November Update

It’s been awhile. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, my seasonal affective disorder kicks in. I’ve been struggling a lot with my energy levels. And that includes the mental bandwidth to keep up with this blog.

At least it hasn’t turned too cold yet. Though I remember growing up that we usually had our first snow by mid-November. Other than some flakes flying on Halloween (which never accumulated), we haven’t had any snow — just frosts. Novembers just keep getting milder and milder as time goes on.

I harvested the last of my salad greens just a few evenings ago. Unfortunately, the golden beets I planted with the salad greens never formed beets, but the greens are also good in salad. I should probably compost what’s left.

The bird feeders are out for the season, too. Though the birds are still finding plenty of food in the decaying flower beds. This is why I don’t feed them year-round. They find an abundance of food in our yard during the growing season and don’t need the feeders. I bought a new feeder this year — bright red like our barn. I love it, and so do the birds.

I am hearing the Great Horned Owl more and more, and he isn’t alone. There are two now. He has female friend with a higher-pitched call. I haven’t seen either of them. I only hear them hooting. But they were extremely close to the house a few nights ago.

It’s been a beautiful fall. This is our second autumn in this house, and I continue to be amazed by how stunning our yard is when the leaves change.

In other news, the bridge that L destroyed with the rental tractor has been rebuilt. The original bridge wasn’t made of the proper materials in the first place. L bought the right lumber and built a much stronger bridge. It’s wider, too.

Last Sunday, I finally had the opportunity to join a Hikerbabes hike. I’ve been a member for almost two years, and the Central Ohio chapter is very active. However, the hikes are usually too far away, at an inconvenient time, and/or too long — like 8-10 miles. The hike last week was at Scioto Grove Metro Park, which is about 10 minutes from my house. It was 3 miles. And it was a mindfulness hike, so mindfulness practices were incorporated into the hike.

We also collected objects from the trail (with advance permission of the park ranger) to make nature mandalas. There was a nice stretch of riverbank by the Scioto where we stopped to create our mandalas out of leaves, bark, twigs, shells, stones, dead flower heads, and other things that caught our eye — though we did not pick anything still growing. It was actually quite relaxing.

I could easily create mandalas from objects in our yard. It’s a good practice that encourages you to really observe what’s around you and find things in nature that catch your eye. Ideally, you should find multiple objects that are similar. But of course, you will never find things that are completely identical.

Anyway, I had to bail out early because I had new hiking shoes on that were only marginally broken in. They started hurting my feet. Plus, they are heavy and clunky. I think I’ll keep them for yardwork and not for hiking. (The good, expensive Salomon hiking shoes I bought last year are my primary yardwork shoes, and they are now starting to fall apart because I’ve abused them so much.)

That’s it from here. Thanksgiving is in a few days and we’re going up to my aunt’s place outside of Cleveland. The original plan was to camp at Geneva State Park for the entire weekend — it’s near her house. But we canceled those plans because it’s supposed to be blustery with snow. Those conditions are not ideal for towing or setting up camp. Plus, I have to work for half a day on Friday anyway. So we’re now just going up for the day.

I have to start Thanksgiving prep either today or tomorrow. I’m bringing the cranberry sauce, a pumpkin roll we ordered from an Amish bakery, and the appetizers. I’m making bacon-wrapped dates and cinnamon pecans, and I’m bringing a cheese board. The challenge will be staying out of these things before Thursday.