Those Hours of the Day

[digitS']

There were too many lunches this year that I could hardly finish without dozing off for a few minutes. Usually, I had things to do after lunch and it was only throughbribing myself, with the promise of mid-afternoon coffee that I could get up and get back out the door ...

Now that things have really wound down (or, soon will), what will you be doing with those hours you would have been otherwise spending in the garden?

Steve
no, my "activities" won't involve smoking

 

[thistlebloom]

Probably won't be taking up smoking this year.

This year I hope I will be resolute in my endeavor to sort, reorganize, declutter, and deep clean while I have the time to be indoors.

Or maybe I'll just end up with my feet up in front of the fire, reading and hanging out here.

Maybe I should make myself accountable to somebody....work before play and all that.

 

[digitS']

What about the nice outdoor hours ...

Oh, yeah! You've got acres and livestock at home to attend to.



Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a good question. Those daylight hours are already getting a lot shorter. Here too the ground will probably stay fairly wet most of the winter. That limits me more than the cold.

I've got a fence I've been needing to build but that's probably only two to three days if I'll get off my rear and do it. I normally wait until January to do my pruning, trees that is. I'll prune my beard tonight. Sometime before too long I'll burn my trash wood and brush. Hopefully I'll get around to remulching some landscaping beds. But basically outside activities are shut down for the winter.

What will I do with myself, other than stay on here? I don't know, my wife will think of some projects she needs done. Some things I just don't have to worry about.

 

[digitS']

I used to be a great walker. Not so much, these days.

I used to find a place on a Geological Survey map and head off to find it. As long as I had a watch, clear sky, compass, and that map - I'd be willing to go cross country. It was a lot of fun!

I stick to level ground for the walk, these days. Still, there are places to catch a bit of fresh air and a view. I still tend to use a map since I can get a little mixed up on back roads. The map leads me to much narrower escapes in more settled locations than years ago. Have to have daylight and a little nice fall weather, is all.

Steve
who should also start on that fence one of these first days ...

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh yeah! I will definitely be outside a lot of the time with chores. Even a nasty cold blowy day has it's outside benefits, if only to appreciate the big stack of firewood we have. But all the animals like walks so they help motivate me out and about.

The sitting by the fire isn't all just entertainment. It's also work oriented, researching and refreshing my memory. It's always a shock in the spring to observe a plant in the landscape and have to do a mental scramble to remember it's name. Common plants. My mind is full of little holes that information I think I've stored has crept out of and run away.

 

[baymule]

This winter. No fall garden. We'll be moving. Building fence, something to house chickens, a temporary shelter for the horses, doing what it takes to turn raw land into a garden/orchard/farm.

 

[thistlebloom]

You're going to be busy for a long, long time to come @baymule!

Steve, those exploratory walks you took sound like a satisfying way to see the countryside. I always wanted to do some of those organized orienteering events. Or geo-caching. But things like knees and feet aren't so easy to get along with anymore and except for short hikes we do most of our exploring these days on mountain bike.

 

[canesisters]

Cleaning up the barn.... that's how I'll be spending 'those hours'.
It started on the work bench, then spread onto the counter in the feed room. Before I knew it, it was all over the alley and stacked up in the area that is supposed to house the mower - which is now parked in the alley next to the table saw which wouldn't fit in the tool room because of the pet carriers which got left there because the counter in the feed room is covered in hand tools and jars of screws and such which were supposed to go back on the work bench but didn't make it because I would've had to climb over the pile of empty feed bags and the old hose reel - which was supposed to have been thrown away but got left because the back of the truck was full from the last time I cleaned otu the barn... which was probably last winter..........

 

[digitS']

@canesisters , that sounds like my garage!

Actually, my garage has a wood floor and the double door was replaced by a wall and window. I just call it a garage for historical reasons. It's a "workshop." I stay out of it as much as I can ...

We make good use of the garage for storage. I have to be careful the mice don't make good use of it as a home ... the garbage and recycle bins are in there. So are 2 freezers. The bench is cluttered with tools and the same screws and such. Dry flowers are in boxes having come in from hanging under the carport roof.

DW says, "what am I going to do with all my dry flowers?" I say, "what all ..?" Aren't I nice?

Steve