Day of the Dead

 The wagon is broken.  Okay, I broke the wagon by overloading it.  The mulch arrived today and I set to the task of taking the mulch from the pile and putting it onto the triangle.  The wheel barrow has been holding some other things for quite some time and was not available.  So the wagon got filled with mulch.  Filled may be a strong word.  I put twenty shovel fulls in, rolled it to the triangle, emptied, repeated.  It was on the third repeat that the wheels gave out.  And so the rest of the triangle will have to wait.

This is what two cubic yards of mulch looks like.

The incomplete triangle.

The red wagon has served us well.
It began as a way to carry a younger Gideon around at events.

Progress has been made with the triangle.  Tomorrow I will try to be creative on how to get the mulch where I want it.  Other happy things for today:

• After giving up on the mulch and coming inside to get ready for sleep, Gideon told me about some writing sprints that he found in NaNoWriMo.  I almost forgot to write!  Thankful for Gideon and that gentle reminder.
• My NaNoWriMo word count for today is 517.  It took a while to find words though.  Eventually I used a writing prompt generator for ideas.  
• The Norway maple tree is losing leaves but still looking good.  

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

American Indian Heritage Month

Including titles, I wrote 771 words today for NaNoWriMo. It is larger than my daily goal (350-400 words) and smaller than what I would want to do if my goal was the 50,000 total (~1667 words a day) that is suggested for adults. Yay! I started.  Other happy things for today:

• Aesop and I walked by the swamp today.  It looks beautiful.

Still some color reflecting on the water.

• TF brought my attention to today's Google Doodle.  It is about a Zuni person, We:wa.  This is the first day of American Indian Heritage Month.  One of the things that We:wa did was weave, and I do a little weaving too.  I found Behind the Doodle interesting too.
• Zed saved me from making a phone call.  As an introvert, calling companies to order things can be a huge anxiety trigger.  Zed made the call for me and I am very grateful.   

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Happy Halloween

 Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  I went out with the family while Gideon trick-or-treated tonight.  Zed and Keziah went to the movies in the middle and Gideon and I finished around walking the neighborhood and then home.  Sorcerer Gideon had a blast waving his wand and getting treats.

Applying the make-up

Rawr!

The family.

Back home.

Other happy things for today:

• It was a beautiful, after-the-rain, fall day.  

• Every week, TF and I have a phone call where we plan out our week ahead and discuss what we got done the week previous.  It is our goal accountability time.  This week we talked a long time about things like life, strategies, and neurodivergence.  
• The sunset was lovely tonight while we wandered streets filled with monsters, fairies, dogs, and firemen.

🎃☮🎃

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Oh, My!

Rhizomes, pips, seeds, and bulbs were planted today; the tubers were yesterday.*  I forgot to call to see about having mulch and soil delivered. Hopefully I will remember and it can get here before the next frost. I’m so happy that I got so much planted. I still have some more to plant on another day. Other happy things for today:

• 

  Flying turkey.

  
  
• Nanni, the brown tabby, woke me this morning. It may have been so I could hear Aesop, the dog, whining and wanting to go out. For this first short walk we saw some turkeys. Aesop scared them and they flew away. At least one ended up in a tree.

He is still trying to get up.

He's safe up in a tree!

• There are some flowers that I only seem to see blooming when I walk Aesop in the morning. According to Lens they are either white campion or night-flowering catchfly. My initial research says that both of these bloom at night. Maybe I will find the time to get more information before winter.

• Frost covered the ground this morning.

• Sunset set the trees aglow.

It was a good day.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

*Rhizomes---iris

pips---lily-of-the-valley

bulbs---tulips, crocus, paperwhite (narcissus)

tubers---daylily 

seeds---cereal rye (winter cover crop in the garden)

Walking in the Rain

 Again, I have stayed awake longer than I should have.  My bedtime on a Monday should have been a little over an hour before sitting down to write this.  It was a rainy day, but there are things-other than rain- to be happy about.  My day started with a walk with Aesop, the dog.  It was raining steadily then, and we didn't walk for long.  It was a good walk though.  Other happy things:

• Planning out my day this morning I was ready to go dig dirt and plant bulbs in the rain.  It was then that I saw the reminder on my phone about my appointment with the optometrist.  Instead of playing in mud, I woke up Keziah, took a shower, and we headed to the appointment.  They had to dilate my eyes and I wanted Keziah to drive me home.  This was a follow-up exam from six weeks ago and all the tests came back good.  
• Later in the afternoon Keziah and I took Aesop for a walk on a nearby paved rail trail.  Aesop hasn't been the best behaved lately.  He was doing better though towards the end of the walk.  Progress is good.
• I was wearing dark sunglasses for the walk because of the earlier dilation of my eyes.  I took a few pictures and just now, looking at them, they came out pretty well.  There was detail missing with my eyes being the way they were, the camera did a good job.

