Finally feels like Fall

For a change, the weathercasters were right on the money!  Our morning temp was in the upper 40's...by 11 am, it had only managed to reach 52 degrees.  At 1:30 pm, my porch thermometer says its 68 degrees.  Feels really nice in the sun, but the shaded areas are pretty dang chilly...we also have about a 16 mph wind pushing that dry, cool air around.  Finally feels like Fall!!

My girlfriend stopped by for a visit again this morning and we took a walk out to the back pasture where a good many of the wildflowers are blooming.  I really need to walk around with the camera to capture some of the neat things growing and blooming right now.  Just another reason to put off mowing out back for a little longer...that's why I never get to see these particular flowers blooming, they keep getting mowed down.  After our little walk, we came back to sit in the swing by the firepit....no, didn't have the fire going, but it would have definitely made a cheery sight.  The morning sun warmed us nicely from behind and we had a nice view of the bright blue sky through the tall pines.  The wind was 'talking' through the trees completing the feeling of fall....a nice way to spend the morning.

We did turn the heat on for the first time yesterday...I had it set to kick on at 65 degrees so it wouldn't be too chilly in the house when we got up.  Whatever the temperature is outside, my house will be the same if the heat or a/c is off.  Must have almost zero insulation in this tin can.  On days like this in our old house, I would have had the woodstove fired up, mainly for the smell of the wood.  Was the perfect time of year for doing my paper shredding as the shred made really good kindling.  Just had to be careful about putting too much of the shred in at one time as it does burn quickly and at times, tends to float up the chimney.  I made sure to put the shred under a fair amount of wood before I lit the fire.  Works outside in our firepit here, just have to make sure there is lots of wood on top of whatever shredded paper I have in the pit.  Too many pines and palmettos to want sparks flying....those burn even when they are green.

Managed to get a fair amount of weeding done yesterday, but man are the shoulders and hands throwing a fit!  I'm really liking the clean look of the beds at this point....all I need to do now, is finish the job.  Another load is ready to be hauled out back to the firepit and I've found someone who is interested in these crazy Mexican Petunias....I've already warned them of how invasive they can become.  The area they want them for seems to have really weak soil...they can't get anything to grow there.  The soil these things are in out here is pretty crappy in my opinion, mostly shell, sand combination....hardly anything likes it but the Aloes.....and the Petunias.  I've added soil to the areas where I want things to grow. 

As soon as the yard drys out a bit more, I need to take my truck out back and collect the pine cones and downed pine branches.  That pine cone mulch sure worked wonderful in the front beds...no weeds to speak of even in the walkway where I had it spread.  The mulch has totally disintegrated into the soil leaving the beds looking very rich.  When I raked them out the other day, I had mostly pine straw and Bottlebrush leaves....all of which comes from the trees above the beds.  Figure I will use the mulch from the pine branches for the walkway and the pine cone mulch for the beds...love the little red and white chips the pine cones make.

With the cold weather coming so early for us...this is our January type weather...I'm cleaning out the coops and giving everyone some fresh, new hay.  At least that way, they can all cuddle and huddle together in the nest boxes if they choose.  I've still got the flaps over their screen doors to keep the colder air from blowing through.  Even when I opened the coops this morning while it was still pretty chilly, the inside felt much warmer.  With the new hay filling the coops they will have a bit more insulation against the chill.  We rarely see temperatures in the freezing range, but should we have them, the chickens can just stay inside until the day warms.  Our daytime temperatures always rise above freezing....I think in the twenty plus years I've been here, I've only seen temps in the teens once...and that was overnight and only for a very short few days.  We are just far enough south that weather like that usually misses us.

Time to get back to work....