Thanksgiving Weekend.

11-27-20 SHORT HILLS: It’s been a while, but there’s not been much garden news to post. We’ve had rain here and, I suspect that NJ is getting normal amounts of rain at this point, but VT is still behind with about half of the normal amount of rain this month. It remains warm here, in the sixties most days, too warm for November. 

Judy and I did a T-day dinner by ourselves, but had a Zoom meetings with Alison’s and Val’s families mostly scattered around the East. Lucy is in Washington.  Next year, after vaccinations, we will all do the usual celebrations here, hopefully. Everything Judy made for us was perfect, as always. 

I filled the feeders yesterday for the birds and for the deer and squirrels. The grackles have left until the spring and we are hosting the usual feathered winter crew.

New blooms: forsythia, dandelion. [The warm days after a frost always give us a few yellow flowers.]

Furry bandit.

Hanging on by a toe.

One of the two on the ground was also on the feeder. Dan, any suggestions?

Ready for the Snow.

11-17-20 VERMONT: I think all the chores are done, but there’s always something that I remember that I forgot just after we’ve left for NJ, which will happen tomorrow. The picnic table is on the terrace and wrapped in a tarp along with the rockers, leaving the deck clear for shoveling. Not shoveling lets too much snow and ice accumulate putting too much weight for the deck to support. 

Two broken fence posts were replaced by Hank, one of our go-to helpers. The two posts were next to each other and both down in the same direction along with all the rails, I’m guessing a bear or a moose. I repaired the fence electric line. I like to keep it in place even if we’re not using it at the moment. It needed a few broken insulators replaced and some wire repairs. 

The last burn pile, left over from the barn re-construction, was burnt, and the next day I used a magnet to recover all the old nails from the ashes. 

Judy and I replaced a bunch of ‘Posted’ sign along the road. Hunting season has started, but it is not like it was in the nineties when we were first here. Then, being outside in November, was like being in a war zone with rifle fire banging away on all sides. Now shooting within ear shot is rare, maybe that’s partly my hearing. 

The sad news is that Brady the horse died shortly after returning to his home pasture after his summer and fall here. This was at least his twentieth summer here as a pasture ornament and grass eater. He was a very obliging companion, who always came over to a visitor for a pat or a treat. When we were first here, there were many horses on the road and riders were almost as common as cars and trucks, but they have moved, retired, stopped riding, or died and Brady was one of the last. One by one, our animal friends are disappearing.

We have had some rain, but are still too dry and are down several inches for the year. The hurricanes have all the rain. After a week of warm weather, we are back in the cold, and we need coats, hats and gloves outside. Today we had snow flurries. The ponds have had ice patches in the morning. I moved the game cams from the pasture to the area near the house.

Snow in the air, more to come.

Brady and friends.

Hard frost doesn't deter the dogs from the pasture.

Gray skies since this sunset.

All Cleaned Up.

11-11-20 VERMONT: Hideous Trump hangs on—with made up claims of voter fraud. What else would we expect? I would love to see the US Marshalls drag him out of the White House before New York jails him for tax fraud.

I have been busy everyday doing the clean up while the weather is mild and pleasant. I am pretty much done after five days, although I had done some preliminary work the last time we were here. All the dead plant debris has been cleared from the beds and dumped behind the little barn in the pasture in an area that is often wet and soggy. If the beds aren’t cleared the stalks and leaves get compressed into a thick mat by the snow, making it hard for the plants to grow in the spring. 

The clearing process requires that care be taken to not damage the little biennials growing in the beds for next year’s flowers or small perennials still alive. Clearing everything lets us see the stone walls, the garden’s bones, that are mostly hidden by the plants in summer and by snow in winter. There is a stark beauty to the empty beds and leafless trees while the plant world is in its long, winter’s nap. The frogs are still hanging out on the last few tattered lily pads.

Neat and tidy beds, stone walls and pond banks.

Before the clean up.

August.

All the leaves are down.

All cleaned up.

What it looked like in June.

The dogs dressed for hunting season. I told Bally that he looked like a girl.

Frogcon.

Go Joe, ByeDon.

11-7-20 VERMONT: 11/3/20 has come and gone, and I am jubilantly waiting for official declarations that Joe has won, and the sexist, xenophobic, misogynistic, narcissistic, lying, bullying, tax cheating scoundrel occupying the White House is soon to be gone.

We are in VT. We came up Thursday on a warm, sunny day after it had snowed some days before. There were patches of snow in the shadows and ice on the ponds, but all the snow and ice were gone the next day.

I started garden clean up yesterday and did the beds to the east of the new house. It was a pleasure to be working without a heavy coat and winter gloves.

The game cams captured the snow from election day.

When we arrived, there were still patches of snow and a frozen pond.

The garden beds are melting out and have dead stalks from the dormant perennials.

It's hard to see, but the game cam caught three foxes, I think they're foxes, at night.

Other foxy wildlife found during the day.