The Garden in November

Although the weather has been a little cooler than last week, it's still gorgeous for November. Last year at this time we had about 3 inches of snow. At the beginning of this week we were going out in our shirt sleeves or a light jacket.

I'm amazed the garden still has blooms in it. Each time I step out onto the side porch, this beautiful sunny colored mum catches my eye. It is gorgeous and this is one that I was going to dispose of because the leaves turned brown and I thought it was dying. I nutured it and this is the result.

If you click to enlarge, you can see there is still a bit of lavendar blooming. That is amazing at this time of year.
And Brandon certainly made a good choice when he chose the aspargus fern for the window boxes. They are still doing really well, though they have been touched by frost. It's really nice to still have color around the yard this late in November.

Some of you have been inquiring of Dakota. He was ill last Sunday and continued to be ill until Monday night when he began passing some blood in his stool. I figured it was from strain, but took him to the vet just to be on the safe side. She administered an anti-inflammatory by injection and gave us a prescription for some pills. By Tuesday night he was acting more like himself and now seems to be back to normal. He still has antibiotics to finish but it looks like he's going to be fine. At first the vet thought it might be Parvo, which is very dangerous to dogs. I didn't think it was because he has had his innoculations. Maybe he just had the dog flu.

Other than that there isn't much news in this neck of the woods.

No Renovations Today

No renovations at our house today. Hubby's hips were giving him trouble from standing on the ladder yesterday and there were other, regular chores that needed doing. Laundry is all done except two loads, which I'm leaving for tomorrow.

Jordan had a Professional Development Day today and so I picked him up around 11 am and we went to the hardware store and bought the see-through 2 x 4 inch clear panel that fits into the ceiling where the flourescent light is. We came here and that was changed and what a difference that made. The old one has been here since we bought the house and it was time for a new one. Jordan was quite impressed with the difference that made in the lighting. The kitchen is actually bright.

After that we went out for a while and did a couple of errands. We actually had quite a nice talk about life in general, how he was doing at school and the difficulties he's having with French. It was a nice time spent with him one-on-one.

After Jordan went home, I came back, spent some time with Dakota and made supper. All in all it was a good day.

It's been beautiful here for over a week. Balmy temperatures have been welcomed at this time in November. It's above seasonal, but alas, all of that is ending. It's rather chilly tonight and this cool trend is to continue with rain on Thursday.

Brand New Kitchen Ceiling

This morning the kitchen ceiling looked like this. I went and picked the boys up around 11am, we took Dakota to the dog park and then we came home to have lunch and get the work underway.
Work in progress. Here's hubby taking down some of the old tile.
And Brandon, with his safety goggles on to keep all foreign matter out of his eyes. The new tile are standing against the refrigerator, waiting for Jordan to hand them to Grandpa.
Brandon, taking a break and enjoying a soda. Jordan took this photo.
The ceiling is done and what a difference it makes to the kitchen. It only took the guys about 2 hours to complete the job. Brandon took the old tile from hubby and took them outside. Jordan watched Dakota so he wouldn't get out and then handed hubby the new tile. Thanks guys. Your hard work paid off. The ceiling looks terrific.