I haven't been very good at updating this for the past couple of weeks. So, working backwards....Halloween was wonderful. Walter came over early then DJ and Robin brought their grandkids over. I had made a large pot of chicken taco soup and sent some home with Walter for dinner. Robin and DJ had soup and the kids had sugar frosted flakes - I know, nothing like more sugar on Halloween. There was one other group of three children and two adults that stopped by. It was cold, windy and a school night. This is the worst turn-out we've had ever. Even our first Halloween when there were only about five houses on our street there were more kids that came around. Back then there weren't any Halloween Bashes at the park or trunk-or-treat events in this area. Watauga has changed a lot since then.
Our irrigation system is installed and working beautifully. It is mostly drip with a couple of zones in the back that are spray. Stan is now able to nap in the late afternoon instead of being outside hand watering. I love having the drip all the way around the house because it will really benefit the foundation.
Last Sunday I asked Stan to put washer fluid in my car. He opened the hood and found a horde of peanuts near the windshield. We cleaned them out and I quit putting out peanuts for the blue jays since it appeared the squirrels thought they had found a good place to hide them. I asked Stan to check the car yesterday and sure enough, there was the start of another horde. He cleaned it out and we are working to keep the little pests out. We aren't sure if it's squirrels or a rat, so traps were set and they should deter either from entering the car again, WE HOPE!
We are really enjoying the cooler weather and so is the electric bill! I'm thinking the water bill will be lower now too since the drip is so much more efficient. Stan has all the winter-over plants in the sun room now. His watering duties have now turned into yard maintenance duties, falling sticks from the trees triggered by north winds and the falling leaves. He is slowly working around the yard to tamp down the trails left by the installation of the irrigation.
