Are squirrels monogamous?

That is one of many questions I answered on Friday night.
Oh no I 'm sorry , I learned it on Saturday morning.
VERY early on Saturday morning.
There's nothing like a frightful 2 AM wake up on Halloween.
Yup - those darn flying squirrels were busy once again.
But by 4 AM there was no ignoring the noise.
A noise like no other.
The noise of rodent teeth chewing wood.
Since the attic hatch is in Baby's room, he was brought to our room.
SP began his squirrel crusade.
It was scary and sounded violent.
Have you ever been below an attic who's floor insulation is being ripped up?
It's a racket and it is unsettling.
Needless to say we didn't get back to sleep.
Nor did SP find anything in the insulation.
So he came back down to talk to me and that is when he heard it.
WHAT?
SCRITCHYSCRATCHYSRICTCHYSCRATCHY!!!
Coming from the wall!!!!
Yes... the damn flying squirrel was in the wall between our room and baby's room.
How?
Well... he went down the dryer vent.
Fortunately for us, when we moved the washer and dryer to the basement
to make room for Baby, we left the wall "in tact" so that if the house sells
the new owners can decide where they want the laundry.
SO... SP slowly detached the panel.


















Then we saw, hiding behind the old face plate, the culprit.




















So SP reached in to grab him...










but that didn't go well. The squirrel decided to run around the room,
and under the crib, and through the clothes.
There were a few screams uttered from both me and Shane.
Fortunately we were locked within one small room.
The squirrel finally decided to hide under the heater.
This is him when he decided to come out.
















SO we tried to catch him AGAIN!
Did you know that like lizards squirrels drop their tails?
















Well they do.
We finally got him.
This is him on his way out.
Kicking
and
screaming

all

the

way

to

his

high

speed

dirt

nap.

Spooky Table Setting?

My dear husband SP decided to spiff up our Rose Hip vases in honor of Halloween.
I think they are pretty nifty if I can say so myself!

Spooky Table Setting?

My dear husband SP decided to spiff up our Rose Hip vases in honor of Halloween.
I think they are pretty fun!

A Rosy Autumn Bloom

Mmm rose hips!

These

two

are

made

for

each

other.







I think rose hips are a beautiful Autumn bloom.

I am looking forward to seeing the bright red Winter berry as well.

Friday's Harvest

In preparation for putting the garden to bed this weekend, I made a Harvest dinner on Thursday night. I had wanted turkey (nothing better than turkey left overs for sandwiches) so I added some roast veggies from the garden to the roasting pan. This is what I harvested for dinner.
3 + cups of Brussel Sprouts





















5 Scarlet Nantes Carrots






















And any out of place beet

This doesn't bode well

Baby decided he needed to wear Daddy's helmet for our walk.














Uh oh!!!

It looks like all three of them will be playing hockey.

I wish they could have taken after me and spent every day in a pool or something.

Crows Rise Farm and my favorite Angora Lady!

Karen, of Crows Rise Farm, is one of my favorite Angora breeders/growers/knitters in the state.

I visited her at the Common Ground Fair and then again at the Fryeburg Fair.

I adore her, her work, her calm peaceful nature, and her patience with me when I am bubbling over with questions and and prodding her to help me learn more.

Thank you Karen!

I recently bought an infant hat









from her for the birth of Jade, our good friends first child.
I am having one of Karen's felted hats made for my sister for Christmas. I will not tell you anything about it in case she actually sat down to read my blog, but it should look something like one of these fun creations:






















The best thing about Karen are her rabbits! They are English Angoras, and I am 98% sure these are the bunnies I want.







I recently bought some of Karen's yarn, and was pleasantly surprised that it is not all that slippery to knit with.

So now I know I CAN knit angora! SP just talked to the yarn lady in town and discovered that she is offering spinning classes. I think that's is my next and final step. If I can learn to spin, I can spin angora; if I can spin angora, I can have me some bunnies! YEA!!!!

Distracted Driver

Strawberry Jelly for Halloween!

Yum!
My latest round was super easy! You can do it too! Here's a picture of what you need (minus the sugar, bowl, and some freezer jars!)














See that pectin packet?
It has ALL the directions on the back.
3 steps of directions - that's it!
Quick and easy - I promise!
I just ate it on an English muffin with butter.
It was breakfast and it was beautiful.
I know it contains pectin, but I don't care.
I had to try it and I am so happy I did.
This recipe was inspired when I found these plastic freezer jars from Ball's at the market.

















