Well it was a chilly morning to start the day on Tuesday but eventually warmed close to 60 with lots of sunshine and a breeze. We stayed under the warm covers until 7 'ish before rolling out to start the day. Nancy had the oven on to take the chill off and we were dressed for warmth with long sleeves, pants and sweaters. It's the thin blood when you leave 90's daily and are now waking up to the 30' and 40's.
After our quiet times we had a lite breakfast of oatmeal and fruit before I headed out to check on the gardens. I put up another string of twine and bags around the lower garden in hopes the deer will stay away from what's left that is still trying to grow. They haven't bothered the upper garden except to eat the flowers around the outside of the fence. I weeded and hoed the upper garden and then replaced one of the rotten poles that hold up the small wire fence with another dried out pine pole from the woods.
We took off for our daily hike to the top of the mountain as Nancy was feeling a little better but still had the clogged sinus. We took our time and stopped often enjoying the crisp air and the color which was really starting to show in the leaves. We noticed the Fullers must have been up from Homosassa, Florida while we were gone as his truck was missing from his shed and Joe and Jetta confirmed they were up as well. Sorry we missed them as we use to see them nearly every day on our hike.
We stopped and took Norms mail up to his door but he was nowhere around and we did spot our first Yellow Jackets nest in his driveway. They were buzzing around as we nearly stepped on them and one followed me to his door. They are a nasty mean aggressive bee and that was the first time we had seen any so far this summer. They usually get mean in the Fall for some reason. We were hoping all the rain may have washed them away as they usually nest in the ground.
We visited with Joe, Jetta and Zeke and he let out an excited yip when he saw us as if to say" I'm glad you all are back". We headed on down the mountain to a lunch of salad. Afterwards I headed back outside to lime my yards for the last time this year and then worked on my spreader as it has seen finer days. I hauled some rocks out from the backwoods yards and lined my compost pile then I took the weed whacker and whacked down all the dried dead flowers that made up most of the flower gardens. It sure cleaned things up as the dead heads were everywhere especially the cone flower heads. The deer had eaten all of the Fall Daisies heads off so they looked pretty ragged as well. I left the Marigolds and Zinnas as they are still blooming and are showing lots of colors.
Nancy had a pot of tortilla soup on the stove and did it ever smell good and was perfect for this cool evenings supper. I broke down and ate my first chips in several days as I'm trying to avoid and reduce my intake of crackers, chip etc. After several small bowls I got ready to head out for some pickle ball at Cornerstone at 7 PM with neighbor Gerald. We only had 3 players as a couple guys weren't able to make it. We did have a good workout and the exercise was awesome with us playing some singles but mainly 2 on 1 with a shorten side of the court for the single player. We lasted until about 9 before heading home. We will try to get the gang together next week for another round.
Well the Rays were once again in a do or die situation and were ahead going into the final innings when some bonehead plays ended their season. They will watch the Red Sox move on into the playoffs and to my way of thinking they should win it all as they have some great pitching and if they get on base they run like deer. The Rays are our hometown team and of course we wanted them to win but there were just to many errors and the umps made some questionable calls as well. They did have 4 games in a row they had to win and provided us with lots of excitement. Better luck next year, LATER
