daylight away in his room.

The last two weeks have been off-schedule, which is unsettling to my little rut-loving mind. This week Brian was off early on Tuesday for the rest of the week for Thanksgiving; last week he was off early on Tuesday for the rest of the week for a suspension. Next week should be back to 'normal,' then Rick leaves for eight long days. There will be lots of driving to get Brian to and from school and me to work; the first high school basketball game is Thursday night but Brian has to bring up grades in two classes in order to participate (he hasn't been able to practice, either).

Jackson, dear Jackson. After going to town with me a week ago, he made it very clear that he wanted to go with me Monday morning. But he wouldn't have been able to manage the stairs to my second-floor office; so hard to disappoint him! Dozer's only been gone 20 days, but it seems like months....

And so life goes. There are blessings, always blessings, and I am thankful (although never as much as I should be, I'm sure). Life is a gift, even when it's hard. Amen.

That's it for November from . . .

Dozer

10/10/09 (Gotcha Day) – 11/10/19

"First time ever I saw your face..."

The beginning of our story here.

Last photo, taken two days ago:

Dozer had a good run for a bully; he was around 11 1/2 years old. But a crisis took us all by surprise this morning. It has been a very sad day.

Transition week

October packed it through the very end. Our remarkably clear and sunny weather continued, with a stiff, biting wind at first and then some frost when the wind died down. In anticipation of that frost/freezing, I headed out to our neglected garden to pick the last few tomatoes to ripen indoors and a passel of peppers. The beets, kale, and some volunteer parsley was left to harvest as needed; that will all keep better out there than in my small fridge.

Chioggia beets – and weeds

Redbor kale – and weeds

This daylily (Stella D'Oro) deserves a medal!

Icy grass in the pasture

The neighbors to our north started construction on their shop, which doesn't really factor into our view from the house. Lots of busy-ness over there, though!

I took this while riding in the arena

I took this one on our road from the NW corner of our property

Inside, I've been busy on that hat. I realized I hadn't followed the pattern and my cables were twisting too tightly,

so I ripped back to right after the first cross and then knit on with confidence...

finishing it today with less than two yards of yarn remaining. That's more "yarn chicken" than I'm used to playing, but it worked out just fine, probably because I put in a lifeline just in case. 😉

I loved on my Cheshire cat,

and rode my horse through coordinating leaf litter.

I took this series of photos of October's last sunrise:

and welcomed November/Wovember with sheep snuggles.

Wethers Bing and Bittersweet get more attention when Blake is off wooing Babydolls (it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!). I received this photo of him today with his current interest, Coquette, and a voyeur chicken:

The dogs are pottering along. A high point with Jackson was when he actually initiated a little playtime one evening.

While Jackson's appetite is good right now, we have to work at getting Dozer to eat.

And so it goes.

Happy November from . . .

Transitions

This time of year the sun rises at such a convenient time, and clouds return to add drama and beauty to the event.

Sabbath morning I got a little extra drama when a hummer flew through my shot! (I was standing near the feeder.)

On Monday, I pointed my iPhone east, then northeast, then north, then back to the east:

Yesterday I took three progression shots of the views on either side of our pasture stand of firs:

By this morning there were too many clouds, although the sun managed to struggle through briefly.

And so our perfect leaf-peeper weather has come to an end. We are forecast to get a lot of rain over the next week, which will probably wash away much of the color we have. Good thing I took a few photos in the area before that happened!

We've also had perfect weather for the three soccer games Brian has had since returning from Walla Walla. Unfortunately, the last two games will definitely be 'mudders.' (Good thing Rick got my washing machine going again!) A week ago Monday:

Last Monday:

Last night, when the clouds were moving in, and the geese were moving out:

Later last night we thought we were facing Dozer's final transition. He has been acting like an old clock winding down for awhile now. 'First potty break followed by breakfast' has been his one reliably energetic point of the day; yesterday morning he didn't stir from his bed for a long time. Last night Rick spent a lot of time loving on him, and by this morning Dozer rallied a bit. As I've said before: One day at a time.

Coincidence? Ironic? Fitting? That in this month when Jackson turns 12 and both our old dogs are struggling, Sara's "Miss October" is her old black tri-color corgi.

Last Sunday we hauled an entire oak tree home. One of Rick's clients owns a lot of property, and he offered us a downed tree and help to load it with his tractor's claw grapple (what a back-saver!). Getting that done before the rain came meant putting off (again) doing something with all those apples my MIL gave us. I finally got a cannerful of applesauce made on Monday; I should be working on another batch right now.... 😏

I can see the end of this crazy batt from here:

After that, GIFT KNITTING.

That's it for now from . . .