Wrapping It Up

 

Usually about this time of year I’m able to post some pretty eye candy of our glorious Fall. This year will be a disappointment, firstly because colors were muted and didn’t occur all at once; it seemed the maples came on, then the others, while still others remained green. Strange. Secondly, weather wouldn’t cooperate for me to get out on any Fall drives to try and capture color so what I have is just from our property. We’ll get the pretty pictures out of the way then….

We had one or two swings back into summer temps which lasted only a day or two at best since I last posted, and since then it’s been a lot of gloomy cloudy skies, rain and blustery winds. I took advantage of one of them and transplanted a couple plants from Waupaca, cut down and planted the mums to see if they can survive, and planted some bulbs to see if they’ll make it for Spring color. I dug up the dahlia bulbs for winter storage and put all the pots away in the boat house so our sitting area looks vaguely empty right now. Oh well, we’re not spending a lot of time sitting there anyway with it being in the 40’s for highs. 

We had thought about trying to stay until freezing temps drove us out but we’ve decided that I’ll soon make the break for Waupaca, as it being at least 5-6 degrees warmer on any given day, there are some things I can get done outside there. Here, not so much, and sitting inside the RV day after day is not my ideal. The joy of this property is being outside and being able to be on the water. It would be entirely different if we had a big home here with all our “stuff”—I miss my sewing and the ability to work on my art. I can do a few things here but all the fun fabrics and embellishments are missing. 

Marc will be making a couple trips back and forth to haul back needed items to Waupaca, then he will button things up by closing up the RV and hauling it under the shelter. We had built the RV shed for the other shorter trailer, so six feet of this one won’t be covered but it will be better than nothing to protect the roof.

 

The big accomplishment for this year was getting the garage completely done! It was an arduous task for an old man by himself but with the final help of the lift we rented for a week, Marc made a final push and got all the siding, trim and ridgeline metal in place. Next year he will need to work on the interior a bit, in building a small, insulated room where we’ll be able to leave some items and the water pressure tank and filters, etc. That way we shouldn’t have to cart the canned goods back at the end of the season either.  

So, once again it’s a bittersweet time of year for me to leave my beloved island in the woods and I know as I later sit inside cowering from winter’s wrath, my thoughts will often turn to being back here again just as soon as nature allows.