A Fall Weekend
Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 10:06AM I rolled out of bed at around 9:00 this morning. Faith slept with me last night because she had a nightmare the night before and didn’t want to be in her own bed. Perhaps she transferred the dreams to me because it was a long night of bad dreams so I slept in a bit today.
But now the sun is shining in a bright blue sky. Hayden is headed outside to tackle this:
This is the down side of having a six-story tall cottonwood in the backyard. The millions of leaves on the ground each fall that must be dealt with is daunting. We figured out years ago that pulling out the lawn mower and sucking them up is the most efficient method. Hayden will have to empty the bag a good 20 times or so but it still beats raking.
As soon as I got up this morning I threw two chickens into a pot of water to make several (I’m hoping for at least five) batches of chicken soup. I’m sitting at the kitchen table to write so that I can jump up every now and then to skim the foam off the top of the pot. It’s gross but oddly satisfying.
After reading all of the stories left in the comments section about mouse horrors, I’m feeling much better about the mouse problem here. Seriously - I can not believe that some of you are not in long term counseling over what you’ve been through with mice. I think there’s a horror movie waiting to be made there.
The number of mice we are catching per day has slowed. Only one got trapped over night. It’s in the garage waiting to be removed. According to Hayden it’s a gory scene with “pools of blood” (Pools? Really? How much can really be in one little mouse? I don’t know, but I’m not about to go look to find out.) so he’s going to take care of it just before he showers.
That means I need to head for the shower soon if I want any hot water. I have a rather fantastic case of bed head going on this morning. I got my hair cut yesterday. When I sat down in the chair I explained my new situation to her and asked if perhaps I needed something new and sassy done with my hair to help me feel cute and boost my self confidence a bit. I was worried she was going to say something like, “Yes! I’ve been waiting for you to ask! Let’s do this … ” But instead we discussed it a bit and both decided that we really like my hair the way it is so she just trimmed it and shaped it a bit. It’s only a little bit shorter but somehow that makes it vulnerable to bed head. Or maybe it was the bad dreams. I don’t know.
That’s what’s going on here the last Sunday in October. What are you all doing?
Reader Comments (11)
I'll come rake leaves if it gets me out of this hurricane. The prep for the water coming in with the tide makes me more nervous than the actual storm itself.
I'll loan my little ones for the leaves project. Nothing amkes them work harder at raking than the reward of jumping in a pile of them.
And are there any Halloween plans? Since you already have the pools of blood. . . ewwwww . . .are you going to do a haunted house? Or do you still have a trick or treater? I'll have to go back and see if Faith went out last year, I can't remember.
i would love to see your new haircut. i miss jaci. sorry about the mice. gross. gross. gross. no leaves here to turn beautiful colors or to fall. but the weather is pretty nice right now, so no more complaints about fall in florida.
Phoebe - I've been listening to the news - that sounds so scary! Makes me appreciate tornadoes.
KB - Halloween plans are boring. Only Faith stil trick or treats and I think she's too old for me to worry about her costume so she's on her own. Reagan will be working and Hayden and I will hand out candy.
Missy - I know - I appreciate Jaci SO much. I envy your weather. The cold is creeping in. Not my favorite.
"a rather fantastic case of bed head going on"
That is a fantastic phrase. :)
This weekend I started some beef stew around 1pm so that we could have it for dinner Saturday, and realized once I had the beef going (on the stove top) that I had no potatoes. Awesome. So, around 4 I ran to the store (I actually drove) and came back, cut up the potatoes and put them in with the meat and carrots. I thought they could cook for about an hour and we could eat.
No. They did not cook in an hour. I left the stew cooking until 10pm, and I just figured they were done by then. We ended up eating random food: Mike cooked a frozen pizza, Michaela ate some of the stew without potatoes, and Eliana doesn't really count since she eats random every day. So, that's good that I was aiming for a homecooked meal. :) We had it for lunch after church. It worked out. And tonight the kids have pizza after choir-yay!
Your tweet regarding this post made me laugh!
I roasted a chicken tonite too planning on cold chicken tomorrow if we lose power as predicted. It is eerily still right now...I told hubs I think that's where the expression 'calm before the storm' comes from.
We had a mouse die in our furnace recently. It was not nice at all. Thankfully the furnace guy handled the removal. He got in when we were replacing a grate and couldn't get out because it's a PVC smooth pipe drop. He was okay til we turned on the heat. I was just glad it was a mouse and not some larger creature.
Have a good week!
Christina - everyone knows that stew tastes better the next day anyway so just say you planned it that way.
Joyce - the potential stink of dead mice is one of my larger household concerns right now. Gross.
Pools of blood? POOLS of blood.
Ha. Love it.
Hayden is such a good kid!
And I'm glad my mouse story could provide such entertainment. lol. It's been over ten years so I've gotten over it I guess.
It's a breezy 71 degrees here, delightful fall weather. I went to the park and worked out. I sucked in fresh air and marveled at the yellow trees and blue sky.
Okay, you live in such a lovely area! I can't believe that's your backyard. Do you back up to a huge rolling prairie?