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[clhw AT InfoAve.Net (clhw)]

We're having unusual weather here and I'm wondering how the fall gardens
are doing as a result. Yesterday's average temperature was 14 degrees
higher than the "normal" average. The wasps are out. The horses, with their
winter coats growing in, are sweating.

The pastures are so green it nearly hurts your eyes.

The leaves are muted colors and falling. We came close about 3 weeks ago to
a frost and the kudzu and figs, usually the first to show frost bite, are
curling and falling, but not black.

Our chickens decided about a month ago to stop laying. Unless we're not
finding all the eggs. We discovered one next under honeysuckle and poison
ivy in which is supposed to be a mint bed. Another is in the battery box of
one of the junk vehicles my husband has collected. Now those are yielding
nothing.

A cougar/mountain lion/panther/bobcat/fox....something -- completely
disappeared, without a trace our lone turkey ... a hen weighing nearly 50
pounds. The next day, it was a drake duck, about 10 pounds, gone, with a
few feathers left behind. There are no rabbits visible and the coyotes have
quit yipping along the creeks at night. A neighbor called 2 weeks ago to
report 4 sightings in the county of the big cats, two of which were at our
end of the road.

Our lone guinea has begun tormenting the chickens, sometimes really
plucking a bunch of feathers. He (we think) chases my car when I leave for
work in the mornings. Working has meant almost an end to homesteading and
homeschooling.
Lynn

>Is everyone in mourning or something?
>
>Seems like this would be a good time to crank up Homestead posts.