OCTOBER 2022

There is almost always something to entertain me here at the lake. My next door neighbors' son and daughter-in-law came across the lake on their pontoon to take the canvas canopy off neighbors' lift. Neighbors' pontoon had already been taken out for the winter. Son simply pulled their own pontoon into the lift to give them easy access to the canopy, without cranking it up, thinking it would float there while they worked. They started removing the canopy, were almost done and the wind caught it and blew it into the water. They got it and were carrying it up to the house. Meanwhile, their pontoon decided to go walk-about on it's own. It floated out of the lift and was headed down the shoreline on the wind. Fortunately, the wind was in the right direction to bring it back to shore in a short distance and they were able to retrieve it.
I'm certainly no genius, but I could see what was going to happen with the canopy and the pontoon when they started. LOL Sometimes, it's so satisfying to be right.

ELLEN
Sounds like a funny, slow motion, train wreck where no one got hurt! At least they didn't have to swim for it!


It was such a pretty day today, probably the last warm one for awhile. It was 73 this afternoon. I got in a little ride on Ivan as the sun set. He was good. I think he likes these little rides we have been having lately. Very little rides.... Today I was checking if my sore ribs were going to cooperate for riding, and if my bashed knee I got a few days ago would allow me to ride. Areion was impatient and opened a gate right into me, knocking me flat on my hiney. I had just unlatched it and she whacked it trying to open it faster. I think it scared her silly. She has been extremely good about backing off until I open the gate since then. She really is smart, you can see her mental gears grinding sometimes. She didn't mean to hurt me. Anyway, my knee is feeling better, but my ribs are still protesting when I dismount. (Did I mention the slight case of whiplash I got, too? )

Donnie is still working on the heatpump. He has the pipes and vents and assorted stuff done now, he is working on drainage pipes today. He still thinks he can be done by the end of the month.

Good Sunday morning. It has been a great fall week here in PA. One day of rain but the rest great. My friend Ashley and I have started back on our Friday walks. I missed that when I was sick. we only did 1 mile but I've been doing 1/2 mile every day again working up to 2 miles. I'm back on my feet and feeling fine.

ARK: OH my goodness girl..You certainly have been having a few accidents lately. That hay sled is a dandy idea for moving hay. Are you having trouble acquiring hay this year? It's pretty expensive here in PA.

ELLEN: People can be entertaining with their crazy ideas of how things should work but never do.

GRAYMARE: Your doggie sounds like a sweetheart. Give her a big hug for me. Our neighbor brings her Lab Lilly down to visit us so we get a little doggie love.

INDYAPP: Good luck with those darn burs. They are nasty buggers.

DONNA: Good to hear you are almost over Covid. There is so much going around now. That darn flu knocked me for a loop can only imagine how difficult the Covid nightmare is to get over. It's hard to bounce back at our ages.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone. I'll pray for everyone at church.

I finally got to play with my new toy yesterday. I yanked three different trees out of the ground. It was very satisfying, especially since one of the trees was trying to grow right next to the sliding barn door. The base of each of the trees were about 4 inches. There was one that was bigger that all I did was dig some pretty deep holes with the tractor tires trying to jerk it out. I'm going to have to try another method to get rid of that one. Today it's dreary and overcast and someone said they saw snowflakes. ewww.

I had to take my car in to the garage because the airbag alert light is blinking. Evidently when it blinks it means the airbags will not work if in an accident. The problem is in a unit in the steering wheel that controls not only the airbags, but the horn and the turn signals. I asked them to check on why my horn doesn't beep anymore when I lock the doors with the key fob. Come to find out not only does the horn not honk when I lock the doors, but the horn doesn't honk at all because of this unit. I didn't realize the horn wasn't working as I have not had any reason to honk my horn. Thankfully the turn signals still work, but the whole unit will have to be replaced at a cost of about $800 parts, labor & taxes. Lucky me. Better than having to buy a new car I guess. All I can say is it's Monday!

Indy, I was just thinking about you having to take care of horses with winter upon us today.  
When I got up this morning it was raining a little bit, but the deck showed some "textured" rain.  It didn't last too long, but they are predicting up to 2 inches tonight.  It's a little early for the first snow, but certainly not unheard of.
I gotta get more yarn...

A few hours later: Those raindrops are definitely white. Boo hiss.

Holy cow, ELLEN. Snow? It won't stay, this is October. BUT, it could become a warning of a cold winter
ahead..................snuggle up.

It's nice here today.............just backwards.

The wet snow caused a weak limb on the sassafras tree to fall on the house.  Then the power went out in this area.  After an hour it finally came back on but has gone off and back on twice in the last half hour.  Thank goodness for my gas fireplace.  The house is nice and warm.
One disadvantage to having a nice electric reclining sofa is that it doesn't work with no power.  LOL  Such a problem.

The next day: It stayed cold, a high of 38° today. There is still snow on the roofs. A neighbors' tree lost a pretty big limb. There were power outages all over the area, but most are back on now. And this is just the middle of October...... I shudder to think of what's coming.

