Final Curtain for the Season

This rose bush is about twenty years old and likes to show off after his cronies have packed it in for the winter.

The giraffe came to me in an auction job lot box and the two of us have made many house- moves over the years.

I can see this clock/thermometer from my kitchen to verify how bloody cold it can get, although the surrounding snow, sleet and icicles pretty well prove the point.
Is it just me or shouldn't the zero be at the top instead of to the left?
Just asking.

Can spring Be far Behind? Yep.

The deck was so welcoming not so long ago. The perfect place to hang out with a book or idly gaze at the fish playing under the water fall.

Now that same cozy spot is wrapped up like pork chops for the freezer.
I'm so grateful that we haven't had our first snowfall yet.
Last year at this time was another story.

The Best Kind Of Grass

I love the kind of grass you don't have to mow.
The first thing I did when I moved into my new house was to plant three little clumps of ornamental grass.
It looks so ethereal pushing gracefully through the snow and believe me, ethereal is good when the ice is beating against the window and that's the best it will get all day.

I planted some at the side of the house to hide the air conditioner and this was the most perverse grass I've ever met; it wants to grow tall and gangly and doesn't really hide the air conditioner. What it does is get in the way of people heading for the back gate.

You know I'm in serious prep-for-winter mode when the a/c is wrapped and ready. The chipmunks take this as a sign it's time to set up housekeeping deep inside where it's cozy and wind-free.
I just have to remember to remove the nest in the spring.
and spring will come.
It always does.

Creeping Closer To Winter

If you use your X-ray vision you'll see ice on the fish pond.It didn't stay long and the fish seemed nonchalant about it all.

The pumpkin took its sweet time ripening and this is about the best it will do since this is mid-November in Ontario.
I consider any day without snow to be a stellar day and so far so good.

Oprah'shoes

I was intrigued with these shoes at a party the other night.
Seems the person attached to the shoes attended an Oprah winfrey taping last month and everyone in the audience was given $500.
That would brighten my day.
Oprah also has a shop at the studio where she sells her clothes and shoes with the proceeds going to charity.
You can't try anything on in advance, you just hope for the best and buy it.
So my pal dropped her winnings and more and had a great time.
Fascinating shoes and a good story to go with them.

Garden Short- Cuts

I may feel twenty inside but the outside tells the real tale.
That's why I take liberties with the end-of-season garden clean-up.
Squeeze the summer stuff in the shed, throw the garden debris into the raised beds, and prepare to face the reality in the spring.

I read recently that the bags of dirt we buy are simply decomposed leaves, so my thrifty self says, "why not do the decomposing yourself?" Why not. Here's the test run, the berm. I stole a lot of earth from here to fill the new raised beds so the berm must build up once more, to do justice to the squashes I plant there.
A visiting son scooped a front yard's worth of fallen leaves into this space and we dumped a couple of bags of store- bought earth on to help the process along. Leave it alone for a couple of rainfalls to soak them, then the tarp is on and will remain until spring.

The fish will try out the new pond heater this year. Other than that, they are completely self-sufficient, my kind of pet.

Max Is the Man

Max took his haircut with reasonable grace.
He sat still and endured the sound of the electric razor and the combing out of his tail, but I wouldn't describe him as impressed.

Lucky for us we don't have to do this for another five months.

Next time I'll Have A Plan

After five years I'm pretty sure the basement is never going to have finished walls and I reasoned that at least painting the stairs would be a help.
There are two fuzzy cats on the premises and it would have been a good idea to carefully plan how to keep them at bay because simply closing the door at the top of the stairs won't do the trick.
At the last minute I took a "what-the-hell' attitude and began painting.
Every other step, so I could get up and down.

So far so good.
The cats were interested but stood their ground at the top and simply watched me.
Until I got to the Urethane.
The good news is that cats move so fast there was hardly a wet footprint to be seen.
And judging by the bottom step, a lighter paint would have been better to hide adult footprints