I have to work this afternoon, but cleaned the coop early this morning. Eleven chickens sure poop a lot.

I love how the tomatoes and even green beans are rebounding a bit. They'll never be their former glory. Well, the green beans didn't have glory. In fact, they are doing better now.

Can anyone tell me about tomatillos. I know some of you have tried, but I'm still confused by the size of the fruit. They are Dr. Wyche's yellows. The description says 1 1/2 inch fruit. Does that mean around? (sorry, I'm dumb with math) That's pretty small right? So maybe mine are doing what they are supposed to. They are falling from the plant. Anyway...anyone grow this variety?

Amy, Thanks for starting this thread.

Sorry I'm messing up the routine. Maybe I'll try starting the weekly thread on Sunday evenings. My new routine, since the weather cooled off, is to roll out of bed, get dressed and head out the door to walk Jet a mile or two in the cool morning air. By the time we get back from our walk, the cats, other dogs and chickens are demanding all sorts of attention, and the deer are gathered around the compost pile wondering why there's nothing new out there for them, or at least they are wondering why there's no cracked corn out yet for the doves so that they, the deer, can steal it. Because of all of that, I can't seem to get to my computer until later in the day. That messes up my old summer routine of getting on the computer first thing in the morning, and starting the new weekly threads on Monday morning. It also is getting harder to cram in all the things I need to do in between the later sunrises and the earlier sunsets. I get used to a certain number of daylight hours in the summer, and then in fall, they just start getting significantly shorter. Augustus doesn't like it either. He moves along towards the chicken coop as it gets darker in the evenings, but he doesn't go in until the absolute last minute. I think he misses the longer amounts of sunshine. He's still molting (it takes a turkey forever and forever) and the large numbers of shed feathers still make it look like something has slaughtered a turkey, but he's fine....just dropping feathers right and left.

I've noticed in the early mornings that the moonflower vine's flowers are just gorgeous at this time of the year, so big and such a bright, shining white. As they fade when the sun rises higher in the sky, the Grandpa Ott's morning glories put on a show. When Jet and I leave to walk, the moonflowers are putting on the big show. When we get back, they are beginning to close up and the morning glories have taken center stage. The pineapple sage finally is back in bloom. It cycles in and out of bloom all summer, but the persistent summer rain kept it in more of a vegetative state for a long time so it seems like it went a couple of months with no blooms. There's lots of peppers, both sweet and hot, turning from green to red and I'm trying to be patient and let them make it to deep red so I can make red jalapeno jelly to go with the green jalapeno jelly (you cannot mix together the red and green peppers when making pepper jelly or you end up with brown pepper jelly that does not look appetizing at all). The four o'clocks stay open later and later each day in autumn. Eventually, as the day length continues to shorten and the daytime temperatures are cooler, they'll be staying open all day.

The fall wildflowers are blooming a bit more now---I see the native blue sage (Salvia azurea) occasionally though we never have it in large numbers, but there's lots of helenium, goldenrod and gaura putting on a big show right now. The native gauras are about 5-7' tall, so they really aren't good garden plants except for the back of a mixed border, but they look gorgeous blooming alongside the roads and in fields at this time of the year. I've seen a little bit of liatris in bloom, but not as much as usual. It really has struggled in the fields in the wet conditions of the summers of 2015, 2016 and (at times) 2017 since it is more of a xeric plant than a mesic one.

In the garden, the zinnias, moss rose, Laura bush petunias and periwinkles still are blooming, though some of the zinnias have powdery mildew (a perpetual problem here in autumn with all the morning dew) and everything looks a bit tired of the heat and the return to our usual dry weather. The orange turmpet creeper vines are still in full bloom and are keeping the hummingbirds happy. There's still plenty of hummingbirds visiting the feeders, but not nearly as many as we were having a couple of weeks ago. I believe the fall migration began early this year and the population is getting smaller each week now.

There's still just a hint of yellowing in the foliage of the elms that crowd the fencelines here, so I think in another couple of weeks we'll really start seeing yellow leaves on them. The American beautyberry shrubs in the woodland are beautiful right now with their lilac berries, and so are the rough-leaf dogwoods that grow along fencelines here are covered in their beautiful white berries. The leaves on the native persimmons are showing hints of their autumn color--which is usually a lovely light golden orange. Some of the sumac and poison ivy that share the tangled fencelines with them already have foliage turning red. The persimmon trees and all native nut trees (pecan, black walnut, etc.) have tons and tons of fall webworms this year---probably the most I've ever seen in any autumn since moving here.

We mowed the yard yesterday so it is nice and short in case there's a repeat of last week's grassfires---the closest one to us was less than a half-mile from our house and was paged out as "a large controlled burn, out of control, threatening homes". Unfortunately, when it was paged out we had exactly zero firefighters at home---everyone was either at work or somewhere else, but firefighters from two other VFDs came, and eventually a couple of our firefighters made it home and then to the fire. It is troublesome to see grass fires starting up even before we've had the first freeze dry out all the grassy fuel that the heavy summer rain produced.

We did very little work on the house this weekend as our days were filled more with grocery shopping, running errands, etc.....and watching OU defeat Ohio State and the Dallas Cowboys defeat the NY Giants. It was a good football weekend here. : )

I did buy one set of drapes for the master bedroom---I want to hang that set and see if I like them with the wall color before I buy any more. I still have about half the master bedroom to paint this week because pushing large, heavy wood furniture away from the walls to paint is a PITA and I am a really slow painter, but the master bathroom is all done and looks nice....and is fully usable again. We got all the new hardware and new lighting fixtures put up Saturday.

Tim travels to a business conference today....in Las Vegas. It's a hard life, isn't it? I've been teasing him and calling it a big boondoggle. I hate it when he flies on September 11th. I try to just not think about him being in the air on the anniversary of such a horrible event, but it always is there in the back of my mind until I hear from him that he has safely arrived at his destination.

I watched Hurricane Irma all week last week as she slowly made her made towards Florida, and then Saturday and yesterday as she came ashore in Florida. She's been a wicked one with just so much death and destruction everywhere she's been. I am so grateful we don't have to deal with hurricanes here---tornadoes are bad enough.

It still feels like we're having an early autumn here, though the days are not nearly as cool as they were a couple of weeks ago. At least we aren't staying in the 90s every single day like we do in some Septembers, but the rain sure has dried up.

What's new with everyone?

Mary, I'm glad your plants are doing so well and that you are enjoying container gardening. I like container gardening quite a lot, but it is hard down here to keep the containers well-watered enough in June and July. I have had the best success in hot dry years by putting a drip irrigation line on them and setting it on a timer to water them three times a day---morning, noon and evening. It is about as carefree as you can make gardening, as long as you have mulched the containers to keep out weeds, and if you can keep the chickens (not a problem for you, but a big one here for me) out of the containers. Our chickens think the soft, soil-less mix in containers is just perfect for digging, scratching and dust-bathing.

Fall allergies are so bad here now---I suppose it mostly is the ragweed.

Dawn

My brother and sister in law are in Georgia, experiencing their first hurricane. He said it was only supposed to hit cat 2 at most, so hopefully it'll be ok.

For 9/11, I was on my way back to work after going to Las Vegas with a friend for a Star Trek convention (dont judge). We got back the 10th, so I spent most of the morning on the phone with friends assuring them I was home and not trying to fly. Most of the calls were from my mom, the meds she was on made it hard to remember things, so every 30 minutes she'd call in a panic.

Not a ton here. Weather is about normal for September here now. Highs in the low to upper 70's and lows in the upper 40's, low 50's. It has gotten rather dry now that the rain has finally passed. After such a wet and cool summer where I don't think we hit above 96 once, it feels nice to have some cool, dry weather.

Frost isn't far off now, probably only a little over a month away so by the end of the month here I'll have to get my garlic in. The leaves are just starting to show some good color. Of course all the decorative hybrid trees in town are orange and red and yellow, but most trees at the house are just starting to show. I suspect in a few weeks we will begin to see some major change. Actually, I'm pretty sure I heard quite a few geese this morning, headed south already? Maybe they were just hanging out at the pond, but one can wish...

My cabbage is all doing fantastic. It's only been about a week since my spring cabbage sprouted and it's showing true leaves now and the fall cabbage is almost 1 1/4 months old and it's about 5" tall and real lush. Broccoli is the same. I started my spring cabbage in pure mushroom compost, and they seem to like it more than any seed mix I've tried. My fall beans are just starting to put on some beans. I've been amazed at how quickly they've grown compared to spring.

This reminds me that I really need to get some compost in. If I don't I'm going to get to planting time and be overwhelmed because everything that needs done haha.

Have a good day everyone.

