Quiet Friday Joy

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~ George Eliot

Composty Goodness

Is it weird that I’m totally psyched for free compost?

The local landfill collects leaves, branches and yard waste all year long, and then each spring gives away the compost and wood chips created from them for free. You’re allowed two truck loads while they have it, all you have to do is drive in and they will fill the bed with their bucket loader. How cool is that?

Since I had to work today (and tonight), my mother went to the landfill for me, filled my Dad's truck and my brother is going to unload it tonight on my back hill near where the raised beds are going (I’m so glad I didn’t get the raised beds in this past weekend - hooray for procrastination!).

So I've been talking about reclaiming my backyard since last summer. Want to see what I have to work with? Please keep in mind that my Dad is the über-packrat and I have inherited much of his junk since he and my mother moved to a smaller house:

Old compost pile, leaf pile and a wooden "thing" of my Dad's

(no clue what purpose it ever served)

Behind my shed = my new fencing, 2 metal oil drums, my ladder and a ton of old rotting wood that my Dad thought he'd one day use

My back hill ~ as of Saturday morning, this was covered in leaves, downed branches, boards, pipes, scrap metal and plastic gutters (look how clean it is now. The arching branches belong to the lilac bush that is older than I am)

The old fence that needs to come down, a ton of bricks and cement blocks (all the pipe, plastic gutters and scrap metal is still sitting here waiting to find a home - preferrably in someone else's yard!)

The dregs of my wood pile, the old wood splitter that needs to go, along with the cable coil that Dad will never use

So this is my backyard ~ it's scary and very hillbilly-ish. I wasn't going to show anyone pictures of this, but I want to document the before and afters. If it wasn't for my brother's help and motivation, the three truck loads of brush, leaves and branches that we got rid of this past weekend wouldn't have been removed.

There is still a lot to do, but its a good start! And every time I walk out back I get giddy; the vision I hold in my mind of how I want it to look is getting clearer and clearer

I leave you with images of my sweet Sadie enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun (the top left is my fav). Enjoy your evening!

sleepy puppies

Two of the cutest puppies in the whole world...

Sadie the Wonder Dog and the little Molly-wog
sleepy puppies after a hard day of playing - oh what a life!

Mother Nature's Holiday Gift

Surprise and excitement overtook me when I looked out the window this morning.

I bundled into my winter jacket, dug my winter boots out of the closet, threw on my hat and mittens, leashed the dog and stepped out into a winter wonderland!

Snow falling and drifting, covering the trees; everything silent, muffled...the world covered in a wooly blanket of white.

I've never had a dog that loved snow so much as Sadie. She raced around like a wild dog, burrowing into it, covering her whole body, changing her fur color from mostly black to all white. She then collapsed in the house with one of her new Christmas toys (she knows what Christmas is! She loves it! Sadie has her own stocking and wiggles frantically for every toy to be pulled out of it. She grabs them - one at a time - and makes a pile in the center of the room. When the stocking is empty, she sits on top of her pile and plays with the toy that is the most favorite of that minute).

Tallulah is not a fan of snow, she likes to watch it though...from inside the house, in the warmth and comfort of her kitty bed.

I hope that you get glorious winter (or summer) surprises today, too! Have a great weekend all!

my furry roommates

Sadie



tallulah






with whom i share my house, my food, my bed (unfortunately) and my space. not such a great pict of sadie, i'll have better ones later. this is typical tallulah though, always on the wrong side of the door!