Progress Update...

There is nothing like the first bite of fall to add some pressure to timelines...  October has proven to be quite busy!

On Monday, October 17th Bup successfully connected the new baseboard and got the heat working!  Not a moment too soon, especially with those 40 degree nights.  The comment around the house was, "it's just like Papoose Pond", but that gets old after a weekend...

The shed is finally roofed!

The new kitchen slider went in on Tuesday.  I love it!  We will not miss the old one little bit.

The other big news is that we had the plumbing inspection for the vent and the roughed in fixtures so that is all set.  Now we have to do the wiring and the tiling and the walls and then a door and then the final inspection...

And Mick showed up and did some window juggling...  We had replaced the one window in the front bedroom, but when we ripped the wall out we realized that there actually used to be two windows.  So we decided to move that window over and put in the second one.  It looks so much better.  He also started replacing the siding on the front and it looks really nice.  It's primed and I was thinking of painting it white, but I really like the contrast between the tan and the white trim and the green door...

Here are some pictures to catch you up...

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Guess who is back...

[caption id="attachment_486" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Who ate that apple?"][/caption]

Guess who is back... Okay it's not the same one because that one is DEAD... Can you guess yet?

It's definitely fall at our house.  Some people tell fall by the chill in the air or the trees that start to turn color.  We can tell it is fall because once again there is a squirrel running around loose in the house.  It doesn't help that our bedroom wall is ripped apart and the chimney hole is a great big squirrel elevator.  Of course you might be wondering why we waited until now to address the problem.  The answer to that is complicated and comes down to priorities and distractions.  It might even involve a larger-than-normal sized shed.

Anyway, the other morning Jack said he saw something run up the wall.  The cat was acting rather strange and sure enough there was a beady-eyed rodent running through Cassie and Jack's room, bouncing off the windows as it looked for a way out.  It ran into Rory's room and according to the cat was under the bunk bed.  I started pulling drawers out and it darted out and ran circles around my bare feet (yes I was screaming) and then ran across the hall and back up the wall.

Unfortunately I don't think the cat or my screaming was enough of a deterrent.  The next afternoon Jack watched as it came down the squirrel shaft (aka where the chimney was) and ate part of an apple.  He yelled and chased it away only to have it come back a few hours later and snag the entire apple.  Sigh.

I am sure we have not seen the last of him.

Attack of the killer tomatoes...

Things are calming down now, but for a while there we were flooded with vegetables...

Despite two floods, the garden has triumphed with a bumper crop of squash and tomatoes.  I have canned salsa, made two pots of tomato sauce and still we are overwhelmed with the red fruit.  Not to mention that we eat squash at almost every meal (besides breakfast)...  So please feel free to stop by and share in the bounty.  If you find random veggies showing up on your doorstep -- it wasn't me!!!

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Our first egg.

While we were in Maine for the weekend, the ducks started laying eggs.  Jack had a huge grin on his face when he came in from his morning duck chores carrying the two orbs.  We have been getting almost an egg a day, but we are still not sure which one of the two female ducks is laying it.

They made a little nest in the corner of the duck house and lay the egg sometime after they go to bed for the night.  Jack insisted we cook them up and have a "taste test".  So I hard boiled some chicken and duck eggs and guess what...you can't tell them apart - well, at least we couldn't.  Our duck eggs are small (the mallard?) and were harder to peel, but otherwise it seems an egg is an egg...