Fall sunset along the creek.
Tag Archives: fall
Ready for hibernation… pretty much
Nearly three months ago I published the list of fall chores that we needed to complete to be ready for winter. Well, winter officially arrives today. Are we ready?
Winterize exterior waterlines. Done.Take off the window screens for cleaning and patching. — I have no excuse why this, one of the simplest tasks on the list, isn’t done. Maybe this weekend?
Update: Done! Closing early at work for the holidays meant I was home in the daylight. Popping off all of the screens, labeling them and carrying them down to the basement took all of 15 minutes.Fix up some winter beds for the cats. Done.- Fix leak in basement foundation. — Matt adjusted the downspouts and put a sheet of plywood under the window to run water away from foundation, which seem to be working for now, but we will have to give this job some proper attention next year.
From the light above the window and the retaining wall half buried in the garden, you can see that this used to be a door, so we’re pretty sure this is the source of the water we see once in awhile in the laundry room.
Get rid of scrap metal. Done.- Organize driveshed so that we can
find the snow shovelsand park at least one car inside. — Matt has dug out the shovels, but the driveshed is still mostly in shambles. - Get rid of the woodstove and old chimney, which are also in the driveshed. — We thought we had a buyer, but he never showed to pick up the stove. Anyone want it?
This beauty is still for sale. Send offers to homeon129acres@hotmail.com.
- Fit out the mudroom and
front hall closet. — Halfway done. The front hall closet is super functional now, but the only progress we made in the mudroom so far is adding two boot trays and moving the coats to the inside closet. I’m hoping to finish off this project over the Christmas break and will of course share posts in the new year. Remove stakes from established treesand stake the new trees that we planted this spring. — Halfway done.Install the flag pole. Done.- Pull the fallen tree out of the pond. — A project for next year. If the pond does freeze this winter, we’ll still have plenty of room for skating and hockey. I guess a good thing about putting this job off for a few months is that I didn’t have to go swimming in November.
Buy snow tires for my car. Done.
Wiley got bling, and my poor little car lost hers. 😦
Put away the lawn furniture. Done.
Something else I should have put on the original list was learn how to count. I thought I had 14 tasks when I actually had only 13. Oops.
I also had two bonus “nice-to-dos,” one of which got some attention.
- Install a bird feeder on the driveway turnaround. — Didn’t even try to do this.
Trim up some trees around the property. — We trimmed two trees, but we didn’t take down our sickly blue spruce or trim the very twisted willow tree at the pond.
Our other twisted willow before and after its haircut
Anyways, out of the original 13 and the two bonus, we can officially cross off 7 8… or 8 9 if you count the jobs that are half done. Not a great completion rate, I guess. But hey, the basement’s looking really good, and it will be a nice and cozy hang-out space this winter!
In addition, we did do a few extra tasks specifically for winter.
Winterize Wiley. Done.Put the blanket on the bed. (Not really post or picture worthy.)Get the outside lights working. Done.Dig out the snow fence, although we haven’t decided if we actually need to put it up yet.
A few rolls of snow fence were buried in the long grass of the field behind the barn, and Wiley helped us dig them out.
I met our local councilor a few weeks ago, and he told me that I’m not a true rural resident until I’ve made it through a winter. I like winter, so I’m actually looking forward to a snowy season of hiking and skating and staying cozy in the house. My fingers are crossed that we’re prepared enough to be able to enjoy it without too much hardship.
A new look
We had a new arrival at the farm this weekend: our first snow.
Flurries started on Friday night, and by Saturday morning we had a light dusting over everything.
Our new landscape drew me out of the house first thing, just adding snow boots to my pyjamas
At the front of the house, I had an open view over the fields to the farm across the road.
Even the burrs look photogenic when they’re wearing a cap of snowflakes.
Behind the barn, the lane to the back field and the woods also look particularly photogenic under a blue sky, bright sun and fresh snow.
At the bottom of the meadow, the creek was flowing into the pond amongst the snow-covered boulders.
Back up at the house, our cozy abode under its first dusting of snow.
Temperatures dropped over the past few days, so the snow stayed over the weekend. I’m hoping to have a true Canadian winter this year after a snowless season last year, so I’m happy to see the early snowfall.
What would be your reaction if you woke up to snow? Would you be outside in pyjamas and boots too? For some of my more southern readers, I expect a snowy morning would be a bit unexpected. Anyone from more northern climes, have you had your first snowfall yet? What type of weather are you hoping for this winter?
The 20lb creature in my fridge
While my American readers are celebrating Thanksgiving, we have moved onto Christmas already up here in the north.
Tomorrow we’re hosting Matt’s Mom’s side of the family for an early Christmas dinner, and in between vacuuming up drywall dust and supervising the carpet installers who arrive this morning–giving new meaning to last minute party prep–we’ve added a new animal sighting to our list.
