Today would have been a lovely day to sit in the house and do nothing all day. Alas, that was not to be, as I had to go into town and pay the tax collector for the privilege of driving on the roads in my state.
In other words, I had to renew my license plates. And drop off a few books to the Little Free Library while I was on the Square.
On my way into town, I stopped off at the Chakchiuma Swamp in the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve to see the new stuff they've added since I was last there. I'd seen a post on their FB page about it and wanted to check it out for myself.
There is a nice educational sign,
and on the other side are QR codes you can scan to reserve a canoe or kayak, identify bird calls, or connect with other fans of the swamp on their website.
Just beyond the sign is a nice little elevated boardwalk,
which leads to a deck with benches where you can sit
and look at the swamp.
For the more adventurous amongst you, there are death stairs on the other side of the deck.
Watch that first step. It's a doozy!
Seriously, though, I think that's for getting into and out of your canoes and kayaks when the swamp actually has water in it. It's pretty dry right now.
I sat there for a while, then finished walking the trails, paid my respects to the Old Man Of The Swamp,
and went back to my car. Only I didn't make it. To the car.
I decided to walk the River loop and pick up a Pokémon Go route badge. I seem to have forgotten how to work the thing, because once again, it didn't give me credit for walking the route. I thought about going around again, but realized the time was moving along and I still had my errands to run. And I decided that since I was already in town, I might as well get my shopping done while I was there.
So I did.
Walking around the store, looking at my Thanksgiving shopping list, knowing I didn't need to buy any of that stuff now...it was a bit discombobulating. Part of me wanted to rebel and buy it all anyway -- I'm going to cook my Thanksgiving dinner already by golly!-- but I talked myself down from that ledge. Cody and Brennan want to host, and I need to let them.
I'm still going to make some casseroles, and I was thinking I can cook all of the rest of it for Christmas. The kids may or may not show up for that, but I can still have a nice dinner for myself.
I know I said I was going to cut back on my spending, but I couldn't pass up this little cocotte.
It was marked down from $7 to $4, and it seemed like a pretty good deal. I also bought more ornaments to put into my decoration thing.
My sparkly silver yarn is supposed to arrive tomorrow, so maybe I can start putting this together while watching the ball games.
Since we have a chance of rain this evening, once I got home I wanted to work just a bit more in the garden spot. Guess what I found growing there?
If you said even more spider lilies, give yourself a cookie. This slab is 8' x 8' --ish-- and this is how many spider lily bulbs I've dug up this fall.
I'm going to let them dry out a bit, then probably burn them in the fire pit. If any local folks want some, you're welcome to come by and get them before I burn 'em.
Other than digging up stray bulbs, I don't plan on doing any more digging in the garden spot. I'm just going to use my push/pull hoe to scrape the high spots down, and my dirt rake to move the dirt into the low spots.
It's looking pretty good, but I want to see how this latest round of rain is going to settle things before I do any more to it.
At this point, what with a hard freeze being expected in just a couple of days, it's too late to transplant anything this year, so I'll have until spring to get it all the way I want it.
Using my mini chainsaw -- with proper PPE this time -- I was able to get that crepe myrtle stump mostly out, though I couldn't get all of the roots.
I reckon I ought to go ahead and put that plastic barrier stuff down...later. For now, I'm heading back to the swamp
even if it's only in my mind...
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