Not yet. I'm not ready.

I am ready for an occasional cold night/early morning so I can sleep in (if it is warm and sunny my body springs from the bed and runs to the garden as soon as it is daylight and we've been warm and sunny for so long that I am exhausted) a little bit every now and then, and then can sit on the front porch and slip a cup of cocoa slowly while I wait for the dew on the grass to dry and the sun to get higher in the sky to warm us up. I'm not ready for cold weather night and day yet. I won't be ready for that until December.

Bon, You sure do have a lot of fiddlebacks. We had them for several years after the house was built, but I don't see them very often any more. I used to stick glue traps (the kinds they make for mice that are just a flat sticky cardboard) in the corners of the closets and they spiders would stick to the glue boards. (Unfortunately, a curious cat will get a glueboard stuck to it every now and then too.)

We have ants all over outdoors, and they were coming into the sunroom somehow, but I put out a little but of the EcoSense fire ant granules (their active ingredient is Spinosad) and the ants were gone in one day. There's a cricket in the house, but I can tolerate that. I wouldn't like having yellow jackets in the house. So, when you see them in your room, there's not a certain spot they seem to appear from? Check your electrical outlets. I've heard of them coming in through those before. If you Google home-made yellow jacket traps, you'll find directions for how to make a trap from a plastic bottle. Maybe you can just keep trapping them until they're all gone.

At least we don't have the problems with hundreds or thousands of brown marmorated stink bugs trying to come inside for the winter like folks in Pennsylvania and other northeastern states do in the fall. I did find a brown lacewing in the laundry room last night. It probably flew in when I let the dogs come indoors from the dog yard.

Today's cooler weather was so nice, though still warmer than normal. Our high temp was only 78, which is so much better than last week's high of 93 or the week before when we hit 96. At least the temperatures are headed in the right direction now.

I'd like for November to stay halfway warm so I can finish the garden bed cleanup before it gets too cold.

Dawn

Okay, Bon, I went to bed with a forecast low of 47 and woke up to a current temperature of 42 degrees. I guess I'll have that cup of cocoa while sitting on the front porch this morning. I was thinking wouldn't happen until Friday or Saturday morning but we got colder earlier than expected. I heard the heater kick on around 7 a.m. and thought "What is that?" It only stayed on a couple of minutes though.

So, is it cold enough for you today?

The good thing about a morning that starts this cold is that I can harvest this morning with only a very low chance of finding an active snake in the garden. Yay!

Here is a link that might be useful: Today's Minimum Temperature Mesonet Map

Bon, the cold wont kill those fiddlebacks, they will just find a warmer spot. Do you have an attic? If so, thats where they will go most likely from what my exterminator tells me. I dont have them thank god, but the neighbors down the road do and im sure its only a matter of time before they find me.

You may never eliminate them totally, but if you can, you need to bomb your attic and entire house. That will put a big dent in them. Should get the yellow jackets too. I might be completely wrong, but thats what i would do. Fiddlebacks in my house is my WORST nightmare and i pray it never happens.

Also, you can get a gallon jug of home defense at a big box store and spray all around doorways, inside and out, and anywhere your seeing spiders and bugs. Its odorless and not toxic to you as soon as its dry, thats my understanding. We use it at our lakehouse everytime we leave and have no bug spider issues there at all. A gallon will last a long time.

Good luck and i will pray all your fiddlebacks die!!!!

I set off a bomb can in each room and leave for a few hours and come back and air the house out. It seems to work for most insects. I know about wasps but mine are the red ones. They get in the attic and come down through the light fixtures. One night last year I was asleep when one landed in bed with me and stung me on the calf of my leg. It did wake me up!

I have seen wasp going into the attic vents at the back of my house but I have no idea how they could get into the house, but one day this week I killed 9. I have also wondered if they somehow come through the chimney since most of them have been in the room with the fireplace.

Dawn,

I hope you're sleeping soundly right now. And I hope your internal clock will let you wake up late tomorrow. And I hope that cup o hot cocoa tasted as good as it reads. There's some type of pumpkin spice cappucinoey thingy I'm gonna try, too. I think it was amongst your list of pumpkin goodies that I saved.

