Smell that??

It's the smell of hot metal.  That can only mean one thing!  Oh, wait, around here, that can mean *many* things, including:  the forge is up and running, Eöl is doing some sort of bizarre alchemy, Little Sis is doing some sort of bizarre alchemy, I've melted something that I shouldn't have been able to melt, or...and this is the current situation...the wood stove has been fired up for the first time this season.  Yay!  Or, well, not yay, since that means it is getting cold, but yay for knocking the chill out of the house, and yay because I am no longer shivering like a chihuahua in the snow.

I had to check, because I thought we rarely fired up before October, but last year we started the first week of September.  W. T.  F.  Global warming?  I think not.  Climate change? Definitely.  Brrrr!  I'm hoping for a mild winter. Cold enough to kill bugs, but warm enough so that I don't blast through winter fuel at a ridiculous rate.

Speaking of winter fuel, we are cutting our own this year.  We are discussing supplementing with coal.  Yes, I know, it's not eco and all that, but my checkbook says it's eco enough for a brief period, and my shivering says I don't care just heat me the fudge up.  Fuel oil isn't any better, ecologically speaking, so we'll go with the less expensive of the two.  We'll be starting with a small amount to test our theories.  Eöl needs some for the forge, anyway.

We have patchy frost predicted for tonight, with a low of 38.  It could get colder here, and usually does.  The tobacco plants are covered, and everything else has been harvested, except for a few melons that I forgot to pick today.  Gotta love that about Ohio:  Melons are ready when it's time to make hot chocolate.

Although, now that I mention it, I've had hot cocoa several times this summer, because, yes, it has been *that* cold.  No wonder the garden didn't fare as well as I'd hoped.

I've put up 49 quarts and 22 pints of tomatoes.  Not great, but better than I'd hoped for, once I saw the tomatoes were staying green and getting slug eaten.  Note to self:  Next year, stake the stupid tomato plants!!  Slugs are the devil's boogers!! Evil, evil, evil little snotty things!!

I hope to post more.  I know, I know, I say that every time I bother popping in.  I've been keeping my personal facebook updated, and driving teenagers to the ends of the earth and beyond, and that's about the extent of my energy.  Anything more than that and I need a nap.