Right Across The Bike Path…

…but no one underneath at the time.

Meanwhile, another tree down, but in this case caused by a different agent.

That’s a lot of chewing

The e-bike, with its battery, now down the basement, and the old standard bike up in the garage. While I don’t go as fast and as far on the non-electric machine, I still go pretty fast and pretty far, and today’s ride in the wind and cold felt like the perfect way to spend some time outside.

Because we got 3 months of Apple TV free as a result of a phone upgrade, we are now watching Ted Lasso. While I swore I would never spend time watching something so corny, I have to say its a whole lot of fun.

Indoor Day…

…except for one walk.

Patchy drizzle and freezing drizzle will continue into this evening across southern Wisconsin along with areas of fog. With surface temperatures hovering near freezing, there remains a potential for slippery spots to develop on untreated roads and walkways. Elevated surfaces including bridges and overpasses will be most susceptible.

Carpet Shopping?

Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like…basement repairs might happen before Christmas. And, that being the case, replacement carpet needs to be ordered pretty much now. Never a fun job, but not as bad as anticipated.
Strange times in the back yard. After days of extreme business on and beneath the feeder, today not a soul in sight, except, just as darkness descended, a pair of rabbits. Hard to understand; perhaps a hawk lurking in the canopy.

What with the warmer temperature, I was able to get in an in-the-dusk bike ride, with fore and aft blinkers blinking brightly.

With Some Kids…

…and what about those pumpkins?

With the boys, we smashed pumpkins, as feed for the chickens

While Katy was at tennis, Will and we took the dogs for a long walk and came across four almost black white-tailed deer eating pumpkins along the path.

And then, in our back yard, we find that our old pumpkins are popular with squirrels.

Readying For Winter…

…not that we really want to. Things went up and things went down. Bike batteries and bike rack—down. Snow shovels—up. Also coming up (to rest proudly on the rowboat), the refinished kayak. Meanwhile, garage rearranged into winter mode, apple and pear tree pruned. Also, since the geese are getting fat, some Santa workshop work.

Furthermore, because of a gentle reminder (in other words a little prodding) I finally got around to putting a few drone clips together of the Serendipity shoreline (Thomson’s and Ellen’s).

A Pint of Stain…

…and six screws comprised the extent of purchases here on this black Friday. On our walk, we did try to buy a late and a cappuccino at SweetSpot, but it was too crowded for our comfort. On top of that, the library was closed, so we came home empty handed.

About 100 cranes in one flock passed overhead as we were heading out for the walk. I’m guessing they are looking for a place not quiet so cold and cloudy.

Takeaway T’giving…

…with neighbors. This year in a house instead of, as last year, a back yard.

Full T’giving dinner from the Black Sheep, and it was good. However, rutabaga, old family-recipe dinner rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, and mincemeat pie (not to mention pumpkin) put it over the top.

Six rounds of Sequence and lots of talk.

Time Wasted

To various big box stores looking for a specific replacement table saw blade, to no avail. Much as I’m opposed to it, online shopping is the only kind of shopping I can really do. Meanwhile, in the phenology department—a cloudy, breezy, transitional kind of day, with the barometer dropping, and some drizzle, and then declining temperatures, in the offing.

So, to cheer things up, a photo from the file cabinet:

Won’t be long now.

Safflower Sucks…

…even squirrels won’t eat it.

So why is it an ingredient in most packages of birdseed? Same reason as cracked corn, which squirrels will eat in a pinch but birds won’t—heft, I say, bags sold by weight, not by volume. (Theoretically, cardinals will eat safflower, but, as far as I can tell, only reluctantly.)

Here’s what I think should be in birdseed mixes, in addition to sunflower and millet:
Quinoa, rice, barley, oats, farro, milo, soy beans, bulgar, field peas, triticale, spelt, dried crabapples, and peanuts.

That would make you want to be a bird.

Wrastling With The Dishwasher

The old machine, here pretty near as long as us, gave up the ghost, which generated, overnight, considerable removal dread and task avoidance fantasy. However, this morning we faced the monster, a thing seriously built in, including a floor excavated to accommodate our exceptionally low counters. Getting it out required removing trim (sawing, chiseling, prying), lifting the counter top (removing anchors, jacking up), and then heaving and hoisting (with a pitchfork using a big block of wood as a fulcrum), and a whole lot of yanking.