Early this morning (6 a.m.) I was awoken by the sound of my dog retching in her crate. She must have eaten something that upset her stomach the day before, poor thing. I got her out and comforted her and after a while I could tell that she was feeling better so I took her outside to do her business.
Let me tell you, I was extremely surprised when I emerged outside to see that the car was covered in frost! I knew it was going to be cool last night, but I didn’t think we’d get frost! At that moment I knew that I was going to have to do some yard work today in order to prepare the garden for winter.
We have a number of tropical plants that needed to be brought in. Passion flower vines, another vine that I haven’t identified (might be a trumpet vine), and of course the cannas all needed to be brought inside. I also had three orchids, a Thanksgiving cactus and a Christmas cactus in the enclosed front porch and they all needed to come indoors as well.
As I was scurrying around outside gathering up all of the plants that need to be overwintered indoors I noticed that the lawn had a good covering of fallen leaves so once I was done putting the plants indoors I set out to find our rake.
Our rake is broken! The wooden handle was snapped off near the base of the rake. I guess I could duct tape it back together as a quick fix, but we might as well get another rake. So once I came inside I started looking online for a rake. I’ve decided that I want to get a Pivot Leaf rake as it’s an ergonomic design so it will be easier on my back when I’m raking.
This type of rake isn’t the cheapest on the market, but as I said if it helps keep my back from aching when I’m raking it will be well worth it. Now if I can just find one that’s on sale I’ll have it made.
I guess over the next week or so Chris and I will be outside doing a lot of yard work. It looks like winter is going to come early this year if that frost on the car is any indication!
Is it starting to get cool in your area too? Did you get your Fall yard work done yet or are you going to have to scramble to get it done too?
It has been cool here the last couple of days. Lows in the lower 40’s
yes we have had frost , I too have plants to bring in and cannas to dig up yet
Yep, I figured it was about time to go pull my carrots, beats and turnips before it gets too cold. It really is going to be a cold winter. We had better start getting used to it now.
Hi,
Hope your lab puppy is ok.
I retired early to Lake Chapala, Mexico 7 years ago, and checked out of the rat race forever.
Now I live in the world’s best weather (according to National Geographic) on Lake Chapala, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.
Your comment about your frosty change of weather, reminded me of, one of our biggest adjuctments was to change our thinking about the seasons. I’m from California so you’d think that the difference would be no big deal (and it really wasn’t) but here in the Lake Chapala area the rainy season is in the summer, typically a tremendous down pour in a very short period of time (30-60minutes). And the winters in this part of Mexico are dry. Both of these situations are the opposite of what we experienced in California … kind of weird.
Anyway, the next time you’re traveling south to Mexico, check out Ajijic, near Guadalajara. There are a fair number of Americans and Canadians that call this area home.
Mexico, Retired and Loving it,
Joel
Casa Preciosa, Ajijic, Mexico