Henbogle

The tide swept in and washed over me, leaving me bobbing in the surf occasionally making it to the surface for air.  It now seems to be receding a bit, leaving me enough oxygen to write a post, something long on my list, but un-accomplished.

Despite a series of rainy weekends, we’ve been enjoying the long mild fall, which was only briefly interrupted by 10 inches of snow over Thanksgiving.  Yes, 10 inches, all gone now, which is a good thing as we still have not finished all the outside chores!  Here’s what we’ve been doing, in no particular order.

I made a delicious batch of soup featuring garden veggies and the fall kale.  Yum.

We picked all the Brussels sprouts in the garden the day before the snow — we got over 4 lbs of sprouts, and had them for Thanksgiving dinner.

We put out the birdfeeders for the winter.  I think it is appreciated.

Had our first snow to shovel on November 23. Thanksgiving Day itself was warm and sunny.

We gave the girls a special treat on Thanksgiving Day. At first, they weren’t sure what to make of the funky-colored kale.

But they figured it out.

I love this garland, filled with bird ornaments.

Had the usual massive pre-holiday cleaning and decorating, just in time to host friends for brunch, and a week later, four of my students.  (Having hens makes brunch an excellent party option, don’t you think?)  I must mention that I am especially proud of the student volunteers from our campus volunteer center, who raised $10,000 in 30 days from the local homeless shelter’s building campaign.  They collected over 400 donations, most less than $25!  They also got a matching donation from our campus this week for their efforts to reduce dorm damage during that month, adding another $5,000 to the total for a total donation to the shelter of over $15,000.  Incredible.

Did some shopping for a new pair of boots after the cheap ones I got at Tractor Supply cracked in less than a year.  Considering I wear them for about 10 minutes a day most days to tend to the hens, I wasn’t pleased, grrr.  The new boots are genuine rubber wellies from LL. Bean. I hope they last.  I think they look especially stylish with my kitty pajamas.

Today’s project is to finish modifications to the hendome, which will now be known as the Winter Palace.  Stay tuned.

*Does anyone remember that expression from The World According to Garp?

Yesterday, the world lost a genius with Steve Jobs’ death.  He more than any other technology guru changed the way we communicate and connect with each other and our world.  At only 56, he was probably just reaching his peak, and who knows what we will miss out on with his death.  It is a sad day indeed.

As the gardening season is winding down, Dan and I are getting into planning for next summer’s garden.  It will look a lot different than this summer, because we will be absent gardeners.  We are planning a Big Adventure next year, a summer-long road trip across the US, sea to shining sea, looping through as many of the beautiful and interesting places we’ve dreamed about as we can in 6 weeks of travel.

This does not mean the end of Henbogle (although during our trip it will be on hiatus).  We plan on continuing with the usual Henbogle content and as we approach departure, posting about our efforts to plan and plant a vegetable garden which will thrive on a summer of neglect.

We are still in the beginning stages of planning, and this is where we hope our friends across the land will help out.  What are the magical, beautiful, quirky, interesting places we should see on this great American road trip?  The more we look at this atlas, the more difficult it is to plan!  The Bitterroot Range through Idaho, or the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier?  Bryce Canyon or Arches?  Hell’s Canyon or Angel Falls?  We are asking you good people to tell us where to go –the chance of a lifetime!  To make it easier to tell us exactly where to go, please visit our new blog, Every Day is A Winding Road, where we’ll be planning and mapping our big adventure.  If we happen to be traveling through your general area, we would love to plan a meet-up.  Thanks for your help in planning our adventure.  I REALLY hope you will join us!