Autumnal Chores

3 September 2012
8:51 PM

Sunrise at	6:39 AM	in direction	71°	East-northeast
Sunset at	8:59 PM	in direction	289°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 20 minutes (6 minutes, 42 seconds shorter than yesterday)

Birch turning yellow with pink parsley geranium flowers

This may be the last weekend that the flowers hang on from the deck.  The low is predicted at 38F on Thursday and that is about the time I bring in those I will winter over in doors.  One autumnal chore has been to move the plant stand out of the garage and into Mom's apartment, freeing up storage space for wood to dry out and warm up before being converted to fuel.

I moved the tomato plant downstairs under a lamp and the vining plant with red trumpet-shaped flowers whose name I can never remember and can't seem to find on the internet.  Later this week I will move the fucshia plant, the geraniums and vining parsley geranium indoors.  I am not sure what to do about nasturtiums.  There are two herbs planted among them that I am not ready to harvest, but the nasturtiums do not like indoors.  After one day, the leaves will start to turn yellow.  That may be different if there is a light, but I am not sure.

Moving the plant stand further catalyzed plans for reorganizing the garage.  We recycled cans, glass, plastic, and paper that we'd been accumulating.  I moved my pots, potting soil, and implements to a larger stand where I can get to them more easily.  Gary built a wood storing rack so we can bring more wood in at once. I took some items that I had downstairs up to the third floor bedroom where I will repair and store them as they are heirlooms.  We took a few things to the transfer station for disposal and put a desk which we have never used since moving here in the reuse area of the transfer station.  All in all, it is a vast improvement.

Then, although I promised I would not speak again of the chore-that-shall-not-be-named in Wood Stove Fire -  Forest Fire, we still have much left to do.  Yesterday and the day before have been spent tending to winter preparations, as will today.  We found that we are short 46 cubic feet of birch wood.  At just over $2/cubic foot, our provider either owes us $80 or more wood.  That pile has been stacked in the wood shed.  The pile of spruce is being split and stacked while a pile of birch waits to be split.

When we are not working on the chore-that-shall-not-be-named, the piles are covered by tarps against the rain.  August rains did not come until nearly September this year, but Saturday I worked in the rain for much of the day.  The trees are turning yellow, but the flowers bloom bravely, as they will do until the first frost.  What we have in the ground are perennials or ones that reseed, so their offspring will surface again next year when the snow melts and the ground warms.

In the face of seasonal change, blooming like there is no tomorrow

If I do not attempt to over-winter the nasturtium, they may or may not produce viable seed.  I am gathering seeds, in case they were not started from vendor seeds which are created sterile.  Monsanto and other seed companies want to be the only seed providers in the world, which frankly to me is very, very scary.  But that is a different topic.

One way or another, this is probably the last weekend I will have flowers hanging out on the deck

The glory of the Interior under story