October 29, 2012

Weekend Basics


Are you having a no-school day today like practically everyone else on the East Coast? Richmond is all a'buzz with talk and prep for Hurricane Sandy (aka Frankenstorm). We spent a good portion of the weekend prepping too and we are now hunkered down, but didn't let it get in the way of our regular weekend going-ons.

Fall in the fan has been beautiful. The leaves have filled the streets and we were able to snap a few pics during our morning walk in the calm before the storm.


We finally dug up our crop of sweet potatoes we've been growing all summer and fall:


The leaves were beginning to yellow and with the storm coming, we wanted to go ahead and bring them inside — we can't wait to share how they turned out in a post this week!

I also took the time to patch up a few holes and weak spots in our metal gutter system throughout the back of our garage. Ultimately, we'd like to do a complete overhaul of the garage structure, but in preparation for the storm, I went the patch route:


I used a metal patch and filler, like this, to do the job:


It's similar to putty in that you can fill and seal the metal holes and once it's dry, the surface can be sanded, drilled and painted over. I just filled the hole since the metal isn't exposed anywhere, but knowing it was taken care of helped ease my mind before Sandy made her way closer to the coast.

In more exciting news, we tackled a couple pumpkin projects just in time for Halloween:


Pumpkins were carved and test candles were lit:


Look out for the final results tomorrow and Wednesday here on the blog.

Between all the fall leaves and pumpkin carving, our compost pile was feeling pretty happy! Sorry if anyone finds this picture gross, but this is the stuff that makes for that black gold compost come springtime (we love it):


In more appetizing news, do you crack open 1/2 a dozen fresh oysters in preparation for a hurricane too? Well, I had to in preparation for a guest post coming up over on Aftertaste on Lot18 — but heck, we thought this was one great way to welcome in the weather!


We've stocked up on water, wine and other 17Apart hurricane essentials. We thought this survival kit essentials list by Richmond.com was hilarious if you need a good laugh right about now.

We hope everyone in the line of the storm braves well and in the words of Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead:

The landscape would be empty, if you were gone;
But it's alright cause I love you, and that's not going to change.
Run me around and make me hurt again and again.
But I'll still sing you love songs, written in the letter of your name.
The rain is gonna come, oh it surely looks like rain.


P.S. Halloween Recipe: Roasted Brains. You're welcome.

2 comments

  1. fyi re: Sweet Potatoes, I heard a garden expert on the radio saying sweet potatoes should stay in the ground until after the first mild frost because it makes them a lot sweeter. Maybe you had a first frost already but depending on how they turned out, maybe next year compare.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jennifer, given our not so big growing success, we think you just might be right! We will try again next year!

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