Getting buttoned up for winter :)

Yesterday was a pretty productive day around the house!
A few days ago, Lady Friend and I had started planting spring flowering bulbs, but didn't finish before the sun started setting on us. Yesterday, I took the time to finish that project off, so hopefully the house will be surrounded with all kinds of tulips, allium, narcissus, and crocus come spring time!
There was also the more mundane chores of catching up on laundry, mowing the yard, and straightening up around the house, but I also cut back the rest of the moonflower, hosta, and other perennials..I even pruned the Limelight hydrangeas outside the solarium!
When that was done, I decided I'd spread my cutting board and wooden kitchen tool 'collection' out on the bed of my truck and give everything a good sanding. Over the course of the last year or more, they've become scratched, stained, dull and dry, and they needed some attention. This dark, round, end-grain board actually had a few separations around the edges - the combination of sawdust and the penetrating moisture from the Board Cream tightened everything up again. Good as new, and ready for winter cooking!

Pumpkins!

Fall is finally here - my favorite time of year!
Mom and I went to the pumpkin patch yesterday (before the crowds at the Farm Crawl next weekend) to buy pumpkins for my office, the Brewery, and ourselves. All of that amounted to a pretty good truckload of pumpkins! There's this pile by the side door and a few more out front...it's looking so nice :)

Last BIG Harvest of the Season

Even though we've got another small heat wave rolling in this weekend, autumn is still coming..time to start thinking about cleaning up the garden and trimming back landscaping around the house.
This will be the last big tomato harvest of the year. Which is sad and fantastic all at the same time. My freezer can't take ANY MORE tomatoes!

Had about five gallons harvested when the dust settled. I also trimmed the plants back quite a bit - hopefully they'll get a little more sun and air this way, and they can focus on ripening the fruit that's still left on the vine. Not sure where I'll put all the fruit that's left on the vine..but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Siding by the bay

The bay windows without the metal trim and storm windows.
We only broke two of the storm panes.. :S

For the first time in a LONG time, we can say that three sides of the house are completely wrapped in new siding! All we have left to do is this little bit around the front of the house! That said, there's a LOT of cutting to do..should be interesting :)

The leaves have definitely started falling..looks like we better finish these outside projects soon!