Fall Flowers

We've been blessed with beautiful weather this week. Sunny, cloudless skies and highs in the lower 70s. Unfortunately, I've been so busy at work that I haven't had a chance to get out and enjoy it. Today I hope things slow down enough so I can take a lunch break and maybe take a stroll around the neighborhood.

I love having more sunlight in the morning lately. This morning I went outside and snapped some photos of some of my favorite fall blooms: my pink hydrangea and my "all-purple" Mexican bush sage.

And, I got a good photo of the neighbor's cat. We call him Meowmers. He's gorgeous, and he loves stalking the birds and butterflies that frequent my front porch.

We have a black tom cat that visits the porch, too, and we've named him Franklin. There are two more tom cats that visit sometimes, but we haven't named them. We keep Walle inside; he doesn't "cat around" with the neighborhood kitties. Walle gets excited when I open the windows so that he gets to experience the front porch, too.

The leaves are falling, and I have my work cut out for me this weekend, raking and chopping leaves for my compost. The weather is still supposed to be gorgeous, so I don't really mind the chores. I am actually looking forward to it!

Kayaking Ross Barnett Reservoir - 11/1/09

Sunday morning was pretty boring. I woke up early, early because of the time change. Then, I spent the morning putting away summer clothes and unpacking sweaters. By mid-morning I was ready to get out into the day, breathe some fresh lake air, and move my muscles! On Sunday afternoon, Chip and I loaded up the kayaks and drove up the Natchez Trace to Brown's Landing on the Ross Barnett Reservoir. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day in the sun. On the drive to Brown's Landing, we saw three white-tail deer having their lunch and a flock of five wild turkeys. I just knew it was going to be a good day for spotting wildlife. The animals were all out enjoying the cool, dry day!

We put in at Brown's Landing around 1:45 PM and hung a right (to the south) to paddle the bank that runs along the Natchez Trace. For the first mile, we were paddling along a forested bank. The trees are turning down here, and they were gorgeous. We saw snapping turtles sunning out on logs. We scared a few into the water, and every once in a while we'd see a turtle pop its head up to take a look around.

The cypress knees are poking out of the water along the bank. The elephant ears are thick along the sunny edges.

Not far into our paddle we spotted this beautiful red fox taking a drink of water. I SLOWLY took my camera out of the dry hatch and snapped this photo of the critter. Man, oh man, I wish I'd had time for a close up! He was checking us out, and shortly after I got a photo of him, he decided I was too close to him for comfort and scampered off into the woods. Seeing that fox was the highlight of my week! He was that pretty.

After the first mile the water really started to hug the road, so instead of listening to traffic, we decided to turn around and head towards an island in the middle of the lake. Right around Highway 43 the reservoir narrows back into the Pearl River and gets more swamplike. We turned our boats that way and paddled about two miles across the open water. The island wasn't nearly as cool as we thought it would be. The water was barely a foot deep even 20 feet away from the shore, so we couldn't get close enough to explore the bank. It was 3:00 PM by then, so we decided to head back and call it a day. We did 5+ miles in 90 minutes. Definitely not fast, but a good paddle for a Sunday afternoon.

It was about 68F outside during our paddle and we had very little wind. The water was cold, but I think we could handle at least 10 degrees cooler, maybe 15 degrees cooler with no wind. Even at 68F I was a little warm in short-sleeves, rolled-up pants, and my PFD.

I would love to visit this area again to see if we could spot the fox, but I really doubt we'll be back. There just wasn't enough to see from Brown's Landing. Next time I think we are going to put in at Ratliff Ferry or Fanning Landing. I can't wait to report on our next trip!

My Tree

My October Glory maple tree is a beautiful bright orange, with some pretty red leaves mixed in. This little tree was planted in 2004, when me and Chip got married and bought this house. It has lived through a lot, including the winds of Katrina when it was just two years old.






It is one of the first trees to turn colors in the fall. I love it for that.












It was 46F when I woke up this morning in Oxford. I took a walk in the cool air, and it felt fabulous. I love fall!

