Last day of October

We've seen them, the first flakes of the season. And the first really cold nights. It is officially the end of the growing season here. In the sturdy raised beds spinach and kale handle the cold and snow easily, a few carrots still nestle below ground, and next year's garlic is safely tucked in for the winter. For now there are a couple of short rows of lettuces under fleece blankets. The winds have brought down this autumn's pine needle shedding and when it's a bit less windy we'll collect what we can and tuck it in around the blueberries.

The fields surrounding us have been harvested, also disced and rolled for the first time since we've been here. The new owner seems a serious steward.

The senses take in the fragrance of wood smoke, the steady hum of a neighbor's corn drier, the softening hues of the landscape, the jagged calls of jays, crows, hawks. Driving requires more attention to the unexpected  movements of wildlife that have avoided the roads all summer but suddenly find reasons to cross without warning.

Indoors life is more than a bit challenging. First, Jolie, the young feline we rescued this summer, is keeping all of us on our toes.

Jerome is utterly in love with her.
Dovey just can't help her curiosity.  She's learned to stand her ground, most of the time. She'll even share her sofa.

Mya deals with her by hiding out of sight, in a closet, under our bed's quilt, up on a high shelf.
I am finding her presence a happy distraction from autumn melancholy.
None of us are used to the energy and enthusiasm of a young cat. The "big" girls have learned if they jump up onto high surfaces Jolie can't follow. Jolie had sustained an injury to her right hind leg before we met her. It had healed after a fashion and was not obvious to us until after her spay surgery when she returned from the vet with an obvious weakness and limp. Followup X-rays revealed the old injury, healed but aggravated by her being tied for surgery. Unfortunately, she may always have a limp now, and the weakness there keeps her from having the strength to propel herself up off the ground more than a few feet.  It does NOT in any way keep her from sprinting up and down stairs, doing battle with all her toys, or chasing her big sisters if they should mistakenly run from her invitations to play.
Until today we've kept Jolie sequestered in a room of her own over night. Tonight we are going to try letting her choose where she'll spend the dark hours. It's Halloween so we should expect bumps in the night, right??
All this has been complicated by the house job we recently "endured." After several years of record breaking floods we looked into having our basement waterproofed. This summer we interviewed 4 companies, chose the one we felt most comfortable dealing with, and were put on their schedule. The team arrived last Monday. Before their coming nearly everything in the basement was moved to the garage, to other rooms of the house, or carefully stacked and packed and wrapped in plastic out of the way in the basement.
Other preparations for this enormous event meant getting our electrician to put in dedicated outlets for the pumps and new dehumidifier, having our plumber temporarily move our old water heater, and getting a carpenter to dismantle part of the decking in order to uncover the old cellar stairs to facilitate moving tons of concrete in and out of the house.

Here is Dustin working on liberating the old cellar stairs from under the deck just outside the back door.
Our older cats do not like change although they are curious about it all. Their litter boxes have been in the basement but have had to be moved into our living space for the time being. All three of the girls have been marvelous about this part of the upheaval.
How do you remove concrete? the short answer, jackhammers, shovels, pails. Dovey, whose hearing is especially acute, suffered most, I think.

The cats have proven to be resilient and trusting through it all. But for them the disruption continues. Though the mess is done, our work continues.  We want to take advantage of the space being mostly empty to clean, paint and install more shelving. Now that we will be able to store things without worry of mold or mildew, we can rethink what we'll be able to store down there.
It's seems an agonizingly slow process. First, the new cement has to cure. We've been advised to mist the concrete daily for two weeks to slow the curing process. The furnace needs a complete cleaning, the new water heater needs to be installed. I'd like to add a sink down there as well. The deck needs to be put back for the winter. Dustin should be here today to do that.
It's a good opportunity for purging. Though I delivered several boxes to GoodWill last week, I know there's more here we can let go.
I try to remind myself how being retired and having Jerome here with me allows us to deal with these activities in our own good time, lifting each others' spirits when they flag. It's been good practice for the days ahead when we have work done on the main areas of the house. But that's for another day.