Christmas cactus, summer results, and catching up

First blog in a long time.    I think there was a lot of

George's Christmas Cactus

"holding breath" this summer, and the blog got away from me.

With the rainy start to the season, we couldn't even get into the hay field until July.   We kept trying to get in more hay, and finally had to give up.

I thought for sure we would not make the minimum production (hay and vegetables) we needed to make this year.   One more wagon load of hay would have done it.

But, unexpectedly, the last few storage onions in October put us over the top.   Hooray!!  It was very close.

The picture is the christmas cactus in George's home office.   It seems to be all ready for Santa.

In what is becoming a "day before Thanksgiving" tradition, George and I took advantage of unusually warm weather (accompanied by a downpour, but one can't have everything) to put the snow blower attachment and chains on the lawn tractor, change oil, haul the snow tires out of storage, and bring in miscellaneous pieces of small equipment.   More oiling yet to come, another day.

We are fortunate this year to have the following from the gardens in the root cellar:   carrots, potatoes, beets, and horseradish.   Green beans and broccoli are in the big freezer.   In the main cellar are acorn squash, butternut squash, sugar pumpkin, and lots of sweet onions.

We are looking forward to visiting with old friends on Thanksgiving, and we miss family who are far away.   Hope everyone has a good and memorable day.