Eileen, have you seen this? Just One Cookbook, Japanese food. I found a recipe for the pork dish I had last time at Hapa. I was looking for recipes for Shrimp Egg Noodles that DH bought at the Asian market. Not shrimp, egg noodle, shrimp egg as in roe, noodle. I got very side tracked with all her recipes.

Y'all, I am NOT ready for fall. Yeah, the cooler temps are nice, but shorter days? No. I will like cold weather for about 3 days. That's it. Enough to make chicken and dumplings and chili. Then I'll be ready for summer.

Mary, I'm really glad your container gardening is working for you! I have fabric pots in kiddie pools that haven't done bad. Yeah, I killed the thyme, but it lasted longer this year. The dwarf tomatoes don't look great, they've been abused lately. With more attention they would be fine. Don't forget to check under the tulle. One year I planted all my fall brassica, covered with tulle and left them. SOMEHOW the caterpillars still found them and almost destroyed several plants. Maybe the tulle touched a plant, leaving a place for a moth to lay an egg without actually being under the net? Maybe they were already in the soil, or already had eggs when I set them out. I have both white and pink tulle. I don't know why I didn't get green. You don't think about it in the store. May not have even had a green option.

H/J, I grew tomatillos last year, but I don't think I actually got to eat any. Mine weren't very big either, not like the ones in the store. I do think you harvest when the husk splits.

Dawn, it's good to see you. It's not a problem to start the thread. I hadn't had enough caffeine this morning, totally leaving out the fact it was the anniversary of 9/11. I'm always afraid I'll start one and you'll be posting at the same time so there will be two. It sounds like you're enjoying fall. Poor Augustus. I remember when our geese would molt, white feathers everywhere that looked like trash all over the yard. I've expected my chickens to molt. They're not. Maybe in spring? They were a year old in April(?).

Jen, why would we judge? Star Trek convention sounds like fun, though, I would go to a Doctor Who convention myself. I have a brother in law in Georgia, too. I really have no concept as to where in the state he's located. Hope your family is ok. My SIL and nephew in Florida (Orlando) have posted that they are safe.

Jacob, isn't overwhelmed the definition of gardening? We went to Worley's Nursery this weekend. He said there is some challenge every year. This year a ground hog got up on his tables and ate all the brassica.

I bought some spinosad. I want to kill harlequin bugs. But I don't want to kill good guys. I forget to go out at dusk. It doesn't seem to kill flies. I put some Bugright on the aphids on the cow peas. I can't see that it helped, but at least it didn't kill the ladybugs. Do you suppose I'm letting the cowpeas get too dry? Is that why the aphids have attacked 2 years in a row? They are mostly on the Whippoorwills. I doubt that either bed with aphids would have too much nitrogen.

I haven't made it to the garden yet. Ended up running errands with DH.

I don't have a whole lot to say. Guess I'm overwhelmed with all the sadness in the world right now. Sugar snaps and lettuce are up. Spinach is not. Wondering if it needs to be replanted. Planted my last two yellow squash seeds and something ate the sprouts off at the base. Had to go after the brussels sprouts with spinosad. There are 8 eggplant coming on my one plant. Lots of peppers to find uses for, like chili. Brought in two more tomatoes to finish ripening. Squirrels are ignoring tomatoes at this point, but the yard is covered with pecan shells.

Amy, check! I see moths hovering everywhere.

Dawn, I just love the way you describe your little patch of this big, old world!

We've had lots of butterflies and bees and hummingbirds the last week or so. And ladybugs, too, even in the larval stage. (I've come inside with one on my shirt twice, so now I'm checking before I come in.) I had a Monarch caterpillar on my milkweed last week, but it was just the one. Weird? I've noticed that the robins and cardinals are back in the yard. I think the cardinals might have feasted on the hornworms that were on the pentas.

I love fall. I have since I was a kid, ready to go back to school. All the warm colors--gold, yellow, orange, rust, and brown--to decorate inside and out, with pumpkins and gourds. And Halloween, too.

And I don't really mind winters down here, especially the last two that were so warm. We lived in Utah for nine years, and cold weather usually came the week before Halloween. All the kids would have to tell you what their costumes were, because their coats were zipped up tight and their hoods up, so you couldn't tell what they were supposed to be. My boys would make a few blocks before asking to go home for cocoa. Later in the winter though, they sure loved playing in all that snow!

Michelle

Hi all, I think I grew too many thai pepper plants. There are so many I need to harvest. I was thinking I can dehydrate them to make chili powder, so I was looking around. Found a Weston 6-rack dehydrater on Facebook Marketplace for $30. Going to get it from the lady on Wednesday. Can't wait to try it!

I put out some pre-emergent herbicide for the front lawn yesterday. Not sure how much it will help, but I hope it does a little at least. I will definitely be more diligent with fertilizer and weed control for the lawn next Spring. I still need to get soil test done, so Dawn can suggest some shade trees that I can plant.

Jennifer, I think they mean diameter when they say 1 1/2 inch.

Amy, I haven't seen Just One Cookbook before. I actually cook the pork dish you had at Hapa quite often because DH likes it. I learned it from a cooking class years back. If you want the recipe, I can scan it for you. It's similar to the one on Just One Cookbook. I am not sure what Shrimp Egg Noodles is! I'm quite surprised that I have never seen or heard about it. (I'm a glutton that researches and tries every dish I can find.) Do you mean this? In general, I have not been able to find any type of noodles I like at the Asian supermarkets here. I have been too spoilt living in Asia. Lastly, it broke my heart reading about your DIL's son. I can't imagine what she went through.

Dawn, it's great to hear that every variety of garlic you have grown does well here! I have to try to grow some this year. I haven't ordered any yet because I didn't know they cost around $15, and wasn't sure if I would be able to grow them successfully.

I cannot believe it’s the SECOND week of September
already?!!? Geeze, slow down already.

Dawn, you mentioning your turkey molting reminds me of my
Grandpa who used to make us whistles out of the feather ends (whatever you call
those). He’d use his pocket knife. It was pretty cool and something kids now
days would probably think was silly.
However, I’d give anything to have another whistle made by him.

My zinnias are performing beautifully right now and my
youngest daughter loves their deep pink color.
The moss rose is still blooming as well as the marigolds which are so
full and bushy! The morning glory have stopped growing as much but are still
blooming somewhat. I did notice this evening they had some spots that looked
like burn spots on the bottom leaves. My
lemon grass is doing great! My crush
parfuma rose bush is still putting on beautiful blooms. My veggie garden is just done. I need to pull everything and turn the dirt a
bit. I do have 3 blueberry bushes that I
had bought for a buck and need to plant those.
I noticed that most of the ladybug pupa larvae are now adults so that
means I can trim back the rose of Sharon bushes this week.

Oh Dawn, you mentioned American beautyberry shrubs…..I LOVE
those!! First saw one at Braum’s off of
I-35 in Edmond and was just blown away.
I’d really love to have a couple in my front beds but I need to read up
on them more. Do they go to seed from
the berries?

I got quite a bit accomplished today: cleaned up the yard and mowed, got the pool
half drained for winterizing, got the pump and all the hoses removed and ready
for storage, planted a few pansies in with some red ornamental grass, and the
biggest task really was spraying the yard for army worms. UGH!
My youngest daughter went out and spotted some in the yard and she knew
immediately what they were. Darn it. I
need to plant more beneficial plants.

Amy, I completely agree!
I always think I am ready for cooler weather when it’s the dead heat of
summer, but like you said after about 3 days I am done. Although, I am hungry
for chicken and dumplings and chili!!

I’m off to bed so I can get up early for the allergy
testing. I admit, I am a bit nervous and
not sure I WANT to know everything I am allergic to. Maybe I can just plug my ears and sing, “lalalalalalalalalalalaaaaaaaaa.” lol

Funniest thing I read today, Jennifer! LOL Trying not to judge! LOL I could be a Next Generation and Voyageur Trekkie, but I draw the line after that!

I haven't grown tomatillos, HJ, but NEXT year!!! Just for the posole and chili verde! One of my friends in MN grew luscious ones with no trouble--they were always nice and plump, between 1 1/2 and 2 inches in diameter! I'd harvest when husks loosen a bit--when do the rest of you harvest them? Needing to know for next year!

Fell asleep last night before 10--highly unusual for me, but now wide awake. Darn. Hope I can get sleepy again soon and sleep a couple more hours. I'm missing home and the yard and garden and love hearing your plant details above; especially valuable would be rereading and saving your flower talk, Dawn and Melissa. I know our plants and yard is in good hands; a gardener who will despair if he sees a plant shriveling up from lack of water! Although I told him not to worry about anything, I'll be astonished if he takes me at my word.

