Pumpkin Time Is Coming

I love the holidays! A few years ago I found this at a little antique store and thought it was pretty neat because I could change out the front to match the seasons. Well, that would have worked if I hadn't stuffed the bag of fronts in the back of a cupboard and forgot where it was. I found the bag when I found the goat. I keep finding and losing the bag of fronts because it doesn't have a home. Maybe I should put it in with my sewing stuff? There is a star for Summer, flower basket for Spring, pumpkin for Fall and I like the snowman for winter best. I think it ended up in the store because the snowman had some damage. I took off the broken bits and it looks great.

I went out with the chickens today to guard them while Morgan was getting cleaned up. I spent the time raking paths and didn't see much of the hens. But I made a lot of noise, so maybe that kept the critters away.

Hard to believe, but I got the end of the island sheet rocked and only need to finish part of the sides. When I say sheet rocked, that leaves out all the hair tearing as I try to figure out how and what I'm going to build to nail it to. Tom may have to get me another piece of sheet rock because I'm running low. I don't like to piece sheet rock, but I will give it a go and see what happens. More piecing means more joint compound. Maybe I will get to the fun part tomorrow and start frosting with joint compound. Well, I think of it as frosting. I will post some photos after I get some mud smeared around and have something to show.

Tom came home after delivering eggs and taking Morgan to the groomer with a huge bag of chicken lettuce and tomatoes. The hens are very happy, and my refrigerator is stuffed full of bags of greens.

[6 eggs today]

One had a puncture. :(

Smiles

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Getting Ready

I think it was Henry Ford who said that if you chopped your own wood you warm yourself twice. Well, this year, Tom, ordered in some wood all ready to be stacked in the woodshed, but he did get a workout carrying and stacking all the wood. Looks like he will be getting some more wood or he has plans to use some of our wood and split it with the splitter John left.

Some years the wood was delivered and dumped in a pile and left to dry over the summer. Other years, Tom, cut trees, split them, and stacked the wood. A few years we left the wood in a pile and covered it with tarps before the rain and snows. It is a lot nicer going out to the woodshed and getting wood than fighting with a tarp, especially if it is wet and has puddles or snow. I like that "squirrel storing away nuts" feeling of getting ready for winter.

The old dog food and chicken feed bags are full of kindling and the straw is there for me to use to freshen the hens nest boxes. Once in awhile, Tom, finds an egg or a broody hen in the shed when he is working out there, but the chickens don't make a habit of hanging out in the woodshed because it is usually shut up tight. The metal panels come off the back and the side behind the wood, so we can access the old wood and use it up first. Good thing, because it is the driest and burns best. We wait to have our first fire until we are having a heavy rain. I worry about sparks setting alight the dry forest and we for sure don't want any forest fires!

My brother built this shed originally to hold building supplies when he was building this house. Then he divided it and fixed this side up for a horse for his daughter. The other side is for feed and tools. There is something really neat about a woodshed stacked full of wood ready to keep us warm through the winter. Nice cosy feeling.

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

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