Autumn Garden

This morning when Mike opened the door to get something he left in the car, Smitty leaped over the threshold and was gone.  He's been outside all morning.  I sat where I could watch for him at the glass door if he wanted in, but he didn't come to the door.  He's been busy doing kitten things.

I decided it was as good a time as any to scout out pictures in the yard and see if I could find the little bugger.  He ran right up to me.  He is a happy little guy, and he absolutely loves being outside.  Here is he doing his tiger in the weeds imitation.

The squirrels, ever helpful, dug up all my tulips bulbs this summer and ate them.  They thought sunflowers were a better choice, and so they generously planted these in my whiskey barrels.  

Little suckers.  We had our revenge by trimming the herd.  They ate every single tulip bulb.  When I saw them doing it, I ran outside clapping my hands, yelling, and stomping my feet.  They didn't even flinch, but went right on eating.  Occasionally, they paused their chewing briefly and looked at me is if to say, "What?"

So there isn't much left in the yard to photograph.  We have a lovely crop of weeds growing in the vegetable garden.  No vegetables, but the weeds have done really well this year.

The artichoke is mostly bloomed out, but there are a few huge thistle blossoms still coming.

The leaves on the strawberries are turning red, but they are still putting out new runners.

And the pampas grass put out five stalks this year.  It's sort of hit or miss with its blooming.  If we have a harsh winter, it won't bloom at all.  Last year's winter was relatively mild.  This is the most stalks it has put out since we planted it many years ago.  We had pampas grass at our other house, foolishly believing that they were nearly impossible to kill.  We managed to kill three of them before giving up.  This one has done much better.  It looks like a great kitten toy, doesn't it?

And speaking of kittens, Smitty enjoys munching on the grass in the yard.  Unlike our other cats, he hasn't yet come inside to hork it up right after eating it.  I suppose he's saving that for when we replace the carpeting or something.  Maybe when the carpet is all nice and clean in the sewing room, he'll christen it with a freshly-yakked pile of half-chewed grass.  Yummy.

So a carpenter is coming this afternoon to take a look at the downstairs.  This plumbing access has always had a framed panel of drywall screwed to the wall to cover it.  It's less than convenient as you might imagine.

Also, hanging on the wall to either side of this are components related to our burglar alarm system.  We're going to have them mount those components inside the access area and then finish it around the edges so that we can hang cabinet doors instead of the drywall panel.  It will make it much easier to gain access if we need to.  We don't need to get in here often, but we do need access for things like leaky plumbing.  Also, that single switch that you see in the middle of this image is the master circuit for the well pump.  If we need to turn it off, that's where we do it.  Putting cabinet doors here will be a much nicer finish.  I'll still hang a quilt over the front of it, but it will look less suspect if we ever decide to sell the place.

I don't think the carpenter is going to do any work today.  I think he's just going to take a look and then decide what materials he needs.  For my part, I was supposed to pick up some paint samples yesterday, and then I forgot.  I can do it when I'm in town tomorrow.  It sounds as if they're going to work on the walls and do the painting before they turn their attention to the carpeting.  That will be last.

As for me, I have retrieved the things I need to do for my sewing today.  I'm going to work on the October block for the Block Lotto.  Also, I want to make my October bee block for the We Bee Learning block bee.  If I finish those, I'll make some blocks for the White Trees quilt I started a few months ago.

What's on your Wednesday list?