Our View of the Lake

Clay came in this morning and told me we had a view of Lake Superior from our property. Being suspicious, I pulled on my coat, hat and shoes before heading outside. Clay took me about 100 yards into our woods, and on top of a small hill he pointed it out to me. I brought the camera, knowing it would be good blog material if it was true. So here, you can see the sun up in the sky, and a shining reflection just above the land directly under the sun. We have lake-view property. Don't tell the county assessor. :)

Fall Clean-up

Well, the weather is getting cooler here in Duluth. Last fall we weren't here for fall-cleanup, which is why I think our grass looked a little tattered this summer. Fall-cleanup consists of raking leaves, trimming back perennials, putting away garden accessories, etc.

As for the grass, we hadn't mowed in about a month, so it really needed it. And the leaves were starting to pile up. The bonus of mowing in the fall is you can mow right over the leaves and avoid the seemingly useless task of raking. Because we have so much yard area, I felt it would be more environmentally sound to mulch the leaves instead of putting them inside of bags. So I found some extension sites that talked about mowing over the leaves. It was a little windy, so it didn't work perfectly, but the lawn looks great, and now the leaves are broken up into small enough pieces they will just provide nutrients to the grass.

While Clay mowed/mulched, I worked in the gardens around the house. I basically got some of the leaves that were left over from last fall. Then I lost my mind and started to chop away at a day-lily. Clay pulled up and asked me what I was doing. After I determined I didn't know, I went back to just cleaning up the dead things. I guess I was so excited about cleaning up the garden I forgot I was only supposed to clean out the dead things. Oops.

Then it was time to move in the animals...the stone ornamental ones that came with the house. Last winter they were left out in the snow and cold and suffered the consequences. We lost one of our birdbaths (in fact we had so much snow I didn't even know we had two birdbaths). The small deer that Bates used to bark at when he first got here has numerous cracks. We moved them all into the small garage, along with the bench by the pond and all our concrete planters. We also took down the swings and took down all the hanging planters that never had anything in them (hmmm..project next year).

The patio was next. Now we have a tropical themed reading and radio listening room in the basement (thanks to our patio furniture moving inside). We completely emptied out the porch, except for the BBQ (can we use it during the winter?).

We are ready for winter, so let it come. I was getting anxious about all the things that needed to be done, but now that they are mostly done, I can sit by the fire and relax.

What's in your shuffle?

I got this from Mandie's Journal.

1. Copy these instructions and post them into a new entry.
2. Open up the music player on your computer (or turn on your MP3 player).
3. Set it to play your entire music collection.
4. Hit the shuffle command.
5. Tell us the title of the next ten to twenty songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That's right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It's time for total musical honesty.
6. If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurrences. You don't have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you'd like.

Here's my list...and obviously I didn't cheat.

Avalon Shores --John Tesh
Fantasia for a Gentleman, Adagio -- Goran Sollscher, etc.
Take Me Home -- Phil Collins
The Wheat -- Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrad (Gladiator soundtrack)
Bad Bad Leroy Brown -- Jim Croce
Nearer My God To Thee -- Eileen Ivers (Back to Titanic soundtrack)
Women 'Cross the River -- Linda Rondstadt
Unsung Psalm -- Tracy Chapman
Maui Hawaiian Sup'pa Man -- Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
One Clear Voice -- Peter Cetera
Into the Great Wide Open -- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakes
Once in a Lifetime -- Sarah Brightman
Vivere -- Andrea Bocelli
Hard to Say I'm Sorry -- Chicago
Ironic -- Alanis Morissette
What'll You Do About Me? -- Doug Supernaw

FYI...It's Snowing

Just wanted to let you know it is snowing right now. Barely, but it is snow. Current Temp: 39