Killing time

Not much to report. I'm still waiting for the Soils Engineers to do their thing. At the rate I'm moving, I'll be lucky if I have foundation and drainage work complete before the rains start. I'm not too concerned since I can overwinter again with no trouble. As long as my crawlspace does not fill with water every time it rains, it will be an improvement over last winter.

My latest improvements to the place are as follows:
1) Big ugly shed is gone! My backyard looks HUGE now! That corner will be the site of next year's veggie garden, so I'm going to keep adding compost to the soil to move it in the right direction.
2) Hmmm.... Well, that's about it as far as improvements goes.

Other excitement:
1) Bought a chipper-shredder to tackle all the leaves my magnolia drops. I was filling my yard waste bin in a weekend and since yard waste is collected only every other Friday, I had a problem on my hands. The leaves don't break down quickly enough in the compost bin, and the volume of leaves was overwhelming (it's a big tree), so I decided shredding them was in order. I haven't used the thing yet, but it's on my agenda for this weekend. It will be great organic matter to add to the future veggie bed.
2) My tomatoes are ready for eating, which has been quite enjoyable.
3) The Blancos needed the twin bed back now that the au pair has arrived, so I got the Tempurpedic out of storage. This is exciting for two reasons--a) it's nice to stretch out again and b) I SERIOUSLY love my bed.
4) I started knitting Christmas gifts last night. I'm ambitious this year--there are sweaters involved. Small child-sized sweaters, but sweaters nonetheless.
5) A few weeks ago Kat and I ventured into the world of jam making with awesome results. I'm eyeing my apple tree and all the apples I scoop up every weekend with a new respect. I should have thinned the fruit to yield a better crop, but the thing is COVERED with apples. I'll pick in a few more weeks and see what we get. Apple butter is calling our name.

I'll do some photo documentation this weekend since the yard is shaping up quite nicely.