Last Sunday in September

Not a favourite poppy, but nevertheless still blooming.

It's cold, grey, windy and rainy, and the sewer has been backing up (if it's not one thing it's another, only usually a half-dozen of them for my poor Scottie to deal with) at GGFarm so I'm at the old place, spending the afternoon in and near the nice warm kitchen, cooking up a storm: a vegetable broth (with diced potatoes, celery, onions, turnips, carrots) that will be simmered for two hours and then blended, divided up and frozen as a base for quick and delicious soups (my preference by far is a cheese soup, which is to die for); a sausage-zucchini fry; bean dish (always a big hit on the potluck circuit, it's like chili but without the chili, and with lima beans and bacon as well as the usual ingredients); and banana bran muffins. Everett's going to make his famous chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies after I'm out of the kitchen, when the frozen margarine has softened.

Later Scott, Emil and I plan to drive to Kelvington to visit our grandmothers. He's got some drywall mud to apply for his brother-in-law who lives there and Emil is excited because the last two times I went, he had a cold and couldn't go.

There's a risk of frost tonight for this part of the province. Might have to cover my jalapenos and tomatoes; fortunately there are just a few plants but unfortunately my puppy Chloe thinks that things like blankets are meant to be dragged off and chewed upon, breaking the stems of plants in the process. Could mean a night on the chain, for her. She is a funny dog. Yesterday I found a common snipe on the lawn, dead, near the garden. After having a close look at it, with its very long beak, I put on my gardening gloves to pick up and move the carcass somewhere it wouldn't be stepped on when we are out admiring the stars after dark. Chloe grabbed it right out of my hand! Little bugger. She wouldn't let Scott pick it up later either, when he tried.

Not much else to report. Life is good, life is good, life is good.