I think my mind and body automatically put me in the September/Fall mode despite my fighting to say “No, No!”. I do not have any back to school people or a mad State Fair desire to promote me into fall thinking. All of a sudden I am getting the Little Red Hen complex to tuck things away and to think if I need new boots for the winter. “No, No!’. Visions of apple tarts and pumpkin pie with lots of ice cream are pictures in my mind. “No, No!”. (Except for the ice cream part). Pot roast, big chocolate chip cookies and lasagna are all calling for me to turn on that oven and warm up the house. No, No!”. I am just recovering from looking at the August electric bill to cover the AC! Maybe, I am mourning the cancellation of the annual rug hooking school for this week in Duluth. It is always the first full week of September and this crazy year it would have started on September 13. I will not be able to relate to you any of the fun or crazy things we did and won’t be able to make a food report from Duluth. Ah, that means I will not being having my annual doses of Lavender Martinis! Maybe my body is trying to compensate for that fall thing with other fall things to try to keep me happy.

We are hoping that Sitka Thor Bear in the Mist will be ready for winter. You may recall that we had to have him shaved late spring because his long, thick, woolly fur got all matted together and the groomers could not get it undone. He is growing back and now looks more like a regular dog but they say with winter coming on he will kick in the major fur production to look like a long haired woolly and be ready for the winter weather that huskies love. At least I don’t have to think about new boots for him this winter, I hope.

Have you been part of the big local conversation creator, “Did you have storm damage a while back?”. Our whole neighborhood has signs at the end of the driveways from the giant rush of people coming to check out the damage. Some of our neighbors are getting all new roofs and siding, some are getting just roofs and some are getting just a few “repairs” of roofing if the shingles match. We fall into the last place and wonder how they are just going to replace just the valley tin. Did we have more gentle hail than everyone surrounding us? Several of our metal roof buildings will be re-roofed but the big barn’s gambrel roof is still in limbo because no one has gotten up to see if there is damage. They are still “planning to create an inspection”. I am not volunteering for that for any price or amount of wool.

This event now leads us into the whole world of building and pricing and supplies. Wood has become much more valuable at least according to the prices of it and shingles are becoming as rare as hens teeth. And then some hens teeth are rarer than others so it may be a long wait for some roofs to be redone. Because all materials change when exposed to Mother Nature it is indeed a real story to get “matching” supplies. They don’t seem to stock “Prickly Pear Brown shingles, in the elements of Minnesota for 3 years with no shade during the day time” so they can be used at this time. The stories of different insurances and different adjusters are at all time high, along with why did John Doe get everything replaced and Jack Doe gets nothing.

That rat-ah-tat you hear is probably not a woodpecker invasion, it’s probably someone’s roof being replaced.

How are all you first time gardeners doing this year? Let me know, it will be interesting to hear how things turned out for you. Maybe we will be able to share information and help you all out next year. Maybe you will need to start up a “Year 2 Gardeners Group” and share your joys and aches and pains from 2020. After all, it will be a year remembered!