Saturday, November 6, 2010

All ready for Winter

It's getting to look more and more like winter around here.  The leaves are almost all off the trees (and on my garden!).  The weather is getting colder and they're starting to say things like 'mixed precipitation' on the news.  Today was the day to straighten out the shed and put everything away until Spring.  All the tools were cleaned and the shed was swept out.

In the process I managed to disturb a cozy little nest of mice.  They jumped out at me and scared the pants off of me.  Poor Morgan heard me screaming and went and hid.  Then she wouldn't go near the shed for a while.  It took a bit of explaining that it wasn't that I was afraid of the mice, just that they surprised me.  I must admit, I feel very bad for the mice.  They had a nice cozy nest for the winter and I destroyed it.  The poor things will probably die now.  Is it pathetic that I feel bad for the mice?

The shed is all nice and clean now.  It will be wonderful to have it ready to go in the Spring.

The garlic bed all planted and mulched.  I can now forget about it until next July.  What are you doing this weekend?

10 comments:

farmwifetwo said...

Eldest's scout troop is camping at our warehouse. Cold and wet last night, cold today. They are in tents outside, their gear stored inside. If it gets nasty they can go inside.

Youngest had swimming lessons today. No walking in the woods - Nov hunting season. Garden is done for this year... should still pull the last 3rd of the raspberries I want out... I'll wait for nicer weather... dry and sunny would be fine... next week some time to finish it.

Babysitter and adult dinner (friend's, their kid babysits) tonight.

Robin said...

I spent half the day making a new germinating table. Then braised some short ribs in wine. They are still cooking in the oven. I am going to add some potatoes and pak choi to them soon.

Tomorrow I will probably clean the house unless it warms up a bit. I still have chores to do outside...but it is supposed to be warm for a few days this week.

meemsnyc said...

Wow, your shed is so organized!! It looks great. Are you using leaves for mulch for the garlic bed? Do you shred it first?

Daphne Gould said...

This weekend I put together a couple of compost bins and today I'm going to go out and collect leaves. I really need to get a shed built.

The Mom said...

Farmwife, have fun on your dinner!

Robin, the germinating table looks very cool. I'm looking forward to the warmth next week as well.

Meemsnyc, they're shredded leaves. My favorite mulch.

Daphne,you have gotten so much done since you moved. What an inspiration!

Karen Anne said...

Poor mice. I have had some in my garage. They're welcome, as long as they don't build nests in the car upholstery, sigh.

After major repairs and washing, I'm now keeping peppermint oil, which is supposedly a repellent, in some open small bottles in the car that's stored in there. So far I haven't seen any damage, but who knows.

Leigh said...

Everything looks great, I'm impressed! Must get to work on this project too.

I found a mouse in my compost pile the other day. Neither of our cats were around, but three hens were there, "helping" with the compost, and went nuts trying to catch it. It escaped, but I think I need to work on heating up that pile.

The Mom said...

Karen Anne, they ate the kid's slip and slide and were feasting on some organic fertilizer I had stored in there.

Leigh, I wish the neighbor's cat was around. I went looking for him after I found the mice.

Lise said...

Wow--I'm jealous of your organization! I just started tackling my mountains of leaves today.

Thanks for your comment on my blog--I didn't realize OSV had homeschooling discount days; what a great resource! We didn't make it to the farm this time around; definitely next time!

The Mom said...

Lise, the organization comes and goes. Check out the OSV site to see about their homeschool days. I think it's about $8 a person to get in.