Slip Sliding Away

In October this year we acknowledged the 20th anniversary of moving into our home after seven months of living in Rhinelander while waiting for this home to be built. The house has been wonderful for these two swiftly moving and incredibly happenstancical decades. But we were contemplating a new roof for the house because we had heard such nice things about metal roofs - ie - 1. The snow slides off them instead of piling up and forming ice dams under the shingles. Each winter Bing has had to shovel heavy snow off the roof to avoid the dreaded ice dams that cause leaks in the ceilings of homes. Since we're already midway through our sixties, we're thinking it might be good to eliminate that yearly chore. 2. They last for over fifty years instead of the twenty or thirty that shingles last.

3. Bing goes up on the roof a couple of times per winter to clean the chimney of our woodburner and we thought it might be safer for him to walk on a snow free roof. 4. We have a couple of sons who goodheartedly agreed to help put the new roof on the house and Tony has a brother-in-law, Rick, who happens to have owned and operated his own roofing company for the last several years and he also agreed to work with Bing and the sons. So, in October, it all came together. For about four twelve hour days, the four strong and brave workers worked like the devil under Rick's able supervision. Rick and Tony did the "up on the roof " work and Bing and Bernie did the ground work. The weather coooperated beautifully. I helped watch Eli so that Carmen wouldn't have too many kids at the day care and I fed the workers. Everything went really well and they came out with exactly the right amount of metal ordered and a price for the completed job that was only half of what it would have cost for a hired company to do it. We've had quite a bit of snow and cold already this winter and Bing and I have been waiting for the snow to slide off. It just seemed to be staying up there and accumulating. Then today the temperature got up to 38 and the avalanches began. The temp is supposed to go down to -11 tonight so I hope all the snow comes down and we can begin again with a clean slate, that really isn't slate. The pictures show the snow free roof and the roof today as part of the snow has descended. Maybe Santa's preliminary workers are in charge of cleaning roofs before the old guy gets going and they'll just keep enough snow up there for the landing of the sleigh.

Change Happens

Change is happening here in our niche of this world. The golds and bronzes and oranges are covered with a light dusting of sparkly white. The water of the lake is now smooth hard ice. Thanks to Bing's morning bird feedings, we have daily visitors - Chickadees, Blue Jays, Cardinals and even a huge Pileated Woodpecker. The Deer gun season is in full swing and the deer are winning - not so many killed yet. I made myself a blaze orange vest this year and I can safely walk our property. I take a broom along to sweep the fluff of snow off the stepping stones and stairs of my meandering paths. If there were onlookers, they probably would try to get a peek of whether or not I take off on the broom. If brooms could fly, wouldn't that be fun. Every morning I love to walk and think and pray. I wish everyone would have the luxury of connecting with nature on a regular basis. What a difference that would make in our nation's health. Not so much need for medicines and tranquilizers and a decrease in anger and rage.

Some Forgotten Crops

The 2008 gardening is over and I thought of four more crops that I forgot to count. Here they are, numbers 36, 37, 38 and 39. Acorn squash - dark green and shaped like an acorn - Bing makes his own because I've never liked the texture of winter squash or sweet potatoes. He cuts it in half, pokes holes in the skin and microwaves it cut side down. When fork tender, he adds butter and maple syrup and says it's great. Zucchini - dark green and shaped like a club - you probably know its reputation as a most prolific producer but we usually only have one or two plants so we're not overwhelmed with them. I usually grate it and freeze it in cup sized portions for use in zucchini bread. Leeks - first time crop and they're still out in the front garden - hope we'll get to them before they're iced Leeks. Grapes - just as with our other fruit crops this summer, the grape harvest was pretty sparse - there will be enough for a couple of batches of grape jelly. They're in the freezer now and waiting for a jam session. All in all, the garden was awesome and so deserving of our attention. It keeps us healthy with its need for attention - we crawl and weed and hoe and till, we pick and freeze and can and store. It keeps us healthy with its vitamin rich greens and roots and bulbs and fruits. Thanks God for creating this symbiotic relationship of man with nature. We applaud your creativity and marvel at the amazing process of seed turning to food. Every year, Bing and I think we're getting better and better at keeping a fine garden - just think how good we'll be when we're in our nineties!.

The pictures attached show some Fall pictures here at our home - but they're already outdated because now the earth is covered with light snow. Ice is on the channel and the boats are in the shed - can winter be far off? Oops! The rutabaga picture slipped in there by mistake and I don't know how to delete it! But I do love rutabagas and this Fall we found out it's an Irish veggie so I like it even more.

Crops 33,34, & 34 Some Root Crops

We put the garden to bed already but I never mentioned these three yummy and dependable foods. The pictures show carrots and rutabagas in our garage root closet and some pickled beets in a jar. Bing built the root closet several years ago and it extends the life of our roots, cabbages, potatoes, onions, apples and dahlia bulbs. There is a thermometer in there and when the temp gets near 32, we plug in a light bulb that was installed in there. The heat from the bulb keeps the closet from freezing and the food at a good cool storage temp.

"Weep No More, Milady"

Our massive Weeping Willow met its demise two weeks ago. It's fronds, (nice word, eh?), were hanging over the electric power line and causing power outages and burnt fronds. The men from Asplundh, a tree cutting firm that contracts with the local power company, came to the rescue and quickly and efficiently put the tree down - something like putting an animal down but not quite as sad. Those fellows really know their work and have excellent tools to get the job done. Their occupation would probably provide lots of chills and thrills on a reality show and it was fun to watch how they felled the mighty wooden weeper. The willow was on the edge of the yard and hillside and they had two very flexible cranes with buckets where the lumberjacks wielded their electric saws. Two men on the ground deftly gathered the fallen branches and fed them into two chippers that then fed a dump truck with the willow chips. The cutters of course had to watch out for the power lines and the grounded men. Everything went well and even though that tree was beautiful, it really did make a mess with late falling leaves in the Fall and loads of broken branches littering the yard and hillside. So, we salute the life of that faithful tree but kind of hail its loss. Is that a conundrum?

Well, Hello Dahlia

A few years ago our neighbor, Jim Hoha, offered us some Dahlia bulbs. He said he was overloaded with them. We took several and planted them. Wow, the flowers they produced were a beautiful dark red and the way their petals came together was so perfectly engineered. They took extra care because you had to dig up the bulbs after a freeze and store them in a cool dark place for the winter, then replant them in the spring. But they are definitely worth the work and they seem to perfectly represent the old biblical saying that there is a season for every purpose under Heaven. Their season is summer and their purpose is to bring joy and delight to all who behold them. The pictures show The living Dahlia, the bulbs dug up from just 15 plants and the carting away of the exhausted plants. Long live the Dahlia!

Crop # 32 Apples

Fall brings one of the tastiest and dependable harvests. Bing picked the apples from only one of our apple trees - the one behind the garage - You'll see in the picture that he got four huge sacks of apples from that one tree. They are medium size, tasty and juicy. We used to call them Cortland but now we think they are McIntosh. He'll pick from the other trees pretty soon. Yum, yum.