October 2024–a Mixed Bag

October 8-31                                                             Most Recent Posts:
Greenfield Mountain Farm                   I Don’t See Nearly Enough of Them
Foot Hills of Virginia                             September in Virginia: Rain and Covid

This post will cover the rest of October which wasn’t quite as much fun as the last post about the week-end Carrie and the kids came to visit.

At the end of October, I took Winnona to Malloy Chevrolet for an oil change, grease job and a few other maintenance tasks.

Bringing her back up this short lane into the barnyard I foolishly cut right too close to the shed and caught the metal roof.

It was a stupid and careless move.  I was concerned about getting her turned around in the barnyard.  I have done this dozens of times in the past 5 years.  I have no idea what happened to me.  But I’m sick about it.

I did get her turned around but now what?   There is only one body shop nearby that will take a vehicle as tall as Winnona.

To add to my problem, the power went out at the house for no reason I could see at all.  My phones were not charged, I had no back up of bottled water.  In short, I wasn’t prepared.   When it rains. . . . . . . .
But I did have a HUGE stock of candles.  Here’s the bedroom at bedtime.

Four days later my reliable knight came to the rescue.   I couldn’t get the rig to a body shop in the next 3 weeks before my reservations in Florida and frankly, right now I do not have the money to pay that bill.

Shannon, who seriously can do anything,  repaired the fiberglass though he couldn’t get rid of a bulge that will need to be professionally taken care of.
The repair even when painted will be very noticeable but it will keep the rain out which is the big thing.
Poor Winnona,  I know she is really missing David who would not have done such a careless thing.

Wish I knew a professional car/RV painter who could turn this blob into a dolphin.  Wouldn’t that look great?   I’ve looked for a very large decal but to no avail.  The gray whale is 37” long and 15” wide.

Of course problems come in 3’s right?   Five days after the RV damage, the alternator on my new to me Honda went out on my way to town.   I was hoping to get it to my mechanic but when the power steering went out I made the first left turn and got to the house at Mason Lane where I had to have it towed in for repair.

While stuck in town, I walked around looking at the nearby Halloween decorations.  These are only a very few of the houses I saw.  I was amazed at the size of that roof spider and wondered where they store him for the rest of the year.

Wondering the same thing about this huge skeleton crawling out of the ground.  Isn’t it great!

But this is the Halloween House extraordinaire.   I probably put pictures of it on the blog every year I am in Virginia.  It is full, front yard, side yards, back yards and crawling on the house.

They even change out their driveway lights.

One day I got up on the roof to do the detail clean up of mold around the edging of the roof and the solar panels.  One of the men who works for Shannon came in the spring and did a wash/wax but no detailing and he’s coming back in a couple of days.

As you can see, I had a tough time doing a decent selfie.

Nearly every day I hike a few miles on the farm.  The deer are out but the bear don’t seem to be.  Although all I see of the deer is their white tails bouncing away since I make so much racket going through the enormous amount of leaves.

Take a look and listen with this link.

In the video, I was on my way up from  what we call the lower field.  These next pictures are from there on my way down.

Shannon also mows my fields and mows this one high up behind what was the spot where the big old barn stood.   I love the view from here.  I can’t look down on the house for all the trees, but I can see Winnona and the mountain range in the distance.

Eddie came to do the wash/wax.  I got a picture of him up on the roof but was so busy that I neglected to get any other pictures of him working his way around the sides. 

On the last week-end of October my friend Laurie and I took our weekly book discussion, which is usually a tela-discussion when I am traveling, up to Carter’s Mountain Orchard.

I think my friends are getting tired of me taking pictures of our lunches.  I quickly snapped this shot of the book discussion part but totally neglected the lunch food which was delicious.

The view of Charlottesville from atop Carter’s Mountain

In the background you can see the book.  In the foreground is an apple cider donut ice cream sandwich we had for dessert. 

Carter’s Mountain has everything apple including cider flights, apple cider donuts by the half and dozen, apple pie, apple slushy, canned apples, applesauce and on and on.

And of course they have several varieties of apples, pick your own or buy a bag as this man did.

I woke up to frost one morning making it clear October is drawing to a close and colder weather is on the way.

The wonderful scuppernong grape arbor leaves are a golden yellow.  Lately, I’ve eaten enough grapes to make me sick.   The scuppernong is a large variety of muscadine a species of grape native to the southern United States. It is usually a greenish or bronze color and is similar in appearance and texture to a white grape, but rounder and larger.  Ours are best when bronze and they have seeds and thick skins.  These are native grapes, not hybrids.

From my last hikes of 2024.

On Halloween I went in to have a temporary crown removed and the permanent one put on.  I was happy to see my dentist office front desk personnel were definitely dressed for the occasion.  What fun!   I always costumed up at work but I was in the minority.  Here it was everyone.

Including my dentist, Dr. Sapon, and his assistant.  I asked him why he chose to be a fireman and he replied, “that’s what I do, put out fires.”    Love it!

I was able to eat lunch right after my appointment and my friend Mary took me to a restaurant new to me called Mezeh.  Clearly she too is disgusted at the picture thing.

Mary created her own bowl.  I had the bowl known as Vibrant Vegan  with arugula,  brown basmati rice, black lentils, falafel, classic hummus, Lebanese tabbouleh, chickpea salad, sumac cucumbers, pickled onions, cilantro vinaigrette.   It was absolutely delicious.   Definitely on my list for a return visit when I come back to the farm in 2025.

The October sun sets for me on in Virginia.  I leave for parts south tomorrow.