Big Vegetables and a Possum tale

We dug the last of the carrots, leeks, and potatoes out of the garden last week. This is our biggest potato. A Yukon potato weighing 1 pound, 4 ounces. That's a AA battery beside it.

Our longest carrot - a full foot.

Something I didn't get pictures of was shooing the possum out of the chicken coop. It was full dark when Stephen went out to do the chicken chore. We usually close up the coop when it is at dusk but we were busy. For some reason, the small chicken sized door was shut. The wire had broken or slipped off or something but anyway, the door was shut. Stephen went to mess with the door and he saw something that didn't look like a chicken in the last nesting box. He wisely came up to get me. He was sure that it was a possum. I was just glad it wasn't a skunk!

We got the door fixed open so that the possum could leave if it wanted to. I wasn't sure how aggressive a cornered possum would be. It turns out that they aren't very agressive at all. He/she(?) was more scared of me and just wanted to avoid me. I checked with a pole and sure enough, a big possum was in the last nesting box. I poked him about ten times, but he didn't want to move. So I left and watched through the window figuring that if we left him alone, he'd wander out on his own. He didn't. So I got a shovel and went back in.

I poked him and hit him and hit the nesting box. All the chickens got nervous and ran to the farthest part of the coop from me but that possum wasn't coming out. Finally I pried him out of the nest and he fell down. Believe it or not, he walked RIGHT PAST the open door and headed under the roosts. I stopped him with the shovel and prodded him some more and finally got him turned around and walking back towards the boxes. He was going to walk right past that open door again. I was able to shove him out the door with the shovel and he ran away. And of course, this happened when my dh was away on a business trip.

Zucchini Total

For those who were checking every day to see what the grand total of Zucchini harvested, here is the good news. We harvested 207. That's a lot of zucchini bread!

Surprise trip #2

On October 11th, we took the children on another surprise trip. Interestingly, it was also to Frankenmuth. This time we took them to the Fowl Fest, a poultry show for folks in our part of the state.

It was filled with ducks, geese, turkeys, and all kinds of chickens. It was loud. These ducks were black but the flash picked up their green sheen. They were beautiful.

There were rows and rows of chickens. I think this is some kind of Polish breed.

This is a Polish Frizzle. They are described as looking like they have walked into a windtunnel backwards.

This is a Silkie. Their feathers are so fine that they look almost like fur.

I really liked the feather pattern on these next two birds. It reminded me of fabric patterns.


I really liked the dot pattern on this bird. She wouldn't look at the camera anytime I brought it up so I had to be content with this picture.

This is some kind of Blue Polish.

This is another Polish. They looked like they were wearing Easter bonnets on their heads.

Pumpkins, anyone?

Earlier in the season, I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough pie pumpkins. I needn't have worried. We picked 79 pie pumpkins.

Walk through the woods in fall

Since it was unseasonably warm today and quite a pleasant day, we took a walk through the woods to enjoy the color and to pick up leaves to make fall bookmarks.

I know that I've taken hundreds of tree pictures in the fall but I can't help taking more. I'm always trying to capture the beauty of fall leaves on film. I call this one The Primary Colors of Fall.


We scouted out a potential trail site that would lead to the river. The river is pretty low right now and the boys enjoyed crossing it on the fallen trees.



I really enjoyed seeing the contrast of the red leaves on the green water plants.

Surprise trip #1

Back in September, my dh had a business trip to Frankenmuth. Unknown to the children, he and I conspired to meet him in Frankenmuth and stay overnight at the hotel. The children were thrilled when they figured out where we were going. They were even more excited when we told them that we were staying in a hotel there.

So we met my dh in the early evening and spent the time before dinner walking around the town.

We visited this wall of candy at the General Store.

Deborah really liked the dollhouse display in the basement of the General Store.


Waiting for the Glockenspiel to ring after supper.

The next morning, my dh went to his meeting and we went to the pool.

The children swam for 2 hours.

Then we visited the biggest Christmas store in the US.

Besides tons of ornaments (anyone need an oboe ornament? or a bow hunting ornament?), there were huge Christmas displays all around the ceiling.

Why settle for a boring old green tree when you can have a gold tree or a purple one?

First really cold day

Though you never would know it from today's temperature of 75 degrees, it has gotten very cold already up here. On Oct 3rd, we got a killing frost. On that day, we fired up the fireplace and started school in front of it.