Fall

We had to say a sad farewell to Rhody a few weeks ago. He was just too obsessed with the cats and focused on escaping the yard. The rescue organization we got him from suggested the Nanaimo SPCA may have better luck finding a forever home. We left him there with tears and as much information as possible. He's been adopted now and we're hoping his new family is a good fit for him.

He was such a lover when he wasn't digging holes, jumping over fences, or wandering off. 

Madrone's attitude immediately improved when Rhody left us. He's much more relaxed, eager to please, and happy. He's currently dealing with a minor mite infestation the vet said may have been exacerbated by stress. I think the sibling rivalry wore him down a bit.

Boomer is beginning to come out of hiding, though he's still leary of the 50 lbs of puppy coming at him to say "Hi". So the fence in the house still stays up most of the time.

Isis is hanging in there, she is scheduled for surgery on the first to remove a large tumor on her front leg. Then Madrone will have his two little growths removed on the fourteenth (neutering). Thank goodness for a vet that takes payments and the "pet friends" organization who will also help us a bit with the financial part.

I had a really good bout of bronchitis that was finally starting clearing up after 6 weeks of coughing. (Yes, I went to the doctor at week 2) It has been 8 weeks now and I still have a lingering intermittent cough.

 We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend visiting some of the artist studios on Gabriola. There were 82 studios on the tour this year. We only went to about 20 of them over the 3 days. We had friends from Nanaimo join us on Saturday. Sunday we had a nice dinner with Ron's Sis, BIL, niece and nephew, their girls, and Kaili who was here for the whole weekend.

We are definitely into the gray, cool, wet of fall, punctuated by periods of brilliant crisp sunshine. The leaves are showing their colors. I have the lemon tree tucked away in the cold frame, which is slowly becoming a more permanent type of structure. I was able to add three glass doors this year.

If you look closely at one of the top glass panes, you can see a nasturtium blossom peeking out. There's a tomato plant in there too. It's got a few more grape tomatoes on it, but I'm not sure how long it will last with the frosts we expect to get later in the week.