October

October is coming soon, and with a new month will come some new challenges for me!!

First off, as you can see by the banner up above, I am participating in my first Vegan MoFo!!  I am so excited to be part of a worldwide vegan event.  Last year my Google Reader could hardly keep up with all the participants, and I found so many new blogs I wanted to follow, not to mention new recipes to try. 

I'll be doing my best to keep up (the goal is to blog at least 20 days) and try to have a post every day.  Wish me luck!

Other things going on in October:

• there will be a few days of vacation
• my 3 1/2 year old nephew will be with me the entire month
• crafts, projects, Halloween, fun fall activities, and all the other yummy stuff that comes along with having a little one around

I have a feeling the month will be something of a blur, but I can't wait!

Birds Don't Share

One little bird resting,

 and enjoying his bath.

 Just taking it all in.

Until the bluebird decided he wanted the space.

And the little one flew off.

 Because apparently the bluebird just needed a nice concretey place to sit.  No bath was taken, no drinking ensued.  In the words of the illustrious Michelle Tanner, "How rude!"

Reading

Lately I've been reading quite a bit.  One series I started was the "Miss Julia" series.  So far I've read:

• Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind
• Miss Julia Takes Over
• Miss Julia Throws a Wedding
• Miss Julia Hits the Road

There are 8 more in the series, although I've listened to one of them on audio book, so I've got 7 more to go.  The author, Ann B. Ross, is still writing the series, so hopefully there will be more for quite a while. 

I also read an interesting non-fiction book called The Winter of our Disconnect by Susan Maushart.  She and her 3 teen children took a break from technology/media in their home for 6 months. I laughed out loud a lot at the stories she told, and learned a lot from the interesting studies she referenced. 

Feathered friends

I've noticed a big increase in the visibility of birds in our backyard lately.  We have a fairly bird-friendly backyard I like to think, with a bird bath, wild bird seed, and a hummingbird feeder.  And of course---BUGS. 

We've had plenty of Eastern bluebirds.

The hummingbirds have been enjoying the nature-made nectar from the cannas (and buzzing Mr. GV's head when he is wearing his bright yellow bike jersey-lol), but they also like the woman-made nectar I put out.  We have two that I have seen, both either female or juvenile (no red band around the neck.)  I imagine they will be heading south soon, so I will load them up with energy as long as they stick around. 

We *finally* refilled the finch feeder.  We had the thistle and we had the feeder.  It was just a matter of cleaning the thing and getting the socks set up.  The elastic wears out over time and of course you can buy new ones, but why do that when a rubber band works just as well?  They are holding up well, with very heavy amounts of thistle bearing down on them.  The finches took about a day to find the feeder, and since then they feed regularly.

Apparently the Eastern bluebirds like to bathe solo.  One takes off as another one prepares to land.

One Day

Sitting outside, watching the sun set through the trees,

 watching the world go by,

 sewing up Mr. GV's bike clothes

 and watching the moon rise.

Turtle

We have all sorts of visitors to our yard---deer, turkeys, squirrels, birds, rabbits, cats, the occasional dog, etc.  But it's not too often that we spot a turtle, although I've no doubt they are out there.  We did have that big snapping turtle in our backyard last year, and that was a whole process trying to get the thing out of our yard without hurting it or letting it bite off a finger.

But recently I looked out into our front yard and saw a new visitor---a cute box turtle.  I had a little turtle when I was a child, a cute little fellow I named Dinky.  I can't even remember where he came from, but it was wild.  Now feeling as I do about animals, I would never keep a wild animal as a pet. They belong in the wild (duh.)

This one had made it over to the garden boxes where our compost melons are growing. 

 We (OK, Mr. GV) moved him over to the edge of the woods.  I'm not scared of a box turtle, Mr. GV just got to him while I was busy snapping pictures.  lol  We had a half-eaten melon that was in our garden bed already, so we offered it up to him, along with a few in-shell peas.  I'm not sure what his dining choices were (my Dinky ate freeze-dried worms that came in cubes, and I believe we gave him some fresh produce too) but somebody enjoyed the melon and peas, because they were completely gone when I checked the next day. 

Produce and herbs

My garden is still producing quite a bit.  Mainly it's peppers right now.  I have been putting them on Mr. GV's salads and will be freezing more of them today.  I'm still getting a few cucumbers and peas too.

I was running low on dried thyme, so picked up an organic packet at the grocery store and have it drying on a clean dish towel.  If I'm not growing it myself or buying it from an organic farm, then this is the best way for me to get organic herbs.  The little jars are so expensive, but the packets are not, and often they are on clearance. 

Little bit of decorating

For my birthday this year, my mother-in-law gave me these cute decorations.  I decided to hang them above the doorway between the foyer and living room. 

What's so great about something as light as these--you don't have to use nails or picture hangers.  I just used straight pins with a small head on them. If I decide to move them, the holes where they are now will be virtually invisible. 

Budget

Mr. GV and I have decided to try a new budget.  Now I am not one to talk much about money in public.  There are  two things that I believe should ONLY be between two partners and not shared with others---one of those things being details of their intimate life, and the other being the details of their money situation.  That doesn't mean if someone needs advice/monetary help then they shouldn't open up to those that want to help them; I just mean I don't believe in talking about EXACT NUMBERS of income or savings on a public forum or in a group of people.  Others willingly share these details and that of course is their right to do so.  (Sharing amount saved in coupons, growing their own veggies, etc of course is a completely different thing.)

So--the budget.  Mr. GV and I have never been good with a budget.  For most of our 17 years of marriage, we haven't had a written budget.  We just know how much we have coming in and how much we generally have going out.  We put money into retirement, savings, and our only debt is our mortgage. 

But we've got a few big expenses coming up in the next couple of years, and we want to save more aggressively toward them.  So it's all on paper now, categories, amounts allotted in each category, and every transaction we make. 

We've only been doing this about 2 weeks now.  So far so good.  Ha!  Let's see how we're doing when the holidays roll around! 

Around here

Organizing, including spices.  Yes I use them all, and they all went back in the cabinet except for a few doubles that are going to my sister. 

 Making "spa water."  These particular ones had sage/cucumber and lemon balm/cucumber. 

Letting the peas dry on the vine and shelling them when I get around to it.

Building a fence in the backyard. I've wanted the area partitioned ever since we buried our first dog there, 7 years ago.  We're just now getting around to it though.

 Walking Macy in the park.  We've only done this once in the last couple of weeks, but as it cools off it will be happening more often. 

Grape-tastic Fail

My mom harvested enough grapes this year to make some jelly.  And that's just what I decided to do, for the first time ever. 

The grapes were washed and cooked.

Then they were strained through a jelly bag.  

I let the mixture refrigerate overnight, according to directions in my handy dandy book.  Apparently there were crystals that might form.  And looky here--crystals the next day, just like they said.  Being the science geek that I am, this excited me even more than the thought of homemade grape jelly. 

Next I cooked until it reached the gelling point, then used the water bath canner to make up beautiful jars of grape jelly.  And here you go, the final product:

What?  Don't see a picture here?  Well, that's because there isn't one.  Because my jelly didn't set, so I have a bunch of little 4 oz jars of super sweet grape juice.  I have bought some liquid pectin (which I was trying to avoid because it has preservatives in it, thus using the no-pectin required recipe the first time) and will be giving it another try soon.  Maybe then I'll have some pretty jars of jelly to show off!