11/3

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Very sunny and warm yesterday, 71 degrees - a beautiful fall day.

All 5 windows on the west side of the cabin are now insulated and boarded up. There was a 1/2 off sale on lamps at the Habitat and we picked up 2 floor lamps and a table lamp for under $20. We also found a lot of cheap white cotton material for facing the insulated curtains. Rachel will start on that once she's finished the wool gloves she's knitting me.

The chickens and guineas were locked up all day to keep them safe. Claudia laid a strangely-shaped pale egg. She might have just started laying again - or has been laying elsewhere for quite some time. Rosy also laid.

We herded the ducks down to their pen at the north end of the garden and put back up their orange mesh fencing with step-in posts. Herding them out of the coop in the morning is a production. Today I'll install another run door on the coop for easy release of them without going in and stressing all the birds trying to herd them out the front door without any chickens or guineas escaping.

Our rubber chimney flashing boot came yesterday evening. All we need now is silicone caulk to install the chimney. Rain is forecast for today, so we'll cut the hole in the roof and put in the chimney tomorrow.

We drove over to visit some neighbors whose yard I mowed. They want me to start mowing on a monthly basis beginning in the spring. There's a tree they need taken down also - but it's tall, leaning, rotten, and beside a power pole . . . it would have to be winched down rather than cut - a risky, labor-intensive process.

Rachel made sourdough biscuits last night. The first batch that went directly into the oven after cut-out turned out perfect. The ones allowed to sit for a bit turned out almost like rolls. It's amazing how fast the sourdough starts acting on the dough.

It's windy this morning, building up to rain. Rachel drove down to the bus stop to meet the driver to pick up a 25# sack of whole wheat. The bus driver's a Mormon and had picked up an extra bag for us since she knew we were interested in finding sacks of whole wheat berries. The cost was a little over $12. We ultimately want to get a good manual grain mill for grinding our own flour for bread. They're around $300.
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