Although our Butterball is not exactly a wild animal
Thanks to Matt’s parents for venturing south of the border and braving American grocery shoppers to bring us this turkey. In addition to the obvious Thanksgiving date conflict between Canada and the U.S. I think we may have inadvertently undermined 200 years of peace when my MIL’s friend Marg grabbed the last three turkeys in the store so that we could have the pick of the poultry.
Matt’s pick is for the biggest turkey he can find. At 20 pounds, I think this guy fits the bill.
I’ll post a full party wrap-up next week. Until then, I’m setting aside all cultural differences to wish everyone a good weekend and all of my American readers a very happy Thanksgiving.
Seasonal shut down
Nothing is ever simple with us, and winterizing the water lines was no exception.
Tools used included a drywall saw, an air compressor and a mop.
The drywall saw was required to access the one shut off, which was in the ceiling in the ping pong area of the basement. We knew it was there and had marked its location when we were installing the drywall. (The other cut-out in the ceiling is a heat register).
We hung buckets by their handles from the taps to catch the water as we drained the lines. However, we quickly ran out of buckets, so Matt used what was available: one of our empty paint cans.
Paint cans dangling from the ceiling is not the decor we’re going for in the basement. Fortunately, this line drained quickly, and Matt was able to install the access panel that we bought to cover the hole.
The water line to the driveshed needed a little help to drain, hence the air compressor. The low point of the line is in the utility room in the basement, so my Dad connected the air compressor to the tap at the driveshed and let ‘er blow.
While the utility room is the low point, there’s obviously another area somewhere in the line where the water pools, because there was much more water in the line than I expected. The force of the air was a little too much for the bucket we’d hung on that tap, and we ended up with water sprayed all over the utility room.
It was nothing a mop couldn’t fix, but since the water flowed out into the rest of the basement we were very relieved that our new carpet isn’t installed yet.
Once the line was clear, we poured some antifreeze down the pipe just for extra protection.
Our third exterior tap and the old line to the barn were winterized without issue. The old pump and pressure tank in the barn are probably not fully drained, but, given their deteriorated state, I’m not concerned about any further damage. The line itself is clear and is also below the frost line, so when we’re ready to have running water in the barn we should be able to put it into service.
Winterizing the waterlines was at the top of the list of our fall chores, and it feels good to cross off another to-do.
Have you winterized your waterlines? Or is your climate gentle enough to not freeze your exterior hoses? Anyone else dealt with basement floods recently? Do you have any jobs that ended up being more complicated than you expected?
Friday night lights
I’ve mentioned before that the farm is a wee bit dark once the sun sets. Well, since the time change a few weeks ago, things have been extremely dark out here in the country.
This is not just a black square. I actually went outside and took a picture for you to show how dark it is.
Arriving home had gotten a bit hazardous between stepping on cats and randomly jamming the key in the general direction of the lock on the front door.
The time had come for a call to the electrician.
After a quick rewiring of the driveshed, an installation on the barn, relocation of a timer and a new circuit panel–also in the driveshed, the top of our driveway now looks like this when we arrive home at night.
Let there be light! This image was taken from roughly the same angle as the one above.
We had lights on the driveshed and barn already, but neither of them were working. In the driveshed, we’d killed the power because of sketchy wiring and an obviously unsafe fuse box. On the barn, the old light had a blown transformer, and ultimately the whole light had to be replaced.
Thanks to a timer we already had in the basement of the house that the electrician was able to repurpose outside, the lights come on automatically before we get home and then go off before we go to bed. The new barn light also has a photocell that senses darkness, but we decided we don’t need to see what’s going on outside all night long, so we let the timer shut everything down around 9 o’clock. We may adjust that, but for now it’s working well for us.
The lights are also working well for the cats who no longer have to worry about being stepped on or run over. Up until now, our only way of seeing them when we come home was watching for the glow of their eyes in our headlights.
As much as I’m thrilled with our new exterior lights, I do have to admit that I’m looking forward to being home during daylight this weekend. I’m starting to forget what my property looks like outside of the lighted sphere of the barn, driveshed and house.
Cozy kitties
A giant crate had been sitting in the burn pile beside our fire pit ever since Matt and I dragged it up from the end of the driveway at the start of the summer. I kept saying, “I’m sure we can use that somewhere.” However, it was Matt that finally had the vision of where.
Slice and dice with the sawzall
He sawed it in two, filled each half with straw, placed them in a sheltered corner in the basement of the barn and, voilà, cozy cat beds.
One bed even got a canvas tarp for extra coziness.
Cross task #3–fix up some winter beds for the cats–off our fall to-do list.
Our hardy, independent barn cats are living in the lap of luxury now. Easter and Ralph have each claimed a crate and made their own nests in the straw. Although they’d probably stay warmer if they snuggled, Ralph has put her paw down at babying her kitten any more. It’s in everyone’s best interest that they each get their own bed.
Documentation of their enthusiasm for their new beds was difficult to obtain.
Pictures of Easter look like this.
“What are you doing over there? I’m going to come see you!”
Or this.
“Treats! Oh yes, please! I like treats!”
We finally got Ralph to model for us, but even she looks like she wishes she was somewhere else.
