'tis the season

to be tired.

The countdown is on, and although I think we are completely stocked for all necessary gifts, I am not done sewing this year's gift bags. I first sewed gift bags last Christmas, but apparently we had many long, skinny gifts last year and the bags don't fit this year's gifts.

The bags are exceedingly simple. I sew them out of fabric that has no "wrong" side - looks the same on either side. I cut out a long rectangle of fabric that I then fold into a shorter rectangle. I cut out a length of ribbon long enough to tie into a generous bow, fold it in half, and then I pin the folded ribbon end into one of the sides of the folded rectangle, about 1/3 of the way from the top. I sew up the sides (the ribbon is sewn into the seam), finish the seams so they don't fray, hem the top and then turn it inside out. Voila! Stuff a gift in the bag and tie the ribbon. Batik fabrics look especially pretty for these bags. We have a wild rainbow of prints and colors under the tree this year.

Opossum #4

I relocated yet another juvenile possum this morning. We suspect a litter was born somewhere in our yard, probably inside The Rosebush That Time Forgot. Hopefully this was the last one. They like to eat the cat food, and they spook the chickens when they sniff around the coop, trying to steal eggs.

I take them way down the creek channel and release them on the other side of the freeway, in the trees alongside the creek. This was the first time I've been down since the floods last week, so I was able to check out all the new debris that washed up on the banks. I retrieved some excellent bamboo canes that will make either garden fence poles or trellises for peas, and saw some other good branches and lumber that I will retrieve later if I can - our section is concreted and steep-sided. Today is all about cleaning the main room of the house, since we have company coming on Friday.

Vermin in Ermine

An actual cool fall. Amazing. We are 11 days from the actual solstice, and it's chilly and damp. So much so that I had to get out my rabbit fur coat last night so as not to freeze at our Relief Society progressive party. Brrr!

Bonfire Christmas Party. Next Friday the 18th. My backyard. Potluck, bring firewood if you can. We'll have cocoa and spiced cider and wassail and possibly some caroling if we get silly enough.

We played hooky this week and tried to go snowshoeing. Disaster! The snow was dry, deep powder, and the road was only plowed to just past Mtn. High so the terrain was too steep. We tried, but Eli fell too much and got wet and cold and started screaming. Then we had to flounder our way back up the hillside to the car. Very little fun was had. Hopefully Yosemite will be better.

@#$%& Earwigs!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGHHHHHH!

They ate my mizuna mustard. I finally got it to germinate, and the $#@%#%!! earwigs ate it all. I cannot go to the #$@% nursery and buy a flat of mizuna. I will try to track down a Japanese nursery, but in the meantime I start all over. I loathe earwigs. They are the scum of the Arthropoda.

Fantasyland

I'll get the bad news out of the way first. The wee girl chick died as well. The flock stays at eight for now.

We just got back from a visit to my northern California family, which involved a little tiny bit of scoping out potential places to live if Dan is offered a job up there. I don't want to get my hopes up, even though we saw some beautiful places and in comparison to Orange County it's CHEEEP up there. There are some opportunities for him, and very close to my Uncle Alan and his wonderful daughters, plus within 1 and 2 hours of my other paternal uncles. So of the list in out head of where we want to go if we leave OC, norCal is tops at the moment.

Fantasy: Dan's company sells, at which point his stock vests fully and we sell it. He lasts a couple more months with the new owners, but is then laid off and still gets two month's severance pay. We then head for Chico, or whichever Cal State has the cheapest cost of living and a masters/credential program in math or computer engineering. We live cheapo for 2 years and then Dan comes out double-barreled: MSCE and credentialed for teaching. I'll finish my degree someday too, one course at a time...

In the meantime, all is well here. We have enough backup plans that I'm back to not being worried about the future. The garden mostly survived me being gone for six days, but it needs water today or I'll lose a few more seedlings. Salt the hen is still broody, I'll have to go back to locking her out of the coop all day now that I'm back. If she keeps this up much longer than a month, she may have to fulfill her destiny sooner than we'd bargained for. I hope not, as I am still very squeamish about slaughtering. But I reckon I'd be hypocrite if i couldn't do it - after all, I haven't been able to quit eating animals, so I should be honest about it and be willing to do the dirty work myself. Ick.

Crispness

Fall! It's downright surreal, but this has almost felt like a real Autumn, not just an angry extension of summer. Of course I'm cold all the time, but that's because I am apparently a reptile woman.

The raised beds in the front yard are almost all planted in with collard greens, cauliflower, four different kinds of lettuce, cabbage, bok choi, cilantro, arugula, and chard. Today I will be ripping out the last of the pumpkin vines, except for the Cinderella, which at some point actually decided to give me one beautiful little pumpkin. I will let her go until she dies out herself. The "winter tomatoes" are growing beautifully, but I fear that this wonderfully cool Fall means the tomatoes will never ripen. The eggplant is full and lush, but sloooow to fruit, again because of the cool weather.

We were given two black sex-link chicks that a young lady I am acquainted with found in a box on the sidewalk. One little rooster and one little hen. One of our full-grown hens, Salt, is broody right now (meaning she wants to hatch eggs, which is NEVER going to happen), so I tried to "graft" the chicks to her. Failed. The little rooster died in the night and the little hen is back inside under the heat lamp next to the snake, who is VERY interested in her. We had to block his view, which calmed him down. The poor girl is all alone and I will probably end up buying her a sister to grow up with. I am a sucker extraordinaire. At least I said no to the turtles I was offered! Although if they had been tortoises I would have been tempted...

And Dan still has a job. A letter was finally issued: Dan's division is up for sale, but nobody is losing their job. For now. I told Dan to do whatever he wants - stick with it and be optimistic, or look for other opportunities. He's choosing to be optimistic. For now.

Campin' Out

Phew! Full weekend. Went camping with our relatively new friends the Wilsons on Friday night. Paul and Eli LOVED having other kids to play with - typically we camp alone and other kids are in short supply. It was coooold and campfires were banned, so we used a fake propane-powered campfire thingy Dan bought a while ago, similar to this one. I teased him horribly when he bought it, but now I officially eat every one of those words. I married a visionary. That fake campfire saved the evening. The kids burned marshmallows over it, I played the guitar poorly while we sat around it, and we stayed up waaaay late just talkin' and scooting closer and closer to it as the night grew colder and colder. In the morning, the Wilsons cooked everybody breakfast and then we hiked to the Ortega Oaks candy store. After that, we finished the San Juan Loop trail, broke camp and headed home.

Saturday night Dan and I went to the O'Briens for a digital slide show of a backpacking trip Dan, another Dan (Julia's Dan), Brett, and Terry went on back in August. I wasn't able to go on the backpacking trip, but I still enjoyed the re-living. Although by 9:30 I was almost asleep on their couch. Remember I am an old woman now and can't handle that much excitement in one day.