Harvest...

 We did it.  We harvested a beautiful bull elk.  For anyone who thinks hunting is just tromping out into the woods and shooting something, you are so wrong.  It is waking up at 4:30 am.

 listening in the dark, deep in the woods.

Trying to figure out which way they are going and then tip toe through branch strewn woods.

Cow elk are hypersensitive.  They will see you coming long before you see them. 

A herd of elk can disappear into a thicket of small pine trees in an instant.  All you can see is their feet and hear the occasional call.  A 900 lb animal doesn't make a noise; meanwhile, I sound like a freight train moving at half the pace they are.

It wasn't easy and it shouldn't be. Elk hunting is humbling.  Now comes the real work, butchering.  That will take a couple of days.  I think that is the other part of hunting people don't understand.  The work that ensues after the shot.  The quartering, hauling out of the woods, preparing, and then butchering.  That elk roast tastes even better, knowing all the work you yourself put forth before it was eaten. 

Have you ever seen or heard an elk in the wild?  Have you ever tasted elk meat? Have you ever butchered your own meat? 

Into the forest I must go...

Into the woods I must go to lose myself and find my soul...

 My husband has an elk tag and I am loving it.  I took 2 weeks off from work.  I really needed some time in the woods.  It has been great.  Some days we are hearing bulls and seeing elk, and some days nothing.  

I don't mind the nothing, it brings me peace to sit and watch the leaves flutter, the birds puttering around, and sitting next to the man I love.   

Early mornings looking up at the stars.  The smell of fall and earth.  Also, the smells of rutting bulls, not as pleasant. 

I've taken tons of pictures and some video of bugling bulls.  I could have had several elk pictures, but I was too busy calling. 

The best part of elk hunting is wandering through the woods with my husband.  We know the area very well and it is fun reliving memories of prior hunts. 

We've put on quite a few miles of walking, quite a bit of sitting, and an occasional nap in the woods.  It is amazing how easy it is to snooze out in the fresh air.  One of us is always keeping watch and there to nudge the other if they start snoring. 

How do you de-stress?  Have you ever heard an elk bugle?  

A gardeners work is never done...

Today I re-did the front flower bed.  It needed thinning out and I wanted to add some plants that I was unable to have prior to fencing it out.  I love asters and that was the first thing the deer eat, along with my phlox. 

Above I slowly took everything out.  Below is all of my phlox, it went crazy and took over the whole bed. 

I added some more topsoil and some compost.  As you can see in the photos below.  You can also see that my iris also was a little out of control.  I forgot I had three types of iris and reconfigured everything for two types of iris.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to put the third iris back in and which plants are from the third iris. 

I added a huge assortment of tuilps.  I lined the bottom of the trench with bonemeal.  I'm really excited to see how they do.  It is a Christmas present to myself, only I have to wait 7m months to see what it looks like.

In the front, I put a bunch of grape hyacinths and mini daffodils. I tried to be careful, but towards the end I was just shoving them in there. 

 

Also on the gardening front, my husband's pumpkin weighed in at 93.8 lbs.  He is disappointed as he wanted to hit 100, but last year he has 75 lbs. so I would say that is a great improvement.  My little white pumpkin came in at a whopping 6.5 lbs. Needless to say, he is not worried about me beating him out.  

How often do you re-do your garden beds?  Have you ever grown a great pumpkin?

A cozy fall day...

This mass of fur is my dog nestled beside me.  I don't know how he can contort his body like this.  It was a cold rainy fall day and perfect for sipping hot cocoa and cuddling with my pup.

It was the quintessential fall day today.  The leaves are turning.  The weather was a cool drizzly while the leaves drifted to the ground with every gust of wind.

Dollor was tired, because we went for a nice long walk in the woods.  It was very peaceful. 

While walking I came across these bubbles made by a rivulet of water.  Aren't they perfect?  Nature always amazes me.  

I fenced off my red and yellow bed this year.  It was nice to actually have flowers.  The fall colors are wonderful.  

I took this picture on the drive home.  The dark cloud over Deadwood was pretty ominous. It sure is nice to have some moisture going into winter.  

Did you have a dry summer?  Are you getting any rain now?  Are the leaves changing where you are?

Slow September...

We are slowly slipping into fall.  It has been so dry, the birch trees are losing their leaves.  They looked parched, until last night.  We had a small downpour and that lifted their spirits. 

My garden is pretty much a loss.  I did get these giant jalapeños.  So I tried jalapeño poppers.   They turned out great!

My husband and I rarely go out.  It was a real treat for us to go to a Symphony Rock Concert.   What a wonderful experience. 

It has been very dry and it wasn't a surprise we've had a few fires in the area. Luckily they haven't been too bad. They were quickly contained.   Thank goodness for firefighters. 

Our Harrelson apple tree was a rockstar this year.  Two pecks of apples.  They are delicious.  Meanwhile, my giant Zestar produced a whopping 4 apples and one was wormy. Yes, that brown grass is my lawn. 

What does one do with all those apples?  Apple pie, of course. 

What have you harvested?  What type of apples trees do you have?

Thunderstorms...

We are getting thunderstorms everywhere but here.  It is quite dry and very dusty.  Did I mention that the first 2 weeks of September are always the hottest?  

I had a hummingbird stop by on its way to somewhere.  We've also been hearing an owl at night.  We used to have 2 owls, long long ago.  We haven't heard any for years, so we were pretty happy to hear him.  

The bees are everywhere. Especially anywhere there is water.   They do love the hollyhocks.  It is nice to have hollyhocks again.  We fenced some of them from the deer.

There have been thunderstorms everywhere but here.  We are supposed to get rain tonight, but it isn't looking good. I do enjoy seeing a nice thunderhead.  I tend to get lost in the evolving cloud.  

This was the last pretty moon night.  Now when I walk Dollor it is just infinite layers of stars.  Supposedly we should see some northern lights this week.  I hope so. 

 What is it like in your neck of the woods?  Hot? Rain? Stars? Moon? Flowers? Dust? 

This and that...

 I picked a milk pail full of crabapples.  That is about it for fruit around here.  I had a few strawberries and nothing else.  The birds ate the cherries and the chipmunks gobbled up the chokecherries.  The currents, gooseberries, raspberries, and service berries were non-existent.  I will make jelly and fruit rollups with the crab apples. 

Even my sweetgrass was a bit disappointing.  I have never seen such short braids.  I wasn't too surprised, as sweetgrass grows in boggy areas.  We've had so little rain there wasn't much 'bog' for them. 

The only thing that is truly flourishing is my husband's giant pumpkin.  His goal is 100lbs this year and he is making good headway.  They are as big, if not bigger, than last year's champion (75 lbs.) and we still have a maybe a month of growing season left. 

That is about it for here.  I usually post on Sunday's, but things may be a bit sporadic for a while.  Due to staffing issues, I have to work on the weekends at least until the end of September.  I try very hard not to talk about work, but being unable to hire has stretched us all thin.  I love my job but look forward to retirement.  Having staff and students depend on your decision making is extremely stressful.

Are you retired?  Do you miss it? Any advice to get me through the last 3 years 1 month and 28 days?