It was about 80 here this evening at 9; I saw it was 65 at home. Seems early for it to be in the 50s during the night--do you all think it has been uncharacteristically cool?

Melissa, nah, you better pay attention--knowledge is power, ya know! When I was a kid, and up into my 30s, had miserable allergies in August/September; and I lived on a ranch, where we spent August haying; I still remember the misery. With cottonwood trees clogging the air with their cotton, and the ragweed or other villains, a tough go. Knock on wood, I seem to have outrun the allergies; haven't had a problem in years--realizing, however, that allergies are a funny ole possum; can crop up overnight.

Jacob, I don't think we'll reach "overwhelmed" stage until November, after we've collected every possible leaf we can and mulched them and added them to our existing and new raised veggie beds and find that we still need an extra 6-8 inches of soil stuff and can't think of what more to add! I am almost sure we'll arrive at that day! And I'm not even going to think of growing or harvesting anything else this fall. Well of course I'll be delighted to see if our sweet potatoes, potatoes, and early girls produce, but won't stress. And Eileen, I cannot and will not admit I grew too many peppers! haha Every time I may even begin to think that, I remember the price of bell peppers in winter and feel better.

What could have been a really tough trip, is starting off smoothly; no trouble completing some important administrative tasks today--we're feeling blessed, frankly--added to the feeling of feeling blessed is the misery so many are feeling with their truly overwhelming circumstances. And I got to see the brand new nursing home yesterday--and almost burst into tears. It was just absolutely beautiful; a large staff of wonderful 20s and 30-yr olds, huge spacious private rooms for all, light and airy and joyful--yes, that's the feeling I had. I KNOW Mom will be well served there and was just beside myself. I can hardly wait for Mom to see it! What incredible luck--it just opened a few months ago! No doubt in my mind about where she will be best off. Will we miss each other? Of course. But at her age and in her condition right now, what truly matters to her very most, I can see, is that she's comfortable. She'll be comfortable. With my many meetings, GDW and Titan are free to chill or take nice long walks along the beautiful walking paths winding through town along the creek--good for them.

Yeah, Dawn, Tim's got it rough! lol Having said that, with him loving his job, for him, it will be fine and good--bet you or I would have a whole different take on such a mandatory meeting, wouldn't we? When I used to have to go to Denver from Mpls for various reasons on my job, it was always a treat for me--loved the job and loved having to spend time in Denver sampling good restaurants off work-hours. The minute I retired, GONE were all those great memories! Some of my friends worried I'd miss work. Guess how many minutes I've spent missing work? Not even one whole minute! LOL I LOVE my life--was BORN to be "retired"! And know you love yours, too!

Jennifer, That sounds about right for Dr. Wyche's Yellow tomatillo. They were smaller than I expected them to be when I grew them too, though that was quite a few years back.

Jen, I hope your family members in GA are okay. The rain is no joke---and the flooding in some of the areas that were getting rain yesterday and even last night was just incredible. Keep us posted on how your brother and sister in law are doing. I sure hope their home doesn't flood.

Your poor mom! Had I been in her shoes, I would have been a wreck too.

I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. Tim's family all lives in PA and his sisters and brothers-in-law traveled a lot for work, particularly one sister, so we were in sort of a panic until we established that she was safely on the ground, which wasn't until late afternoon. For Tim, 9/11 was the beginning of at least a year where he worked overtime nonstop as they did everything in their power to make sure airports were safe. I'll never forget that year---as I hardly saw him at all. My memories, though, are nothing like those of the folks who had loved ones involved, whether their loved ones survived or not, and I cannot imagine what this anniversary feels like to them no matter what. I can only imagine that PTSD is an issue for some if not most of the survivors who got out of the twin towers. I bet it is a day that never really gets easier to take.

Jacob, Your weather sounds nice. Ours has been below average, temperature-wise, and also below-average in terms of rainfall this month so far. We've been about 3 weeks without rain and it is getting really dry. The below average temperatures may be ending as we're supposed to be back in the 90s in a couple of days. I'm not happy about that, but as long as the nights stay at least in the upper 60s, I guess I'll survive. The cool morning air helps make up for the hot afternoon air.

I'm envious of your fall color. Many years we stay too hot all summer and the trees here show very little autumn color---not that they necessarily show a lot even in the best of years. With all the summer rain we had in July and August, I'm hoping for great autumn color this year. To me, it doesn't feel like fall without some yellow, golden-orange and red leaves on at least some of the trees here. My local area is heavily dominated by post oaks which just don't give us much autumn color at all, but some of the native red oaks will have nice color, albeit not until around early November. A lot of years, all the leaves just turn brown and fall. I hate those years.

I wouldn't be totally surprised if you heard geese. Sometimes they inexplicably migrate early. We saw some here last Septemner---and early in September---and I thought I was losing my mind. Then, Jay mentioned he saw them at around the same time in SW KS, so Tim and I knew we weren't losing our minds....or that Jay was losing his mind along with us. It might be they are leaving early because of the drought and horrendous wildfires in some of the western/nonwestern states.

Amy, I'm never really ready for fall to progress to winter. I love those first few cool days....and take great delight in making apple-cinnamon muffins for breakfast and chili or stew for dinner. Than, after about a week of it, I'm over it, dreading the shorter daylength, the colder weather and the lack of sunshine. I'd like to have 3 weeks of autumn, 1 week of winter and then an early spring. Hey---that sounds sort of like last winter. (grin)

Different chickens molt at different times in their life cycles. I have some that are early molters and some that are late molters. You can read about the differences in molting cycles in the brief (couple of paragraphs) section on molting in the OSU Factsheet on Home Chicken Production:

OSU Factsheet on Chickens

Whether they molt early or late, they all eventually molt and I think more of mine are late molters that molt in the fall. I don't think it has started yet, but it ought to be starting soon. We have had a few that were early molters though.

I'm glad to hear your SIL and nephew are safe. That hurricane seemed like it did its best to hit as much of the state of Florida as possible. I couldn't help noticing yesterday that almost no news is making it out of the Florida keys. Between cell phone towers being destroyed and the electrical grid being destroyed, I know that is not unexpected, but it is disconcerting. They said they thought about 10,000 people tried to ride out the storm in the keys....so, when the news choppers were flying overhead and shooting video yesterday, where were all the people? I expected we'd see a lot more of them out surveying damage. What about the people who tied their boats up in the mangrove trees and were (foolishly, I thought) determined to ride out the hurricane on their boats? I haven't heard anything about them. That makes me concerned about their survival.

On the other hand, tons of people took it seriously and evacuated, so at least Gov. Scott should feel good about that. Whether people will think evacuating was worthwhile, I do not know. I guess it depends on how hard their specific area got hit. What I do know is that I'd hate to spend one day in Florida at this time of the year with all their heat and their high heat index values without air conditioning. To me, the thought of living without AC would be a good enough reason to evacuate for a few days and wait for the electricity to be restored before I came back. I read some accounts from some people who said they had mold growing inside their homes already----which just blows my mind.

I am not sure about the cowpeas and the aphids. I do know that for many people aphids are a persistent issue on cowpeas whether they grow them dryland or irrigated, fertilized or not. Perhaps it is more an issue of two few lady bugs? I almost never have cowpea aphids, ever, ever, ever. but we do have a huge lady bug population so I'm not saying they aren't here. Probably they are here and the lady bugs just devour them.

Eileen, Seed garlic is expensive. Sometimes I just buy and plant grocery store garlic. It works. If you have interesting stores like Central Market, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wild Oats or the like that carry a wider selection of garlic, you can grow several different kinds just from grocery store garlic.

Melissa, The beautyberries do go to seed from the fruit, and birds sometimes spread the berries/seeds around. I just noticed a new one this week along our south fenceline where we've never had one before. Technically it is on the neighbor's side of the fence but its branches extend over onto our side too. I'm betting a bird sitting on the electric line planted that one there. The tiny flowers are nothing to get excited about, but when the berries color up and turn violet, they are gorgeous. On our property, they are understory shrubs in the shade of taller trees, so it will be interesting to see how the one along the south fenceline fares because it is in full sun. I'm thinking that in a hotter, drier summer, it won't be happy and may not survive.

Nancy, It definitely has been uncharacteristically cool at my end of the state. I am loving every minute of it. Weather this cool in September is a rare gift.

I'm glad you have found a place your mom will be happy and comfortable. That is what matters most.

