A Month of Thankfulness - November 5

 Yesterday was such a pretty day---warm and sunny.

After we went to Payless and Menards, we returned home to find Hilary, Blaine, and the kids here with Landon on the mower, mulching leaves.

Soon Gary and Blaine were on their mowers also, all three mulching leaves. 

After they left Gary and I worked for a couple hours cleaning up the deck, the gazebo, and the front porch.

All of the chairs on the deck stack so that was an easy job.  Plus the tables can stack as well with a criss-cross type of pattern.   

We found that Dad's swing fits into the new metal bench that we bought in June at Down on the Farm in Peru and the frame for the swing that we brought from the front porch at Gary's folks' house fit well over the top of both of those to take up less room in the Party Barn.

All of the toys that the kids play with and keep in the gazebo are back in the Party Barn also, stored until next spring.  Some of them will need to either be listed on a For Sale site or taken to Goodwill since they are being outgrown.  Except for Bucky the Horse.  He will stay.  Too much history with him!

All of the little (and large) decorative items were put away also. The metal pumpkins.  The sunflowers.  The large cow and pig that had stood sentry at the end of the barn.  Some of the wooden items that graces the interior of the gazebo.  The lamps which lit up the deck and gazebo as the sunset during the summer. 

Most of the flower pots were dumped too.  The geraniums are gone except for the long white box that is still blooming in the gazebo. It is sitting outside the garage doors now.  The only mums that remain at the those still blooming at the end of the barn along with the pumpkins which will eventually be thrown over the fence as food for the goats.  The old wire egg baskets that held the geraniums that had belonged to Auntie Ann are back in the Party Barn, ready for pots of flowers next spring.

How does this fit into thankfulness? 

I am thankful for living here.  I love it here and I like how we have decorated our new place (and this is the third time we have put things away for the winter so it really isn't that new anymore).  

I am thankful for having the Party Barn as a place to store things.  The mowers are in there also, lined up in a row, ready for the spring 2021.  The tables are still set up from the impromptu meals from spring/summer/fall.  There is still plenty of room for more if we needed it.

I am thankful for a beautiful fall day.  There was no need for jackets and gloves, hats and scarves, or heavier clothing.  Just jeans/leggings and shirts kept us warm enough.  It was so much easier putting things away when not shivering or working up a sweat under a heavy coat.

I am thankful that we are still able to do the work.  That may sound strange, but we are getting older and I am very much out of shape.  My knee hurt horribly when we came in.  But we persevered without being too exhausted and taking too long.  Well, maybe we moved a little slower than we have, but it wasn't something that took us forever to do or that we had to break up into more than one session.  In fact Gary said, "Well, that didn't take too long, did it?" when we finished.

I am thankful for recognizing that it was time to sleep!  After dinner and the kitchen was cleaned up (and I was SO glad there was Taco Soup in the crock pot), we sat and watched "America Says."  While I was playing the new version of Microsoft Mahjong on my laptop, I nodded off.  That NEVER has happened before.  When Gary suggested that I go to bed, he said he was ready also---and it wasn't even 9:00 yet!  So I am thankful for a good night's sleep.  In bed before 9:00 p.m. and awake at 8:30 a.m.  I think we were tired!

It was a good tired.  It was a beautiful day.  The deck, the gazebo, the yard, the front porch---all of them are ready for winter.

I am thankful for Landon and Blaine for their help also.  What a crew we have to help us!