Home & Garden Show

We went to the Home & Garden Show last weekend and all we got were these Flowering Maples
They are pretty - pretty high maintenance. They were sold as perennials but they turned out to be not so perennial. More like delicate little flowers that constantly scream for attention.

Up to Our Elbows

This kind of icky, gooey fun only happens once a year. Our daughters love this day not just for the carving but because it's tradition to also watch Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time in the year as we carve our creations.

Our oldest daughter is the photographer for this picture and she captured the laptop in the background that is playing Nightmare Before Christmas.

Working on the Farm

Look carefully... who's actually doing the work? Again, we cannot recommend highly enough, the exploitation of youth labor. Actually it was along the lines of Tom Sawyer's fence painting scheme but whatever works.

Corn Maze

Time for the annual trip to the Island to find the perfect pumpkin and test our navigation skills in the corn maze. We picked the perfect weekend, everything was still dry and relatively warm.


The scarecrow was dead on, we needed to go North, unfortunately there was only one scarecrow and she didn't have time to help all the lost souls. However, we had an ace up our sleeve...


The trick to the corn maze is to send the 12 year old Energizer Bunny ahead to look around all the corners to see if they dead-end. This maze is quite large and can take 45 minutes or longer to complete so young energy, if not essential, is greatly advantageous.

This walkway (one of two) let us get a bird's-eye view of our location within the maze. It also let the Energizer Bunny catch her breath.

We do our part to engage in the exploitation of youth but we don't like to kill the goose that... - well you know.

October 3rd

On October 3rd, we visited Grandpa's memorial site.


He is very missed and very much in everyone's thoughts.

The Pool is Closed

Many thanks to all the family that came and gave a hand with this project.

This is the saddest part of welcoming Fall. The pool toys are cleaned and covered with plastic for the winter. The hum of the sand filter and the clicking of the pool vacuum are replaced by the snap of the pool cover. Of course even the snap will be replaced by the north winds that will roar in over the next month or so.


As we look around the property and note all the projects we weren't able to start this year, it's easy to forget all the ones we were able to accomplish. For example, we are half-way to having our x-mas lights up - nevermind that we never took them down last year. It was low on our to-do list this year.

Hmmm, what else? Ah yes, the fencing! We have lovely new fences and gates that enormously improve on curb appeal. And we are winning the battle of the Bells vs the blackberries thanks to Kubota, Husqvarna, Stihl and Lilly Miller. We've reclaimed an acre of pasture and natural horse shelter. An enormous amount of debris from previous owners has been transported and recycled. The mud pit behind the garage has been replaced with a framed gravel bed. The back pasture has been mowed and tansy has been pulled.

Tomatos and Blackberries have been harvested. Strawberry, Raspberry, and Apricot freezer jam has been put up. And this weekend we hope to dry and preserve tomatos in olive oil from a recipe in the Oregonian that a friend of mine shared with me. School clothes and supplies have been obtained.

Both kids have learned to operate the garden tractor and the youngest has learned to operate both the little tractor and the big tractor. The oldest wouldn't mind learning more, but it would have to be at night (no sun) and as long as she could wear fangs and a dark cape.

We still need to trim the roses, cut back the peonies, RoundUp the tansy, have a contractor install new gutters, cover the barn roof before we get hay, and find good hay for the horses. Then we'll move on to nesting for winter.