Day: October 27, 2014

Sunday was sweet. Our friend Tyler Lindenholl came over, he is in charge of the leaf-clearing at the farm, not that most of the leaves have fallen. Lenore loves Tyler, and he loves to throw sticks at her, Red herds Lenore as she runs back and forth. I love this scene, Tyler helped out with the shearing, he was into it, Tyler misses nothing, is eager to learn everything. Maria and I love having him around, he assured us that he has a snowmobile and can get to the farm throughout the winter to help out. Deal. I’ve named a character in my play after Tyler.

Speaking of the play, I finished the first draft. I showed it to Maria and she burst into tears, which I think is a good sign. I’m showing it to two farmers this week to get them to check it over, make sure I don’t look dumb. I’m excited about it.

It was a sweet Sunday, we got the Dahlia bulbs out of the ground, spread donkey manure all over the gardens, sheared the sheep. We were exhausted and happy Sunday night.

It seems sometimes that we spend much of the year getting ready for winter. We have hay in the barn, we are hoping to have Jay Bridge dig out a frost free water line to the the pasture so we don’t have to haul so much water. Yesterday, Tyler came over and we began raking out the leaves, Maria and I dug the Dahlia’s out of the garden, sorted the bulbs and moved them into the cold storage room, they would not survive the winter here outdoors. We sheared the sheep and our friend Jack Macmillan is installing a heating bulb in the roost. Our firewood is stacked and tarped, we are putting some storm windows in the upstairs windows.

This week, we will turn the top of the birdbath over onto the ground to keep it from filling with water that freezes – that would crack the concrete. Many people move South for the winter, but I have always loved the winter here, it is achingly beautiful to me, it is writer’s weather. We are close to being ready. In the summer, you don’t need to do much but put screens on the windows, winter is different, we are getting ready for it all the time.