Much to do...

Fall is such a busy time. I have a daunting list of projects, small and large. One small one was to fix the long broken latch on the deck gate. This is the main entrance to our home, and there is fence on the deck to keep the dogs safely in our yard. The latch broke ages ago, and we never missed it, so left it alone.

But now we have Ziva, who is large enough to do things that Flirt the toy poodle and Poppy the antique pug cannot. And she has a cunning brain to go with her brawn. Can't you just look at this face and see the intelligence that resides within? It took her no time at all to learn that if she stood up and rested her front legs on the gate, then backed up, the gate would open. She has not taken advantage of this to run amok, but it seems that she certainly could so Chris kindly replaced the missing parts of the latch yesterday. Now I have to train myself to use it!

Much larger projects will be to clean the basement and then load all this wood into, then stack it. The basement is not a lovely place to be... it is old and damp and dark and prone to massive spider populations. I am not looking forward to the work of moving the logs, but it will feel so nice to go into the cold season knowing we have a gracious plenty of good firewood. Then we need to put the kayaks away in the garage attic. Maybe I can take one more good paddle before that happens.

Gardens need to put to bed, and a winter shelter for the ducks prepared. We need to decide if our plan to enlarge the run-in shed will happen this year, and put up a wind break either way. For today, though, there is an article to write and submit, and the chicken coop needs a good cleaning. In the next blog I'll tell you about the new happenings in the hen house!~