Preparing for Winter....when it comes

honeybee on California poppy flower 

This past weekend and into this week, Tom and I have been cleaning up our place, preparing for winter. Winter seems to be tarrying elsewhere, though. Yesterday I stopped by a local antique shop and while paying for my purchases, asked the owner if it seemed unseasonably warm here. She told me yes, that the area usually gets its first snow in October. However, last winter, our first here, we didn't get snow until December, if I remember correctly.  The U.S. climate data website supports my memory. In November of last year, the highest temperature in November was on the second of the month, with a high near 74°F, while highs the rest of the month varied between 66°F and 42°F, with lows between 45°F and 7°F. Well, we've had a balmy fall, with highs in the 60s and 70s almost every day, giving us a great opportunity to work outside.

Tom cleaned out the greenhouse this past weekend, pulling out tomato and pepper plants and replacing them with onion plants. We have a lot of onions in the outside garden, so we'll see how well the onions outside survive the winter as compared to those inside the greenhouse. 

Tomato plants stacked up in front of the greenhouse, Tom and Cassie on the right

greenhouse cleared of tomatoes and peppers

onions, radishes, greens, cabbage still growing in the garden

Tom also affixed a rain gutter to the greenhouse and used plastic gutter material to direct precipitation into the greenhouse.

gutter added to the greenhouse, with downspout for directing precipitation inside

drainage gutters for directing precipitation in the greenhouse

I finally turned to a project that I had procrastinated on because it was a little overwhelming, repairing the gravel walkway in our backyard which the previous owners' dogs had torn up. To do this, I would be tackling two projects at once, adding to the walkway the gravel I'm removing from an area where we plan to put in an herb garden. Photos might describe these projects best.

The area where we plan an herb garden: I am removing gravel and the underlying plastic.

I'm recyling the plastic ground cover and gravel to cover bare areas in this gravel walkway.

Here is the area repaired, with gravel covering the plastic.

When I get all the plastic ground cover and gravel removed from the area where we are planning an herb garden, Tom will dig up the ground (I've asked for his assistance in this), and then we will put in walkways and separate raised beds. I hope we can get this done in time for spring planting. 

Another project I'm working on this week is repairing the rock "creek" that was part of the original landscaping of a previous owner. The "creek" was neglected and filled with debris.

The rock "creek" that had been neglected (photo taken in March)

Dirt, gravel, and other debris had filled in the rock "creek" bed.

This week, I cleared out the debris and uncovered buried rocks in the "rock creek."

Tom said yesterday that I was going to get the yard all in order in time for us to move again. "Well," I replied, "that would be par for the course." The 2016 presidential election has already impacted some of our hopes for the future. I just hope that the fallout will not be as bad as we imagine.

scrub jay at my makeshift bird feeder--some flowers still blooming in mid-November