Hi, everyone!
It’s raining today, so it’s a good time to post my blog!
Right after I wrote last time about falling leaves and sticking snow, we had our first snow squall! It melted right away, but we did have the first snow coating of the season on the grass and back deck!
We went out to the bay two days later. The snow was gone and the leaves were dry enough to blow off the lawn. All the leaves had fallen off the big old sugar maples, but the younger trees still had all their leaves! The water level was even lower than before!
The next day we did more leaf clearing in town! Look at how big my leaf pile there was! Grandma left a space at the end of the leaf pile. The tree crew was coming to work in our back yard, so they needed a place to drive onto the lawn. Grandma didn’t know who would come first — the town leaf pickup crew or the tree crew!
The next Tuesday was Election Day! Before the pandemic, Grandma and I used to bake all day at church to make bread and rolls to sell to the voters. Now, Grandma just does a little bit of baking at home, instead. The tree crew was also coming to remove the trees in back that were dropping branches on our neighbor’s fence. They arrived with several trucks and trailers! Grandpa and the crew chief talked about which trees needed to come down. Grandma and I started making sweet roll dough!
Last time the tree crew worked in our back yard, they had to drive a heavy truck with a bucket lift into the back yard. This time, they brought a spider lift, instead! As soon as there were cut-off branches to haul away, the tree crew drove a little tractor with lifting claws into the back yard to do the job.
Once the sweet dough was mixed and kneaded, Grandma and I started a batch of chocolate bread dough. We have a church friend who always wants some for Christmas breakfast. By the time we got that mixed and kneaded, the tree crew was removing big pieces of tree trunk and heavy branches!
When the sweet roll dough had risen, Grandma and I shaped it into cinnamon rolls. I can do the rolling, but Grandma won’t let me get my paws in the brown sugar and cinnamon! Meanwhile, the tree crew had moved the spider lift into our neighbor’s yard to take down a big branch for her.
By the time all the cinnamon rolls and chocolate breads were shaped and ready to rise again, the tree crew had moved all the trunk and limb sections to the front yard for pickup. That’s exactly when the town crew came to collect our leaf pile! We had dump trucks and heavy loaders on the street!
I had a chance to make friends with the spider lifter, once it was back in its trailer. I made friends with the little tractor, too! I had a close look at what was left of the big trunk that was dropping fence-breaking branches. When the first batch of cinnamon rolls was baked, Grandma gave a pan to the tree crew to share. They were very happy for their snack!
The tree crew’s truck came to pick up all the tree sections. Grandma and I packaged all the cinnamon rolls and chocolate bread. I was very tired after such a busy day!
This week, the leaves on the younger maple trees turned yellow and some of them started to fall. The nights weren’t cold enough to freeze the impatiens in the window box, but something ate them all off!
We had two nice, warm days on Wednesday and Thursday! On Wednesday, I helped Grandma put some of the holiday lights on the apple trees. We didn’t put up the clothes line or string lights beyond the first three trees, because Grandma wanted space to drag leaves for another leaf pile. We used up most of our strings of lights on the first three trees!
There were pretty colors in the sunset on Wednesday! On Thursday, Grandma and Grandpa spent all day cleaning leaves off the roof and out of the gutters and off the lawn. I think this leaf pile is prettier because of the yellow leaves!
There are still more leaves to fall and more holiday lights to string, but we have most of the work done!
Love,
Lion-san
The spider lifter is new to me. Never saw one of those. Clever.