It was crisp today, but not sufficient to burn out allergins. Geez, I keep going and ya'll will think we're living in a barn. Sometimes, it feels like it. The house/cottage is really old. Having been so poor, there has been no upkeep for more than a decade. Most of the original caulking is cracked or torn at the edges. Even if we kept it up, the quakes rattle more exposure. So, we have a hard time keeping the bugs out. I usually count on the mice to keep the numbers down and avoid going after the mice unless they invade the interior. Usually, they stay in the crawl space and hang out at the perimeter along with the bugs. I still don't understand why I've never had a problem with the mice in the house or the kitchen, but I cannot complain. [Edit: I have found numerous garter snakes along the perimeter of my home. They must be doing a swell job of catching the mice.] Must be the abundance of bugs. Hey, Ya'll wanna come over for a visit? j/k

I can sincerely say I believe my family is immune to fiddle backs. That doesn't mean one cannot come along with a special formula. lol We've all been bitten by something a time or two. And it was either a fiddle back or a wolf spider backed into no other response. Still, I don't take chances.

Erod, that is really disappointing to learn! Thanks for the prayers. I know they work. The fiddle backs usually congregate in the bathroom (like the cellar spiders and other things looking for water) so what you write makes sense. I arm little miss with some dishwashing liquid and water in a spray bottle with "spider killer" written on it in the bathroom. So, when she's there and sees on (usually about twice a week), she's armed. Works well. And it stopped the screaming in the middle of the night. haha

But this is getting ridiculous! They're crawling on my dresser next to my desk and staring at me. These usually HIDE. Very disconcerting.

I have been so reluctant to bomb, but I think it's time. I just haven't wanted to do it until the last resort. I'm glad to know about their living in the attic and I believe that to be the case. I'll put one up there.

And malathion STINKS. That's all I've known to use and absolutely dread using it, but I will along the outside perimeter of the house in spring. Gee, maybe I've been trapping the bugs inside that perimeter? EEK.

Auther, if it were those danged red wasps, we'd be tearing the house apart looking for them. I'm sorry that happened to you. Those buggers are MEAN! and their sting hurts! The statement, "Leave them alone and they wont' bother you doesn't apply to those red wasps." Once they find out you're a human, they're after ya!

Carol, they always seem to like metal don't they? I bet my yellow jackets are somewhere in the vicinity of our window AC units. I've been too busy to spend much time outside and take care of these things.

A friend of mind's son was just bitten by a brown recluse. We are just around the corner from each other. EEK. Another friend of ours had an emergency spider? bite kit...basically charcoal I think. She said it was great stuff. You might keep one on hand.

Somewhere I heard that a house cat will eat spiders. Is this true? I'm allergic to cats and my outdoor dogs might actually eat a cat. But it might be a solution for you Bon.

George

Bon, I cannot obey my internal body clock's desire to sleep in on these cool mornings until after we get our first frost, which likely will be Saturday morning. Today and tomorrow will be a repeat of yesterday---spending much of the day in the garden, simultaneously bringing in the final harvest while cleaning out beds as I go. Of course, harvesting is the primary task, but I want to clean out as I go as much as I can. On Saturday morning I intend to lay around and sleep in until after the sun comes up, which is a total reversal of my garden season behavior, where I often am in the yard and garden even before sunrise. Then I intend to sit and drink a cup of cocoa and just "chill" (pun intended) until it is warm enough to go outside. Actually, with all the harvested veggies piling up everywhere, I might stay inside most of Saturday and do the canning, dehydrating, freezing, jellymaking, etc. Other than going out to let the chickens out of the coop and feed them, I might spend most of the day in the kitchen.

Yesterday I harvested around 12 gallons of hot peppers and 4 or 5 gallons of roselles. Today I am going to harvest the tomatoes (there won't be many that are mature enough to pick), remove those tomato plants as I go, and also harvest the rest of the roselles and all the sweet peppers. Then, tomorrow is reserved for digging sweet potatoes (I cut off all their foliage and hauled it to the compost pile yesterday so the deer could eat it, which they mostly have) and harvesting the leafy herbs (basil, borage, fennel, lemon balm, and whatever is left) and the herb seeds (dill and fennel for sure, and there may be some basil seed, though most of the basil seed has self-sown).

