Bleak

While I was running chores this morning, I was struck by how bleak everything looked. It was dark and raining. A lot of trees had lost all or most of their leaves, though there were still some maples and tulip trees that were bright yellow or gold. The day shouted that winter is on the way.

The cold of winter does not bother me much because I can dress for it. I do not not like icy roads, but usually there are not too many days that have that problem. The thing I like least about winter is the shortness of the days. It is depressing that now the light is fading by 4:30.

I noticed some signs this morning. The old Murray Department Store building is announcing that 24/7 Fitness is coming soon.

 Who says that you cannot dine on weird and exotic fare in Rensselaer? If you want frog legs or alligator, head over to Sprigz.

A couple of weeks ago the Steinke Funeral Home put up its new sign. After a few days, they covered it up, and then a week ago they uncovered it.

 For the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of work on what will be Steinke's new parking lot. There will also be a building, perhaps a garage, at the back of the lot. The number of big earth moving equipment could lead people to believe that more than just a parking lot is being built.

Gardening is winding down. I have only a few things left in my backyard garden. On Monday night the Community Garden had an end-of-season celebration/dinner. Thirteen different families had plots in the garden, and there were also plots used by the Crisis Center and the Food Pantry. 670 pounds of produce was produced for the food pantry. There are plans to do it all again next year and I will probably be there again.


This year was good for tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas. I also had great rutabagas even though I did not mean to plant them--the seed was mixed in with the peas I planted. Beans and okra were mediocre and squash was very disappointing. I did grow the biggest carrot I have ever grown, shown below.