BACK TO THE QUOTIDIUM

YES...THE HUMDRUM.
Two weeks from returning after the Great Rockies Ride.  I do admit that I was a bit tired over the first weekend.  Nice to see that I had lost the anticipated eight pounds over the ten days of riding and wonderful to catch up with all my local friends.  After all those miles/kilometres and the many grueling hills along the way, it was no surprise to see that my aerobic levels had improved quite a bit.  Brian made great haste with the video and, in case you missed it, here is the URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5sPHF-Zvgw

Around the house, three weeks of growth by the lawn awaited to be taken care of, first a light cut followed a few days later with another to take the blade length back to 3 1/2 inches, along with some edge trimming, seeing as how the earth was still damp from the heavy rains.  Then to the task of getting the house and surrounds ready for the coming Winter.  I am laying a path from the back stairs to the slab on which the garden shed sits and also extending a path past the stairs that lead down to the lower stairs into the sun-room.  This is very tiring work (I must be getting old) so it is a case of here a little, there a little, as weather permits.  I am quite proud of the running form-work I have set up to manage the main path progress.

I have managed to get one French drain done, to ensure proper removal of water from off the roof and have four smaller ones to install to prevent any further ingress into the lower level when we get really severe rains that overwhelm the capacity of the present drains.  It really can rain here at times!

This work is nearing completion, say in two more weeks.  I have some interior carpentry to complete that will seal up the house as much as I can expect to be able to accomplish, involving a false wall and some dry walling, in the space above the stairs.  This will be wet-weather work as I must press on with the work on the paths while the weather is fine.  A posting to the "HouseAccording..." blog will have some pics of this work.

As you can see from the recent posting to "BeliefAccording...", I seem not to have painted myself inescapably into a corner in respect to the upcoming talk to the Universal Unitarian fellowship (A Christian Atheist...An Oxymoron?).  I should be able to manage a third posting on this topic in the next week or so.

The garden calls for attention.  I have trees to buy and plant and need to pot some cuttings for planting out in the Spring.  My mulberry trees are doing well and I am looking forward to planting a couple of dogwoods, a red bud, and two more fruit trees.  I have dreams of a pond and a willow down at the end of the yard, but all in good time.

With a new coat of exterior paint all round and some flowers in beds at the front, the house is looking quite pretty, as well as feeling nice and snug as the weather cools.  Eventually the front area will have more of an 'English Garden" look to it, should I endure to get it all done.

I will do a more complete 'bringing-you-up-to-date' job in the next two blog postings.

Here in Corning, with the Fall Equinox a week or so past, the trees are changing color and the leaves beginning to fall.  As ever, lacking trees of my own, I am begging friends and neighbors for leaves so that I can get on with composting.

If you are 'Down Under', enjoy the Spring and all the wonder that it brings.  Here, the North, we advance toward Halloween and then Thanksgiving, after which we can expect snow.