TUESDAY MORNING

Sunrise in Clarkston, Sept. 11

We left Clarkston about 7:20 a.m. yesterday and made another half-day trip to the farm in order to check the progress on the house and take care of the yard. While it’s cooler now, it’s very dry, and the vegetation was stressed again. I watered while Mike attached the sharpened blade to the lawnmower and then mowed. He kicked up a lot of dust doing it.

The rodents have done a lot of damage to the yard this year. Had we been there, we would have pursued that problem more aggressively. They appear to have destroyed one of my rhubarb plants. Infestations of wasps and yellow-jackets were terrible this year, but I didn’t see any. The cooler weather has evidently deterred them.

 

I picked four zucchini squash and one yellow crookneck. One of the zucchinis is decent but small. I hope it tastes good.

I did have some success in getting to my Halloween ornaments. The door of Hallie’s bedroom stood open, so I was able to get into the walk-through closet and retrieve what I wanted. I was also able to reach some sewing instructions I had pinned to my bulletin board.

Dining room ready for wallpaper and paint

The walls have been mudded now. We could see that painting is next, and in conversation with the contractor, he stated that he needed our paint choices and instructions. I put that together for him, but it’s not an easy thing. When Hallie and I originally painted the house, we worked hard to determine the paint choice for each room, even making notes on the walls in order to get it right. I can hardly reconstruct the plan, and maybe I’d like to make a few alterations. In the end, I guess it just doesn’t matter. So many things don't matter now.

It was Nellie’s fifteenth birthday. It’s not typical for a Shorthair to live this long. As with any oldster, some days are better than others, but she’s still interested in her world despite a few problems – problems which bother us more than they bother her. Like humans, dogs can suffer dementia, and we know she does. Yesterday at the farm, she seemed a bit needy, following me around and nuzzling me from time to time. She seemed to prefer the house to exploring outside, so when I missed her, I went through the house looking for her. When I got to Hallie’s room, I didn’t see her, but soon I heard some scuffling as she wended her way from under and behind stuff. No, I wasn’t worried that it was some other critter. I knew it was Nellie – and she knew I was looking for her. She followed me to the stairway, and then she played her old game. She waited until I was downstairs, and then she ran down as fast as she could. She loves that old game.

For the first time this season, we slept under a blanket last night, and today, I’m still in my warm-ups. KW