Well, the time has come. I have to do some cleaning. The little pumpkins must go – goodbye. The porch must be cleaned and everything stored away for the winter. I’d like to blame it on the relatively warm temperatures; I have never waited this long to tackle the job. I wrote about it last year – I think there is a part of me that thinks if I leave all the pots and cushions and hanging plants on the porch, I can stop the oncoming cold and snow. Never mind that the plants in the pots have been dead since that first hard frost or that the hanging plants look pathetic and forlorn. I try to deny that my beloved summer is gone for this year. I put my blinders on until I am shamed into packing it all up. I was going to do it the other day, but my excuse was that it was “too windy.” Yesterday I was “too tired.” Today, I will do it. Hopefully.
Husband and I have to deal with the moss on our roof, too. This is a job we really dislike. Don has to get up on the roof and spray it with a bleach and water mixture. Then we wait a while and loosen it with a brush, eventually hosing the whole shebang off the roof. The moss is tenacious, however, so we do the best we can. Our trees are wonderful, but they do shade portions of the roof and it has been so rainy here this year that the moss is worse than ever. Every time I am ready to force husband out the door and start this task, the weather gets crazy and we have to postpone it.
I had to add this photo of one of our neighbors’ cats:
I shot this through our kitchen window. I haven’t seen the cats in a long while and suddenly I see them all the time. They are descendants of the cats that used to live in MHC when the ‘Cat Lady’ lived here. All the older residents of the town know who she was. Let’s just say that she loved cats and had many of them. When she died, the house was sold and it had to be taken down to the studs so that it might be ‘refreshed.’ If you know what I mean.
Have a great Friday!
Happy Friday sweetie…
It is sad to see our Fall things go, as we know Winter is here for sure. I love it though, and I am ready for the holiday. It feels as though this has been a very long year. 2010 is going to be a better year.
Love the picture of the cat. Very pretty and proud sitting there in your yard isn’t he?
Have a beautiful day sweetie. Country hugs…Sherry
Howdy!
It certainly has been a long fall …. and this YEAR has felt like one that should be taken down to the studs and “refreshed”.
I was imagining a field of daffodils the other day, which is so unlike me … as I LOVE Christmas.
Not sure what we should chalk it up to … .but I guess the time has come to dig those lilies and dahlias up for dividing and storing through the winter …. *sigh*
Hugs and heres to a time of resting and waking up with a sense of anticipation and joy!
Betty :)
the seasons and holidays seem to go by soooooo fast, its hard to clean up and start another mess…oh I mean start decorating…lol
Hello Claudia,
The change of the seasons seem to jump on us..life has way of deciding what we get done each day and so the story goes *I’ll do it tomorrow*..hehehe
It sounds like a real task to deal with the moss on the roof…I have finally decided I will have to find a service that cleans windows and gutters. We have a lot of fixed glass that requires getting on the porch roof to clean. It’s just not a simple task..
Oh boy, could I tell you some horror story’s about a cat lady….try 84 cats at my last count and many of them sick…so there seems to be many of these ladies around the country! :0)
I’m doing some Christmas decorating right now to be ready for a Holiday Decorating and Craft blog party over at Bella Dreams. And as of right now I’m expecting snow on Saturday!
Have a great day,
Stephanie
Refreshed, what a sweet way to put it! Winter hit hard and fast here this week. We’re talking freezing temps. It makes me miss the warm sunny days too.
Just wanted to let you know, I sent your package off to you today! Please let me know when it arrives so I can be sure you got it. Have a super Friday Claudia!
I’m with you on holding off the winter as long as possible. We just cleaned out our back screened in porch last weekend :) We also lived in a house previously owned by a ‘cat lady’….my poor daughter couldn’t live with us due to her allergies for the first two weeks as we had to remove carpets, seal the floorboards and repaint in order to ‘freshen’ :)
I know exactly what you mean, Claudia, about needing to do some packing away, etc. I’m just going to be waaaaaay behind this year. I have squirrels that have gotten into my attic, and I have the squirrel trappers coming to relocate them today. I adore my squirrels, but we can’t have them living “in” the house. I wish they would behave and could live up there, but Mr. Magpie says, “No!” LOL!
I hope all goes well with the moss and that you get it all down and off your roof. Love the cat!
XO,
Sheila :-)
Good morning, Claudia!
What a cute little kitty cat! The other night as we were pulling into the garage one of the neighborhood kitties just came right on in. I had to go outside so he’d follow me and Richard closed the garage door. As he opened up the front door for me, the kitty was about to follow me in until he saw Kodak.
I think the poor little thing got confused about which house was his :) I would have loved to have brought him inside for the night but Kodak didn’t much care for that idea!
Be ever so careful, Don, up on the roof!
I too feel sad when we put away our pool toys, outside furniture, cover up all the pipes and the trees are bare . . . but come March/April it’s so good to see new life blooming on the trees and we drag out the furniture . . . .
Hugs,
Marsha
I love this post! I don’t like to start holiday decorating until it’s at least December and so our pumpkins stayed out until Tuesday (while a few houses on the street had their trees and wreaths/etc up). It’s hard to toss them when they’re still perfect and very cheery! And my husband is also headed on the roof soon – not for moss but for leaves that get trapped in a funky part of the roofline . . . it’s a bit scary, actually. Good luck with your moss!
Cheers,
Leah
Hi Claudia,
That sounds like a dreadful job to do re the roof. It seems every property comes with some baggage!
Have a great weekend on the roof!
~janet
Claudia, I don’t envy you having to get up on the roof to clean away the moss! Scary . . . very scary!
I’ve been procrastinating a bit too, but must get some decorating done today . . . tomorrow is the ‘Tea for Toys’ party along with Pink Saturday . . . so much to do so little time!
Wishing you lots of energy to get your tasks done today!
Hugs,
Teresa
Well, you could pretend it is a thatch or sod roof and begone with all the cleaning, honey. ;-) What a chore for you and th’ hubs to do. Is there no other way and does it destroy the shingles? Maybe the local nursery can tell you how to prevent it. I depend on my local nursery, Zamzows for all my gardening plights!
xoxo,
Connie
Oh the dreaded ‘goodbye to balmy weather’ time of year.. I hear ya Claudia! But no sooner did i get my turtlenecks down out of attic storage then I woke up to 70 degrees and sunshine! I’m thinking of putting them back and trying that trick again!!
Happy Friday:)
paula
hi claudia,
weekends have been tough for projects around here, too. it always seems to rain! i hope to fit in some raking this weekend. i enjoy that task if we have a fire going in the fire pit. we’ll see.
i also have, as we say in rhode island, a wicked cold! LOL might just take it easy. hmmmm?
happy weekend!
xo
I’m so behind on everything this week, so thought I’d try to drop by and visit some blog friends and then a shower and then some rest! I can’t seem to get everything that needs to be done finished either. Keep getting distractions! We’re going to have COLD weather here tonight, so I may be losing plants. I’ve covered them with practically every thing I have to cover them with!
Brenda
It is getting cold here too…I guess it makes it feel more like Christmas is coming. I do feel so sorry for you all having to clean the moss off the roof. Sounds like a horrible job. Please be careful up there!