My Tireless Retirement - Week 77

My friends, how is it even possible we are talking the last week of September?!  This month sped by so fast I think I missed most of it!  I’m sure October will be much slower (wink, wink).  There is a hint of fall in the air lately, especially in the mornings with the cool temperatures and some of the leaves have begun to change on the trees.

 

You guys, I can’t believe how much I miss my Edith.  I’d had her for so long and visiting with her each day was a bigger part of my life than I had realized.  I literally begin and end my day with my chickens.  I’m so blessed to be able to keep a little flock in my backyard.  My three remaining girls seem to be doing just fine and have adjusted to life without the top hen.  I think Rosemary will become the head chicken and will be ruling the roost from here on out.  She seems to have the strongest personality, but for now they seem to be all on an even keel as they navigate their days.

 

Two of my girls, Josephine and Phoebe (my Easter egger), are five years old now and the black one, Sylvia, is four so I’ll most likely be picking up a couple of peeps from the feed store next spring to add to my flock.  They are all currently laying but, after age three to four they do tend to taper off and at age five will also tend to die.  It has been a bit of time since I’ve had some newbies around here so I’m excited about that prospect.  With all the decluttering I’ve done this year I also have a really nice space in the garage to set up a brooder.  Something fun to look forward too, for sure.

 

My hummingbirds have migrated for the season so I took the rest of their bag of sugar in the pantry and poured it into a half gallon Mason jar.  I think I have enough leftover that I won’t need to buy them anymore next summer.  Then I put it in my new LTFS area so I will be ready for them when they return next year.  I also washed up the feeders and got them put away in the garage.

 

As the gardening season is winding down I harvested more tomatoes, peppers and zucchinis.  My tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes right now so I’ll be watching the weather forecast to try and stay ahead of any predicted frost.  I want to leave them on the vines as long as I can before I have to pick them all to ripen inside.  Right now I’m freezing all of the ripe tomatoes I pick to be turned into sauce later on.  I grated the zucchinis and got them packaged and into the freezer.

 

As I was setting up my new LTFS area I did an inventory of what I had and then the next day I did an inventory of my kitchen pantry to confirm I was indeed very low salsa, only one home canned jar and a store bought jar left.  I also knew I was out of readymade pasta sauce and I did not find any stragglers hiding anywhere.  I got busy and got a double batch of salsa made up and then I made up a big pot of marinara.  It was a very full, but very satisfying day spent canning in my cute little kitchen.

 

I received some coupons in the mail and a digital buy one get one free coupon offer for what I call “fancy cat food” so I headed off to Fred Meyer to pick up four of them to set aside as Christmas gifts for my kitties.  I got these pates for $3 and when I got home I put them into a gift bag with some tissue paper, all recycled items I had in my gift wrap organizer.  My first Christmas gift for the season is complete!

 

1st Christmas gift completed!

The other day I spent a considerable amount of time walking around my home counting my blessings and feeling incredibly grateful for the things that I have and all that I’ve been able to accomplish in my lifetime so far.  To me, it is pretty incredible and I’m so motivated to continue on in this journey of mine.  I found myself overwhelmed with the feeling that everything is going to be okay.  Regardless of what the world might throw my way I will be able to take care of myself, fulfill my needs and live a good quality of life.

 

I picked up a bale of hay for the bunny and got her bins filled back up

It is only the end of September, but it has been an amazingly full year so far.  I have been making holiday plans including menu ideas and a short list of goodies to bake and share with friends and neighbors.  I’m getting pretty excited about it.  It is coming on fast too.  Has anyone else done any Christmas shopping yet?

 

I've been in the mood lately for hot soup & hot tea

I hope you are all doing well.  Let me know in the comments what has been keeping you busy lately.  I love hearing from you.