With any luck at all, before the cold weather and frost arrives down here overnight Fri/Sat, my garden will be stripped of anything we can use. I'll leave whatever flowers still are blooming, and there's a lot of them, for the butterflies and the bees. Still in bloom we have: begonias, Mexican heather, marigolds, four o'clocks, three or four kinds of morning glories, lavender moonflower vine, hollyhocks, cannas, lion's tail, cuphea, salvia farinacea, a few pathetic-looking zinnias that mostly have succumbed to powdery mildew since the last rainfall we received, lots of lantana, lots of angelonia, datura, roselle hibiscus, and portulaca. Oh, and nasturtiums. The comfrey also is in bloom and I think it has such pretty flowers. Most of the flowering plants won't survive if we have a frost, though it depends on how heavy the frost is. It if is patchy, some may survive. I hate it when the flowers are gone---not just for us but for the sake of all the little wild things who need their pollen and nectar. Oh, and while I have cut off most of the foliage from the ornamental sweet potatoes, I haven't dug up those tubers yet for storage either.

I think that for your sake and for the sake of your family, you do need to treat the house for insects. Spiders tend to cluster indoors so they can look for other insects to eat. If you can remove the insects they need for food, they likely won't stick around indoors for long. The idea of wasps indoors still freaks me out. I have had an occasional one fly in a door when we had it open for people or pets to go in or out, but I've never had them mysteriously appear indoors as if they have found a secret way in.

When we were prepping the exterior of the house for painting, we caulked and caulked and caulked. If there is any spot we missed, I haven't found it. I think all that caulking paid off. Usually at this time of the year, lady bugs are somehow, mysteriously finding their way indoors to overwinter and I haven't found a single one inside yet. Some years we have had a few dozen and some years we have hand hundreds, so not having a single one is marvelous. I always have tried to treat them kindly---removing them and releasing them near the greenhouse, shed or garage so they can overwinter in there, but so far this year I haven't seen a single one so that may be a thing of the past.

Lisa, I worked with a woman who was bitten by a brown recluse in the mid-1980s. She probably was in her early 60s at the time and wasn't in the best of health to begin with, and that bite almost killed her. It bit her on the back of her shoulder area. Eventually she lost a lot of flesh and had a very long, very slow and tedious recovery. They really had to fight to save first, her life, and then secondly, her shoulder and arm. I'd never heard of anyone getting that sick from a brown recluse bite before. She was ill for months. I always felt like her general state of poor health left her more vulnerable to that bite and its effects. I had been bitten by a brown recluse, on my hand while cleaning out a closet, the year before, and I got a lot of ugly discoloration and some swelling, but other than having an ugly hand for about a month, I was fine. I was only in my 20s then and in good health, so felt fairly bulletproof. I expect a similar spider bite nowadays might cause more damage to me now than it did then.

George, I know that some cats play with spiders and even eat them (they are protein, after all), but I've never really seen our cats eat a spider, and we've had cats since the mid-1980s. Usually, eating a spider won't harm a cat, even if it is a venomous spider, However, occasionally a cat gets bitter by a venomous spider and swells up and needs vet attention. I think that is more common in the breeds of cats with extremely short hair. Most cats have thicker skin (than humans, for example) an all that cat hair, so a spider generally cannot even find a way to bite a cat....the thick fur prevents it, so to speak.

Your dogs might eat a cat. Our friends that had goats and had guardian dogs let their mama cat and kittens live in the goat barn, and their guardian dogs never bothered the cats. I think those cats were there already when they got the guardian dogs as young puppies, so the puppies grew up with them and protected them. If your dogs aren't used to having cats around, I can see where your dogs might treat them as interlopers.

We had friends who had a sweet, old golden retriever. She lived a very long life and was adored by her family, but she would not allow them to have a cat for as long as she lived. It was her opinion that she had the right to kill any cat that tried to live there with them. She otherwise was kind and gentle, but simply wouldn't tolerate a cat being there.

Dawn

Lisa ... thank you! I happen to have activated charcoal. I will remember this if a bite should start to fester.

George .. I've always seen cats eat crickets. Ew. Not sure why. Both mah boys have allergies to pet dander. And Bill and I are not fond of cats. We never discourage the neighborhood cats on prowl or, especially, the local feral cats from hanging around. They chase away the wild bunnies and come after the mice. They won't come near the house because of the dogs. One of my dogs has become an expert possum hunter. First time she did it I was ever so happy about it. She took note of my happiness and that's all it took. She had another within a week on proud display. Sometimes it's hard to believe I live in a city.

