The Morning is so Dark

[digitS']

Where's the motivation? Where's my coffee?

Last night, I dozed off early so left the lazyboy and was officially asleep by 9. Up at 3! That's not uncommon for me but it was freezing and colder now. The cleanup of the little garden will take some time and I have 2 errands to run this afternoon ... maybe 3 if I go get pine shavings for gladiola storage.

So. The sky is clear. The glow from a imminent sunrise can't be seen until well after 6am! We have lost 45 minutes for sunrise in a month, 3 hours since June 21st. Shoot. It's now time for my coffee (4hrs after rising). What inspiration was I supposed to be running on with it so dark outside until now?!

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

It is definitely not as fun to get up early when it's cold and dark. The days are so short that it's getting harder to cram everything in that needs doing outside. But it has been dry and that has made many things easier.

We need rain but since we have no control over it we may as well be grateful for the things we can do now in dry comfort.

Today is the day I need to run my extension cords and water heaters. We are also putting up a little shelter for Syringa since she and Luke have shown that splitting and sharing the horse shelter is a no-go.

A few more beds need cutting down and the veg garden should get a more thorough cleanup, but that's sort of low on my priority list.

So I'm embracing these late fall days with sunshine, short as they are and trying to hustle to do what can get done before it starts to be uncomfortable doing it out there.

 

[flowerbug]

i've been able to get out most of the recent days for a few hours at least, but that's about it. yesterday and the day before the farmers were harvesting so that cuts the day shorter for me.

today has been windy and sunny in the morning, but the rains/snow squall came through a bit ago and more is on the way in a bit. so i'm enjoying the day off for a change. it's the weekend - i can have a day off here or there if i want one...

inspiration? i usually am thinking of something besides what i'm doing in the gardens if it is a mundane task like putting up a garden for the winter. daydreaming about next spring's flowers, whatever projects i'm working on. if i think about it the exercise is usually good enough inspiration for me as i know i need it as much as i can tolerate.

 

[ducks4you]

I HAVE to get up to keep up the puppy training, so my alarm gets me up at 5AM every day. Sometimes, on the weekends, I put the puppy back into her crate right after and go back to bed. Today I slept more from 5AM-6:30AM. EVERYBODY, us, the cats, and the dogs are now taking naps. I am going out again in a few minutes to put up the plywood wind break on the west side of the chicken coop. We had snow one week ago for a short spell and I need to winterize ASAP while I still have the weather to do so. Doesn't hurt AT ALL to get extra rest. DH is on a different schedule and he likes to stay up almost to 11PM, so I frequently sleep in my LR chair, too. I was dozing off at 9PM last night as well as you.

 

[Nyboy]

I love fall but hate its dark out when I leave work. Ducks I love naps I get a 3 hour nap every Sat afternoon

 

[Zeedman]

Hard to believe that only two months ago, I was driving to work with the sun in my eyes... now I'm driving to work with the headlights on.

The leaves have just begun falling here, some trees are still green. The strong winds, though, brought about 1/2 of the leaves down from my box elders. With dry weather predicted to hold until Friday, I'll begin collecting & shredding leaves this week. If the soil is dry enough, I'll till those directly into my home gardens; if not, they will be bagged & stored in the shed until Spring.

 

[so lucky]

Steve, I don't know how you can wait 4 hours before having coffee. It's the first thing I do in the morning, after a quick trip to the bathroom.
I have been waking up earlier lately, and getting up. I seem to have more energy these days. Yay me.

 

[Nyboy]

Same here but i shower while coffee brewing.

 

[digitS']

Weeelll,

Okay, I'll admit to having 2 cups of tea with my breakfast. This morning, granola with a diced Bartlett pear, half on the bottom of the bowl, half on top of the cereal .

The 2nd cup of hot water with its tea has been on the counter just about long enuf ... aahhh! So, where were we?

Ya know, 4 hours. I often have a second breakfast with my coffee .

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

Hard to believe that only two months ago, I was driving to work with the sun in my eyes... now I'm driving to work with the headlights on.

The leaves have just begun falling here, some trees are still green. The strong winds, though, brought about 1/2 of the leaves down from my box elders. With dry weather predicted to hold until Friday, I'll begin collecting & shredding leaves this week. If the soil is dry enough, I'll till those directly into my home gardens; if not, they will be bagged & stored in the shed until Spring.

if i can get them i'll bury leaves all fall up until the ground freezes. i used to have some friends who would bring them to me in exchange for goodies from the gardens. the past few years he's not been bringing them much so i've not had to dig as much. sometimes i bury them down deep for a few years so they turn into leaf mold which looks like peat moss. the strawberry garden high spot i'm bringing down had about 20 bags of leaves put under it. so part of the leveling i'm doing now and moving of the dirt is also digging up some of that and mixing it in with the clay/sand i have in there.