Busy preparing for winter – washing windows, blowing needles out of eaves, cutting firewood to dry for a year, draining the irrigation. Mizuho was busy cleaning up the garden and making sauces from hundreds of tomatoes and tomatillos. She is now in Japan for 3 weeks (and is having a great time visiting with her Mom and sister) and enjoying all things Japanese.

I spent several days dragging down and up the ditch branches and trees cut down in the summer. The thinner branches will eventually be mulched and the thicker pieces were cut up and are drying. Moved several loads of dirt to backfill behind new retaining wall. Power washed to uncover granite near garden. In the spring, I hope to expose the rest of the rock and cover the dirt with fir mulch. Getting quotes to have the driveway paved next year. We shall see. Hope to get more done outside before moving inside to work on painting and installing the door for the storage room, and prepping the posts for the equipment shed.