'New' lawn!

And here is a picture of the swing tree minus leaves. It's still a beautiful tree:

And pond garden: if you look closely, there are still flowers!
And fyi, the down spout on the porch is not connected:

Inside: all is fine. I watered the plants, and listened to and erased all the political messages on the phone. I closed the sun room shades: it's supposed to get to freezing this weekend!

The Septic is DONE!

And while I was there, I took a wonderful walk up the road (the culvert Bob fixed survived the backhoe trips) and down to the brook: here are some fall Pine Brook pix.

I also went into the house: the power had gone off at some point this past week, only for a half an hour, I think. I reset the stove clock and the light timers. Inside, the house was COLD: outside it is 75 degrees today!

Last Sunday, Bob mowed the yard and field, put in the storm window to the back door.
Today, Bob and I went down to get the ice cream from the freezer and some of the meat. Bob pulled down all the storm windows upstairs and the one or two downstairs. While there, Carlie called thinking she'd called ARM in Bethesda :) We had a nice talk. Hope the rowing was fun! The phone messages are: Rodney-Aunt Sandy, please call him, Jean S., East Hampton CVS, and John Whiteside!)Here are some pictures of the current work on the septic system and yard. It looks... better ...

Its Fall!

I went down today and took out the 'perishables' from the fridge. The house looks fine. Oil at 1/2 so that's fine too, especially since it's near 80 degrees today!
Aunt Sandy, Anna, and Richard left last Wednesday for a sightseeing trip on the way Bethesda. Called to say they'd arrived safely.
Yard still a mess, no sign of change since the last time I was there (last Sunday)
I left the freezer for another day. We've tried the English cheese tonight (mmmmm)!
Happy fall.

Some pictures of the new septic system progress.

B+B visited long enough to: (Jen [she's back!!!] and Matt stayed home with Mom)

• turn on water
• turn on all faucets and flush toilets: all's well
• turn on water heater
• turn on fridge set temps to 'setting 3' on freezer and fridge
• put out Calla lily pot and water it heavily (no shoots yet...)
• notice 'low battery 12 smoke' notice on alarm: were batteries changed?
• mow most of lawn: discovered that the small mower won't start (!) so brought it home to fix
• Angie arrived to turn on water too!: had a chat: she showed me a couple emails from Jim Hutcheson (sp?) and/or Larry Frye to ARM about damage by ATV's on our property down 151 (house next to Maletesta's) and altercation with 'conservation officer' (Rob Rocks?)/ police called, etc.!

B and B mowed and weeded. Bob got the front field mowed too: left some daffodil clumps for show. Bets pulled the first crop of feathery ferns from around the house. There are 2 Jack-in-the-pulpits under the (barely hanging on) Holly. And the Bleeding Heart by the door are now visible since the ferns are gone.