Eww ELLEN I'm sorry to hear about your snow, broken limbs, and power outages. I did not get the weather you did. Thank Goodness. I got rain. I have mud. There was a little bit of slushy mess on the ground this morning, but it's all gone now. It's suppose to be back to mid 60's low 70's by the weekend.

Yesterday was definitely Monday. Bill was on his way to pick me up as I had to leave my car at the garage overnight when he hit a parked car. It was raining and cold out and he he had been visiting his son and he hopped in his car and left his son's to come get me. While he was driving his windows fogged over and he hit a car parked along the street.

Oh noooo, Indy. Now you'll have two cars in the shop.

ELLEN, it looks like you got slammed on the weather maps. Is that true?

Stay. safe & warm everyone.

INDYAPP:
 Poor Bill!   Nothing like car problems.  I am glad he wasn't hurt.  I hope all your vehicle problems get solved quick.

ELLEN:
 Yucko,  snow.  We got a lot of rain last night, but only saw one snowflake today.  It has been so cold  and windy all day.  Looks like fall, feels like winter.  Made me want to sit inside with a cup of tea all day.  That didn't happen.  Horses like to eat and make a mess that has to be cleaned up.  


We ran to Christiansburg to do a couple of errands and stopped by the Aldi's there.  They had gigantic pumpkins for sale for $3.50 !  I saw one lady who had filled her entire cart with 4 pumpkins, but wanted 5.   It was fun watching her!  Donnie told her that he admired her enthusiasm.      We bought one, but I can't lift it because of my rib still hurting.  So Donnie had to dig around in the box and get it for me.  


Our fawns are still living in our pasture.  The horses don't mind them at all and the fawns seem to feel safer while they are grazing near them.  One has a little limp on a front foot.  She disappeared for a couple of days, but has reappeared.  Hopefully her injury will heal up.   They are both so cute.

Over all, we got about 2 1/2 inches of snow. Leaves are still mostly on the trees. The weight of the snow on the leaves was enough to take down limbs. There were quite a few power outages over the course of 8 to 10 hours. The power company did a good job of making quick repairs.
My gas fireplace keeps the house nice and warm when the power goes off.
It is still spitting rain and snow. The ground is too warm for the snow to stick very long.
My snow bird neighbors are about to fly (drive) south on Friday.
It's looking like a looong winter ahead.

What a beautiful photo ARK..............glorious and peaceful. Thanks for sharing.

What a beautiful photo ARK..............glorious and peaceful.  Thanks for sharing.

The horses are probably really happy to be able to graze without their muzzles and masks on. It's nice to have cooler weather for them.
I wonder if the deer will follow them into the barn for meals.

So what if they do ELLEN..............that would be REALLY special..............BUT, I bet they won't...............

They are precious.............

That is a lovely picture ARK.

My automobile tale of woe continues. I was able to get my car from the garage Tuesday afternoon. I go in to the service desk to settle up and the guy says I got good news and I got bad news. The good news is the thing-a-ma-bob fixed the airbags. The bad news is even with the new thing-a-ma-bob that somehow has something to do with the horn, the horn itself needs to be replaced. It keeps blowing the fuse. I decided I didn't need a $260 horn.

Monday night after getting home, feeding and fixing dinner, I decided I needed to run to the grocery store in my big ol blue truck as I didn't know for sure when I would be getting the car back. I had loaned Blue to Bill's son a while back and he had it for probably 6 months.
I discovered he returned it with next to no gas in it. First stop was at the gas station. Blue has 2 gas tanks. I nearly filled the big tank and put some in the reserve tank. Discovered on Tuesday that the big tank has a leak in it. Bill's son told Bill that he told us not to put gas in the big tank, but I don't remember him saying anything. Nothing like pouring $50 worth of gas out on the ground.

I'm not even going to try and guess what is coming next.

Today the vet came out and floated Tiberius' and Lily's teeth.

Okay, Indy. That's 3. It's always said that things come in threes. It should get better now.

Oh INDY............I'm so sorry. I would've turned down the new horn too..............It was a hard way to learn the
spare tank leaked.............I hope Bill is gaining strength. You will be having more and more fun with your
new tractor................I hope you have a blast of Indian summer before winter sets in. I'm sure glad you got the horses teeth done.
Everything will smooth out soon...............hang in there.

INDYAPP:
 Okay.  You have reached your limit for bad luck now.    I am glad no one was smoking near your truck as the gas leaked out.  


ELLEN:
 Ewwww.  Snow.  Sorry about that and glad it's going away.  We only saw one flake.   I've had enough now!

 Our horses are only on pasture for less than two hours total a day.  I discovered Areion's teeth were being ground away by the grazing muzzle.  Of course I discovered this after buying one for every last equine on the place.  The GreenGuard grazing muzzles work great, but are very abrasive.  I wrote them and they suggested some kind of insert inside the muzzle.  I haven't decided what to do about it yet.  Sheesh.  And I had given away all the old grazing muzzles of different brands.