I know Tim is enjoying the conference, but he is SO not a Vegas type person that it isn't even funny. He'll enjoy the meetings and speakers and all that, but he is not crazy about the bright lights/big city part of it all, and he isn't a gambler. His most often repeated comment about Vegas (they had a different conference there a couple of years ago) is how very expensive the taxis are. This time he is planning to use Uber or Lyft. When I heard from him last night, he was attending a reception hosted by one of his favorite manufacturers of police apparel, so he was in hog heaven seeing the displays and brochures and stuff. One of his responsibilities at his PD is that of ordering/maintaining the uniform supply so he was in his element last night. I guess for us gardeners, the equivalent would be to be at some sort of conference with vendors that carry gardening supplies and seeds and such.

Tim almost retired early a couple of years ago. A friend of ours who was retiring from OHP (and who now is our county sheriff) almost had him talked into it. I think he'll hate retirement. He is having too much fun working and loves his job so much. I figure he'll work a few more years---until it stops being fun, at least. His dad drove his mom crazy after retirement (he retired first) because he kept reorganizing the house, including her kitchen (she did the cooking, not him). I think Tim will be that way, but I guess one of the days we'll find out for sure.

I need to get off this computer and get Jet on the leash and out the door for our morning walk before it warms up too much. I am not happy about the return of the heat.

Dawn

Oh, if there were a Dr. Who convention nearby, I'd go. My hisband hates the show, can't digure out why people are flying around in a phone booth. Poor uneducated man.

From what i understand from my brother, they're far enough inland that they missed the worst of the damage. A few limbs fell on their trailer but nothing else.

In 1982 (I remember because I was pregnant with #2), OETA ran the "classic" Doctor Who on Sat mornings. We started with the fourth doctor. I think we made it to 6 before they took it off. All my children love Doctor Who. My one DIL isn't interested, but my son's SO took to it immediately. #2 and wife are fans as well. I'm glad your brother is safe. Found out my Georgia brother in law is up near Charleston, so he should be ok.

Dawn, I can't imagine Florida without AC either! If memory serves, that is where things have been a problem in past hurricanes. No AC, no ice, no water. The people who stayed in the keys, and the ones in boats? I don't understand it. It must be like dragging your lawn chair out to watch the tornado. It is still quite cool here. Just saw a hummer come through, cherry tomatoes were not on it's menu.

I think part of the aphid problem is the ants. Last year they were only on the Lady peas. This year the whippoorwills. BTW I am getting a few pods of the red African peas. I'm going to save them for seed and try again next year.

Nancy, I'm really glad you found a nice nursing home for your mom. While I know the two of you were ready to bring her to OK, it would be rough on both you and your mom. She will also make friends living closely with others her age, and have visitors from those she already knows. It is too bad flying there is so difficult.

Melissa, I want beautyberry, too. It is used in natural insect repellants. See this M.E.N. article. I'm sure our winters are better than Utah, but I'm old, I have arthritic joints that hate cold and get seasonal affective disorder. Winter is not my friend.

Eileen, grocery store garlic will grow. I suggest organic. At least look for bulbs that have NOT had the roots scraped off the bottom. Supposedly the scraped ones come from China and may have questionable chemicals on them. There has been a lady with different varieties of garlic at Cherry Street farmers market. I bought some 2 years ago.

Rebecca, I'm glad to hear the squirrels abandoned your tomatoes. Maybe next year you need a trap crop of something to keep them away. I could loan you a dog. She's come close to catching the bunny.

Never made it to the garden yesterday. Maybe today.

I just glanced through. I want to come back and catch up tonight. I couple of things stood out.

Chicken molting. My chickens seem to lose feathers in the fall--like around October. They also stop laying eggs for 4 or 6 weeks for the most part. Not that I'm so experienced, but just in my 2 and half years of chicken keeping that is how mine did it. Even their first year, although they didn't lose many feather that first year.

Dawn, how did you use the Dr. Wyche's? If you remember.

That's all for now...

Hazel, we use a light all winter (not 24h though). If we don't we quit getting eggs after the fall equinox and don't get any until at least late January. We eat at least 10 eggs every morning for breakfast with our bacon and bread so no eggs won't do!!

Speaking of chickens, I got the coop clean today. It's supposed to warm up just a bit this weekend but the long range forecast shows that around mid next week it's going to start getting colder here so I got the winter prep cleaning done for today! It was nice weather to do it- overcast and a high of 74. I try to clean it every spring and fall if possible.

A squirt of fox urine really works wonders for squirrels! It's cheap too on Amazon

Jen, I'm glad your brother's place was far enough inland to escape most of the damage. He is so fortunate (and also wise to not choose to live right on the coast).

Amy, Parts of Charleston flooded, you know. I hope your BIL's place was not among them. I think I could handle wind damage better than flood damage. I believe we are safe from flood damage here. If 12.87" in one day (April 2009) didn't flood us out (it didn't even come close) and 24" (May 2015) in one month didn't get us, then I cannot imagine anything flood-like would. Of course, we built our house on the highest point of ground on our property so pretty much 13 or 14 acres of lower ground would have to get flooded first and then the floodwater still would have to rise another 4-8' to get us so I think we'll be okay here. I worry more about the twin threats of wildfires or tornadoes. I love the beach and would love to retire to/live near the beach, but hurricanes are just one reason we won't do that. Gardening is another. Beach sand would make veggie gardening very very challenging.

Those Key Westers who were tying up their boats in the mangroves to ride out the storm pride themselves on riding out many hurricanes over the decades and are tough old goats who call themselves 'conches', like the conch shells. I think they are either braver than I or more foolish or both. I just hope they all survived. I guess time will tell. I did read a story yesterday that said a lot of folks in the keys who had intended to ride out the storms in their own homes did flee to local shelters at the last minute once they realized a very hard hit from a powerful hurricane was imminent. Hopefully that helped save lives.

Speaking of Rebecca's squirrels, I've noticed our squirrels have largely disappeared too. I haven't seen any of them stealing hen scratch from the chickens in a week or two now. I guess they are switching over to nut-gathering mode.

I did make it out to the garden for a little while. I spent most of the time carefully weeding the flower border alongside the driveway, which largely consisted of removing 1 million and 1 morning glory plants that were everything from new sprouts a couple of inches tall to massive monsters growing through/over all the flowers. I spent forever untangling MGs from my Luna hibiscus plants, and caught some more and removed them as they were just beginning to climb the pineapple sage, pepper plants and double purple and double yellow daturas. That bed looks a lot better, though more bare, without all the morning glory vines running rampant. I also watered the pepper plants, which were terriby wilted and possibly dropping leaves. Today I need to find time to get out there and pick peppers.

Jennifer, I use tomatotillos in various recipes, including sauces or salsas and in beef-tomatillo stew. Oh, and you can make tomatillo jam. Here's one recipe for that:

Tomatillo Salsa Jam

Here's one for Tomatillo Salsa:

Tomatillo Green Salsa

Our older chickens do molt in the Oct-Nov time frame. Often chickens stop laying in winter due to shorter day length. You can circumvent that, if you choose, by keeping a light on inside their coop at night. The older they get (we have some that are fairly ancient for chickens), the longer the break from laying seems to last.

I don't expect our babies that were born in July will molt this year. We don't usually have babies hatch out so late, so I'm just guessing. They aren't even their full mature size yet.

Jacob, I can't believe how much earlier y'all cool down there than we do here. We've been in the 80s and it has been nice (unusually cool!) but the 90s return tomorrow for a few days, and next week we are expecting lows in the 70s instead of the 50s (and upper 40s) that we've been having lately. Our air is so dry that the nights have been cooling off much more than forecast. Our forecast low for last night was 59 and we dropped to 49. It was odd. However, dry air also warms up really quickly too so we don't stay cool too deeply into the day.

When I walk Jet early in the morning, we can see the fog rising from the farm ponds. That is sort of cool, and common when the days are so warm and the nights are so cool, and is a reminder that autumn is almost here.

Dawn

I picked a bunch of peppers today. Was it a good pepper year? I keep wondering if I've finally gotten my beds improved enough to make good harvests or if it is a fluke weather thing. They are in my best beds, created lasagna style and fertilized by chickens last year. Figitelli Sicilia, Sweet Pepper is really prolific! The Blight Buster bell broke a branch because the peppers were too heavy. Even the plant from seeds saved from a store bought bell is doing great.

I guess I need to water, too. Potted up seedlings yesterday that don't look happy. I waited too long.

Remember my "twofer" cherry tomato that came up with the J D’s Special C-Tex? It has sprawled all over and continues to produce. I will save seeds because it tastes really good. I wonder if it's a C-Tex cross? Wonder if next year it will be as good. The experiment begins.

As far as I can tell, my chickens have not molted. There were a few white feathers during summer, which I attributed to the fact that the top girl was pissed at the broody white hen and pecked at her every chance she had.

