Finally Fall

And the long, hot miserable summer finally comes to an end this weekend.  Tomorrow morning at 7:43 AM CDT to be precise.  Of course, it's been meteorological fall for three weeks now, but let's not quibble over details.   The point is, it's finally Fall!  Except that it's still hot, at least for the next few days.  By Wednesday, it'll drop into the lower 80s, and I can't wait!  

With that in mind, I started putting out a few of my fall decorations.  

I won't show you all of them, because they're the same every year.  Mostly.  I did do something a little different here, because last year, I had a turkey wall plaque hanging in this corner.  

I felt like it made that corner just a little too cluttered, so this year, I put it out in the car port by my back door -- which is not the door shown here. 

 That is the old door into my laundry room.  Sometime before I bought the house, someone added a door from the kitchen into the aforementioned laundry room, so this one doesn't get used any more.  In fact, if I ever get to the point I can get my house completely remodeled, I've been considering having it removed completely and that space bricked up -- provided they can find matching bricks, of course. 

OK, moving right along.  Some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that these bricks seemed to have worked, because this bed was undisturbed this morning. 

The bad news is, the other raised bed was all dug up.  Sigh...I guess I'll have to put some bricks in it for the time being.  Next year, I want to get some of that stiff plastic screen and cut holes in it just big enough for the plants to grow up through.  

On the other hand, after a few moments of research, I found out that squirrels -- and indeed most rodents-- are repelled by peppermint oil.  I don't have any on hand, but I do have a peppermint plant.  I went outside and cut a few springs of it, then crushed the leaves just a bit and scattered them around the bed.  If it works, I may be able to do away with the bricks.  

Hmmm, I wonder if I can drop some down the chipmunk holes and run them off, too...

On a similar note, I got out early this morning and started digging up some of the day lilies.  I recorded a short video about it....

And finally, I started taste testing my new coffee this morning.  Since I'm not one of those people who can drink it all day and still fall asleep at night, I only tried three of the new flavors:  maple walnut, caramel brownie, and Frosty's mint chip.  They were all pretty good, but my favorite of these three was the caramel brownie.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this published because LSU and Navy both play here in about 15 minutes.  I'll need the computer to watch one of those games, so I'll check you later. 

Geaux, and Anchors Aweigh!

P.S.  Just so's you'll know, I do read all comments you leave on my posts, whether you do so here on Blogger or on Facebook.  I may not respond to them all, because I'm an introvert.  I need time to absorb and process, then I figure it's been too long to reply, so I don't.  But I do read and appreciate every one of them.