Even though the upcoming week is forecast to have some of the hottest days of the summer, there are sure signs fall is approaching. Acorns are falling, along with leaves, and late summer flowers are blooming. I have an update on Felicity’s home reno and the town’s power line project. Let’s get to them!

Last year we salvaged three net bags of acorns to fill the squirrel feeder through the winter. Now that acorns are falling, that project is again well under way. Pam took this photo of me “panning for acorns” on the east lawn.

Salvaging acorns

Oak leaves are beginning to fall and it will soon be raking season.

Leaves are beginning to accumulate

However, fall plants are in bloom, including our sunflowers and hydrangea so there is still color around the yard.

Some of the sunflowers
Hydrangea turning from white to pink

The Grandpa Otts are still blooming and Pam tells me they are producing a huge number of seeds. She will harvest these for next year’s planting.

Grandpa Ott on south porch

There are two new kittens running around the yard, offspring from the cat Pam calls Snow. The youngsters are named Blizzard (Bliz for short) and Tornado (‘Nado.)

Blizzard looks like her mother, Snow
Tornado is an attractive kitten

Plans for this pair are not certain at this point as both are still nursing. And they are semi-feral, meaning they can’t be handled.

I’ve mentioned a local power line project a few times as our local power company is burying power lines around town. A few new poles were put in place, and recently our line was switched to a new pole while several old poles were removed. This cleared many lines from around the neighborhood, improving the appearance of the area.

This next photo is not interesting in and of itself, but does show how our east property line now looks with the old poles and wires removed.

Poles and overhead wires have been removed

The home renovation in upstate New York continues. Felicity sent this recent photo of the old roof being removed.

Old roof coming off

There are a couple new videos of the project that were uploaded since my last post.

Second Video in the series
Latest Upload

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

We do NOT need any more cats outside; they keep bringing me dead baby rabbits, decapitated squirrels, and play with dead bird bodies in the catio (making a feathery mess). And they don’t get along with each other. This is what makes Cat Ladies “Crazy.”

Additionally, there’s the hassle and expense to have cats fixed. Last year, six neighborhood cats were driven to vets (30-40 minutes each way) and altered at our expense (five spays, one neuter). Three of the six ended up inside. The Universe constantly challenges me by sending random kittens…hello, Universe, I’m actually r-e-t-i-r-e-d from the Crazy Cat Lady business.

Happy Trails.