Well the leaf peepers have come out in droves! There seemed to be a steady stream of cars driving by the house today. I guess I’m not surprised too much since there was a recent article in the local newspaper about how one of the best scenic drives in the state for leaf peeping is on the road that goes right past my house! And the foliage is at peak right now; there are a lot of red leaves, which makes for really spectacular viewing!
I went out on the lake today in the canoe to enjoy some of the leaf color myself. It is especially pretty to see the colors reflecting off the surface of the lake. This time of year it is so peaceful and tranquil on the lake. I don’t like the thought that winter is coming fast, but this season is nice is many ways all on its own. The air is crisp and clear, and the nights are cool enough for some great sleeping. And it’s possible to do a little bit of yardwork without battling the biting insects and without working up a terrible sweat.
Have you ever thought about what happens to your Plastic Bags once you take them to the curb or to your waste transfer station? I was thinking about that the other day, wondering if and when any company is going to create and sell environmentally friendly Trash Bags that will decompose over time.
I like to compost here at home; I don’t like to haul trash to the transfer station if it is something that I can compost and use in my garden later. I took some classes in composting a few years ago, and it made a huge impression on me.
I found some eco-friendly trash bags on the website of the International Plastics Company’s website earlier today. They are green in color, and they call them Green Garbage bags. These bags come in four different popular sizes, and the intent is that you fill them with compostable garbage. Over time the bags will decompose along with the garbage and you will have less landfill and more compost! I’d love to see stores use bags like this for their Retail Bags that they give to their customers!
If a consumer lives in an area where they can take their trash to a composting facility, this is a great way to reduce the garbage that ends up in a landfill that could/should be composted!
Well, my muscles are complaining quite a bit after the weekend long wood splitting party we had! I’ve had a couple of long soaks in the bathtub, and put on some muscle rub (now I smell like a nursing home!) and tried very hard to not sit still for too long a period of time, for fear of my muscles stiffening up. I was planning on going for a long walk today but I cut it short because my back was complaining too loudly. There’s an awful lot of bending and lifting when you split wood! They say heating with wood is the most efficient way to heat - it heats you up when you cut it, heats you when you split it, heats you when you stack it, and then heats you when you burn it! That’s a lot of heat!
This past weekend we held a wood-splitting party. We had a load of wood delivered earlier in the spring and it was cut to the right length, but needed to be split. Our neighbors shared the cost of renting a wood-splitter this weekend and we got together and split wood at their house on Saturday, and our house on Sunday. We go all the wood split and stacked, so we are all quite pleased with ourselves for all of our hard work. We are expecting a long hard winter, and this wood is going to help us with keeping our heating costs to a minimum.
I spent a few hours this morning out in the yard, planting daffodils and day-lilies. I love to plant them around the yard every fall. I like to dig a large hole, put in the daffodils, and then the day-lilies right on top of them. They are both deer resistant, and the both spread, and when the daffodils are finished blooming in the spring the dying leaves and stems are hidden by the day-lilies that come up. There is such a wide variety of colors and types that I can have a kaleidoscope of colors in my yard most of the blooming season. Fall is NOT my favorite time of year, but this chore makes me happy because I think of how nice the flowers will look in the spring when they come up.