Winter is Coming

I’m trying to get my ducks in a row.

Terrible thing to try to line up and get to sit still, ducks, not cooperative at all.

Our harvest wasn’t as good as I would have liked this year but we did get a ton of tomatoes and we grew the best, biggest, sweetest corn ever this year. Must do that again next year. I’ve spent time these last few weeks peeling tomatoes and freezing them whole or bubbling them down with some onions, garlic, and herbs from the garden. I froze those too. Green beans, nice big bag of those. Froze jalapenos and cherry tomatoes. When it’s snowy and cold we’ll have a nice little taste of summer. Our apple tree put off great guns! Biggest most plentiful apples we’ve ever had as well. I have a big bowl of them, must make a pie or five.

The cabinets don’t look too bad, especially with these prices, but they could look a little better I suppose. I’m working on it. What can I say? I was raised by two Depression Era kids, my parents were very practical. Then there’s Covid and the TPSD that will never leave me. Nope. I’ve accepted that as I continually buy the largest pack of TP I can find whenever I have the extra cash. I never leave the store without at least a six mega roll pack.

I was going to try to stock up on some red meat but now that people will be allowed to ‘process’ their own beef I’m thinking…chicken. I don’t want to get political but, well, I just think there’s enough crap in our food recently, making us sick, I really don’t want to chance that on top of the rest. So chicken it is! Or will be when I can get to the store again.

Today I started the process of getting home heating assistance. I did that last year and I blogged all about my wacky experiences with the process. This year I am veteran and I know what I’m doing! Ok, yeah, kinda, sorta.

We are eligible to receive assistance from two places this year. CEAP and Generation Power. The latter I have to wait until October to apply for because that’s when they delivered it last year. CEAP I can do now, with a little ingenuity. Thankfully, the Gods ride on my shoulder and whispered I didn’t have to go searching for paystubs…that we don’t have because everything is now done online. I could get that information from my bank also online. It took a few minutes but I did figure it out and download the information CEAP is looking for. I uploaded that. Started going through the process.

What’s your account number?

Oh, bother. I ran into that problem last year. I have to wait until tomorrow and call the oil company and ask them…just like last year. I really must write that down somewhere. But I’d lose it anyway. So…..

No problem, I’ll get that and finish the application. See if I can’t get two oil deliveries this year. That would go a great distance toward keeping us warm most of the winter. Or it used to. $500 used to fill…and often ‘over fill’ your 200-250/gal tank but no more. I figure that will get us about a tank and maybe 1/2 or 3/4. Not bad. We’ll have to look into getting some wood. I love the woodstove and the fireplace. I hate bringing firewood into the house and stacking it in the basement.

My knees and lower back truly loathe it.

Autumn is on her way, good sleeping weather is arriving, I’ve got almost all of my houseplants inside. Just two left. I don’t know what to do with that lemon tree. I hate to kill it but…not one single flower. Never a flower. Never one lemon. It is outgrowing most spots in the house. The gardens are nearly retired for the year, there are two nice big pumpkins growing out there just perfect for Jack-o-Lanterns.