I haven't seen further posts from FL or GA family. I hope they are dry and have power in Orlando.

DH bought the Whirlpool dishwasher yesterday. Now it sits in the garage until he can put it in.

Dawn, the weather difference sure is odd. We are supposed to warm up to the 90's this weekend again with mid 60's at night, but after next week the long range forecast shows it to begin cooling permanently...

Eileen, I have an abundance of peppers too! In future years this amount will probably not be too much but right now it is. I've made pickled peppers and salsa when I have time. I have so, so, so many cayennes. If I dried and powdered all that I have, I would never need to grow cayenne again. They are so pretty though--all different colors. I'm treating them as ornamentals. Let us know how your new dehydrator works out for you.

Melissa, I hope your allergy testing went well....and it was illuminating and something can be done to help you suffer less.

Thanks for all the tomatillo advice! Tom has a friend coming from Switzerland to stay for a couple of days. (He's in America for a vacation) This really is the worst possible time for a guest. But it's only 2 days and he's a musician, so Ethan will probably be interested, other than Ethan won't be here much because of school and a game. ANYway, all that to say that hopefully I can try some of the tomatillo recipes once he leaves. (I'm not sure what to feed him btw--what do people from Switzerland like to eat??? I haven't had time to research it)

No one has me beat on being a geek. I love Star Wars (seriously. I get upset that the all the books that George Lucas said were cannon to the original series no longer jive with the new Disney movies! I can talk and talk about this) Love Harry Potter and used to be on a forum for adult fans. Love Star Trek, all the super hero movies.

I saw something from the farmers almanac. It said that Winter 2018 in Oklahoma would be cold and snowy. In a way, I like the colder months. It forces me to stay in and work on indoor things and catch up on TV and books. I can't make myself stay indoors in the warm months.

Nancy, I'm so happy you found a nice place for your Mom!

Jacob, that's a lot of eggs! We eat many eggs too. When our eggs are plentiful, we use about 5 a day. The boys eat 2 each and I eat 1. I put a light up too--not a heater--but they still stop laying for a few weeks each fall. Maybe because I just leave the light on until bedtime. Not sure. Anyway, new chickens, new coop, new nesting boxes. We'll see how this fall goes. Jacob, how do you keep your coop? Type of floor, nesting boxes, etc. I'm always interested in how other people "chicken".

Gotta go. Hope I'm all caught up.

HazelJen, my international visitors all loved classic American food. Maybe have the hubby show him the grill and turn him loose on that, while you make some veggie sides?

Good idea, Rebecca. My husband has a couple of smokers, so maybe he can just smoke/grill some meat and I can make some "americany" sides.

We don't use a heater either, Hazel. I don't think it's needed as long as you have a good cold hardy breed. We have New Hampshire Reds, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Blacl Austrolorps, and some Americana bird. Our favorites are the buffs. They lay great, go broody often, and are beautiful and very gentle. The Rhode Island's are nice too but not our favorite. Great layers though. The only bird we don't like is the New Hampshire Red. They've been so sickly, the are a very competitive bird, and their eggs are horrible. The yolks come out flat and the shells are as thin as paper sometimes. None of the others have this problem.

Sometimes I use straw as bedding but recently I've been using wood shavings. I believe when my father built it he put some sort of wallpaper lining (linoleum maybe?) on the floor. We have a door that automatically opens and closes at a set date. We have a roost in the back and my dad created a kind of funnel shaped shelf underneath the roost so that we can just slide their poop out. Keeps the coop a lot cleaner as well. The egg boxes stick out the front of the coop and you open them to collect eggs out. Then we have a 50 gallon drum of water in the run we fill up whenever it's empty, usually about once or twice a month depending on how hot. Normal feeders inside. It's well ventilated with windows on the front and ventilation all around the top, yet when you crawl in during winter it'll feel like you're in a heated house. I don't know how that works.

I think we have 26 chickens now, one stupid rooster and one good rooster that is very protective of the flock but yet nice to us. The other one's a runt...

How is your coop set up? I like chickens too!

Lost my post--as always, was my most brilliant post ever. ROTFL. Blessings to you all, and we are blessed up here. Can hardly wait to get home and "see" you all.

No! Nancy lost her brilliant post! I hate when that happens!

Jacob, if you ever get a chance to take a picture of the funnel, I would love to see how it's made. We put a tray under the roost bars but it's not quite long enough. Plus poop gets on the wall behind the bars sometimes. Normally, I wipe off the wall and bars everyday. I covered the bars with laminated fabric so it's easy. I've been thinking of putting some sort of "poop sling or hammock" under the bars instead. Make it out of the laminated fabric.

I'll come back with some pictures of my coop later. I have a meeting in a few minutes. Plus, they just asked me to reboot my work computer, which I'm on. Anyway, I'll make them wait for a minute.

I have two Buff Orpingtons, a Rhode Island Red, two Easter Eggers, a Barred Plymouth Rock, a White Leghorn, a Red Sex Link, a Black Sex Link, a Buff Minorca, and a Black Cochin.

Gotta go.

Amy, I think it was a really good pepper year. Perhaps even a great one. I don't usually have a bad pepper year except when it is immensely hot and dry, which makes it difficult to keep the peppers watered enough in July and August. I think my last bad pepper year was 2014---which was our fourth consecutive drought year. It wasn't even that bad---just that it was very difficult to keep the peppers watered enough because the soil/air just sucked up all the moisture I tried to give them.

Does your two-fer cherry have any of JD's coloring or flavor? It could be a cross, but more likely is just a stray seed that got mixed in.

Congrats on the new dishwasher. Of course, it will function better once your DH gets it moved from the garage to the house and installed. I hope it is a good one. Nowadays, with appliances, it seems like a total crapshoot---you cannot even count on brand names from the past that were reliable because they've all been bought and sold so many times, and I feel like none of them are what they used to be. Having said that, our Whirlpool refrigeration rocks. It is perfect and hasn't given us a single problem yet, making it infinitel better than the one it replaced, which gave us trouble from the first month we had it. You know, we went through extreme appliance frustration here last year, including the brand new dishwasher that didn't work, but once the repair guy fixed it, it has worked perfectly and is so quiet that when you are standing right beside it, you cannot even tell it is running. It is, by far, the quietest one we've ever had and it does a good job of washing too.

Jacob, The last few years, we have not cooled down well until October or November and, in fact, September has stayed brutally hot---so having a milder September (so far, I guess 'mild' ends today) has been such a blessing. While I've been enjoying the cooler nights and early mornings, I'm not really ready for the real permanent cooldown. I do love autumn. It reminds me of Spring, but in reverse, with most plants going to sleep for the season instead of coming alive....

Y'all, watch your weather. Elevated Fire Danger returns to western OK today and tomorrow. Their humidity is going to be very low and the wind is going to be up. I think the rest of us won't have nearly as high of a risk.

Jennifer, I think having an international guest is sort of exciting, but I have no idea what their diet is like in Switzerland. All I can think of is fondue, cheese and fine chocolate. So, I Googled it, and here's your answer:

Switzerland: Typical Food

I am the opposite of a geek, whatever that would be. I think I may have watched the original Star Wars movie once on TV, but I didn't really pay attention (I imagine I was on my computer at the time) and haven't seen any of the sequels. I've never seen any of the Star Trek movies, never read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie.....and don't feel like I have suffered any by missing all that. I'm really not a movie or TV person, but if I watch anything, it is not those sorts of movies. I have nothing against them---but they just don't appeal to me. I'm not big on super hero movies either, though I saw the original Batman movie in 1965 when I was six years old and I loved it. I do remember taking Chris to see the Batman movie that starred Michael Keaton around 1989 or 1990. He loved it and was all about Batman for the next few years. Then there were a couple more Batman movies when he was still a kid, and I guess those are the last superhero movies I watched.

We use wood shavings in our coop, don't use heaters but will use a heat lamp if we have tiny newborn chickens born too early while the weather is cold at night. We have a very diverse flock and have had every breed at some point over the last 20 years, but mostly now have Americaunas, Black Copper Marans, Black Spanish, Black Australorps, all kinds of little banties that have mixed and interbred until none of them seem to look like their original grandparents or great-grandparents, and a couple of rare ones that Chris bought that are all black from head to toe (and, supposedly, internally, though I cannot verify that). The all-black roosters are mean and I jokingly call them Satan's Spawn, though their actual breed name is Ayam Cemani. They've given us a bunch of little cross-bred partly black chickens that are not all black as we do nothing to try to breed them and keep that line pure. This is what an Ayam Cemani rooster looks like:

Ayam Cemani Chickens

Chris bought cemani eggs and hatched them in an incubator. Some of the eggs produced fully black chickens, but two were spangled---one is gold spangled and the other is green spangled. We kept them all. The gold spangled one is more interesting in appearance (to me, at least) than the solid black one, but they're all very mean. We mostly ended up with roosters, not with hens. I guess it is a good thing we weren't planning to breed them because the females hate the males and run from them like crazy. lol.