Dawn, I'm envious of all the herbs and flowers.. but I'm getting there. Much winter sewing to do before spring.

Dawn, I stuck my single roselle in the green house last night. Do you dry the calyx? Do you do any thing else to cure them?

Bon, I love possums and we don't let our dogs chase them. Possums kill and eat venomous snakes. I love possums for that reason alone. They probably kill and eat all snakes and not just the venomous ones, but it is the venomous ones that bother me the most. We have had a possum trying to come into the garage to overwinter because somebody's husband leaves the garage door open all day. I think we've run it off a couple of times, but that husband still leaves the garage door open even when he is in the house. I go out and close it. Today I found a neighbor's cat locked into the garage. I am not sure if it was in there overnight, but when I heard it stirring around, I yelled "Possum, are you in there?" and an orange-and-white tabby cat popped up, looking at me like "I am not a possum!" I went away so that cat could leave the garage and go home where it belongs.

Amy, I use a paring knife to slice through the entire flower pod/fruit at the base, just above where the calyxes join the seed-containing ovary. Then I remove the calyxes and throw the flower pod/fruit portion into the compost bucket. Some people use the flower pod/fruit in cooking, but I've only used the calyxes.

You can process roselles in different ways. You can dry them down to a very low moisture level and store them in your pantry. You can dry them and then freeze them in an airtight container. You can use them fresh and boil them in water to make various things---tea, Agua de Jamaica, a roselle sauce that substitutes well for cranberry sauce, or jam or jelly. When you boil them in water, you can use that water right away to produce your finished product, or you can freeze it for future processing. With all fruit used to make jelly or jam, I often freeze the processed juice to make jelly later, and the roselles are no different.

I harvested at least 800 roselles, so I am dehydrating about half of them and plan to make other products from the remaining fresh rozelles.

Several stems of roselles limbs from which you've removed the foliage make a really attractive "bouquet" when placed in a tall vase.

I'll link some roselle recipes below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Recipes for Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

Well, I asked for it. They say it might snow next week. Definitely will be cold.

lol.

Be careful what you wish for.

Oh well, looks like winter-like weather might arrive a bit early this year.

Thanks, Bon....I'm blaming it all on you!

I am going to start pulling the garden this weekend. I found poppy seeds tonight and I'm going to sow them before the cold gets here. I"m going to be on TOP of this this year :)

Lisa

It's my fault. I'l own up to it. lol

At least we get to have gorgeous weather today and tomorrow. (That is for down here in SC OK, and I realize some of you might get cold a day before we do.)

Lisa, Thanks for the reminder about the poppy seeds. I have some. I just need to remember to sow them.

Bon, No, we're not blaming you.....well, not too much. (grin)

Think back to those miserably dry and hot August days when we were longing for cooler weather and maybe even some rain. Well, here it comes.....better late than never. Most of the trees here still have the majority of their leaves (and mostly still green too), so I am glad the snow that is in the forecast isn't coming this far south.

We are seeing a lot of yellow leaves on the usual trees that turn yellow---elms, pecans, etc. but the persimmons leaves, which usually turn orange in mid- to late-September, still are largely green and obviously still hanging on the trees.

We had a hard freeze here already, but the persimmon tree that is just south of the house/side porch must have been too sheltered as the fruit is still rock-hard and not even turning dark yet. At least it has fruit. Well, it had fruit last year---but only a handful. This year it has several dozen. The persimmon trees out in the woodland never produce any fruit for us because the coyotes beat us to it every time. That's because they eat it when it is green and incredibly astringent.

I'm ready for the cold to arrive, but once it gets here, I'll hate it because it will be too cold to work outside. I get to change my mind about the weather every day....or every hour....or every minute, because that's about how often the weather changes around here. We can love our weather, and hate it, all in the same day.

Dawn

Fiddlebacks? We had them when we moved in several years ago and had an exterminator come out. Sure cost a lot. Then someone told me that they got rid of them with those bug bombs. I would not want to be bitten by one. The glue traps were a mistake. My dogs ear had one stuck on it, and then a mouse found another one and suffered a lot before it died. I hate that. Our cats have taken care of the mice, so I haven't seen one in quite a long time.

