November Trials and Tribulations

It's been an interesting November so far. I spent the first two weeks with a bad cold. I managed to do morning and evening chores, my beached bird survey... with help from Johnny this month, and our two raptor surveys, again with Johnny. And I cut greens for wreaths and started making them.

The beached bird survey provides lots of dead bird photos that aren't too attractive so I'll leave them out. But Johnny noticed a live bird in our driveway one day, a Ruffed Grouse. I saw it the next day, too, and got a blurry photo of the well camouflaged bird.

 Our North Santiam raptor route gave us lovely views of snow-clad mountains: Mt. Hood...

and Mt. Jefferson...

 I was still sick then, so did not take many other photos.

A few days after I was done with my cold, Johnny came down with it. And then, to add interest, he slipped in the mud and landed with his left knee twisted under him. No chores and nothing much but bed for him for the next week. This week he is hobbling around without a cane and seems to feel better. 


With Johnny under the weather, it was my turn to drive to town for animal feed. I took my camera with me and stopped to take a photo of the smiley face that graces a mountainside near us. Hampton Lumber planted larch trees some years ago to make this face when the larches turn color in the fall. The eyes and mouth are doug fir. It is a cheerful sight that makes all of us in the area smile whenever we drive that highway. 

The last couple weeks have been mostly wreath-making time for me. I enjoy cutting greens off our own place to make the wreaths. This year I used prunings from the dwarf pines in the rose bed, redwood branches and modoc cypress branches from the arboretum, and holly from the tree in our front yard. I had made the grapevine rounds that I use as a base some weeks ago. But I had cut the vines from our grapes several weeks before making the rounds so the vines were a bit dried out and hard to work with. I threw them in the creek for a day or two and that helped some. Next year I'll make the rounds as soon as I cut the vines. Hopefully.

Making wreaths is sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating. But they are done now with the ones that get mailed either shipped or ready for shipping. I took a photo of some of the wreaths hanging in my workshop (otherwise known as the stock trailer). The other side of the trailer has an equal number of wreaths hanging along it. My workbench is at the front of the stock trailer, with a window looking out on the arena. I love my workshop.

With Johnny's knee healing and the wreaths finished, we are preparing for a quiet Thanksgiving with just a few friends. It promises to be a rainy holiday weekend, but whenever the clouds allow, we are graced with lovely November sunrises.

 
Happy Thanksgiving!