Getting Ready For A Long Winter?

Ugh.... 

Dreary damp rainy drizzly day!

But it's still warm out. It's not cold enough yet to kick in the furnace. Everything felt damp this morning. Although I woke up early, I stayed in bed in my jammies for quite a while with the electric mattress pad heater.  Finally Steve got up to make coffee. I talked him into lighting the gas fireplace in the living room for a little while. Just to take the chill out. 

He set the flames really really low, you almost can't see them in this picture. But Binney and I curled up on the couch for a while just to watch it and absorb the heat. 

I took care of some paperwork this morning while Steve started a few outside projects. I didn't have time to get too involved in anything big, because I had to leave by 11 a.m. to go to the dentist. It was just a cleaning, no cavities! 

We have a nice little hometown dentist who gives you a discount for paying in cash. It's always so welcoming and comfortable to go there. 

Doc Karbans website

He has a really neat office full of wonderful antiques. They actually use a big silver antique cash register when you pay in cash. What a hoot! Wish I had taken a pic of it.  

Here are some other pics of the office interior from their website:

When I got home from the dentist, we whipped up a little lunch. Then Steve carried out the external propane burner unit and a tank of propane for me. He set it up in the side yard near the water faucet. I was able to fill up a pot that I use only for dying wool, yarn or fabrics, never for food.

The beautiful Heritage Lace curtains I bought last week at the thrift store were a little more yellow than the rest of my other pieces. So I bought a couple boxes of this RIT Color Remover. It needs to be slowly simmered for 20 minutes to brighten up the lace. I used 2 boxes for 8 pieces of curtains.

While monitoring my dye pot, Steve helped me out by moving two big clumps of hydrangea over to a section underneath our new bedroom window. One clump came last spring from Aldi's grocery store, and the other clump came from my brother Butch's front yard!  

We've had them growing in another part of the yard until we were done with this window and siding on this part of the house. So now they've been transplanted and hopefully they will get a good start before winter sets in. Steve was sure to dig up a huge clump of dirt and didn't disturb the root ball very much on either plant. I love hydrangea!

We still have to get up the shutters that I have painted already for the bedroom window. I am still looking for another set long enough for the bathroom window to the right... we might stop at the ReStore tomorrow to see if they have any, along with some gutter down spouts to put in place of the rain chain and water barrel for the winter.  If we can't find them there, I might bite the bullet and buy NEW ones!   OH MY! 

We cleaned up a few more of the flower beds and I took down some of the dead plants that bloomed all summer long. Steve took care of weed whacking down a bunch of the spent hostas that were just drooping and laying on the ground anyhow.  He moved over the other boxwood bush and got that into place up in the front yard.

The dyepot was finally done and I draped the curtains over the fence in the backyard. It really helped to lighten them up.

One more project he wanted to take care of before the cold weather sets in was to add an extra electrical outlet to one end of our front porch. This is so we can easily decorate for Christmas or Halloween without having to run a cord way up by the door near the doorbell which is the only external outlet on that side of the house. 

This one he put down on the edge of the porch on one end and used a special outdoor outlet housing and cover to protect it from the elements.  You can see it on the right hand side of this photo below.

We had planted hollyhocks this year, but they were a little late to get in the ground. So they are also late to be blooming. I will pop off the dried up clumps of seed pods after the blossoms are done and bury them down in the ground. Hopefully it will help replenish them for next year and we will get more on each end of the porch.

They are such pretty old fashioned farmhouse-y type plants. I had to stake up these up this year with green posts. Hopefully next year there will be enough growing next to each other to help support each other as they grow. I can also run a couple little strings around from the front porch railing to help hold them up next year if I need to. 

Soon these blooms will be spent, and Fall will turn to Winter. It kind of seems sad, but I do love the change of seasons.

We did a few more odds and ends around the house and then I whipped up a favorite dish for supper. Favorite for me, Steve not so much. I made shrimp alfredo with linguine noodles and broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus.

It's a good comfort food for a cold damp and drizzly day. I think this evening I will do a little bit of quilting, a little bit weaving, and Steve will do a little bit perusing of his Facebook Marketplace. You never know what he can find. Maybe there will be a good movie on later? 

We are definitely feeling like we are getting into hibernation mode and slowing down to rest up for a Long Winter. Who knows? Maybe we will take off and go to the desert this winter?