GRAYMARE:
 The fawns are so pretty.  I don't think they will follow the horses into the barn area, it is fenced away from the pastures.  If we get a lot of snow, we probably will put out some hay for them.  Two adult deer were in the pasture with them this afternoon, they come and go.  Eventually the babies will learn to do that, too.  We don't try to tame them,  we don't want them to be friendly towards people who could shoot them.   No one has permission to hunt here, but some don't bother asking for permission.

I had a small ride at dusk on Ivan, ride #78 for the year.  It is so chilly and windy!  I am ready for an Indian summer now!

Whew! It's been a busy week. Good, but busy. Dinner with neighbors on Tuesday, grocery shopping on Wednesday, spent the day with a neighbor running all over Shipshewana on Thursday, on Friday went with a friend to take our sewing machines for repair all the way to Indianapolis, then the weekend with a cousin whose wife has a broken leg and is not allowed to put any weight on it. He is getting pretty worn out trying to take care of her and all the housework, inside and out. So, several of us got together and did a lot of stuff to make things a little easier for them. She is improving but it will be another month before she can start rehab. It was a bad break.
So, I am a little tired tonight and plan to do next to nothing tomorrow.

Gosh, Ellen, you lead a busy life! I am a hermit by contrast... Though I did zip over to Kennebunk last week to get what I've been waiting for for a couple of years: cranberries! Several years back I stopped at a barn by the side of the road there with, -- just once a year in fall, and only at just the right time -- a big sign over its door saying "CRANBERRIES," and I've been going back there almost every year since. Missed a year when they sold out early, and last year their crop got ruined. Bog started for fun some years ago by a retired fellow, and now run by his offspring, themselves now close to aged. I used to love it because it was all so simple and primitive -- just an open old barn with one man seated and visually sorting berries as they flowed before him on a rickety old wooden conveyor belt. So I was shocked to discover this year that they now have a gussied-up showroom with stainless-steel counter and freezers and a bakery, and are selling more than cranberries: baked goods plus home-grown beef and chicken and the like, and beans on Friday and Saturday nights. But I came away with 100 pounds of wonderful big cranberries - bigger than those available elsewhere -- and a chunk of thick-cut home-grown bacon, now all salted away in my freezer. (My book club just read the book Pig Tales. Fun and easy to read, and it will shift you away from buying big-ag pork.) The founder called the place Old Gray Beaver Bog. Sadly, the offspring have dropped the "Old," I don't know why. (Have I said that I hate "progress?" I hate "progress!" )But the drive there, at the height of what's been a gorgeous foliage season, was glorious, and I'm now happily cranberry-rich. (I make uncooked cranberry-orange relish, and eat it every day.)
Gray and rainy raw weather here. Lovely to be snug inside...

Beech, we have some road-side stores similar to that. The Amish out in the middle of nowhere back roads sell produce and pies.
100 pounds of cranberries sounds like a LOT to me. Enjoy every ounce.
We had really pretty fall leaves this year. The peak color was the middle of last week. Now, most of the trees are just varying shades of brown and leaves are falling a lot.

Hi BEECH, great to see you.  I don't know if I'm correct or not but I think I went to the same cranberry
place in the early 90's when I was still in RI. What I loved was the simple beauty and how different
it was from AZ.  It was gorgeous.  Then we went to York.  It was a three day week end trip.

I hope you're rested up by now ELLEN.

Nell E Bell and the horses are fine..........weather is great.

Everyone have a great evening.

BEECH:
Wow! 100 pounds of cranberries would probably last my lifetime. I would love to see how they are grown and processed, though. Donnie is a bigger fan of cranberries than I am, 100 pounds wouldn't last him a lifetime. You will be busy for awhile making all those preserves.

ELLEN:
I think we have had prettier leaves this year than we have had in years. They are on their way out now, but it has been nice. We have a bunch of walnut trees that seem to decide to drop most of their leaves at one time, then stand there naked with walnuts ready to bomb some unsuspecting victim underneath the tree. There is one walnut tree on the corner of the arena that drops its nuts into the arena. It's always fun cleaning those up... and taking your life in your hands doing it. It's done for the year now.

GRAYMARE:
It was 73 degrees here today. Just wonderful! Ivan and I rode with two friends at Pandapas Pond Park today. It was so pretty and hardly anyone else was around. We didn't see any bikes, only 2 hikers, and one jogger in 5 1/2 miles. Ivan was so mellow I almost worried about his health. He seems fine, though.

One of my friend's geldings has decided he hates Ivan. The rider owns both of the horses we rode with today and I don't think the one liked Ivan because he was near the other gelding. Bared teeth and flat ears were pointed in our direction. Had it been my horse, I would have yelled at him and told him to behave. She didn't. Ivan never is aggressive towards any horses, so this guy was a bit of a surprise today. Ivan was happy to scoot out of the way. Other than that, it was a great ride.

It was still warm and dry today but there was rain on the way. So I decided to mow over the leaves before the rain came. It didn't take very long and the yard looked a lot better, neater. I came back to the house, the wind started blowing and the yard looked just like it did before I started. And, the rain got here.
When it's dry enough, I'll mow over the new leaves and get some of them ground to dust. I'll be doing that every couple of days though the end of the month and into November.
The leaves are really falling fast now.