End of Season Farewell (almost)

Garden is done.

The days are much shorter, the nights are much cooler.  The garden is done.  The Husband - not so much.  He's having a hard time letting go of it all.  He checks the remaining canteloupe every day hoping they're ripe enough to pick.  Brought in a couple last night that I cut this morning.  They went straight into the garbage.  The vines are pretty much dead so there's no sustenance for the melons.  And no flavor.  He loves the melons so much, I'm sad for him that the season is over.  He's digging in his heels:  "I'm NOT taking out that last vine."  Logic to the contrary that the last melons will be good, this is proof positive that he's an innate optimist. 😊 

Last week we took a drive - over the Alpine Loop and down to Cascade Springs.  Never been there before.  Been decades since we took the Alpine Loop.  The colors were gorgeous.  The road was busy and we congratulated ourselves on going during the week, that same road over the weekend was crazy with people.  Coming back (and remember this is a road so narrow they don't even put a center stripe on it) we came upon a car stopped as close to the edge (no shoulders on the road to speak of, they even have to number the turnouts and post signage saying which turnouts are legal to use) as possible with an arm poked out the window pointing off to the right.  Obviously a "look" signal.  Off to the side were a couple moose, relaxing under the trees.  More fun to see because it's a rare occurrence for us.

And there's some slight relaxing of the tension that manifests itself in my hunched shoulders.  Had a repair guy (actually a pair of repairmen) out yesterday.  The valve in the fridge is fixed!!!  After months of frustration and too much money paid to people telling us that we have to spend $2-3,000 dollars getting a new fridge, IT'S WORKING!!  The water is testing at 33 or so which is a huge improvement over the 350+ it was reading before (so it tastes great!) and it isn't leaking or dripping.  I can't even say how lovely it is to be able to put a cup to the dispenser and get great tasting water.  While the guys were here they checked my washing machine (so definitely worth the extra $$) and found no issues.  So relieved.  But will keep an eye on things over the next week and if it still happens, we'll call them again for a discounted trip-charge and maybe be able to figure things out.

In the meantime, I'm working on being patient and kind.  I'm having little success with that.  I keep wanting things to work out, and work out now.  I realize that sometimes waiting a while helps.  Because I'm such a spoiled brat, it's harder for me to wait.  I rely so much on The Husband to handle "public relations" and he likes to take his time.  Sometimes that means that nothing gets resolved.  Sometimes the need goes away.  I'm going to live a very, very long time if I have to conquer those horrible parts of my personality before I'm allowed into Heaven (if I'm allowed in there at all).  While I'm here I understand how much I try the patience of those around me.  Sigh.

The mums are doing well. There are multiple hundreds of buds on there that would make those bushes stunningly beautiful if they'll all bloom.  But...the overnight temps are predicted to be in the low thirties over the next week so I'm losing hope that they'll be pretty.  Then I wonder if it's worth it to over-winter them since they never seem to completely bllom, or freeze when they've only bloomed for a day or two.  I guess that'll be another discussion for The Husband and I.