I highly recommend them!
This recipe could not be any easier.
Its a cinch to clean up after too!
So go make some jam.
You know you want to.
What?
You don't have the time?
Really?
You are too busy?
Really?
If you think you are too busy to make jam, picture this.
I made this jam last night in the course of an hour WHILE picking up Daughter from the bus, finishing Mama Cucina's crock pot mac and cheese for dinner, getting ready for a class I needed to go to, and getting the kids ready to be in the car to go to Puck Stoppers soccer game.
One busy hour that included jam and all it's clean up!
You can do it - I know you can!

A gift from the cat

He is SUCH a hunter.

This fall in particular!

Are there more rodents this fall?

More birds on the ground?

Every day there is a new present.

Sunday's Sandwich

We now have one less squirrel in the attic. I never knew that squirrels liked to commit hari kari.

Unexpected October Bloom

We were raking last weekend.

Well, to be honest, SP spent most of the time on top of the tractor blowing the leaves off the lawn.

Does that make him a red neck?

Funny part was he actually had a rake in his hand most of the time, looking like he was jousting some unseen leaf monster.

I digress.

After he tractor-raked the lawn, he hand raked the flower beds and found this surprise bloom.










I love it.

Snap dragons are special.

They will always and forever remind me of my maternal grandmother Mima.

Thanks HiHo!

Sunday's Sandwich

A tool of his trade

This is one of SP's tools that he uses in the woods everyday.

When I look at it, part of me thinks,

"Oh it's just a half sized computer!"

Then he turns it on.

SP starts to use it, fluently.

That's when my head wants to split open and melt.

It contains tons of very big, very details maps.

That thing scares me.

It's wicked smart.

So much for a humane solution!

I have squirrels. Yes. I do.
We have squirrels.
They live in our attic.
They play in our attic.
They romp at all hours of the dark early morning.
They cause nightmares.
My kids have nightmares.
I have nightmares.
They really need to leave my attic before we all go insane.
All I can say is that this:












did not work!
So... we are off to find rat traps and lots of them because this is getting out of hand!

Brussel Sprouts

This was our final Brussel sprout harvest. The plants are actually still in the garden, and I would not be surprised if they have grown some more in the week since we harvested them. Seeing that this was the first year we grew them I have to say that this plant is not hardy but one of the most sustainable garden plants ever! It just keeps giving and giving and giving! Love it!

Potato and Onion Harvest

Not bad if I might say so myself!

ZInnias are another Fall Bloom!

A month to date

...the jelly is gone and the experiment worked!

Refrigerator jelly is a success!

Dianthus Blooming in October

Baby picked this for me yesterday!

How wonderful it is to still have fresh blooms after our first frost!

Lovely!

I put it on my kitchen window sill.

It is HiHo's favorite color.

Miss you HiHo!

Babies grow up

...and quickly become almost as tall as their mothers.





















So...



















I think I need to hold tight to this little apple picker!

Before and After

This is our harvest of organic apples.

Before

















After

Ugly Apples and Freeocal Foods

We are fortunate enough to live near by an orchard that is half organic and half conventional. The organic trees are harvested first, and we are lucky enough to have permission to access the orchards and gather up the fruit that is not picked.

What's better than free and local food?

Can I coin a new word - freeocal?

But there is one sad thing about organic produce - nobody like ugly food! There are some delicious, yummy, tasty, crunchy, nutritious, nectar of the Gods apples left there just for us because they are too ugly for sale at the local markets.

Poor poor apples - but lucky lucky us!

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Commonly known as the Virginia Creeper, this is one of my favorite native plants.

Nothing is better than having a favorite plant that turns beautiful colors in the fall.

I particularly liked this sample because it shows how healthy it is with all the bunches of berries.

But as I turned to look around the orchard we were in, I saw an even more striking sight.

There on the far edges of the field were the discarded remains of old apple trees.

Blackened limbs and trunks piled on top of each other creating a long wall of Andy Goldsworthy-esque natural art.

Am I the only on that finds this beautiful?

One is the Loneliest Number

One lonely eggplant grew in the garden!

Dancing Carrot

Hand Lotion

This is an interesting recipe that has been in my family at least since 1940. The hand writing is Baba's but the sticker on the bottom may tell us that the recipe may have came from a pharmacy in New York. Either way - it's pretty cool!

Ingredients (combine and put in bottle pump)
1 pint Bay Run
1 pint Rose water
1 pint glycerine
a few drops carbolic acid.

My horses

I live surrounded by horses but none of them are mine.

I really wish they were mine, for their sake, I wish they were mine!

Is it OK if I call them mine?

Well good! Thanks! Here are my horses.































But these? THESE are MY colts!!!

Carrot Love