It's the Season . . .

. . . when all these pretty leaves fall to the ground and Mom has to rake and blow and shred and rake and blow and shred and rake and blow and shred endlessly.

The front sidewalk fills with leaves and Mom tracks them in when she gets home from work.

My deck becomes a mess and leaves fly into my water dish. We have our deck built around a maple tree so lots of leaves fall on it.

~Jake

But it's also a sad time when all the potted impatiens on the deck are killed by a freeze as they were the night before Veteran's Day. Late last month Mom brought inside all the house plants that summer on the deck. It's a ritual for them - six months inside and six months outside.


The same day that the impatiens croaked, Mom found blooms on the witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) that she had just planted this spring. That turned her frown into a smile.

Today's weather is very weird. There was rain early, then it let up and was windy and warm (70 degrees F.) so I was outside with Mom as she took advantage of the weather and read her newspaper on the deck. It rained again just a little time ago and is supposed to get very cold here in the days ahead. I like to be outside when it is warm and that Pesky Jake is inside.

Here's a parting shot of me. Notice the dirty spot on the door? That's from Jake who scratches on the door when he wants to go in, then prompty scratches on the other side when he wants to go out again.

Enjoy the weekend.

~Bathsheba

Wednesday Workday

Do any of you know where your people go during the day when they go to work ("go hunting")? Mom has never taken us to her office, but we would often wonder about a place that takes her away from us every day. She finally shared with us some photos that she took there last week.
She said that this is the entrance she uses every day. Unfortunately, this lovely red maple tree is naked this week.

There are lots of red maples around the front parking lot.

Mom is always telling us about the wonderful walks she takes at lunch time. Her office has lots of trails through the woods out back.

With all the leaves on this trail, it looks like our yard!

Mom said that there are two ponds and a stream behind her office building. This is a view of the building from the back. Mom's office is on the front side facing west. She can see awesome sunsets from her fifth floor windows.

This is the view from the lower pond. Beavers have a dam just out of sight on the right. It makes the water flow over the trail a bit. For the first few years after the building was built in 1992, when Mom walked down here she could imagine that she was way off in the country. Unfortunately, a few years ago, a road, townhouses, and condos were built near this end. It's still rather peaceful, but there is no escaping the fact that development surrounds the area.

This is the view coming around the side of the building. The trail away from the building leads to a shopping complex that bills itself as an urban town center. There are many good chain restaurants, such as PF Chang, and fancy stores like Ann Taylor, that are just a short walk away.

We will begrudging admit that Mom works in a pretty campus setting, but we'd still rather have her home with us all day.

~J&B

Man Cat Monday - Leaves

Mom went away for Thanksgiving, and while she was gone, the weather turned sharply colder and most of our trees finally lost their leaves.
Just look at my side yard! You can hardy see the grass underneath all those maple leaves. Somebody's got a lot of work ahead.

But it's not me. Being a MAN cat, I think I hear a football game calling to me on the TV. I'll let Mom work on these leaves.

~Jake

Saturday Scavenging

Mom worked in the yard this afternoon. Before she tackled the leaves, she replenished the suet for the birds. She set the empty plastic container down on the edge of the deck, and I spied it.

Mmm, this suet stuff isn't half bad. 'Tis a pity there isn't more for me.

Mom decided to use her mulching lawn mower for the leaves, so it was noisy outside. She used the bagger attachment and emptied it onto a big tarp she put on the driveway. She has a big shredder machine, but decided not to use it because it is very hard for her to start. She likes to compost all our leaves, but the compost area is way at the bottom of the yard. She drags the big tarp down there and dumps it.

Daisy had asked if we could just wait for the leaves to blow away. Unfortunately, the answer is no. We live downwind from neighbors with many big trees and all of their leaves blow our way since they almost NEVER rake. We have lots of plantings, rocks, and shrubs in our front yard so they catch the leaves that fall. Most of the trees are oaks and they continue to drop their leaves all winter long. Leaf-raking and collection is a long-term activity in our yard.

Tonight Mom had phone calls from her two bestest friends. She was going to help us blog more, but we know that those long phone conversations were important for her.

~Jake