What have I been doing?
Well, lots of this-
                          Before: lots of brown leaves and blasted dandelions.
                                                           Shame on me!

And After: Over an hour of weeding/trimming (per-bed)

and they're ready for their straw blanket.

                                                and here is that bud, Earl Of Essex

And of course since I've been away from the garden the last two days, I forgot to go out and cut it to bring inside. I'll go see, but I expect a frozen mushy purple/white mess :(   There were a couple early buds on Zee also, but I expect they froze too hard to keep going.  We're just too far north to give the re-bloomers enough warm weather for fall hurrah.

 I hope we get some more warm weather so I can try to finish.  17 beds to go, but my Dr. actually said the bending was bad for my GERD and I should "leave the rest till spring".  Doctors orders ;) If only! ha  If I don't clean them off they will be a real mess next spring.  *sigh

Just a quick post, 
There are TWO BUDS in the iris beds! I hope they open before it freezes hard. 
Old Earl Of Essex is the only one brave enough to bloom again in Oct!
I'll post pics if he makes it :)

Akkk October 14th??  October 14th??   It was just August! Wait , what? whoa!!

  Wow, my Mom wasn't kidding about time going faster when you get older.   Kind of scary. I must figure out how to slow it down a bit or next week I'll be 80!

  I've been busy clearing the iris beds of weeds, and trimming the leaves to be ready for the straw cover in Nov. Ohh my back is not happy, but it feels good to be outside doing something.
  At night I'm usually busy filling orders from my shop on etsy for Advent / Christmas countdown calendars.  From 3/4" to 3"  numbers numbers numbers!  This is the most popular size and font.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/74371257/125-advent-calendar-complete-set-1-to-25?ref=shop_home_active
But there are many many more!

I've also been getting my fall and winter things listed in my other etsy shop. The weather is getting cooler so it feels like fall. The darkness at 6pm is making the days seem too short. I hope to get some new things started soon. I like to have some hand work to do in the evening ,so I can sit with my feet up and stitch.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SunshineAnniedesigns?ref=si_shop
 Last night I finally got the last scarecrow, and the new snowmen posted.

Oh we did move the antique sewing machines out to the garage. Got a new heavy duty shelf to hold those heavy suckers! I would sure like to find time to play with them.  It doesn't seem like I ever do. I'll post some pics of them next time (if I don't forget!)

Back to the numbers, 5 sets to cut tonight, plus some flowers,letters , snowflakes and stars!
Chop chop!!