Nancy, That is frustrating to type and then lose another brilliant post. Hope the trip is going well!

Dawn

Here you go, Hazel. The roost picture is a little fish eyed. In real life it's just straight so don't mind that lol. We call the rooster there LeRoy. He's a good one. The other one likes to attack the hens and LeRoy will actually attack him and beat him up when he goes after the hens like he does. We need to get rid of him. Sunbathing lol

Thanks for the pics, Jacob! We haven't dealt with a rooster yet.

Dawn, thanks for the links. We made it through the first night and it was lovely. Tom's friend and his 20 year old son visited...however, I found out that Tom's friend's wife is also vegetarian. And we had many good discussions. Apparently, even in Switzerland there are people concerned with buying local meat, etc. They are those people. Coincidence?

I'm so tired and have had a glass of wine. (people in Europe are wine drinkers afterall) and need to sleep. They were impressed with the garden and especially the chickens. Night!

Brought in 3 more tomatoes today. 2 Creole and a Rutgers. Something is eating holes in the Brussels sprouts leaves. Spinosad not doing the job. Think I need to replant carrots and spinach. Green beans booming. It's so dry...

The chickens are beautiful, Jacob, but I wish you, Jennifer, Dawn, and the rest of you would just STOP it! I WILL NOT/CAN NOT have chickens! No no no. Of course, had to read about your ayem cemanis, Dawn. LOL. Fascinating. HJ, we simply would not be able how to take the chickens on our Wyoming trips.

Oh yeah, Amy, yay for new dishwasher! Hmmm. It would last a long longer if DH just didn't hook it up, you know.

And Yay, Alexis and Mike! I was going to do a spoiler alert last night in my brilliant post, but of course lost the post. . . so glad for you all!

Brrr, it's cold here. . . after being hot all week. it's kinda raining/sleeting right now; if it keeps on, I suspect we'll see a bit of snow in the morning.

I'm not a sci-fi geek, in general. For example, I did see the original Star Wars, but only once, and never saw another one. I never watched Dr. Who. . . only just Star Trek Next Generation and Voyageur. And I AM geeky about those two! On the other hand, we love Gunsmoke, Laramie, Cheyenne (what's not to love about Laramie and Cheyenne, since we grew up in Wyoming! lol), Wanted: Dead or Alive, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie. . . sadly, once we got Roku, not finding those old westerns. But GDW DID see the very first episodes of the Lone Ranger yesterday while I was slaving away getting Mom settled in her new place, and neither of us had ever known how the Lone Ranger got to be the Lone Ranger or how exactly Tonto and he became best friends--yep, neither of us, so GDW gave me a blow by blow when I got back to the motel! Our lives are complete now. Maybe we're a little bit geeky, huh? :) And having said that, I am a GEEK about the Lord of the Rings. Our kids in Mpls and I watched the movies at least--swear on my pinky finger--oh, about 60 times. And I watched them another 20 or so by myself. And I read the books twice in the past 20 years.

And this is how we've spent the past 3 evenings after dinner: back to the motel and sitting side-by-side in our little motel chairs watching baseball on the laptop! We were laughing at how ridiculous we would look if someone videoed us.

I got a kick out of the typical Swiss food fare, too--wow. Some far out stuff! And, I have to say--fall and spring are my FAVORITE seasons here. (I mean at home in OK.) LOVE them both. Feel like I'm in heaven with a 3-month long spring and fall.

I haven't called our pepper and yard and cat sitter, but can't wait to get home. Meanwhile, hadn't even checked the weather down there. Just did. Wow. Warm, very warm. Meanwhile, brrrr here. After it being in the 80s/high 80s the past 3-4 days, is 46 tonight and raining/sleeting. Probably/maybe will be some snow on the ground early tomorrow--in the mountains, for sure.

My brain's fried, body has been getting some darned hard exercise, but I FINISHED organizing and tossing and handing off Mom's hoard today. She's not going to be happy with some of the things she has to leave behind; on the other hand, she had SO much stuff--I don't think she knows how to throw anything out! lol No one could have really helped with that, except my younger sister, but she has a job. . . she came up two days ago and we loaded up some furniture for her to take home, but in terms of digging through stuff, she simply doesn't have the time. She'll be back Sat to get the other furniture and some odds and ends she wanted. I'm glad she was able to come two days ago, though, so she knows EXACTLY what's happening financially with Mom's stuff, and she saw exactly what was in the apartment. I wanted her to sit in on all the meetings regarding the rules and what the move to the nursing home entails, and the responsibilities of the power of attorney, so if I drop dead, she won't be uninformed if she has to end up handling it all. These kinds of things COULD be so stressful, and I want she and I to be on the same page and same team--I am sure many of you know all about this! Actually, under the circumstances, we are so grateful for the beautiful home, the wonderful staff. It is such a blessing. And we're grateful we ARE able to do this. GDW is wonderful. Therefore, this is NOT stressful. Hard work, yes--stressful, no.

It'll be heaven returning to haul dirt instead of furniture! LOL

Oh--Michelle--I laughed about your Halloweens up north. Yes, in spades. Kids were decked out in their costumes and then had to cover them up with parkas, more often than not. One year in Mpls, the day before Halloweeen it snowed 18 inches. And one time in Wyoming, my two boys, about 8 and 9 at the time, were all excited to go trick-or-treating in their costumes (can't remember what they were) and it dropped to the drizzly windy high 30s or low 40s. So they had to wear their parkas--but I had the brilliant idea of running to the store and bought those cardboardish hanging jointed skeletons and taped and pinned them to black garbage bags, which we then slipped over their parkas! The boys were very excited!

Oh, I'd rather be home talking about veggies and seeds. . . soon, very soon. We hope to get out of here by Saturday; makes my heart heavy for Mom, and I hope my sister will make an effort to get up and visit Mom more often. . . blessings to all of us!

Jennifer, Coincidence? Fate? Isn't it interesting that she is a vegetarian too? What are the odds?

Rebecca, At least you are getting tomatoes. It seems a hard year for fall gardens. Caterpillars are everywhere here and are devouring everything. Something's eating my four o'clock plants---the leaves, not the stems (yet) and they're rarely bothered by anything. Some trees that I see while out walking Jet every morning (including one pecan tree on our own property) have been completely defoliated by fall webworms. It is just one of those years.

It is so hot again. I think we were only in the mid-90s yesterday, but the heat index hit 98 or 99. I'm over that sort of weather and just wish it would go away. Fire Danger increases daily now the longer we go without rainfall. Last week, and even earlier this week, it was 48-49 degrees some mornings when Jet and I left the house around sunrise for our morning walk, and I'd wear a light jacket or a hoody. It's already 71 degrees now at just before 6 a.m. so I'm guessing our cool morning walk weather has ended for a while and we're back to short sleeve weather.

Nancy, I love our chickens, but they definitely are treated as farm animals and not pets. I don't name them, etc. and never would take them on a trip. lol. Well, sometimes the roosters get a name that fits their personality....and it usually is not a flattering name. Augustus, the turkey, is special, and I'm pretty fond of him, but I wouldn't take him on a trip either. I have heard of people who bring their chickens indoors---that's not happening here. Augustus does try---if you leave the exterior door to the mudroom open for even a second, he'll follow you right in, so when bringing in groceries, I set them down on a little table in the mudroom and turn around and immediately close the door behind me or Augustus will be right there in the mudroom with me.

I was afraid y'all would hit cold weather up there. How crazy is that. I hope the rain and sleep are helping with some of the wildfires in the far northern and western states. I can picture y'all with the laptops watching baseball, Titan snoozing at your feet, and it sounds nice!

My mom is like your mom and doesn't throw stuff out. I won't say she's a hoarder, because she isn't, but she certainly hangs on to stuff forever., and she's 88 years old, so she's certainly had plenty of decades to accumulate stuff. That's one reason I've been on such a binge of purging excess stuff lately---I don't want to have a house that ends up filled with everything collected/never discarded over the decades like her house has become. It sounds like you're getting your mom all settled in and dealing with all that stuff, and I'm glad your sister was able to come be at least a part of the process. You are wise to keep her involved so she knows as much as possible about the process even though you have POA. My brother has POA for our mom and then I'm his designated alternate if anything happens to him, so he tries to keep me in the loop with her affairs too.

I know you're itching to get back home to Daff and the veggies, the flowers and the dirt. It's all here waiting for you, as abnormally warm/dry weather creep back into our consciousness.

