LOTS TO DO

It's the last day of September - where on Earth did 2007 go? It seems like only yesterday we were dealing with all the hoop-la over the millennium, and now, here we are almost at 2010. It is a mystery how time can speed past so fast.

Harvest is pretty much done for everyone in this area. I think it's a different story up in the northeast of the grain belt of Saskatchewan. They've been over wet for two years now so they can't get their crops planted until later in the season which just puts their whole crop year behind schedule. Here we haven't had more than a drop or two of rain since August (enough to stop harvesting, but not enough water to keep the pastures green) so Glen has been having to feed the cattle bales out on the pasture for weeks now. We have lots of hay put up so there is no worry of running out, but it's an extra job that shouldn't need done until snowfall. We have a pasture we want to move them to, but first the bales have to be hauled off it or the cattle will just destroy them. Glen has hired a guy to come and haul them home, but so has everyone else in the countryside. A guy with a bale hauling truck is a busy man this time of the year.

We were pleasantly surprised last week when our butcher called to say that he could come and do an animal for us. We had thought we'd be waiting until November for him. I had been warning Glen all through August that we were down to the last of our beef in the deep freeze - and I had put some pressure on at the last, telling him that if I ran out of the "good" stuff (our own home-grown beef) that I wasn't buying what they sell at the stores because it doesn't even compare in taste or texture. What I was going to do was switch to chicken until our beef was ready. In Glen's eyes, that's an out and out threat. He hates chicken. I don't know if he had to bribe the butcher to come early, or not, but it sure worked out in his favour; we are down to one roast and one package of steaks. That should keep us fed until the end of next week when they'll call us to come pick up a whole deep freeze of meat. Hopefully it will be before the kids are home for the long weekend so they can take some back with them. That way we can share the wealth and help them with their student food budgets at the same time.

Today looks like another fantastic fall day out there. Yesterday I washed all the windows on the house - inside and out - and today looks like a good day to go out and clean up the flower beds. I obviously don't ache in enough places yet! I will also be trying to figure out my choices for annual flowers next year. Jesse and Andrew are officially engaged and have set their date for September 13th next year so I'll be aiming to have to yard looking in top shape for late summer. I think that will mean lots of asters, marigolds and zinnias. Maybe some dahlias too, although I never have very good luck with them. The wedding will be in a church, but she wants her pictures to be taken at the farm - in September it will be the luck of the draw as to what kind of weather we end up with, we could have shirt sleeve temperatures like yesterday, or snow - but I guess there are no promises with weather no matter which date you choose.

There is much to do, both short term, and long term so I had better put down my Sunday morning cup of coffee and get on with my day!