A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Fall Cleanup is Done...and I Am Done In :)

My outside work is done. Those are sweet words this morning. I was out early yesterday morning and finished it up. I was so cold at first, but as I worked I got pretty warm. While I worked around in the gardens, Joe did what he could do in the garage....blowing it out and putting stuff away. It looks so nice and clean...with leaves blowing we will have to keep the door shut.I did the most thorough job than I have ever done...hoping that in the Spring, it won't be such a job to get the gardens ready for a new season. I put the new birdbath away for the winter... after giving it a bath in some bleachy water. The pots and strawberry jar, with succulents.... and the succulent basket are stored in the garage too.I hated bringing them in at this time, but wanted to get it all done. They'll be fine.
I remember a Martha Stewart show, years ago, where she cleaned all of her garden tools before storing them. I like to do that too. Then everything is ready for spring. I have a tool bucket that I keep often used tools in. I like to sit on my garden bench and clean them in the sun. Well, the red bench is in the garage...so I can't sit on it now. I'll have to just sit on a chair. The bench was nice...because I could lay out the hand tools as I cleaned them. Joe is pretty persnickety about cleaning the tools after we use them...weed whacker, shovels etc. So, they are pretty much OK. His lawn tractor, snow blower, lawn mower look brand new...although they are several years old. His cars are impeccable....a neighbor once said that, "You know you are getting a good deal, when you buy one of Joe's vehicles. He takes such good care of them." Back to the garden tools....sometimes I am bone tired, when I am finished gardening and cleaning tools is the last thing on  my mind. I can always do it tomorrow :)
              
                

 This is the road to our house. It isn't quite as pretty as past years, but still an attraction for people looking for fall colors on their drives around town.I drive this road to and from the store. What a pretty sight to see. Where the grasses slopes up is a rr track that the power company owns. They use it maybe once or twice a year. It runs behind our woods. I often see wild turkeys walking along this incline. A groundhog has his burrow in the embankment, several sightings of red fox and racoons. I've had deer run across the road and so many different big birds. Speaking of deer...I found several piles of deer droppings right up by the deck under the bird feeders.I think that they are eating the seed that falls on the ground. They came up last year and ate some of my garden veggies. 


A couple of pictures of this little pumpkin bird feeder.Fun to experiment with things to attract birds. They are leery at first, but after a brave bird starts eating they all come and empty it.

 I hope that I feel this good next spring. The excercise has done wonders for me this summer and somehow I hope to continue during the winter. For all you "older" gals out there.....what do you do in the winter to keep limbered up? Any suggestions? A walk a day is my plan so far. When it is snowy and icy....that won't happen, so I have to get out of my routine and move some other way. I have several DVDs to exercise to, but they can get a little boring. After a summer of physical work boring might be good...
So, after a little walk around the yard to see how nice everything looks, I will come inside and just relax. I have so many projects ready to work on and plans to make...so what ever Mother Nature and Old Man Winter plan for us...I am ready.
Balisha


10 comments:

lynne said...

I love yoga and it works wonders to keep the muscles stretched and warm. There are all different levels and types of movements. It is the most peaceful time of my day

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Cleaning the garden tools - I smile
I have always done this and know of no other lady in my area that does it. Hopefully this can be done in the next few days.
Love your pumpkin bird feeder...
I have always walked, stopped for a while but a little more each day.
I also do 30 minutes or more of yoga and exercise all year.

Leslie Kimel said...

Balisha, the road to your house is beautiful! We sure don't get that kind of fall color down here in Florida. So neat that you see wild turkeys!

I love your pumpkin feeder . . . and you've really inspired me to take better care of my garden tools! I'm a real slob with with my pruners and such, but I know they'd last longer and work better if I cleaned them every time I used them.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Good morning! I just dropped you a note. Your colors are fantastic! Photo's are the only way we get to experience such awesome color! I visited New England one year in October and my mouth hung open most of the time. It's stunning! Just gorgeous!
We are particular about keeping our tools clean too. I wash mine after each use AND especially my gardening gloves. I keep two pair ready to go. Problem is I don't use them like I should.

We have a really nice treadmill in the garage and a ..not sure what it is but you sit on it and pump with your feet and push and pull on a handle with your arms. I did 200 once..and now I'm doing just 25. I haven't exercised for a long time and I think that is what my problem is. It's really important and I need to MAKE myself do it. Especially at Howard's and my age.

I LOVE your little pumpkin feeder. How cute that is. Is it a REAL pumpkin or faux? It looks real.

I cannot tell by looking but was wondering if your bird feed hangers are single or double? I've a reason for asking. I will write it in a letter.
Have a lovely day, Pat....I still haven't been to bed so I better at least try to take a nap.
Love,
Mona

Melanie said...

Those trees on the road to your house are stunning - the colors here aren't bright like that. Your pumpkin bird feeder is so cute.

I noticed one of the other women that commented on this post mentioned yoga. I agree with her - I take a weekly class and try to do stretches and poses at home most days. It has helped so much with my flexibility, strength, and lower back pain.

Sharon said...

That's a lot accomplished, Balisha. One of the things about living in the woods is that we have little cleanup to do because most of the property is still wild. My husband did have a big bonfire to burn brush last weekend. He finally got rid of last year's Christmas tree:)

deb @ frugal little bungalow said...

You have so much more color than we do here ( Western PA ) ! Your road view picture is just lovely!

This is the dullest fall, color-wise..I do not recall any fall quite like it.

My yard cleanup is based on the amount of garbage cans, ha ha...and yesterday I grabbed another one to use from my son's house so that the garbage guys had 5 cans this morning...1 'real' garbage and the rest filled with smokebush and trumpet vine trimming, as well as some spirea and assorted dead flower stalks. Each week, weather permitting, I'll trim what I can till the cans are full :)

CraveCute said...

Every year it seems to get a little harder to do all the gardening. I remember that MS episode, and I vowed to clean my garden tools every year. Well it happens most years! Winter, well we used to cross country ski, but conditions seemed to always be wrong (and falling was no fun) so now we are going to try snow shoeing.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I can just imagine how good it feels to have all of those chores done for the winter.

I love the colors seen from your road, just beautiful!

Have a nice evening and a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

Blondie's Journal said...

I love the colors along your road...just gorgeous. Our leaves have been slow to change the past few years, they are just turning now.

I'm not meticulous about my tools during the summer but I do clean them up before I put them away for the winter. Have you tried mineral oil?

I love how the yard work has made me feel this year. As you know, I fell into a slump and did very little gardening over the past few years. Suddenly I am loving it again and not only am I going to miss the pleasure in it this winter, my exercise is going out the window! I have a treadmill, we'll see. And hubby wants to join the gym again. We'll see about that, too!

Happy Halloween!