Growing up in Fort Worth, some Halloweens were warm and some were cold. I do remember wearing a coat over the costumes some years. It has changed so much nowadays---everyone just takes the kids trick-or-treating at the mall or they go to Halloween festivals. I suppose it is safer than when we went door-to-door in our neighborhoods in the 1960s and early 1970s, flashlight in hands, so we wouldn't trip and fall in the dark, but I hate to see old traditions die.

I need to harvest tomatoes, peppers and southern peas today. I hope the weather doesn't get too hot too quickly.

Dawn

Just have a few minutes...

I noticed that Lowe's plastic papery stuff on your coop, Jacob. That's a moisture barrier, right? We put that under the siding on our coop too.

Chickens are so much fun, Nancy. I want you to have some. However, it might be a little difficult to take them on trips. I suppose it's possible...lol

Our dear neighbor who died in July used to care for ours when we took trips. I'm never leaving on a trip again. Well, that's what I said and now I want to visit Switzerland.

I HAD to water the purple hull peas and crane melons this morning. I waited until light and did that. I was a little late to work, but I got to drive by Ethan's school during the time they're out and practicing their show. That's always fun. So being late worked out. And it's nice only caring for one coop now.

What's everyone's gut feeling about the upcoming fall and winter? Early first freeze? Late first freeze? Average first freeze?

I am way behind on this thread. Took Mom to the doctor yesterday. She has surgery in 2 weeks. He hopes all he will have to do is replace the plastic parts of her old hip. But, she has developed a bump in her spine (it bows outward) and he says sometimes that causes the position of the pelvis to change, in which case something more drastic might be required.

Honey has been pulling solo cups out of my trays. I don't have anyplace taller than she can reach. She gets spayed next week. We will do an obedience class as soon as she heals. She just can't stop jumping up on people. I have two new gashes from her nails.

Rebecca, I stomped on a very large grasshopper while watering the other day. I've also been battling harlequin bugs on brassica. I bought spinosad, but haven't used it.

Jacob, please explain your funnel system. I'm not understanding from the pic. Isn't it funny when chickens lay down in the dirt and look dead. It still worries me when I see it.

H/J, so glad you are enjoying your visitors!

Uh, Nancy, my deep freeze sat in the box for a year before he agreed to set it up. I'm not holding my breath.

People who went through the depression don't throw anything away. We bought a new toaster/convection oven for my folks. She was using one that might have been 30 years old. I was afraid it would start a fire. Also got her a new cheapo timer, since she said her's was "unreliable". It might have been a contemporary of the toaster oven. They save their napkins from after church coffee to use with their Sunday night pizza. They have moved a couple of times, so they have had to clear out some things. I am following your activities, Nancy. I see a similar future here. Need to find out about medical POA. Hospital wouldn't give my sister mom's Xrays without it.

Nancy, I hope the weather doesn't effect your return trip. I am such a wuss about driving on snow and ice. I know you've had lots of practice. I hope water falls on Montana and California, and while we're at it, a little here, please. So many disasters in such a short time!

Ah, Halloween. Always seemed to be warm right up to the day and almost always seemed to turn cold for the trick or treat event.

I don't know what's on the agenda today. Find a way to protect my seedlings from the dog. Check on the aphids on the cow peas. Look for okra. Water. Again.

We've done the whole POA thing with mom. She's in good health and completely independent, but she wanted to be prepared. I'm her medical POA and my sister is her financial POA. Mom didn't want one of us having full responsibility, so she divided things up by our strengths. We are also both legal signers on her bank account and credit accounts. My uncle, who is an attorney, did all of it several years ago, and did all 3 of our advanced directives then too.

Dawn, last year was a worse year for bagworms here, at least for me. Haven't seen any this year. I do think I have army worms in the yard, though. I should address that.

I saw some article that predicted we would have a cold, snowy winter this year. I hope we get the cold (I can do without snow) to kill bugs. Wonder if this is why the squirrels have abandoned my tomatoes in favor of stockpiling pecans.

In the meantime, we need rain. So badly.

I'm not ready to give up the garden yet, but I'm also ready to make chili and stew and wear jeans and boots and bake Christmas stuff.

Honestly I feel the freeze will be normal this year. Mid October is the usual for us. I think the cool weather coming on so early has felt odd, but I think it's mainly because the last two years have been so hot. Any other year we've lived here has been about like this year, except less rain. Then again, in nature there is no "normal." It changes constantly..

Rebecca, something I noticed is that our region was labeled as "WILD" in my 2018 Old Farmers' Almanac. Cold, snowy, and wild it said.

Nancy, that weather sounds absolutely lovely. I love cold weather and can't stand heat. My favorite temps for T-Shirt weather are the 50's. I'm sure our neighbors are shocked now and again, because I'd go out to the chickens in T-shirts and flip flops on winter mornings below freezing lol. Your description of Wyoming makes me want to go to New Mexico again. The Gila National Forest is lovely- just as cool as the Rockies but prettier.

The funnel thing works works as follows:

The chickens sit on their roost as night, and when they poop it drops into a sloped tray (funnel might have been an ill description). We open doors at the back and slide it right out into the wheelbarrow and it's done.

Yes the Lowes wallpaper is a moisture barrier. It seems to help keep the coop dry to prevent molds and the such. There are many people who are against using straw for bedding because it "matts up and molds." Personally I feel that any bedding will do so in a wet coop.

Weather is not near as hot as we expected. Here it is for the next week here:

RAIN. Woo hoo....Dawn, I'll donate it to you as charity.

I watered yesterday, and picked cowpeas. Honey had the 6 pack of Brussels sprouts this morning. I love her, but she is worse than a toddler!

DH says if he gets a rotten egg, it is a white one. Speckles is the only one who lays white eggs. These are not old egg. Any one else ever had a hen lay rotten eggs (black inside).

Nancy, thanks for the offer to shame Ron into installing the dishwasher. After 40 years, I know that can't be done. I had a tub surround that sat behind the couch for 2 years. He said because I nagged him about it. (He didn't know HOW to put it up. There were no You Tube videos in those days). He will have to psyche himself up for it, since he hates plumbing. If it gets bad enough, I'll get someone to install it.

I am glad you've gotten your mom moved. That was a lot of work, good thing you two keep in shape gardening ;) And I'm glad you're on your way home.

Thursday nite, as we were driving west and the sun was straining our eyes, I told DH I wasn't ready for fall. He, of course, wants cold weather. And ok, enough cold weather say, right before onion planting time, to kill bugs, but a temperate winter up to there, so greens and fall stuff grow on without issue.I don't ask for much, do I? We have a chance for rain tonight. That would be nice.

I have decided today I need to figure out what I can direct seed. What I'm going to have time for. I should dry some herbs.

Have a lovely Saturday.

What is this little guy?

also, if anyone has a chance to look at my "plant from spring fling" thread and offer their opinion, I would so appreciate it.

HazelJen, I have those too. Might be monarch caterpillars.

I've seen lots of pics of them on different facebook groups & I'm almost positive they're monarch cats.

For all you chicken lovers, you really need to watch "the natural history of the chicken".

https://youtu.be/G7mtZjlmPjU

I think they're Monarch caterpillars as well, Hazel. We had a bunch of those and they destroyed our rue plants, but they showed up shortly after quite a few Monarchs had been pollinating it. I haven't seen anymore as of late though. Pretty little caterpillars nonetheless!

I could easily be wrong though, as I don't really know lol.

Hi guys, Lately I just can't keep up with these weekly threads. Too much going on here.

Amy, why not try spraying your cowpeas with a jet of water. That knocks the aphids off. Most times, they can't get back up and die.

I managed to can 13 quarts of tomatoes, so far, this summer. Never canned any beans. But I AM getting lots of dry seed.

I'm thinking about starting to harvest sweet potatoes, just to get a jump on it.

Bogged down, working on courses for Homesteading Edu.

George

I have been around but just not able to post much. Garden looks horrible. I am maintaining tomatoes. eggplant, flowers, herbs but other stuff I let go. I was spending too much energy water etc for stuff that hardly sells. Well I really dont sell that many flower bouquets but I like them :)

I was wondering about sweet potatoes George. I only have 16 plants that are probably ready. Then i have 10 or so that were planted a month later.

I planted kale spinach carrots beets arugula lettuce cilantro dill on Monday. Better late than never. I have hoops and row cover so I hope to extend the harvests until I move.
I have some great leads and I am considering several. Maybe working on farm with housing until I can get relocated. That would be so awesome for learning purposes. I am hoping to get moved by December. I really do not want to spend another winter in the camper especially with no hot water. Our last market is October 28 and then I will be ready to go.

