Fall

The temperatures on Friday night here went down to 29 degrees.  We woke to significant frost and much damage to the annuals.  My zinnias went from looking like this one day:

To looking like this the next day:

OK, so these are not the exact same zinnias, but it's raining outside and I can take this picture from the front porch. The marigolds also took a hit from the frost. I was planning to pull the zinnias and marigolds this morning, but the sparrows and finches have been eating the seeds so I guess we'll keep the seed heads around a little while longer.

 I was worried about the raspberries freezing so my daughter, home from college, and her friend picked all the ripe and near ripe berries Friday evening.  Then into the freezer on a cookie sheet they went.  Once frozen they were placed in a freezer bag.  These individually frozen berries can then be taken out one at a time to be used as needed.  And they taste like little frozen oranges!

The walnut harvest is huge and the squirrels are having a field day.  They have been kept very busy hiding their nuts for the winter.  I watched one squirrel dig 6 holes in one of my flower beds before he "planted" his nut. 

This is the first fall in a while that I have not canned something.  There just isn't enough time in the day or energy in this body to do any canning this year.  But I have harvested quite a few seeds.  Yesterday, while cleaning up the vegetable garden at the old house, I harvested seeds of these pretty little sumflowers and seeds from my purple coneflowers. Of course pictures of those flowers are on the computer at the old house.

Our new hen turkeys are settling in nicely.  My husband found the three of them roosting on top of the chicken coop last night.  The toms spend the day displaying to impress them and are making some very interesting noises.  The hens are quite tame and love to come up to see what you are doing.  Last evening one pecked at the water coming out of the hose as I was filling their waterer.  They will eat from your hand and are not afraid to come up behind you and peck at the back of your legs.  And they make the sweetest little noises.

My husband has been busy moving the firewood to the new house and has already brought over three trailer loads.  We've used the wood stove a number of times and we are very happy with the way it warms up the house.  Nothing beats a wood stove on a cold night!