To The Surbiton Manor Born

  Half of our wood for the year Our annual wood deliveries arrived this past week. Two cords on Thursday (which I moved to the back yard myself) and another two cords on Friday (which I stacked, while we got help from one of the kids, currently the Golden Child, and her boyfriend.) It's a satisfying feeling to have it laid in and know that we will be toasty warm, even if fascists attack the power grid post-election. The season has well and truly changed. The last cosmo (and, coincidentally the first cosmo) of the summer bloomed last week. The deck furniture has been eaten by a large chocolate blancmange that has taken up residence outside of our kitchen window. On the positive side, the grass and clover that I started from the end of September through early October has taken over the dirt patch that was our back yard after I'd raked and ripped up the creeping Chalie infestation. Too early to say whether the grand army of nematodes has managed to slaughter the foul invasive whit

I've been using October 12, 2024 - my annual marathon date - as the end of summer all year long. That marks #15. With age-grading, #5 fastest.  Not terribly surprisingly, it turns out that it truly is the end of summer. Leaves are at full color, and this week we will get a hard freeze. I pulled the last of the vegetables: some tomatoes, the second lettuce crop planted in early September (which produced very well indeed), and, of course, jalapeño peppers (which went berserk and couldn't be stopped). Hopefully the grass / clover seedlings that I planted over the past few weeks after ripping out the creeping Charlie have set. The first part of the lawn that I did this seems to be in good shape. I'm worried about the bits that I only got around to seeding last week. There is a haze of green across all the bits that were laid waste to in the culling. We ate a squash soup for dinner. There's a fire in the fireplace to keep the house warm.  Fall is here.