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Frosty Morning

 Last night was the first frost of the season.  I'm not ready.  There are things I want to plant.  The cold also made it hard for me to sleep last night.  One of today's tasks became making sure all the radiators were cleaned off and now the heat is on.  Other happy things for today are:

• Being the person to take Aesop out first this morning gave me a chance to see the beauty of the tiny ice crystals clinging to the plants.

Frosted black-eyed Susan.

• After lunch, I met a friend at the Tower Hill Pond Trails and we caught up.  We walked the loop around the pond but there are many trails that spur off.  

• As the sun was setting I noticed part of a cloud formation.  To me that one part  looks like one wing, like that of an angel.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Sun Sets

 Aesop, the dog, keeps trying to give Winston, the orange tabby cat, his rawhide bone.  It doesn't go well.  Winston just gets mad and defensive.  Aesop starts getting anxious because his attempts at friendship are met with anger and aggression.  I have mixed feelings.  It bothers me that Aesop gets anxious and barks a lot to try to get Winston's attention.  It also bothers me that Winston feels that he has to defend himself.  On the other hand-I'm happy that Aesop is trying to make friends and I am happy that Winston wants to protect himself.  Pets...  Things I am happy for today:

• It has been a few days since I went through one of the boxes that I brought over from being stored last week.  I only went through one of them today.  I didn't empty it, but I did get rid of a bunch of things that were in it.  Most of what is left are pictures and a book and some things to file.  
• I climbed into the netted area to check out the strawberry plants and the marigold.  A few days ago I noticed that the marigold was broken, as if stomped on.  One of the first things I noticed was a hole, like a chipmunk hole.  I'm not sure what I am going to do about this yet.  I'm glad I have a theory about the breakage and can think about this for next year.

This marigold is so big.

• With the marigold plant, it is so big I took some clippings to dry and to attempt to propagate.  I also gathered seeds from it.
• I took a walk with Aesop and got some pictures that I really like.

I love this part of the
conservation area with the birch trees.

Still some color on the property.

Setting sun.

Setting sun.

• Gideon joined TF and I while we played Minecraft tonight.  It was nice to have another player.  He watches videos on Minecraft all the time and helps us learn about more things.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.
        People atop the mountain started recording temperatures in the mid 1800's.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Sleep

 It has been a long three days of working with minimal sleep to carry me through.  I had a nap this afternoon and it helped me feel human this evening with the family.  Yay nap!  Other happy things for today:

• Fluffy clouds. 

Clouds and maybe a vulture?

• Over the weekend I made some ajustments to how the wildlife camera hung on the tree.  When I went to check on it I was met on the trail with many colors.  This is such a pretty time of year. 

• I took a few minutes to braid some of the wool that might someday become a rug.  I started this when I was a teenager and then it sat in a box for forty-ish years.  I only did a couple inches, but something is better than nothing.

☮

Currently reading:  Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

A Photo Memory

 The rest of the family has a cold.  It has yet to get me.  Hopefully they will all feel better soon and it will miss me.  Things that I am happy for today are:

• With a new phone comes new apps or ones that didn't send notifications before that start sending them.  I have photo memories now.  Last year, there was a rose on the bush.

This year, there are roses on the bush.

🌹

• The last few times I have looked at the pictures on the wildlife camera I have been disappointed.  There hasn't been much and I think it is because of the amount of growth over the summer.  I am happy about the growth and I put the camera about a foot higher on the tree.

The camera is also pointed at a
slightly different direction.

• Some trees are at or past peak fall foliage, others aren't quite there yet.  

• Zed and I got the tar paper onto the wall and the replacement clapboards were purchased.  If the wall is dry enough we will start putting the boards up tomorrow.

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Black Cat

This morning I counted the boxes for me to go through.  There were nineteen.  I have only reduced that number by one.  I went through just over three boxes.  I don't think that is good odds.  There are more things to be donated and a bunch to burn or recycle.  That is good.  Other happy things from today:

• There are Halloween decorations up around town.  Out on my walk, next to a mailbox, I saw a stack of three pumpkins and a black cat silhouette.  The cat silhouette was just right, with the tail curved hook like and a slightly arched back.  I thought about how as a driver, in the right lighting, I might be concerned that the cat would run in front of the car.  Walking I observed the foliage and when I looked back, the cat was gone!  It was a real cat that looked from my distance like a decoration.

I wish I took a picture while the cat was there.

• Leaves fall onto evergreen bows and decorate them like Christmas trees.  Seeing this, I always wonder if this is somehow part of the beginnings of decorating trees.

• Without using any hair ties, I attempted the last Viking hairstyle from this video.  I've done variations before.  I'm kind of pleased with how it came out this time.

• More fall foliage pictures and sunset (and my fingers).

Sunset.

☮

Currently reading: Mount Washington A Guide and Short History, by Peter E. Randall.


Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.