Taking advantage

With a house guest staying with us for the next while, we have been making use of the king size mattress that’s been leaning on the dining room wall since my husband got his hospital bed.

It’s now set up in a corner of the dining room (we can even still use the dining table! :-D ).

The cats have taken advantage of this new arrangement.

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The first day it was there, they claimed it as their own.  Though no longer quite as novel, after a couple of nights, they still take it over, every chance they get. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Reading the signs

Though it’s only the end of August, everywhere we look, we see the signs of autumn.

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This is one of the crab apple trees in the West yard.  The apples are smaller than usual.  Though the apples are not ripe yet, the tree, like so many others, is turning colour and dropping leaves already.

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One of the plum trees has completely changed colour already, and the plums…

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Most have already dropped, and what few remain on the tree are looking like these.

Today was our day for heading into the city for our monthly shop.  Along the way, we saw flocks of Canada Geese in the fields, taking a break from heading south.  We’ve been seeing them in fields on the way to town, too.

On the drive home (when it was warmer), the snakes were out.  I was able to avoid a couple, but the highway had many squished snakes on it that others did not miss.  They have been making their way to their hibernation dens to the north of us for at least a couple of weeks, now.

I had seen a news article about how it’s expected to be a mild winter this year, but earlier, I’d see that The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a long and bitterly cold winter, with possibly a late spring as well.

From what I’m seeing, I think The Farmer’s Almanac is likely to be the more accurate prediction. :-(

Either way, we’re going to have to start our fall preparations for winter over the next few weeks.

The Re-Farmer

The power of cat treats

Beep Beep and her Tuxedo were around the house yesterday evening, so I decided to get a bit more aggressive about this whole luring of kittens thing.

I brought out the cat nip and the cat treats.

They ignored the cat nip.

They went nuts over the cat treats!  Beep Beep was after them to the point that she would eat what I gave her, then find the one I gave to her kitten and eat that one, before he even figured out where it was.  She’d even push him away!

We have a house guest for the next while, and she and my daughter came out to help, and to play with the cats.  By the time they came back in, Rolando Moon, Teeny Tabby, Butterscotch and one of the calicos made a showing, too.

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We did actually get to pet the tuxedo.  He’d jump a bit and look, but would quickly return to hunting treats.  He’d even try and take them out of my hand, sometimes, but he was slower about it and his mother would usually push her way in and take it first, no matter how we tried to distract her with others, so on the ground they went.

While in the area, I paused to take a look at my mother’s white roses.  They have the darkest rose hips!  So deep a read, they are almost black.

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The Re-Farmer

Absorbed

While walking around the trees in the west yard (because we can do that now!), I took a rake to the bottom of some of the tree stumps that are all over the place.  The taller ones, to prepare them for when we can cut them close to the ground.  Other, old and rotting ones, to uncover them and make them more visible, because I keep finding them by tripping over them!

There is a large elm tree in there that I’ve walked past many times, but it wasn’t until I started raking a stump next to it that I really paused to look at its trunk.

Where I realized I was looking at … another trunk?

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It looks like a tree inside a tree.

With all the clean up I’ve done, and seeing so many trees growing against each other, I am guessing that this tree had suckers growing out the bottom that no one trimmed away.  Over the years, the main trunk simply grew around the smaller tree growing against it, absorbing it into itself.

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It looks like there are two more of them on the other side!

I’m sure there is some deep and meaningful metaphor that can be seen from this.

The Re-Farmer

Out of reach

Of all the crab apple trees we have, only one of them has bright red apples.  The rest tend to be a yellowish green, or green with a reddish blush.

The apples on this tree also tend to be larger than the others, and are quite good eating apples.

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The majority of them are also completely out of reach. :-D

Time to break out the A-frame ladder!

The Re-Farmer