Saturday

Something woke me at 4 am this morning. After a quick trip to the first floor I snuggled back under my covers thinking I'd be asleep again in moments. Very soon a car came driving past the house moving in the direction of the dead ends off our road. And another drove by. Surely there can't be too many residents partying on a Friday night til 4 in the morning. Within half an hour it seemed as if a parade of cars was moving by. Well that was the end of my sleep as I realized today is opening day of deer hunting season. Apparently you find a spot while it's still dark and then when the sun comes up you try to do the deed.
And today we were able to see the sun come up. And it was cold! The water in the birds' water cooler was frozen.

Soon after this lovely sunrise I began to hear the sounds of gunshot. There are some majestically beautiful places along the dead end road that must be deer havens. If I've seen deer in the open on my meadow and along my driveway, I have to wonder just how many are living in the woods. The season lasts 9 days but 80% of the deer harvest happens the first 2 days. Last year the corn harvest was late and the deer were able to hide in the cornfields. The year before the opening day was hindered by heavy fog. Today was probably the answer to a hunter's prayer for good weather.
I needed to stop in the post office and have my mail held for my trip to Illinois for Thanksgiving. And I also wanted to return a book to the Viroqua library this morning. While there I found 3  books of local interest that I can't wait to begin.  Then I stopped at the Viroqua Public Market and enjoyed chatting with some of my new friends there. I met another woman who stopped at Robin's table. Her name is Sherry (sp?) and has been in Viroqua just over a year. She's from Geneva, Illinois. In fact, her husband and 2 older sons still live there. She and her 2 younger boys are here. She really knows her stuff about herbs! And she introduced me to both a source for seeds and an herbalist I should get to know online. (I'll share them with you when Robin emails the contacts to me.) Sherry was also lovely, and friendly, and easy to talk to. I'm convinced this area attracts this kind of woman and once again I have to think I was led to
this beautiful place.
The forecast for the next week shows some really chilly weather on the way. I checked the garage for anything that might freeze, undid the hose from the outside tap, and since the water in the hose was already frozen, dragged it to the back porch for the sunshine to warm it up. While outside I decided to hang another seed cake holder. This time I used a peanut cake which brought the nuthatch almost in moments. Since you've always seen my feeders from inside I thought I'd share a shot of them from the
outside for a change.

At the bottom of the photo are Anne's cement mushrooms and the plaster casting my sister Mary made for me of a rhubarb leaf. I absolutely love that leaf and hope to learn to make castings of my own next year. And the red French doors will soon be history. We are having those drafty, leaky doors replaced after Thanksgiving. In fact all of our doors are going to be changed. I am eager for that to be done and will share it also in the days ahead.
And then there's my good pal Dovey. She simply is a sweet companion here at the farm. She is bold and curious and loving. Here she is posing this morning while I was working at the dining room table doing more tear sheets from old magazines.

I began the deep gold crocheted afghan for the guest room last night. I decided since the yarn is thick a simple single crochet pattern would be best. I'll add a decorative border perhaps a shell edge when the body is done. For now it'll give me an easy project to work on while I'm back in Illinois for the holiday. Jerome tells me he's been gathering videos from the Niles library for us to watch after dinner like old times.
Well, the sun is gone now, behind a thickening sky with freezing rain predicted overnight. It's time to turn on the lamps and pull down the living room shades, light a few candles. Another sweet day drawing to a close.