The mums on the front hill used to be all pink. They were planted about 12 years ago and the last few years, some have started changing color. First there were a couple yellow ones, then a white one, and now there are several different shades. I don’t know why that happened, but it’s more interesting. All summer I complain about having to pull weeds on the hill, but in the fall I remember that it was worth the trouble.

The garden is done and tomato row and the pergola areas are all flat. Now Albert will just guard his garden area thru the winter. (Tony, he says hello!) I have his hat ready for when it gets cold out and snows on him.

I’ve started feeding the birds and squirrels, and so have my son and DIL who live next door. Now there are sometimes as many as a dozen squirrels all around out back, and one little chipmunk. He’s a brave chipmunk cos he’s willing to go on the patio when there are squirrels there too, cos he really wants those sunflower seeds to pack away for winter. He checks each one to make sure its shell is good, packs them in his pouches and runs off to a nearby hole that takes him down into his underground home. He’s back pretty quick then for some more.

I started putting out suet, which is so good for the birds in the cold; the fat in it helps them to keep their body temps up. Some squirrels eat the suet too, many times hanging upside down or however. There has been a pair of downy woodpeckers around a lot eating the suet. They stay here all winter. Later there will be nuthatches, black capped chickadees and occasionally a red headed woodpecker eating suet.

Little Geyri uromastyx was asleep for a week or so, and I thought it was the beginning of her brumation, but then she woke up, and has been out and about most days lately. I go out each day and look for favorite foods of hers: dandelions and blue chicory flowers. But they are getting to be less as time goes on. There are lots of other good foods for her but those are a treat she will miss over the winter.

The statue of “the kids” downtown shows more sense than a lot of people do, including local people. The kids have their masks on. In the winter they wear stocking hats, and last winter they had scarves too.

My gardener spirit lives on thru the winter, lol. I’m trying growing some pear pad cactus in the kitchen with a grow light, cos that’s a good staple food for little Geyri. I buy it online and slice it into little cubes for her, but it would be good to have some growing, slowly of course. And I’m doing good with some lettuce in my little hydroponic grower. It’s all little fun winter experiments.

Winter is coming, there is chaos all around us with the approaching election, and our country is in a state of emergency with our numbers of the virus. Our head politicians act like there is no problem, and continue to hold large gatherings which leave a wake of spiraling numbers behind them in the following several weeks. Those of us who are old(er) folks, and more susceptible to worse virus complications, tend to hunker down and stay home a lot. So I’ll putter along and find things to do, and keep hoping for some sense of normalcy…..soon. Be safe and well.