Fall has finally arrived this week. The temperatures have fallen significantly. The chickens have been molting for about two weeks now...we are seriously missing those fresh eggs everyday :-(
About a month ago, I fell down the back steps one morning when I was going down to let the chickens out. What a wake-up call that was! It happened so fast, and yet in slow motion. When it was over, I was able to stand up, but ohhhhh the pain! I had bruises and scrapes from my shoulder blades to my lower back (which took the brunt of the fall along with my tailbone). I went to the doctor the next day to have x-rays taken and make sure I did not break anything. Luckily, I didn't. Just very bruised. A month later and things are better, the scrapes and bruises are gone, but I still feel it in my lower back and my tailbone still hurts.
My husband has redesigned and rebuilt the log splitter so it will work more efficiently. He is almost done and hopefully we will be able to start using it this coming weekend. We have plenty of wood for this winter (we split it all last year); but we need to get next year's wood ready now. We still only have about $300 into it...much better than the thousands they want in the stores!
Hopefully, all of you are okay who were in the path of Sandy. We were on the outer fringes of it and sustained a lot of wind and a little rain. Some gusts were pretty strong - I would guess 50 mph, maybe higher. As a matter of fact, we had just covered the greenhouse for the winter last Saturday and Monday, Sandy decided to whip the plastic off the top...my poor little bean, potato and broccoli plants got blown around. But we were able to get it back on that evening when my husband got home from work. Other than that, we have a lot of leaves on the ground and maybe lost a couple trees in the woods, but nothing near the house or yard. And we did not lose power. We were lucky.
We have fired up the woodstove a few times now as the nights have been dipping down into the 30s. This weekend we may have a night or two in the 20s....it's too early for this!!!!
So, between the above, squeezing in a couple of last camping trips for the year, and the everyday crap that comes with working off the homestead, we have been keeping busy and hanging in there. I hope you are as well.
