Remind me next year that two detailed pumpkins are plenty, as I still have an in-process carving sitting on the table. (I'd put it on the back deck for the night, but with neighbors that don't keep their pets in their yard I don't think it'd still be there in the morning.)
That aside, we didn't do much this year. I went on a cleaning spree in the wee hours of the morning so the living room has no "packed" boxes left in it (there are plastic or cardboard paper case boxes in there of sewing and needlework supplies until I finish the spare room). Himself was so surprised when he came in that he was in a good mood and let me sleep in after Laurel woke up. I finally came up bleary-eyed just after 1000 and found he'd already taken Laurel with him to get NC license plates (Colorado wouldn't let us take care of all our stuff via mail so we gave in and got the ugly local plates... I miss our old-school 'rado ones already).
We went out after lunch to buy pumpkins ($1 apiece at Wal-Mart) and then he went to sleep while Laurel and I played in the living room, watched Monsters Inc. and started on the pumpkins. I still have to photograph them, but this year's lineup:
- Little Mikey (Mike's stuffed "bear" in Monsters Inc., we have a stuffed one too) on Laurel's;
- A flaming question mark (inside joke) on Himself's; and
- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs on mine.
No trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood (what kids there are probably drove their families' golf carts across the road to where the houses are closer), but that was fine since Laurel was cranky after not taking her usual nap. My foot is bruised as Laurel accidentally knocked the Pyrex bowl I was sorting seeds from pumpkin guts into off the table and onto my foot (ow!). That aside, we had a nice uneventful day, still have a mostly clean living room, and I've got the seeds drying in the oven as I type this.
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auntiesiannan, my compost pile is going to be very happy in a few days. In fact, after this weekend I'll have a nice home for the pile -- a local business is offering free pallets and I've got plans to turn five of them into a compact little compost bin in the backyard.
That aside, we didn't do much this year. I went on a cleaning spree in the wee hours of the morning so the living room has no "packed" boxes left in it (there are plastic or cardboard paper case boxes in there of sewing and needlework supplies until I finish the spare room). Himself was so surprised when he came in that he was in a good mood and let me sleep in after Laurel woke up. I finally came up bleary-eyed just after 1000 and found he'd already taken Laurel with him to get NC license plates (Colorado wouldn't let us take care of all our stuff via mail so we gave in and got the ugly local plates... I miss our old-school 'rado ones already).
We went out after lunch to buy pumpkins ($1 apiece at Wal-Mart) and then he went to sleep while Laurel and I played in the living room, watched Monsters Inc. and started on the pumpkins. I still have to photograph them, but this year's lineup:
- Little Mikey (Mike's stuffed "bear" in Monsters Inc., we have a stuffed one too) on Laurel's;
- A flaming question mark (inside joke) on Himself's; and
- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs on mine.
No trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood (what kids there are probably drove their families' golf carts across the road to where the houses are closer), but that was fine since Laurel was cranky after not taking her usual nap. My foot is bruised as Laurel accidentally knocked the Pyrex bowl I was sorting seeds from pumpkin guts into off the table and onto my foot (ow!). That aside, we had a nice uneventful day, still have a mostly clean living room, and I've got the seeds drying in the oven as I type this.
Like
auntiesiannan, my compost pile is going to be very happy in a few days. In fact, after this weekend I'll have a nice home for the pile -- a local business is offering free pallets and I've got plans to turn five of them into a compact little compost bin in the backyard.- Current Location:35.405063,-77.902218
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We had a few trick-or treaters, I think, as I heard the doorbell ring a few times today, but I live in the basement and neve go up to answer the front door as I have my own entrance in the back. I don't think the trick-or-treaters would have wanted my Carbo-Lite bars anyway. One year (trick), I gave out snack packets of dehydrated sardines and sliced almonds. They're pretty tasty, actually... The kids weren't all that happy though!
What's a compost pile for anyway? We always joke that the pile of leaves that never makes it to the curb every year is our compost heap, but no one really knows what it's for!
Robert would love snack packets like that! Every time he goes to the commissary here (not often) he buys a packet of dried cuttlefish from the Asian foods section... and every time we go to Raleigh we drop around $10 on snacks at the Asian market on Capital Boulevard.
A compost pile is a way to recycle food (non-meat, anyway) and lawn/plant clippings. Once the materials decompose sufficiently, compost makes an excellent mulch for plants -- and it's a lot cheaper than buying it by the bag at a garden center. It's a pretty simple process to do yourself. (If you're interested in details, check out Texas A&M's Compost Demonstration Project.) When we lived on base, grass and lawn clippings were expected to be put out in clear lawn bags on trash days and the base greenhouse would compost it. Finished compost was free to anyone living in base housing (you haul) and the rest went in flowerbeds and such around the base.