Planetary Verbosity

It’s been about a week since we got back from vacation, and it has admittedly been rough trying to get back into the routine. One of the worst parts, for sure, was going from wearing shorts and t-shirts in NJ to wearing jeans and thermal sweatshirts here…within a 24-hour span.

It’s still been fairly nice around here, but fall is definitely taking hold. I’m not complaining, of course – I actually prefer the cooler weather. (It’s always easy to bundle up and get warmer if needed.) The stifling heat of summer is my least favorite part of the year, so I’m welcoming this change.

Though I went back to work after vacation, Dave was still off, so he was able to get some things done here and on the homestead. The first thing on his list was putting a 2″ lift on his Jeep to give the larger tires more clearance. As you may recall, this is what it looked like before (previously posted on 9/13):

This is what it looks like with the 2″ shackle lift. Not drastically different, but there is more tire clearance for sure.

He’s also started tearing the wall boards out of the lower floor of the house. This makes me happy, as it’s one of the last steps before the rebuilding starts. It’ll still be quite awhile until we can move in, but it’s progress!

He also fixed up the furnace so that it only heats the basement. While this may sound odd at first, there’s a good reason for it. The water pipes are down there, and those are really the only things that need to be heated since we don’t live there. This should really help with the heating oil bill, while still keeping the pipes safe. Usually when we’re working inside, the work itself keeps us warm enough.

Leaf-peeper season is also in full swing around here. Many of the ones on the homestead are already falling. Of those that aren’t already gone, most are a beautiful golden yellow. The leaves on the forsythia are changing over to a faded maroon color, while the sumac (not the poison kind) leaves are a brilliant red.

Here’s a pic with the sumac in the foreground, and various greens and yellows behind.

I’m really enjoying the colorful autumn, but I also love when the leaves are finally gone and the barren landscape of late fall/winter takes over. The creek is visible from the house, it’s quieter outside (nearby motocross place – which was not there when we bought the homestead – closes for the season), it’s much easier to get around in the woods, signs of wildlife are easier to spot, and I’m able to do much more of my trash clean-up/woods reclamation work.

Ok, I guess that’s all for now. I got an early start this morning, and we’ll soon be on our way to another homestead workday. I do still plan on doing at least one more entry about vacation (reviewing some of the places to go in the off-season), and I’m also starting into a new and wonderful musical endeavor…more about those soon!