grind grind grind

Not nearly as much going on as I would like. I am behind on Halloween, behind on the garden, behind on reading, behind on everything. I did start my Halloween Advent tree again. Way late, but if I post 2-3 pictures a day it'll gt caught up fastish. http://community.webshots.com/user/pumpkinaddict is where it lives.

It has been a bad year for losing animals. I lost all those goats just before Easter (and one cat before then) then I lost a cat just after Easter, then another in September, and within a week of losing the one in Sept. another one had a stroke. She is still with us, but will never be completely well again. No idea if she will get worse enough that we need to put her to sleep next week or if we'll still have her 2 years from now. The vet doesn't think we'll have her more than 2 years and seems to think it likely it'll be a lot less, but we will try whatever is reasonable. This is the price you pay for pets, eventually they get old and die. I have about 8 that are over 14 and after 14 they are kind of touch and go. Sometimes they live to 25, but mostly they don't make it quite that far.

The garden is usually gone by now, but it was so hot in July Aug and Sept that nothing except cucumbers and zucchini were coming in. The tomatoes, which normally start in late July waited until Sept and have only just kicked into high, so I am frantically drying and freezing.

On the good side, while I haven't gotten much of anywhere with the Halloween decorations, I am starting to get a feel for what needs to go where. I haven't decorated since we moved here. That first year I worked a haunted house and was just too tired to haunt my own yard, and last year I was sick in October.

I'm still not sure what tree my severed head collection is going in, or even if they will ultimately end up in a tree, but that's where I'm going to start with them. I know where the graveyard is going, but I don't want it to be the main focus this year. I was fortunate in finding a cheap Christmas lighted cart and horse which can be used for many different holidays with a little creativity. I am planning on trying to make that the focus. Also, I am going to pull out all my pinwheel/spinner/fluttery type Halloween decorations and put them out. They can migrate around the yard when they get in the way of other decorations until I get a feel for everything. Once I get started, I'm sure everything will come to heel pretty quickly.