Thanks George, I have been spraying the aphids with water. I tried Bugright, and then noticed ladybugs. It didn't seem to bother either aphids or ladybugs, as there are MANY ladybug larva on the plants now. These aphids have ant farmers, too. It's funny how the city girl wiped the aphids off the pods onto her jeans as she picked.

Honey is determined we will not grow Brussels sprouts this year. >:(

We have had a trace of rain. Hopefully it will continue a little while.

A cool trip back, until we got to OK! And, really, it's "cool" at home (82) NICE! We had my grandma's dining hutch coming back, and was so windy through Wy, we couldn't get the tarp secure enough, and had to stop twice to batten it down better; third time, we just took it off, and that was fine, until we got halfway between Wichita and the OK state line, when it began raining, and got a bit windy. There we were at 4 am in the dark and rain, putting the tarp back on as fast as we could. This time, at least, we got it anchored down well; only delayed us by another half hour. Scott took good care of Daff and the plants. Daff usually is just frantic to see us get home--this morning, however, we showed up and she yawned a ho-hum. On the phone yesterday he said he raided the peppers--but he sure didn't raid the jalapeno peppers!! We haven't slept since 7:30 am yesterday. We got the truck unpacked, but I think it's safe to say we won't do one more thing today!

The rain is glorious!!!!

What a fun thread! (Long though, I didn't read everything!) It's nice to read about all of the fall gardening, flowers and veggies! One thing I know is that I can really grow marigolds and begonias!!! The way my veggie garden behaved this summer, I'll hang on to those successes. Really though, they love the cooler weather, I'll miss it when the cold sets in, Amy, I'm with you although 3 days of cold weather is about two too many for me! I had such a bust in my garden this summer, I won't bore everyone with the details, but I'm looking into what may have caused the lack of just about anything! My soil tested at a ph of 8! Too high? Anyway, I want to plant garlic in October (I'm on baby watch now, any day I'll be heading to Kentucky for a couple of weeks so decided against any planting except garlic. That's one thing that flourished last year! I won't plant so much this year.) My asparagus is bee-utiful!!! So lush and tall! Next spring I will begin to harvest. Today I decided was a good enough day as any to get out there and add some aluminum sulphate which I read will lower the ph, and some composted leaves, fingers crossed I don't mess that up. I'll plant the garlic when I get back and in late winter/early spring I'll have another soil test done. I had a fatal case of spider mites on all of my tomato plants AND my cucumber plants and will do what I can to be very watchful and look into what I can do to prevent that from happening again. I raked all of my straw aside and made a pile, here's a question, is it too risky to use it as a mulch again next year? Should I get rid of it? I'm thinking of nasty killers hiding, waiting to come back to life and cause havoc next year! On another note, my hummingbirds are very active and even being somewhat friendlier to the others, letting them get a turn at my feeders. Fattening up to get ready for their trip! Oh, I have a raccoon too. I knew something had been messing around out there and yesterday I saw it run across my yard. It's been rummaging through stuff I have on my back patio, getting into my grill's drip pan and keeping it clean for me! *sigh* I hope it moves on soon. It even has moved some bricks I have lining a space around my bird feeder! How??? Why??? Have a good week everyone!!!!!!

Jen, I've seen the Natural History of Chickens. I love that salt water farm (and the owner) at 1:24. Why can't I live there?!

Jacob, this caterpillar is on my rue plant too!

Hey George! Hey Nancy. Glad you're home.

Kim, I like that you have several options! How exciting!

Rebecca, we've had some rain--very little. Hoping for more. It caused the temps to drop and it was too chilly to sit outside. Well, I suppose we could have with a long sleeves and a fire in the pit but it's windy so we just came inside.

Hailey, you're having a baby?! Congrats! Sometimes I really wish I could start over and have my babies now in the house I live in now. The same babies, of course. You and I will start harvesting asparagus at the same time. Something to look forward to in the spring--comparing and reporting on our harvests of asparagus. I'm only planting garlic this fall too. I still need to buy/order some though.

Jennifer, The caterpillar in your photo is a Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar, not a monarch caterpillar. Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars have the green and black stripes with the little yellow dots....and monarch caterpillars have green, black and yellow stripes with no dots. The plant likely is rue, a favorite of swallowtails.

Monarch caterpillars look like this:

Image of Monarch Caterpillar

Swallowtail caterpillars look like this:

Image of Swallowtail Caterpillar

George, It is good to see you here. I am thinking of digging my sweet potatoes early as well. They're not in hardware-cloth protected beds, and now that is has turned back so hot and dry, I'd like to harvest them before the voles find them.

Kim, Good luck on finding a place that seems right for you. I think working on a farm with housing included would be a great experience. I don't blame you for wanting to find a new place before it gets too cold.

Nancy, Welcome home. Daffy is just pretending she's not excited that y'all are home. You know how cats are---they are not going to admit they missed you. You can be gone a week and come home....and the dogs almost have a hysterical breakdown as they jump and bounce and wag and bark and show you how happy they are to have you home....and the cats will look at you cross-eyed and squinting as if they aren't sure who you are, then they will send you an ESP message that says "my litter box needs to be cleaned" as they turn their deliberately back on you and carefully wash their butt---all to show you how they really feel about you going somewhere and leaving them behind. The difference in dogs and cats just cracks me up.

Amy, I hope your mom's repair surgery is an easy one. I didn't even know artificial hips had plastic parts. I guess I thought they were all metal....so they'd be less likely to fail. That shows you how little I know about artificial joints.

Perhaps Honey would like to be a vegetarian, but she needs to learn that in order to have veggies to eat, she needs to let you grow them first. Our two youngest dogs were terrible about chewing on things they shouldn't---especially blankets and furniture. It took forever to mostly break them of it, though I know Princess still chews a hole in her blanket now and then. She's only a couple of years old so I still have hopes that someday she'll stop chewing on everything in sight. I'm still constantly buying her rawhide bones, real bones and all sorts of chew toys in the hopes she'll chew on them instead of chewing on something she shouldn't. One of my first clues that she has chewed on something she shouldn't is that in the middle of an ordinary day, I'll walk into the room and she is in her dog crate. Since she only goes into the dog crate to sleep at night, finding her in there in the daytime is a clue that she knows she's misbehaved and she's put herself in "time out". She is so smart---but apparently not smart enough to stop chewing on things that belong to her people. Jersey used to be a big, big chewer like that, but has finally settled down---but she's ten years old and gray-haired and, until we bought her a new dog bed about a month ago, her favorite thing to do even at this somewhat advanced age was to chew a hole in her dog bed and tear the stuffing out of it bit by bit. So far, knock on wood, she hasn't chewed a hole in the new bed. (I'm sure since I just said that, I'll go upstairs in a few minutes and find a hole in her new dog bed.)

Rebecca, Congrats on the rain. Of course, it is not raining here, but I believe the western edge of our county got some rain earlier. Before that rain arrived, it was 94 degrees here with a heat index of 102. It cooled down quite a bit when the western half of the county clouded up and got rain. At our house, we had half clouds, half sunshine (on the southern part of the property) and no rain, but the temperature dropped into the 70s already, so it feels much better than it did at the same time last night.

Hailey, Soil that is 8 is pretty alkaline. Our unimproved soil tested around 8.2, and so does our water. With many years of amending with as much organic matter as possible, we now can keep our soil in the 7.0 to 7.2 range, but if we skip a year of amending, it can head back to a higher pH really quickly. You also can use sulphur to lower soil pH and most bags of sulphur will tell you how many pounds to add per square foot to lower your soil pH a certain amount.

Have a fun and safe trip to KY.

I like to compost the current year's mulch and add it to the soil as compost. Often, my mulch has pretty much decomposed by winter on its own, and yours may or may not do the same---in some dry years it does not decompose nearly as quickly. I often just pile up several inches of chopped/shredded autumn leaves right on top of the mulch and let it all decompose together over the winter. I used to rake up all the mulch, haul it to the compost pile, layer it with chopped/shredded autumn leaves, let them decompose over the winter (watering and turning it all occasionally if we were having a dry winter) and then I'd haul it back from the compost pile (as compost) to the beds in late winter or early spring and mix it into the soil. Then I learned I could leave it in place, pile stuff on top of it, and compost it in place and save myself a ton of work. Gardening smarter....not harder....that's what I try to do. By composting the mulch, as long as it gets hot enough while composting, the composting process kills disease microorganisms and insect eggs and such. If yours doesn't break down over the course of the winter, you can just add new layers on top of it each spring. Eventually it all breaks down in place and enriches the soil as it does so, and this process should help slowly move your soil pH to a lower number.

Dawn