The Zoo Eats Breakfast

The deer and the turkeys had breakfast in our yard Saturday morning. The bunny was probably out there somewhere, too. And a small toad that one of our employees found.

All that rain we got in the last few weeks made the grass grow again. I’ve even seen people out mowing their lawns, which is unusual for this time of year.

I did get out to the garden, finally. I pulled all the bean plants and stripped the pods. The pods are drying in the greenhouse. I missed the green beans by about two weeks. They were too tough to can, so they went to the chickens. I may not do green beans again. They are easy enough to source from neighbors, and I am happy to trade for tomatoes or squash. Our neighbor, Anna, gifted us a huge bag of salad greens because she got extra from one of her suppliers. We’ve been feasting on salads all week.

I’m waiting for the squash vines to die back completely. I have probably 50 or 60 butternut squash out there. (!!!!) I’ll take some to church, but the excess will go to the food bank.

The garden is really ugly right now. It always looks bad this time of year. Once we get a frost and everything dies back, I’ll pull plants, make compost piles, stack tomato cages, and collect hoses. The last item on the list will be digging the potatoes. The husband will help me with that because it goes faster with two people.

Still no frost in the forecast, although I saw something about snow above 6000’. We are at 3250’ elevation, so no worries for us, but I expect to see snow on the tops of the mountains this week. Winter is coming.

*****************

My mother alerted me to this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Hudson-based Joann Fabrics confirms layoffs but won’t say how many employees were let go

The company laid off employees at its corporate headquarters. Joanns’ stock price has plummeted from a high of $4.62 a share earlier in the year to $0.90 a share now. That seems to be an indication that they are circling the drain. Whoever is making decisions at the corporate level is either clueless or deliberately wants to gut the company. I understand that labor is a huge expense for companies—we have four employees—but no one is going to shop at their brick-and-mortar locations if they are understaffed or only open for business six hours a day. Again, that makes me wonder if this is controlled demolition. Perhaps the plan is to close all their stores and move to an online-only business model. If they do that, however, I think they can kiss their fabric business goodbye. Online buying might have worked during the pandemic, but it is not the preferred way to shop for fabric.

I’m still betting on a bankruptcy filing before the end of the year.

*****************

Spotify and Podcast Addict both say that they have The Straight Stitch listed in their directories, but I can’t find the podcast on Spotify. Google Podcasts also says they have it listed. I am waiting to hear from Apple about it being on iTunes.

I bought a handheld digital recorder so I can do some interviews on the fly. I am hoping to try that out this week.

Canning the rest of the tomato sauce is on the schedule for this week, and possibly canning pumpkin depending on how things go. I am slowly changing my closet over to cooler-weather clothing and making a list of holes that need to be filled. I still need blouses. I never seem to have the kind I need in the color(s) I need.