grateful today

I’m the designated freecycler around here. When my friend Susan needs something she calls me up and I post a request. We’ve scored her a juicer and several plastic climbing frames for her rescue cats.

Yesterday I went to pick up a little plastic slide offered to us for kitten use. I got to drive on new-to-me roads and see neighborhoods I’m not familiar with. The directions I’d been given were excellent and I didn’t get lost. The slide was by the curb and on top was a plastic bag filled with cat toys. Bonus!

I brought in the blue donut toy this morning and ever since my day has had a spinning-ball-in-donut soundtrack.

(I’ve also had fun responding to WANTEDs on Freecycle, which always feels like winning a contest. “I’ve got one of those I don’t need! Bingo!!”)

- Estyn

My favorite thing about canning, what makes me truly happy, is gloating over my hoard. I like to count jars. I like to list what I’ve made this season. And what I still want to stash away.

Last night I turned the box of tomatoes into sauce.

Inner squirrel satisfied.

- Estyn

There are squirrels leaping through the yard all day long, rushing around with their mouths full looking for places to stash their nuts.

The falling leaves are bringing out the same kind of behavior in me. Stopping at the farm stand, I was unable to pass up the twenty pound box of ripe bruised tomatoes. Sauce! I will need sauce this winter!!

In truth there are already eleven jars of tomato sauce in my freezer, made in small batches as the fruit in the garden came ripe. But my squirrel brain says that eleven will be woefully insufficient.

Time to plug in the big freezer and get down to some serious stashing. Meals I can be grateful for in advance.

- Estyn

Now that the weather has cooled, there’s a lot of snuggling going on around here.

And I haven’t yet lit the wood stove. That’s when we can expect some major kitty pile ups.

- Estyn

The little leaping rat terrier at 2:42 is Happy’s long-lost baby brother.

-Katy

My friend B came to visit, and brought me two boxes of photographs that she had been storing for me in her basement. Riffling through them I came across an envelope marked Wolfie Baby Pictures. Witness the cuteness:

- Estyn

A couple of weeks ago I felt harried by the coming end of summer. But now I’m ready, and enjoying the transition.

Growth is slowing down at the same time as the crop is most abundant. The colors are intense and bold. Tall, tall sunflowers are towering over the tomato bed, while red and coral zinnias peek out between the plants. And the harvest is bountiful.

- Estyn

Yesterday we went for a long (by my standards) bike ride. I saw many enjoyable things:

A couple of turkey feathers tucked into the top of a fence.
A beautiful, abundant, weedy garden.
The slow green river.
An old man riding a red mountain bike very fast.
A small white cat wearing a blue collar, walking across a little wooden bridge.
Three chickens.
Two chipmunks.
One garter snake.
The ridge from below.
Adirondack chairs sitting in back yards alone or in pairs.

- Estyn

I used to dislike the color yellow.  I can’t imagine why.

-Katy

Happy likes to forage for crab apples this time of year.  She likes to enjoy them with a little palate cleanser of deer poop.  But when she’s tired out, she lets me hand feed her.

-Katy