Been reading so much that I am tired of reading at the moment. Dreamed last night that my mother took away my kindle and blocked me from it. So I called a friend and got the password and got my kindle back. My mom has been gone for years so I don't know what all that was about, except that I hear stories of people being on their ipads all the time when they are in the company of others and how that bothers them.

Haven't been in the mood to do much in the last few days. What a drag that is. So I came here and found this lovely thread.

We have a persimmon tree out in the field. A friend told me that when the fruit will drops you can go pick it up. So I kept an eye on it and when the fruit was gone, I walked out into the field. No fruit. Now I realize that the squirrels get fruit. What was worse, I came back with my dog, and we were covered from head to toe in stick tights. What a job that was. We planted 3 fruit trees this year, and I think I will just be feeding more squirrels.

I usually get tired of summer by the end of August, and then I wish fall would stay longer, and then winter comes, and I get tired of winter really fast. Every year I tell myself that I will finished the German feather tree that I started years ago, and when winter gets here I don't want to finish it. Besides it doesn't look professional since my eye site isn't what it should be. Makes it unfun.

Oh. Dawn, a woman I know, that lives out by the elk refuge in Tahlequah, said that they are releasing panthers into the wild to take care of animals that have been injured. I wonder where she heard that and will try to remember to ask her. We don't need cougars, but we could use some wolves, but only if ranchers would stop shooting them.

I think a contrary attitude toward our weather in Oklahoma is legitimate because our weather is so contrary!

I am definitely going to bomb. I seem to have too many mice, too. Since I'll be deep cleaning because of them I can ready to have the place bombed! So sick of bugs. Ugh

ChickenCoup, First, I love your name.

Bomb again in a month so you will kill whatever eggs have hatched. That is what the bug people did for us.

Sounds like you need some cats too. I have heard that females cats are the best hunters, until someone proves me wrong. I have two female indoor/outdoor cats, spayed, and 7 spayed ferals, but of course, I know one of the male ferals loves to try to catch birds although it doesn't happen. But you may not wish to have many cats or any for all I know. I had 3 female cats years ago and they got rid of the gophers in our yard as well as the mice, and then pretty soon we had no rabbits. I was sad about the rabbits. And then the rattlesnakes left. Not so sad about that.

Rattlers! Yikes! Hubs is allergic to pet dander and abhors cats, but he's sensible and we both encourage the stray cats to come around the yard. Lately, there haven't been many. I think some other critter has taken over the territory. Found small holes dug up everywhere. Probably possum or raccoon. I've made a TON of changes to the yard/garden and I'm only encouraging the critters. lol

I think I'll make sure there's nothing growing right up against the house?

Thanks for the tip on the 2nd bomb! It would suck not to get them all!

Small holes, all over the yard, usually means...skunks.

George

the rattlers we had were when we were in California. haven't seen even copperheads here. but small rodents bring in snakes.

we have holes all over, but the ones in our yard are woodchucks. The ones next door are sometimes skunks and sometimes foxes.

I encourage woodchucks because they are cute. I give them food, and they eat cat food along with the cats. Plus when summer is here we plant watermelon and cantaloupe for them. And then get veggies/fruit scrapes.

I've noticed that when the skunks dig, their holes are usually sort of cone-shaped and the armadillo holes are a little more rounded. As long as the skunks are only out at night, we just ignore them, but if they come around during the day, we assume they are not well and shoot them. I like armadilloes even though they dig up the yard. I just assume they are doing us a favor by eating white grubs.

I saw what I hope is the last snake of the season on Sunday afternoon. It was 80 degrees here, so of course they were out near the driveway soaking up the heat. It was just a little black and green racer, and I mean really little----I've seen bigger earthworms. I haven't seen a rattlesnake in about a month. Yay! I don't miss them when I 'm not seeing them.

Jessaka, I cannot believe you encourage woodchucks! They can be so destructive to a garden....but then, if you're feeding them yummy things, maybe they leave area gardens alone. We don't have woodchucks here and I am glad because I'd probably feel like I had to be kind to them and feed them too. We feed pretty much anything that shows up here, as I cannot bear to see skinny, hungry-looking animals. With ponds and creeks low or even empty in drought years, I put out water for them year-round. I wanted to live surrounded by wildlife, and we do, but I don't think I realized just how much wildlife we'd see on a regular basis.

