Getting Used to ‘It’

No, I am not used to ‘it’.  ‘It’ being Fall, I guess.  No, not the beautiful leaves and colors, but the gray cold, the grasses that are turning yellow and the trees that are mostly bare, and to top it all off with a day that ends with the sun setting at 4:30 pm and then it gets pitch black…really dark…and it is cold.  Well, truthfully, it was cold all day.  My face is chapped from the cold, as we’ve been running around like squirrels trying to get our nuts stored before winter or in our case…trying to get fences built, wood split, the dog room repaired, a quick trip to Yakima to get curtain material to sew.  Except there is no such thing as a ‘quick’ trip to Yakima…we’ve been scurrying about all weekend.  Making progress, but nothing is done, better, but done?  Not at all!

We had a plan…called fence until we’re too tired to stand or we run out of supplies.  We’ve managed to get 6 more posts in with 60 feet of fencing up and about 60 feet more to go.  We’re too old to work ‘strong’ and must work ‘smart’, succeeding in getting in the heavy fence posts using cunning and logic, all the while My Loving Spouse dreams out loud of a budget that includes a large crew of fence builders, to which all he has to do is issue instructions and point.  Since that is not our reality, our plan is to build the fence so sturdy and straight, that it will out live us.  We imagine how great it will look when painted and every crooked old fence still standing about the farm seems to cry out to me… “tear me down”!  All the rails came from the deck we removed, so some of our ‘tearing down’ is now actually going back up.

We’ve no lack of supervision as a few barn cats, Rabbit and Tigger, oversee the fence building operation.

We did end up running out of screws, so the work crew moved indoors, where we could not only keep an eye on the Sunday Football games, but we acquired a new ‘supervisor’ in Zoe the puppy, which was not a help at all!

The dog room, our old cold storage/fat room, lost most of its insulation when the room got leveled and the foundation installed.  ‘Someone’s’ dog ripped out the old dog door and so that room has been cold!  The dog room was getting an upgrade, and it started with a new ply wood floor.  Then a new ‘ugly’ door mat on sale at Lowe’s, which I installed outside around the trim.  This mat is sturdy and tough which is all we want!  As pet ‘doors’ are about $85, My Loving Spouse just makes our own…better and cheaper.

The second step was to build the pups’ a doggy tunnel, which will also get another ‘ugly’ door mat doggy door.  This will keep the wind and the cold from blowing into the dog’s room, keeping it warmer and cozier!

With just these adjustments, the dog’s room is already warmer for our favorite hounds.  Winter is coming, which I am really, really not used to.

For now, we people are pooped, the fire is warm and the wine is open….and tomorrow will bring….more getting ready for winter….nope, I am not used to ‘it’ yet.