Welcome Autumn Brule Lundell

And the winner is...well I can't remember who the winner was.  One of Daddy Tim's cousins cut the baby wrapping tape to the exact measurement of Melanie's baby belly.  Shari Lundell hosted a wonderful baby shower for Melanie at her home in Princeton.  After an afternoon of tasty homemade food, treats, games and prizes we headed back to Duluth, our car packed with baby t-shirts, wraps, toys, clothes, crib sheets and more t-shirts, wraps and wraps and...Targets registry wasn't working so there were a few duplicates but we had a great time, laughed a lot, put names to faces, hugged hello and good-bye and wished Melanie and her coming little one well.

Welcome Autumn Brule Lundell, born Thursday, October 20th at 5:45 am.

 Melanie called Wednesday morning after her doctor's appointment to let me know the progression. I decided to leave work a little early, many thanks to my boss and co-workers who are all so supportive.  We spent the evening running errands, laughing about how she really could go another week like this.  I must say, she did have a convincing "duck walk" that night.  Off to bed with thoughts of grocery shopping and lots of cooking for the morrow.  My phone rang at 6am,  Tim Lundell was calling and naturally I figured they must be off to the hospital, nice of them to let me know.  "It's a GIRL!"  Tim said.  What?  She's here! And it's a girl!  They left for the hospital around 3:45am and Autumn arrived 2 hours later.  "Don't tell the kids, let them see for themselves."  So I kept mum. "It's a baby!" I said.  After feeding Oscar and Wally breakfast, waiting for Rowan to arrive home from her slumber party, we headed to the hospital.  They were excited to meet this little one and to  find out if it's a brother or sister!  We have dozens of fabulous pictures of that first meeting.  But this is my blog and this is my new grand-daughter!

This is now pre-Autumn Brule catch-up.

Fall has come and gone.  These leaves are down.  Thanks goodness for the evergreens!  The temp has dropped and it's dark in the morning when the alarm goes off at 6:30.  The spectacular beauty of the fall is rather short-lived but luckily I love lighting candles for dinner with the shorter daylight and even enjoy the stark silhouettes of the birch and aspen after the last leaf has dropped.

The reds, oranges and yellows have been replaced by muted grays and browns that I can barely make out on my early morning walk since the sun no longer comes up until I'm home doing a few yoga stretches.  It's chilly, frosty and dark as I hustle down the driveway trying to keep an eye on the dogs.  The white one, Kate, almost glows in the dark pre-dawn.  What are the names of those stars and planets that are the last to become invisible every morning?

 The task of throwing wood into the basement wood box has begun in earnest.  Karl, Rose and Dave always fill the wheelbarrow to a precarious heaping.  I would rather make twice as many trips and save my back.  Maybe I'll still be doing this when I'm 92!

Dave is off hunting for pheasants in ND and I spent all of yesterday cleaning and organizing inside. This morning, before I get sucked into the endless and thankless needs of housecleaning and kitchen maintenance, I am off to clear trails. The freezing rain and snow are coming.  It may be my last chance to get out and ride my horse with something real to do!  Phantom's favorite part of trail clearing is when I saw or haul and he grazes. 

We are back to post Autumn Brule.  I returned from the excitement of a new grand-daughter, rode my Zan who missed me enough to challenge all the routine warm-ups.  Jeri, Dave and I pressed another 18 gallons of apple juice.  I was definitely the apprentice this time, a little slow on the washing, plucking and slicing.  It seems the apple smoosher over-heats so we have to feed it more slowly with more cut apples. It rained long enough for Dave to put up the tarp but we took it down before we were finished pressing.

While we were pressing apples the hens were enjoying a little free range time with their rooster-of-the-week.  I'm keeping the roosters separate with each one getting a week in the hen house.  The first week went fine but when I exchanged roosters, the two left in the rooster coop fought till they were both bloody, the larger, dominant one clearly winning when I went to feed at 8:45.  They would have noticed each other in the daylight which means they duked it out for one hour, fifteen minutes.  The rooster coop has a divider so I closed the door to keep them separate but what a pain this could prove to be in the freezing cold winter and I have to keep three water buckets warm.  I hope they figure it out before too long.

Dave is filling gallon jugs to use for juice and the five gallon buckets will ferment for hard cider.  I think we should have a bottling party in a couple of weeks.  The color seems so much darker this time.  We quit pressing after six layers or two pressings.  The horses are thrilled with the apples I bring for them to munch every day as we had a bushel left after
pressing.

I am such a sucker for sunsets!  It was a spectacular sight. The fact that it had recently rained seemed to clear the air of debris, making the colors crystal clear.  It's been quite a week and the veggies are not yet in the root cellar, the gardens are not yet put to bed ready for winter, the meadow and hill crest fence lines have not been pulled, the flower gardens have not been clipped nor any tulips planted, the planters will crack with the cold if I don't get them emptied and I am ten wheelbarrows behind on moving manure to the compost pile.  Oh well, Autumn Brule Lundell has arrived and is perfect, my brother John continues to recovered from his motorcycle accident, Dave and I are healthy, willing and able,  Life is good!