As for the cold.....it is here, isn't it? It has been months since we had the kind of harsh wind chill values that we had yesterday and today, and I'm not looking forward to the next few days. Our county already is seeing an increase in wildfires, and it will get worse after all the plants that still are green freeze and either die or go dormant. NOw that it is cold, can we start counting down the days until spring arrives and we get some warmer weather again?

Dawn

I remember smelling traces. Bet George is right.

I heard squirrels fighting today. And they were in the bedroom walls. I hate squirrels!

and they say November has the potential for record lows? Oh my.

I hope you can get those squirrels out of the walls, Bon.

November is so cold so early this year! I hate it. Oh well, we get whatever weather we get and there's nothing we can do about that.

Skunks, coons, possums, squirrels and other wild things have been out searching for places to spend the winter. We have to be really careful about keeping all our outbuildings securely closed up or the wild critters will move right in, or even dig underneath them to find a warm, secure spot to overwinter.

At least those of us who have snake issues likely have seen our last snake of 2014.

I still saw living grasshoppers yesterday, despite some nights in the 20s, but haven't seen any today, except for some dead ones that look like that died trying to get into the greenhouse. (They are dead between the shadecloth and the greenhouse plastic.) I also saw bees and a yellow jacket outside yesterday. I'll see bees out on pretty much any sunny day in winter, but it is odd to see a yellow jacket outside this late in the year.

I hope this early cold spell isn't a sign that we're going to have a very cold, very prolonged winter.

I'm with ya on that. It's probably just an unusual cold snap. Right? haha

Yes. Our usual balmy November weather returns for a while next week. We just have to get through today's/tomorrow's cold, windy weather with snow or sleet or freezing rain or whatever that is forecast for several different places. By Wednesday or Thursday, all that will be a distant memory and we'll be enjoying somewhat warmer temperatures, at least for a few days. My forecast looks decent for Wed-Thurs next week, but I don't know about the rest of the state. Those of you further north might not warm up as much as we will down south. I hope to be out in the garden cleaning it out and then piling chopped up autumn leaves on the beds when the cleanup is done. I'm hoping the warmer days won't be too windy because that makes the leafy part of the project more challenging.

Yes. Leaves are coming down now and I really want to get out there and snatch those up. Every time I shove them in a garbage can and insert weed eater, I think of you. You know, I'm still amazed to see the leaves. I know we had autumn leaves last year, but I'm still familiar with ...zilch .... autumn leaves because of that blasted drought and heat wave we experienced for so many years. I guess I'm not leaf raking in a begrudging manner ... yet. I'm so happy to see them all over the place.

We leave our leaves on the ground. sometimes my husband mulches them with the riding lawn mower and other years he blows them with the mower into the garden. some people leave them were they fall. such good mulch.

this year the electric company came and cut some trees and gave us the mulch. what a job that was, and I do believe I have over mulch our entire yard. so the leaves stay where they fell this year.

We have been bitter cold and windy all week so I when it warmed up to 70 today I ran out, mowed 8 bags of leaves, hauled of a dumpster load of trash mostly water jugs, and tidied the yard. it looks better and I am exhausted. Since I got sick it seems like my endurance is not what it used to be but Today! I just kept at it. it was so nice to be out in the sun.
kim

Jessica, I can totally understand that. I only wish I had more leaves! They do so well in the garden soil. I'd love to avoid working to get them all up. Of course, I'm not near disciplined enough to gather other people's leaves which would make all the difference in the world. facepalm

Luvn, i hope you get to feeling better. I'm glad you got some sunshine. Sometimes - especially when I'm working long hours - I must force myself to at least go out for a walk and view the garden. While there, I generally do something and feel better for it.

Thanks Bon,
I am feeling better than I was 6 weeks ago for sure. I do well as long as I don't eat something I am not supposed to. Since I am on my feet 8 hours a day sometimes all I can do is sit and look at my yard. But now I got it cleaned up and plants pulled it doesn't look like a haunted garden.
my swiss chard has been doing well and I have about 20 sweet potatoes, Life is good :)
kim