How I Spent My Sunday

I've kicked the bug that rendered me almost helpless for a couple of days and I'd like to send a big THANK  YOU(!) to all my blogging pals for your kind words and well wishes for a speedy recovery. So now that I'm back to my ornery old self, it seemed like a good day to start my Fall/Halloween decorating.  I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, something cute but simple, so I ran around the last couple of weekends and got 2 bales of straw, mums, pumpkins and gourds.  







I also had the idea that I'd like to build a scarecrow, which I've never done before, so I was just flying blind about how to put it together.  I used a big branch that I got from our woods in the back and nailed a board across it in a "T" shape so his arms would be up in typical scarecrow fashion.  Not as easy as it sounds - at least for me, anyway. I had to use my husband's handsaw to cut the branch to the right height and the electric jigsaw as well for trimming the little branches that were attached to the big branch (another first for me today).  All this took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was a beautiful sunny Fall day, so I took my time and tried not to get frustrated when it didn't all didn't come together instantly.  I stuffed a pillowcase with straw for his face and body, and covered his head with my favorite gardening hat.  In fact, his whole outfit is from my closet; overalls, flannel, bandanna and hat.  After I put him together, keeping him upright was another challenge, but I stuck with it and finally got him to stand on his own. Once he was upright and we no longer looked like we were slow dancing together in the front yard, I stood back to look at the whole thing and decided that his face was too blah with just the pillowcase, so to give him a little more of the Halloween spirit, I ran up to the Dollar Store and came up with this skeleton mask, as well as the crow, which I think adds a nice touch.

Believe or not, the whole process took me around 2 hours. I bet you're thinking "WHAT?! Wow, you must really be inept." Okay, guilty as charged.  I know it would have taken less than half the time if my husband was around to lend a hand (i.e., do 95% of the work), but I had already given him a day pass to go fishing with 2 of his buddies, so this was a solo effort by yours truly at my first ever scarecrow. Besides, I was in the mood to do this today so I didn't want to wait until he got home - or until next weekend.

 

In other news today, around dusk after all the scarecrow building and decorating was finished, I decided to wind down in the backyard and enjoy my favorite form of therapy, better known as  "watching chickens" when I noticed a movement in the corner of my eye.  When I looked over and focused on it, I saw it was a lone wild turkey spying in the fence on all of us.  He was a huge rascal, too! I slowly walked up to the fence to get a better look, wishing I had my camera with me, but when I got about 4 feet away he took off.  I don't think wild turkeys are all that common around here, although I know they do exist, even if in small numbers, since I remember seeing a group of them a couple of years ago coming out of the woods across the street, so I was pretty excited about another appearance.  

The only other thing I enjoyed watching today was Lilly run herself ragged up and down the yard when she'd see various squirrels perform their  acrobatics, jumping from one tree branch to the other. I personally found it very impressive, but she literally loses her mind when she sees those squirrels! Must be the terrier in her.   You'd think she'd be used to them by now, but oh, how she hates them with a passion!  Age has not mellowed her at all in that respect. 

All in all, it was a very good day.  The only regret I guess is that since I spent the majority of my day outside, I didn't get the kind of housework done that I was planning on today. Rats! Of course I justify this by telling myself that there aren't going to be many more days like today in the coming months, so I might as well enjoy the great outdoors while I can.  When the temperatures drop below 50, there will be plenty of time to stay inside to vacuum, dust, wax, etc. Yuk. I can't wait.