Sink that equipment in....

Whew....a celebratory post.    After tucking the hay rake behind some trees, and parking the hay wagon on high ground, we sank the last of the heavy equipment under cover. 

Getting the hay baler into the metal garage is always interesting, because the garage door opening is barely bigger than the widest part of the baler.   The baler is very long so it has to come in at a sharp angle, and the baler is difficult to back up. 

George drives and I make various hand signals from the ground, indicating if he is about to run into something, like the side of a building or another piece of equipment.  He is largely backing up blind, given the tight space.

This year, we not only got the baler into the metal garage, but the farm tractor too.   In previous years, we parked the farm tractor in the hay barn for the winter.  Since the farm tractor is now in the metal garage, I will not be running into this tractor in the dark, on the way to feeding the sheep....all winter.   I have tended to do that in the past.  Whoo hoo!!    My knees are already feeling better.

I am reaching back to November 1 for this photo, as I didn't have my camera with me today.

Yesterday, we met friends for Thanksgiving - really nice to see them.

Later, George and I stopped in Freeport at LLBean to pick up some bedding and Christmas snow shoes.  

Today it was beautiful and mild.   I brought in a couple of rutabaga to see if they were still good to cook, and we started putting away the hay equipment.   The ground has been so soggy that we've been putting moving off equipment around.   But, today the ground was better.   It always takes a bit of fiddling by the both of us to get the disc mower safely under the overhang behind the barn, but that is done now.

I didn't get nearly what I expected out of the gardens this year, due to problems with my back and leg, both of which are fine now.   I thought that we hadn't made the amount we needed for agricultural land classification purposes this year, which includes both products sold and value of products used on farm.

But, I added everything up today, and we just made it.    Hooray!    Turns out that since I planted more than in the past, I brought in a decent amount of food for our own use, even with losing quite a lot to weeds and lack of picking.   We also sold more hay than last year, which is good.

Things that one does not expect

Beam and metal rod

(1)  Never know what one will find when open up a wall.   This house was built in the 1930s.   The slanted beam may indicate that this side of the house was originally a shed, which was enclosed to expand the house.    Several vertical metal rods appear to be there for structural reasons, but exactly why they were added isn't clear.


(2)  Every so often, I find a mouse in one of the water buckets in the barn.  A mouse falls in during the night, can't get out, and usually drowns before the next morning when the buckets are checked.   It is sad, but I've kind of gotten used to it over the years.

This morning, there was something bigger in a bucket.   A large rat fell in sometime during the night and drowned.   He was floating with his face up and tail down, under a thin, clear layer of ice.    I don't like rats generally, but this was a handsome rat.  

We don't live near a stream or pond.   I sometimes wonder what the wild creatures do for water around here.   There were night-frozen puddles just outside, because of all the rain lately.   But, I guess the open water in the bucket was tempting.   He was trapped in that icy water in the dark.   Sad.

First snow and the vote

Snow on the rose

Snow and roses is a good combination.

Maybe I should tidy up the porch before we trip over things under the snow.      And, we need to...bring up the table by the road; bring in the heavy equipment; oil/grease the tractor; trim hooves; pull up the temporary fencing; bring in the last rutabaga; get snow tires on the car and new tires on the truck; move hay that needs to get moved in the barn; put away pallets; put away tarps; bring in the farm sign (needs repairs); clean out more of the sheep pen....

But, the list of inside-the-house chores looks good this morning too.

Maybe I'll try a bit of both.  But, the important thing is to remember to vote.

Colors

Sticks for kindling

I was out back for a walk, and picked up some sticks.   They have lost so much bark that they look like drift wood.


Quiet day here.   We were supposed to do some equipment maintenance, but decided to give most of the day over to work-related paperwork, along with spaghetti and a wood fire to take off the chill.

With any luck, we'll get to the maintenance next weekend.

Weed shrub fruit

 

Sun out

Nothing like the light after a storm. 

We only got the edge of Sandy here:  puddles, soft ground, and oddly warm wind from the south. 

By the side of the road

Two little pumpkins for $1, and rutabaga $1 each.

The pictures are of pumpkins and veggies left by the road today.

Rutabaga

The rutabaga had been through three frosts, so it was nice and sweet.  It came out of the garden today. 

Pumpkin plop

George and I wandered down to Blue Hill this past weekend for some boat maintenance.  We stopped first in Bucksport ("Ghostport" on signs) for breakfast  at the Harbor View Grille.   Great food, and we had the extra treat of being able to watch through a window as a lot of kids in Halloween costumes walked past towards a small fair on the waterfront. 

We stopped by Ghostport again on the way home, because I wanted to get a last ice cream of the season from a shop on Main Street.   George got French Vanilla and I got Pumpkin.  We sat with our ice creams on a bench by the water, enjoying the fall-flavored view of the river, bridges and Fort Knox.   The people walking by smiled at us. 

Someone at the fair had brought a large, home-made catapult and was putting it to good use.   It took three or so people to "set" the catapult and load it with a pumpkin. Then, a small child was invited to pull the string.   This released the catapult's arm, tossing the pumping up and out over the river.   It landed hard in the water with a satisfying plop, splitting on impact, and causing the eruption of a small fountain of orange water.

It took awhile to load the catapult between shots, and no one hurried.    There was a lovely leisure to all of this.

• "Oh, wow, that one went really far out".   
• Wonder if those seagulls will eat the seeds......no."    
• "Highest one so far!"   

Occasionally there was an appreciative "Ahhhhhhh" from the on-lookers, for a particularly good shot.   One green pumpkin went relatively far.   Nice to know there is a good way to use a green pumpkin.

I was skyping with one of my sisters in California, wondering if this was only a Maine thing, or if people enjoyed pumpkin catapults elsewhere.   She said "Maine".   Well, I guess people in California have something new to enjoy, if they want.

Unexpected sunshine

A view toward neighboring field to the south

Old haying equipment out back

The forecast for yesterday was 90% chance of rain.   Forecast for today is 100% chance of rain.

Yesterday, it hardly rained at all.   Today, the sky poured until shortly before the homecoming game between the University of Maine and New Hampshire in Orono.   I'm happy for people I know at the game.


I was able to work on cleaning in the garden beds yesterday afternoon.   I almost have all the worst, tall weeds pulled from bed #1.   Finally checked out bed #2, and it is not as bad as bed #1.   So, if we get some more warmer weather, maybe I can get that one cleaned out too.


I went to the craft fair at University of Maine this morning, and took care of quite a bit of Christmas shopping.   One crafts woman told me that it took her 5 years to get into this show, and the waiting list this year was over 90 people.   Prices were reasonable.   The sale goes through tomorrow.

Geese

I saw a very high-flying and large formation of Canada Geese heading south/south-west this week.   As usual, I heard them before I saw them.

This afternoon, a low-flying and much smaller formation of geese came in from the north but turned abruptly west, just before reaching the house.   There were about forty birds.  At first, I wondered if they were a local population.   But, I hardly ever see geese around here.

I watched them fly out the length of the hayfield, to the far end near the woods.   Then they banked left, and came in for a landing.   It is between a quarter and half a mile from the house to the back of the field, so they had a good, long, run way.  

I have to add another use for the hayfield to my list:  "sleeping accommodations for south bound Canada Geese".