i woke up to snow falling today!

there aren’t too many things prettier, in my opinion.

lucky for the birdies, the berries they love on the bush in our yard are ready for snacking just in time:

it was time to tackle the fallen leaves today.

the recently fixed-up old leaf blower was a big help:

tom’s brother, willie, came for a visit this weekend and pitched in:

good job, guys!

same time, same project next weekend?

tom has been gathering parts and working to put together an indoor ebb and flow hydroponic setup for growing lettuce and herbs through the winter.

want a tour? i thought so.

first, the seeds of the plants that grew the tastiest stuff this summer get planted and nurtured under a little light on a warming mat, so they can grow some roots:

each little plant grows in a small cup with slots for the roots to grow and hang down through.

then they get transferred into the system:

the water is pumped up from the container on the floor, flows into each of the three black blocks, tickles the plant roots and then flows out the other side of the blocks back into the container on the floor. all the while the leaves bask in the glow of the big white light above. the whole system will be run by timers and the light can be raised and lowered. fancy, no?

everything in the system was obtained either at yard sales for a few dollars, for free (like the ginormous light) or from the hardware store. no off-the-shelf hydroponics for us!

and no more store-bought lettuce, hopefully.

this weekend someone was giving away free firewood on freecycle, so we grabbed it up to add to the woodpile:

these will give the newly-repaired log splitter something to do. and today, tom came home from work with another small pile of wood. people are giving away free heat up here! don’t they know the cold is on its way?

and i got both a new cell phone and a new cell phone number:

the sales guy asked me: “What are you looking for in a cell phone? Camera? Texting? Internet access?”

he was not very excited when my answer was: “I would like my phone to make clear, non-dropped calls.”

i ended up with their basic model, which is still newer and lighter than my last one and it has a gps function. pretty fancy, if you ask me.

because of ridiculous logistical billing issues, i wasn’t able to keep my new jersey number. so, if you have my cell phone number, make sure i give you the new one soon. my nj number will still work for a little bit, but will probably be off by next month.

the visual evidence of bear activity during the last snow, combined with the advice of locals, served to convince us that we should not compost food scraps in our backyard. we don’t need to invite the bears in.

however, our kitchen garbage is stinky and we don’t like that. we had grown accustomed to composting in our new jersey backyard which keeps the garbage can less stinky, makes for less going to the dump, and creates good stuff for the garden.

so, after debating our options for almost a year, we finally decided to go for “vermicomposting,” the indoor worm composting system. we’ll see how it goes!

hopefully it will keep a bunch of worms warm and happy, and will keep our garbage from being so gross.

oh, and i just started playing around with imovie on my computer, so you get this little treat (there’s even sound!):

youtube made it a little grainy, i’ll have to see about that…

late last week i received my prize for winning the junior society blog contest. i knew i was getting a bag, but i had no idea that it was going to be packaged with other cute stuff!

there is a coloring page, crayons, a note on a cute post card and a magnet! plus the bag was wrapped up in that red tissue paper and sealed with a sticker and ribbon. it all made me very happy.

here is the bag, hanging on our fancy-pants new dining room light:

it is such a good size and sturdy. i have already taken it out shopping. thanks, silly wagon!