6 Days

 

Why, with less than a week to go before Halloween, The Skeleton Crew has decided to put up a spooky tree, is anyone guess. Oh well, you can never have too many decorations.

They would have done it sooner if they could have remembered where they put the ornaments. 

Then, late this afternoon, Ivy found them all the way in the back, behind the Christmas stuff.

They were happy and couldn't wait to get started.

I don't know why my camera decided to pick up the fall leaves in that fake looking color.

Burt was more than happy to add the lights. They look white but their actually orange.

Kib was standing by with the ornaments.

Then Ivy realized she didn't have any of the little metal hooks for hanging up the ornaments. Looks like this is another project that has to be continued on another day.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!

7 days

 

Halloween is just a week away! We may have some new outdoor decorating challenges ahead and our possessed kitchen has struck again.

Today could've gone better but we weren't left in total darkness.

The info on the lights said they took a "standard G9 bulb". Apparently, my mind saw the word "standard" and didn't feel the need to pay attention to the rest of the description. What was I thinking? Okay, I'm clueless about bulbs, but the new light fixtures are really pretty. 

Kibitz wearing his "I told you so" expression. At least the pantry is very clean now.

The correct bulbs will be here tomorrow but that's a minor issue compared to the front porch lights. The electricians will be back to finish them as well as a couple of other things they couldn't get to, nothing is ever simple. They tried their best and it's really not that bad. We tried switching out our dining room chandelier by ourselves once and had no power for three days.

This might take a couple of weeks to fix but we can work with it.

Thank goodness it's Halloween and not Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!

8 Days

 

There's only eight days before Halloween and Burt had to spend the whole day cleaning the pantry so the electricians could work their magic tomorrow. He really didn't mind though, he loves pretending to be Uncle Fester and he definitely needs electricity for that.

Ivy was amazed that all this stuff came out of one little room. 

Kibitz is wondering if all this work was really necessary for an outlet and a new light.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!

Apples & Math

The countdown is into single digits!

Is seems like driving through a town called Appleton, on your way buy apples, would be something you'd come across in a novel. Considering there are more than a dozen orchards in the area, it's hard to believe I never made the connection between the name of the city and the fruit before. That white cupola in the distance is the Main Hall of the university our son Andy graduated from, so we've spent a lot of time here.   

Not that the orchard we were looking for was actually in Appleton, but we had to drive through the town to get to it. Since it was around lunchtime it seemed like a good ideas to stop at one of our favorite restaurants. The food is good but it's best feature is the view, especially on a beautiful day. 

 

Even the parking lot was looking good.

The people at the orchard were so friendly and helpful that I completely forgot to take photos. The prices were listed by pecks. A peck is a measurement of the space something takes up and there are four pecks in a bushel, as in a bushel basket. Luckily, they also sell them by the pound, which is a concept we could understand.  

There are six pounds of Honeycrisp apples in Ivy's bag. A peck of apples weights about ten pounds so she is carrying around six tenths of a peck.  

Kibitz was very confused by all this talk about pecks.

There were nineteen varieties to chose from so we tried to get two or three of each kind.

Now, how do we tell them apart? 

It's okay, once they're in a pie, will it really matter?

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!

The Farmers Market

Oh no, there's only ten spooky days left in October!

His Madness is a frequent shopper at our local Saturday Farmers Market. I only show up at the end of the season, when they bring out the really important stuff.

It was 58°F. and drizzling, the perfect day for my yearly visit. I bought Ivy some flowers and flint corn to decorate with but didn't find the kind of pumpkins I was looking for. 

Too bad I wasn't looking for Brussels Sprouts! Are those pumpkins spying on the squash?

On our way back to the car we passed more of this year's spectacular autumn colors. It's almost as if Mother Nature trying to make up for ruining last summer.

Back at home, The Crew loved the dahlias but weren't sure what to do with the corn.

Burt thought the corn should be tied into a bundle and hung on the front door. Ivy tried to explain to him that the squirrels would probably knock it down so they could eat it. 

Burt couldn't imagine anyone wanting to eat this corn, after all its called flint corn. Eventually, he agreed with Ivy and they decided to to shuck the husks and put the cobs in a bowl on the table. Maybe the squirrels won't notice it, or maybe we'll need to buy some new screens. 

 

As it turned out, there was enough flowers for two bouquets . . . 

 . . . and plenty of corn for all the squirrels in the neighborhood. Maybe we should just put the bowl outside now.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow.

Mosquito Hill

It was an absolutely beautiful day here, so His Madness and I headed to Mosquito Hill.

 

If we were going to enjoy a walk in the woods while the trees still had their autumn leaves, we couldn't wait a minute longer. It was time for a road trip.  

This past summer was unusually hot and dry which puts a lot of stress on trees. In our neck of the woods, the peak time for fall color the first week of October, so we weren't expecting much this late in the season. 

Sometimes, it's wonderful to be wrong.

Mother Nature has a great sense if humor

We weren't the only ones enjoying the sunshine.

As with all things these days, even the top of the hill was under construction. Nice to see that the safety fencing coordinated with the season. 

Future maple trees.

HM documented the riot of color with his pinhole camera. I was expecting bare trees and brown, dried up leaves on the ground, so I left my camera at home. Thank goodness for phones. 

Okay,  I have to admit the prairie grass meadow was well past it's prime. 

There were a few asters still blooming. Enough to keep the bees happy.

The lake was really quiet. Have the ducks flown south already or are they late too? 

There's nothing like a walk through the woods in the fall. It's hard to get lost but whoever had the idea to plant this beacon of red by the parking lot was a genius.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!

 

Garland

There's only twelve days left until the big night and The Crew is still hasn't finished decorating the patio. It's not like they haven't tried before, maybe the third time's the charm? 

Spenser finds it all very annoying.

Even though it's raining (again!), today is going to be different.  

Today, they're going to stay focused.

Until it's done.

Or not. This may take another day.

Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow!