Well those nice days with some what warm afternoons suddenly turned cold and maybe gone from here until spring as the winds brought in another cold front which looks to be here for a spell. A hard freeze is forecasted for tonight. I did work all day in the beds outside digging up some volunteer tomato and cilantro plants that I want to take with me back to Florida for my winter garden; everything else will probably freeze and die. I cut off the mum plants and put the roots in a hole and covered with mulch just to see if they will produce next summer as a neighbor did that and they were beautiful all summer.
I started the day with my usual 6'ish rollout to my routines that start with some quiet time after posting this ramble and then my solo hike to the top of the mountain. It was chilly but not near what it will be like this morning with these cold temps and the wind still blowing. Maybe I'll wait until the sun rises when at least it will look warmer. The trail and back roads are ankle deep in fallen leaves. Several trees are already bare with that stark dreary winter look.
I worked outside all day long taking out garden stakes from the now dead tomato plants, cutting up the plants for mulch and composing them in the gardens and the same with 3 flower beds. I then covered them with pine needles and leaves and put mulch on top to hold them in the beds from the blowing wind which at times is so strong its hard to walk against it, especially coming up the driveway. While working down below the cabin I happened to notice a movement coming across the top yard and huge 4 to 6 point buck just slowly made his way across the yard and walked into the back woods. What beauty he was and acted as if he had no worries. He will make some hunter a prize. Too bad I no longer hunt but do love the meat.
After lunch I finished up mulching the many flower beds and then we took a nice long hike to the top and across the mountain. t was beautiful on top and I think we have reached peak for color and on the way down. There are still some vibrant colors but most of the yellows are starting to dull. The deer were in whats left of the garden overnight which I believe were the doe and her now large fawns as I noticed no buck tracks. They just about cleaned up the jalapeno pepper plant leaves and left the peppers which is OK with me. I'll harvest the last of them today and what green tomato's are left as well. There should be enough to take with me or at least until we leave.
We cleaned up some leftover throughout the day and I saute' peppers and onions outside on the grill for steak fajitas which we had left over as well. It was starting to really cool down and the wind was whipping the leaves around so we stayed in as darkness now comes before 6. We tuned into the devastating news of America being destroyed by this corrupt administration daily, GOD Help us, LATER