- Posted from my iPhone with BlogPress

Birthday Cake and Go Rebels!

I just finished frosting Chip's birthday cake. It is a Snoball cake. As in a Hostess Snoball. I asked Chip what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, and that's what he came up with. I am suprised that I was able to pull it off!!




I baked a Devil's food cake in one round pan and one 2.5 quart pyrex bowl. I scooped the middle out with a knife a spoon, then filled the middle with marshmallow/7-minute frosting. I used the same frosting to ice the cake Then, I dyed coconut neon orange,and covered the cake in it.




Today the Rebels play Alabama in Oxford. We are having a little get together after the game to celebrate Chip's birthday, and hopefully Rebel win. We really need this win to revive our season. We are ready!



- Posted from my iPhone with BlogPress

The Big Move

Fall is in the air, and as always, that means fall gardening chores. After work on Friday, I put on my favorite gardening jeans and my clogs, and began one of the biggest projects of the season - moving one of my raised beds.

I love this raised bed that I bought a few seasons ago from Gardeners Supply Company. It is their Two-Tier Raised Bed. One half is six inches deep and the other half is twelve inches deep. Plus, it has these great poles that can be used to drape row covers. I originally placed this raised bed in a spot too shady to grow vegetables, so I decided earlier this year that it was time for a move.

I'd been wanting to move it beside my other two raised beds, but the summer heat and humidity had kept me far, far away from tackling this project. In its new spot, it will get about 8 hours of sun a day in the summer. This area is on a bit of a slope, so I did have to grade the slope a bit.

First, I had to move all the soil from the raised bed to the tarp. I removed about 3/4 of the soil from the deeper bed, then called it an evening. It took me about an hour and a half to clean out the bed, dig, fill the garden cart, then dump the soil from the garden cart onto the tarp.

After attending a family reunion at Holmes County State Park on Saturday, I picked up where I left off and dug out the rest of the soil. Once I had all the soil out, I deconstructed the raised bed (so easy!) and started grading the slope where I planned to move the new bed.

I really hoped to finish the entire project on Saturday since there was rain in the forecast on Sunday, but after digging for another two hours on Saturday evening, I was once again ready to call it quits.

On Sunday morning, I was ready to pull this project together and FINISH IT. My wonderful husband volunteered to help me so that we could try to get it done before the thunderstorms rolled in. We started putting the bed together and moving soil at around 9:30 AM in 65F weather. It was cool, windy, overcast, and threatening rain all morning. In my opinion, the perfect time to do tough chores. By 11 we had the bed built and all the soil moved in. I moved on to other gardening chores (weeding the iris bed, putting fresh pine straw around the raised bed in its new location, moving some elephant ears that were in a bad spot), and Chip (did I mention that I have a wonderful husband?) started on the next big project on my list - moving the compost bin.

By 1 PM two huge chores on my list were done, and I felt great about what we'd been able to accomplish. I don't usually recruit Chip to help me in the garden. I can be terribly bossy out there because I want everything done my way because - after all - it is my garden. Depending on the day I'll either be a real meanie or I'll be nice and let him do it his way, then go back behind him and redo everything. Today, though, we reached a happy balance out there. By the time I got cleaned up, the storms had rolled in for good. It is 9 PM, and it is still raining out there.

So now, my backyard vegetable garden is much improved. I've got a sunnier location for my vegetables, a neater spot for my compost bin, and some additional work space for turning my compost bin.

With fall here, the leaves will be falling from the trees in no time, and I'll fill my lunch breaks with raking and my bin with chopped leaves. Did I mention that I found out that our leaf blower also has a leaf vacuum that chops the leaves? I am really optimistic about managing those leaves this year! We'll see if that changes once they start falling.

And, once again, I leave you with my gardening motto. Happy Fall!

Something Cool for Fall

Check out this web cam, shooting live photos of Purchase Knob in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park every 15 minutes. Look at those beautiful fall colors!

http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/grsmpkcam/grsmpkcam.cfm