“Are you done yet? Back scratches will only get you so far.”
The crates may be a little rustic for other felines, but our pusses think they’re just purr-fect.
Sorry.
For future photo shoots, anyone have any tips for encouraging cooperation from cat models? Is there anyone else who has four legged creatures sleeping in your barn, shed or garage? For other cat owners out there, where do your kitties sleep?
Growing free
When we had the nephews at the farm two weeks ago, the tall one and I went to work on task #10 on the fall to-do list: remove stakes from established trees and stake the new trees that we planted this spring. The first step was to unshackle the trees from the cuffs that were wrapped around them. Some were tied with rope, some had sections of garden hose, some had wire. All were snug. Some were strangling. It was quite an arboreal torture chamber we were running here.
No tree emerged unscathed. Some are simply scarred.
Others are permanently deformed.
We cut the wires and hoses and ropes out of the trees as best we could. Where we ran into trouble was the stakes. The nephew and I did fairly well on the first few trees rocking the stakes back and forth to loosen them up and then pulling them out in a coordinated effort. However, after he left and it was up to Matt and me, the rest of the stakes held strong.
We must have been missing the magic touch, because no matter how much we wiggled the stakes we couldn’t get them to budge.
In desperation, Matt went and got Wiley, and I found a rope. We tied the rope to the stake and attached the other end to Wiley’s loader. Then Matt raised the bucket, the rope snapped, and the stake stayed where it was.
I went and got a chain. We hooked everything together, and Matt raised the bucket again. And the front wheels of the tractor lifted off the ground.
We spent a while adjusting the chain, adjusting the tractor, tugging on the stake and only succeeded in bending it.
The conclusion I came to is that the stakes have been in the ground so long that the tree roots must have grown around the metal. I don’t think we’re going to get them out. Above ground, the trees are free. I can only hope they survive their ordeal and continue to grow. Matt, however, is a bit traumatized from his wheelie on the tractor, so we’re calling this job good enough for now. The rest of the stakes–removing them from the older trees and adding them to the new trees–can wait until spring.
Drac-o-lantern
As the winds were picking up, and the rain was blowing in, and most people were stocking up on bottled water and batteries to prepare for super storm Sandy, I was shopping for a pumpkin.
Love the honour system approach at the rural pumpkin patch. Pick your pumpkin and put your cash in the cookie tin nailed to the wagon.
Perhaps my disaster preparedness skills could use some work. On the other hand, I think Matt’s and my pumpkin carving skills are highly developed.
Do you know who this is? Pattern via Masterpiece Pumpkins.
Matt recognized him right away, but then Matt’s a huge fan of classic horror movies, and this is one of his favourites.
ETA: The most popular guess has been Nicolas Cage. I can see the resemblance, but that’s not who’s on our pumpkin. Think classic movies, people!
It’s our first Hallowe’en at the farm, so we’re not familiar yet with the local customs. We’ll leave the gate open and the lights on tonight in case any trick-or-treaters decide to make the trek up the driveway, but we’re not optimistic. I think Drac might stay in the house on the hearth where we can enjoy him.
What’s your pumpkin carving technique? Intricate pattern or classic geometry? Animals, scenes or faces? Anyone out there going door-to-door tonight? What candy are you on the hunt for? If you want to toss some peanut butter cups or Crispy Crunch my way, I wouldn’t object.
Happy Hallowe’en everyone.
Adventures in babysitting
Saturday was nephew day at the farm.
The festivities started with a tractor ride.
Two nerds in a bucket
Followed by a hike.
Three nerds in the forest
A lesson in talking to turkeys.
Calling all gentlemen turkeys!
And a test drive of a couple of the deer stands in the back forest.
Two deer were actually sighted in the woods
We also took advantage of having two extra pairs of hands around and put them to work on our fall to-do list.
The task of burning up the massive brush pile we amassed over the past two weeks of tree trimming (to-do #16) took pretty much the whole day.
The uncle seems to be putting more effort into tending the fire than the nephew
Also on the list was freeing our trees from rope, twine and stakes that have been tied around them (#10).
I am not sure who had the bright idea to tie metres of binder twine (and hang a plastic plant pot) in this tree, but my bright idea of a solution was an almost 13-year-old and a Swiss Army knife.
And finally picking up metal from the driveshed floor (#7).
Two particularly big bolts snagged by the magnet
We don’t want to be the completely uncool aunt and uncle, though, so we made sure they had time to have some fun too.
Including building (playing with) fire,
There was perhaps more smoke than fire, although they did eventually get it going.
Making new friends,
The cautious feeling each other out phase
The bonding phase
And setting off firecrackers.
Separating some Black Cats
We even enjoyed an alfresco lunch altogether.
Cats and kittens included in the feast.
Pulling out all the stops for a hot gourmet feast.
A mighty pot of KD, kids’ favourite food
So nephew day can be summed up by child labour, knives, firecrackers, lighters, axes, fire and fluorescent fake cheese pasta.
Matt’s brother may never let us have the kids again.
Home on 129 Acres 