Halloween Princess

It's Friday and I wake up early again. Well, not exactly awake...you know. Been doing that a lot lately. Hmmmmm. Maybe because Daylight Saving time ends this weekend and my system is getting ready for the change. Whatever the reason, I am up and open the patio door in the dog room for them to go outdoors. Yeah, as if. It's raining today. Heavily. And it's dark and gloomy. But I am up.

The forecast is for rain right through until Monday. It's Halloween today and that rain will put a damper on the Trick or Treating for a lot of kids. Living were we do in the country, we never get kids at our door. Long, spooky, creepy-in-the-dark driveway's will do that. That and the risk of coming face to face with a Black Bear.

Richard is working late and I hope to bake some Brioche, but not sure I will get time to. Yesterday I corralled Richard and got him to help me rearrange the bedroom, getting it ready for after I have my surgery in (hopefully) 3 weeks. What a job that was.

Today I have to put all that "stuff", that I didn't know what to do with before, away somewhere. Then there is dealing with fact that the floor slopes 2 inches from one side of the room to the other. Of course the head of my bed has to go on the downside of the room, and I had to get Richard to find something to prop the head of the bed up with so it will be relatively level. Sigh. Even then I found myself sleeping with 2 pillows instead of one, a psychological thing I am sure.

Everything got moved around: the computer is now where the bed used to be and the bed where the TV and computer used to be. The TV is now where the little black cabinet used to be - which has moved to beside the computer so the printer has a place to sit. My former nightstand sits beside the TV till I can empty it and find it a new home and I have a different, smaller footprint nightstand, so as not to block my way when I get out of bed after surgery. Now I just have to find a place to store my recipe journals and a place for my computer speakers. No idea where they will end up.

That takes up a couple of hours. It is still raining but I am determined to go out into the garden yard. I trick the dogs into coming out with me and surprisingly, the ones that are the biggest wusses actually follow me all the way out to the garden boat. They snuffle about in the fallen leaves and then eat some fresh rain-washed grass, a particular favorite of theirs.

Over the traffic noise on Cherry Creek Road, I can hear the water rushing down in the creek. Maybe it will have rained enough to start filling the well again so we don't have to keep hauling water. Oh that would be such a treat. I take stock of the garden boat. The remaining Calendula plants are blooming their hearts out with big orange blossoms. The Echinacea is hoping to bloom; the petunias are trying, although the blossoms usually disintegrate in the rain. The tiny white Chrysanthemums are doing their best, and the Feverfew blossoms have just given up. And yes, I know I HAVE to pull up the Marigold plants that were hit by frost.

Suddenly it occurs to me that I haven't been watching the dogs and therefore don't have a clue as to where they have planted doggy mines. Scrunchy face.

I start quartering the yard, carefully, looking for the ones I just know will be there. The problem is, the leaves from the apple trees - and there are two of them - drop, dry up, roll up and look exactly like doggy mines. So it takes a loooonnngg time to go back and forth across the yard. I find an old one and deactivate it quickly, then spot another and yet another. I know there are more out there, just waiting for some poor unsuspecting sucker, namely me, to step on them.

Back inside the dogs are frisky from their run in the rainy yard, racing around the house. I spotted several geraniums and osteospermum on the deck that need dead heading and go back outdoors to take care of them. So many of them are still blooming, adding a bright, cheery light to an otherwise dull day.

Halloween evening is its usual non-event at our house, with the exception of all the fire-works exploding in the area. The dogs spend the first hour or so barking and hooting every time they hear some. After a while, when they see I am not excited about the noise, they settle down to sleep on the sofa, Mason of course keeping guard.

Clocks back in one more day, back to Pacific Standard Time. Some people are bothered by it, but not me. It's just part of the season. I do look forward to March and spring ahead again though. But for now, I am planning my garden. And waiting for surgery.

Megan and Hammond have sent me photo's of Rylan in a pumpkin patch and again in her Halloween Costume at a neighborhood Halloween party. I have to say she IS adorable.