Haunted House

We have always had a ghost in the attic.

 Tonight it needs to get out and do its thing.

I also had to hang up all this stuff.

 That's a lot of work for the 3 or 4 kids that show up every year. Happy Halloween!

Trial and Error

It's that time of year. The leaves are falling down. I hate leaves on my grass and I hate raking.

That's why I bought Black Beauty. I am going to ride those leaves away this year.

She was doing a great job...

...until she slid down a hill sideways and got caught on a root.

After I freed her up, everything was going along fine once again until I hit a low spot and broke off the leaf catcher.

I repaired it the next day after a trip to the hardware store. Good thing too-because there are lots more leaves where they came from.

Rhinebeck: There and Back Again

Friday morning we were off on our first vacation in years. New York Sheep and Wool Festival, here we come.

First stop was the Wawa in Crofton for a fill up and window check.

We also needed road food.

You know you're going somewhere when you cross out of Maryland and into Delaware.

We could keep track of where we had been by the tolls we paid. We paid plenty.

We didn't have an EZ pass so we not only had to pay, we had to sit in line for the privilege.

 It was a very scenic trip even though most of the scenery that we interacted with was adjacent to a rest stop.

 Gas at home was $3.50 a gallon and up here in New York state-it was not.

I was more than happy to get to the hotel in Poughkeepsie. It was wet outside but warm. I really enjoyed this cigar.

 The whole trip was planned around her interest in the fiber arts but it was me who made the first purchase. I picked up a vintage rug hooking tool for $25. I have been collecting the things to make a rug for three years now. One day I just might start one.

I almost made another purchase but I came to my senses. These Australian Shepard puppies were for sale at Pucker Brush Farm-one of her favorite places for wooly stuff.

Thankfully all the other animals there were not for sale.

The Paws Stars performing dogs were amazing.

Everyone knows I am a sucker for Border Collies and they had plenty.

They also had other dogs that performed some incredible tricks.

I'm not admiring the car.

I'm trying to figure out how they carted around so many dogs.

They also had plenty of the expected fiber fest animals but it was too dark in the barns to get any decent photos.

When I found the exhibition hall that was filled with food, I spent a while tasting samples and standing in line to buy whoopie pies and pickles

 I also couldn't pass up the usual fair food. The lines were terrible for the more refined stuff but me-I'm happy with the basics.

I didn't forget dessert.

 I couldn't leave the festival without some wool so I picked out a few scraps of it just in case I might want to start that project some day.

I also brought home a bad cold.

Road Trip

For the first time in years, we are headed off on an adventure that does not involve a wedding gown. This time last year, we were making regular trips to New York City for Daughter's bridal dress fittings but this year we are off to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival-better known simply as Rhinebeck. It is a festival so big and so famous it only needs one name. Rhinebeck. All I know is that it involves more sheep and more wool and lots of crazy women oohing and aahing over yarn. I don't care. Any place is better than here for the weekend. Good times.
PS: We do have a GPS in the car but I don't trust it.

Cold Weather Kitties

Mornings have been chilly and the outside kitties need a place to eat that is warm since they refuse to come inside.

People use these brooder lamps in chicken houses to warm them so why not rig up a heated kitty shack?

We don't need to heat it all day, just while they are eating. They usually disappear into unknown parts during the daylight hours.

While we are at it, we might as well winterize their night huts. A couple layers of plastic and a mylar insulating sheet covered with a new tarp ought to do it.

 The huts inside the outdoor houses plug in so they are nice and toasty all night.

One of the inside kitties is supervising the first trip into the new heated feeding hut for her silly sisters through the screen door. I suppose she is thinking how stupid the outside cats are because they won't come in the house. After all, the food is in here and it's warm all the time.

 As for me, chilly or not, I am having a cold one and then taking a nap.

Season Finale

October is the time to take all the things we put in the garden back out again.

Hidden in the overgrown tangle were the last of this year's pitiful crops. If I had to say what grew the best out there this year, I'd have to say bugs and weeds. We had a bumper crop of both.