What a difference a week makes!

The 3rd week in October is apparently Ladybug swarming time. The house was covered; a rainwater bucket has layers of the red beetle floaters; we couldn't open the door without hundreds getting in; the vacuum cleaner fills in one go. Just like last year.
Our neighborhood bat is still around (but not eating ladybugs.) I've seen it at dusk the last 2 evenings. I may have heard a coyote howl about the same time. And this morning the owl was in close, but it quieted before I let the chickens out.
Gambol and I are doing OK without Paul around. He's visiting Bill and Patty so I come home for lunch and a walk in the woods. I could get used to this. We take a long evening walk. Gambol goes to bed at his regular time, so I guess he's getting enough stimulation.
Temps have approached 70 with clear blue sky; it's hard to be inside on days like this. Some of our rainbowed trees have recovered somewhat and we have most of the trails mostly cleared of downed branches. There's still a 12" diameter waiting for the chain saw along the east lower Jennifer trail. Looking across the valley the colors are still brilliant and it's hard to see the damage that the heavy snow caused on the leafed out trees.

From the Baron in an email to the mortgage company:

The hemlock timbers are all cut with the mortise and tenon joints and stored in our shed here. Panels for the roof and walls are ordered and should be available by mid-Nov with the electrical chases installed and the door and window openings already cut. Windows already ordered from Andersen--doors are next on the selection list. We have visited appliance, cabinet, countertop, plumbing fixture suppliers and have quotes from them.
We have looked at some floor/wall tile, but no decisions on that yet. Electrical fixtures are hanging fire, with Whitehill's move complicating connecting with them, but that isn't time critical stuff.
The excavation is scheduled to take place within the next two weeks--last weeks rain and snow backed up a lot of construction jobs, so we are slipping a little in our scheduled ground-breaking. The excavation footprint has been staked and painted on the ground and the electrical utility line has been marked, so we are ready and waiting on the weather. We were hoping for last Friday but the snowstorm changed that.

Bugs and Bird Spa

The war against lady bugs has begun for the season. Today was warm after the last 2 frosty nights and the house was covered, inside and out, with them. The Baron sucked up 100 in the living room and when I turned on the lamp by my computer several plummet down to the heat. A small wad is tucked into the corner of the wall and beam. We'll try not to let that grow to the fist-size it was our first Christmas here. The war is on.

As the colors change across our valley, deer are bulking up for hunting season. At least a dozen were in the meadow when I went down this morning. I could easily have hit one near Waddle as she stood in the foggy dark, on the damp and leaf-covered road, at a curve in the road; not a good safety combination. Five or 6 were chowing down on the azaleas in front of the house at (our) dinner tonight.

Now that we have opened up the vegetable garden by pulling out the peppers and tomatoes, the turkeys have discovered the Barony Bird Spa. They cooed and chortled as they splashed compost and dirt all around their bath. Some indentations are 4" deep where they dug in. See Red watching, perhaps protecting his girls from the big boys and girls or perhaps wondering what would happen if he got naked with them.


Look carefully for the snood, the red worm-like protrusion, above this turkey's beak. (above)

What a beautiful beard on this big boy. I've named him Thanksgiving Dinner.

Ladybugs

It's been a constant battle with these these things, multicolored Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis). The good Lady Bird beetles that eat aphids are Hippodamia convergens. They may not damage anything but they fly around and stink when crushed. They are most noticible when it's warm. Apparently they don't fly when it's colder than 55 deg. They migrate to the walls over the oven when we cook then back to the lights in the living room after dinner. They don't even eat the wooly adelgid; good-for-nothing-bugs. Anytime we find 3 or more we get the vacuum cleaner and suck them up; we've cobbled both vacuums together to give us 6 extra feet of reach. Just when we think we are down to zero, more pop out. It's nothing like that first winter when I had no vacuum and caught a cup full with my hands. http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/ladybeetles.html
It does remind me of the box elder bug congregation on Norm's tree on Mark St.