Fast and furious...

 My weekend was fast and furious.  The wind blew and it was cold.  Our refrigerator finally died.  It's been crying around for awhile.  Just when we thought it was done for we'd wiggle this and clean that, but it was just prolonging the inevitable.  It took some looking to find one that didn't have a tv, ice maker, or water station.  After two major leaks thanks to those fancy water dispensers we stuck with a plain no frills fridge.  Go figure none of them have ice cube trays.  Can you believe that?  Enough complaining.  I did get a few projects done.

I cleaned the porcupine quills.  I have been dreading this project all year as the smell is less than pleasant.  I poured some Dawn in the bucket, covered the quills with hot water, and stirred.  Wearing leather gloves, I covered the bucket with an old sheet and poured out the water.  I did this twice.  It wasn't perfect, but I did not want to lose a quill and have Ella find it.  Sorry no photos, but I couldn't hold my nose, sheet, bucket of quills, and take a picture.  Use your imagination.

This is the quill clipping station.  As you can see, I have a ways to go.  

On the gardening front, the Tomato Taj Mahal is wonderful.  I have a ton of tomatoes to roast.  There is nothing better than roasted tomatoes and peppers.  I pulled up the last of my carrots and replanted the carrots and added some lettuce for the hell of it.  Sometimes I'm lucky with fall planting, but not always

The herbs were repotted and moved indoors.  I have licorice, lemon, and lime basil.  In the fall I move from lemonade to tea.  I tried using my French press for licorice basil tea and was pleasantly surprised.  

The milkweed seed pods harvested from our prairie property opened and wow.  Aren't they pretty?  It kind of looks like a pinecone.  They will go in the butterfly garden.

During all of this, I butchered the deer my husband harvested with his bow.  Nobody where I work hunts and they always call me Bambi killer.  They weren't making fun of me this year when hamburger was $10 a pound.  We ate every bit of our venison.

Ella got a bath, combed all over, and trimmed.  You would think I ran her through the mill.  She has slept all day.  I guess I don't blame her it was too cold and windy to do anything else.

Now that I think about it, I'm tired too.  I've got too many projects going.  The family cookbook, porcupine quills, quilt, butchering, and end of the year gardening.  Time to sit down with a nice cup of tea.  What projects are you working on?  Is it fall there?  What do you do with your tomatoes?  Have a fabulous week.