Winter Is Coming, Potato Growing Experiment Results, Autumn Decor, Hand Surgery AGAIN

Winter Is Coming-
I wish I had a funny way of saying Game of Throne's winter is coming. Anyway we're getting some 30 degree weather here in the next week or so and finally some decent rain! Exciting news because it has been dry for months and months and months and months. We've been slowly getting the house ready for the cooler weather, closing up the foundation vents, cleaning out the veggie garden of the last of the tomatoes and peppers. That opened up the garden more for the hens, so they're happy!

I asked Dave to take down our 3 bird houses so we could clean them before winter. One was so full of yellow jacket nests that he had to spray it, so it had to go in the garbage. Luckily we have lots of used cedar boards and we can make a new one in the spring. He put the one back up, and the other birdhouse needed a little retrofitting. This tall birdhouse we bartered for at a landscaping and rock facility. I called ahead of time and said we were removing a lot of gravel, if we brought some in could we barter for something else and they said sure! So for some pea gravel we didn't need we got a really cool birdhouse. The problem started up when they squirrels decided to enlarge the hole so that the birds wouldn't use it.

I asked Dave to remove the front piece with the hole and replace it with a fresh piece of cedar. He went ahead and reconfigured the hole to be much smaller so that the small birds will start using it. We also moved it to the backyard where it has more open space around it-

I love the vintage ceramic door knob!

Potato Growing Experiment Results-
This is just my favorite time of year since it is so much cooler when you're doing gardening! It was 48 degrees this weekend in the a.m. We've moved down into the 70s and that's pretty typical this time of year. I documented are potato growing experiment in a couple of different posts-
Growing Potatoes In Garbage Cans and Potato Progress

I had wanted to try growing potatoes in garbage cans since our ground space was a little bit limited by other growing stuff. Basically we watered really well a couple of times a week over the summer and things didn't seem to be growing well from what we could tell. We didn't really get a lot of potato flowers that other people mention just a couple of really small ones. Of course in the bottom of the garbage can its impossible to tell what is going on down there. So we decided decided to harvest some this weekend and see where things were at. The small blue tote had red potatoes and the two taller black ones had Yukon golds. Since the potatoes were free we only had to buy potting soil which was recommended and with her hard soil not a bad idea. Then we did spend less than $10 on the blue tote so it was a minimal investment money-wise. I had fresh potatoes a few years ago for the first time and they are so much different than what you buy in the grocery store! Much more creamy and tender. So I decided we should unearth any potatoes in the blue tote first and so it was easiest to move with the handles and that's where we found... one lone little red tater (see above).

Dave opened up the other two totes tonight, nothing! Since the potatoes were gifted it could be they were all dudes. Well, it looked good in the tote! We may buy some seed potatoes next year and try again...

Autumn Decor-
Last weekend I put out our Autumn decor. I like to have seasonal things out to mark the changes of the year. I bought a few pumpkins and got out the rest of my table top and shelf decor unpacked. Dave got some free corn stalks for the front from a local community garden. There was a big sign- FREE STALKS!

I had my nice old vintage Basin and I bought a couple of bags of pumpkin fillers in pastel colors to transition since it was too early but these things out last month. I'm not the kind of person who likes putting orange pumpkins out when it's 90 degrees in September! I went ahead and added a small pumpkin in the middle now that I'm switching over to the traditional fall colors. Here's a little tour of some things we have up inside the house-

I made the cotton metal planter myself!

Outside we have a little fall mat by the front door, a little flag and when is closer to Halloween will put up decorations outside the house. That's always fun for the trick-or-treaters.

Hand Surgery, Again-
Boy did I clean the house last week! Because... it's that time again. About 2 years ago I had surgery on my left thumb since the bone at the base of the thumb was really worn. Severe arthritis. I was in continual pain and losing my grip strength. It was a quite a recovery for several months, wearing different braces, but now my left thumb is pain-free and I have my grip strength back. Now it's time for my right hand. I probably won't be blogging much after this for a week or so until I get the initial big, honking brace off, I have to wear this for the first week-

Then I'll be fitted with a smaller black, adjustable one for 2 months. Basically (spoiler alert don't read ahead if you have a sensitive stomach) they make an incision at the base of the thumb and take out the square metacarpal bone that is all worn. Then they basically suture the heck out of it so the upper piece of my thumb has something to rest on that won't cause pain. I do a couple months with a big wrist/forearm brace to keep the thumb stationary. Then I go to a smaller mini split, then start doing OT to stretch my thumb/hand/fingers. My hand surgeon did a great job the first time and it actually wasn't that expensive relatively speaking. Thanks god for insurance! I'll be home all next week from work watching Netflix and DVDs with Anya the cat. Send some good energy my way, thanks!