Still Here, Just Busy (A Fall Update)

It's suddenly Fall here, and that means DO ALL THE THINGS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE WINTER.

So, of course we did the back-to-school thing, which means volleyball season, which means practices and games, which means me driving to school and back at least 4 times a day until our youngest gets her full driver's license and can drive herself to school.

And...I used up our last beautiful 90-degree day to go kayaking with some friends, which was awesome and beautiful.  Except that I missed our daughter's first pre-season volleyball tournament, which I have never done.  So the whole time I'm out on the lake, the back of my mom-brain is telling me that I suck because my kid is playing at a tournament, and here I am, kayaking with friends like I have no responsibilities.  It really was a great day to be out, but the fun was tempered by my constantly checking the time and re-calculating how soon I'd have to leave to get back for her last two games.  Which I DID, because that's the kind of mom I am.  And they won, which was awesome. :)

How could I pass this up?  

Proof that I did NOT pass it up...

Driving out, so hard to leave.  Goodbyyyyyeeee summer.  aiieeeee

And...there is an orchard full of apples and plums to still pick, and they aren't going to pick themselves.  

I like it when *this* is the amount I can bring up to the house.  Not by the wheelbarrow load

And...the garden still looks like crap, more or less, because I just never got around to so many things, but this late in the year it's easy to just say Nevermind.  I'll fix that mess in the spring.  Because I'd rather be inside knitting or messing around online or reading.

If you stand back and squint, cover one eye, it almost looks ok.  Well.  No...not really

And...the tomatoes are all still green.  All. 40. plants. worth.  Just...why.  So now I'm having to cover them with clear plastic because the nights suddenly (and I mean overnight) dropped from 60 to 41 degrees.  I start my tomatoes every year inside, earlier and earlier, and I still never pick a ripe tomato before August 24th.  My gardening friends start picking in like July.  No idea what it is with me and tomatoes.  Maybe next year I'll start my plants on like Christmas Eve, because apparently February 15th is just way, way too late.

And the DEER.  Oh my ever loving..  Why, deer?  Why do you need to come down off the hill, cross the road, tiptoe through a 10-acre field, wade through an acre of deep lush grass and plush clover, ignore the scent of giant dog everywhere, jump our fence, navigate through the raised boxes, walk across the crackly black plastic that we have on the ground to smother the weeds, stand in knee deep oxalis, and force your head UNDER the black plastic that I have held down with bricks, to eat my little 4x4 patch of green beans?? Have mercy.

Even with the dog here to scare the deer off, they are not deterred.  They relentlessly have eaten all the apples they can reach in the orchard, by standing on each other's backs and/or possibly using my step-ladder. They stand defiantly in my garden every night at 11 p.m., staring at my flashlight AND the dog like, "If we don't move, you can't see us."

Apparently *not* doing her job.  But we love her anyway :)

My neighbors probably think I'm a madwoman, because it's not unusual for me to be running around waving a flashlight and yelling at deer at 12 a.m., barefoot, in my bathrobe.  What is she doing? freak

Also, this year I have spent more time on Twitter, because that is where I connect with all my rose and gardening friends (well, we're not friends in the sense that we know each other.  More like, in the sense that we share an obsession (and lots of photos).  Plus it's easier to just tweet out a photo and a one-line thing than to write a whole post, especially when I haven't had much to say, and I think my funny stories are on hiatus or something.  Or I'm just really lazy.  Or both.  Probably both.

My kind of Twitter post.  Just happy roses.  With conveniently cropped photos, so you can't see the weeds...!

And fall also means I can get away from being so hard on my hands with all the weeding and yard stuff, because my other selfish indulgence is nail polish...so I started an Instagram account just for that.  Even though I swore to my teen that I would *never* sink so low as to get on Instagram.  I caved.  Because omg, the nail art.  *sigh*  I always thought I might blog about nail stuff, but it just doesn't fit in here, and Lord knows I can't manage two blogs.  I barely manage ONE.

Turned this disgusting mess around.  But, not a good day for my hands...

Gardening and nail polish don't mix, but about once a year, I manage to grow them out and become obsessed with nail polish.

So, now I feel like I've become a social-media split personality.  Check Facebook for my friends and family.  Check Twitter for news and gardening stuff.  Jump on Instagram for nail polish inspiration (and to remind myself that I am a REALLY BAD PHOTOGRAPHER).  Work on the cookbook I started like 3 years ago, so it might be done before we all grow old and die.  Get on Google to catch up on blogs I read but haven't read in weeks and weeks.  Write blog for my own amusement and to escape above garden chores, laundry, and bills.  Yes, but which one AM I?  *crazy laughter in background*

Also, the colder the nights get, the more I realize I need to win the lottery and buy a house in the Bahamas.  I totally *get* the snow bird thing.  People aren't furry.  We obviously weren't made to live where the air can kill you.  The whole north should just be closed in the winter, like an out-of-season campground.

Come back when you can't see your breath

Anyway.  That's the random ramblings from around here today. Hope you're all having a great Fall.

Sam, sitting out a rainy afternoon

And if you have a house in the Bahamas, we should totally house swap.  Soon.