{"id":1506,"date":"2021-10-27T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emme.socialduchess.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2021-10-27T09:10:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T09:10:00","slug":"blustery-october-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/27\/blustery-october-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Blustery October Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today was quite a cold and rainy morning with blustery autumn winds chilling us to the bone as we waited at the bus stop. Usually on rainy days Alex will take the kids in the car to the end of the driveway and wait for the bus, which I think is cheating. Today we just ran out and huddled together for warmth yet again, only stopping for just a moment so I could take these few snaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally we dug out the Carhartt coats, and Ariana was going to wear hers which is the exact same color as this sweater, but it needed a wash first so here she is freezing instead. Alistair opted to yet again wear his Black Dog hoodie, but I’m pretty sure he was wearing two layers underneath, while Ariana had only a t-shirt on that she refused to change! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the Carhartt jackets are heavy duty and great for playing and washing and all that, they are not the heaviest padded material so during deep winter I really think they aren’t enough. There is a big Lands End sale for kids on right now so I’m looking at proper parkas for at least the three little ones- Arin is beefy enough to survive with a heavy hoodie and his Carhartt, or he could steal one of Alex’s coats in a pinch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As you can see from the giant puddles, the driveway here needs some work. In days gone by, the driveway used to be graveled with the prettiest round white stones, you can still see them mixed in with the dirt. It also looks like it was paved with cement at one point too because there are remnants of that closer to the house. We considered getting a load of gravel, but of course it’s far down on the to-do list. So, I discovered that walnut shells are apparently a good gravel fill replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, luckily for us, we are surrounded by hundreds-year-old walnut trees and it basically rains black walnuts for two months of the year. They are covering the back yard, and there is even one or two of the trees over the driveway (the one at the end is a maple, unfortunately, though I hope to try tapping it for sap next year), so of course I collected a bunch of whole walnuts and rolled them into some of the holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I thought that since we have thousands of walnuts throughout the yard that it was a great plan. Unfortunately, walnuts have a thick rind that falls off and turns into a deep black soil, which is lovely if you want to compost… but not if you want a sturdy driveway. The actual shells of the walnuts are tiny compared the the rind, so I figured I’ll just have to collect a TON of them so the shells fill up the holes. The squirrels, however, had other ideas. They thought I was leaving them a piled up feast, and have been picking out -just the shells- and leaving all the muddy soil rinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The animals have even picked out the shells that have been pressed deep into the driveway by trucks and cars, somehow digging them out and leaving the outer walnut wrapping so it looks like odd donut-shaped cow patties are splattered all along the driveway. I must add, that the back yard is still quite literally *chock full* of undisturbed walnuts still in their rinds – the squirrels seem to prefer removing my driveway filler rather than helping me out with the landscaping!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, the point of the story is that walnut shells may make great driveway filler, but not if you have animals around to come eat them. And so, we ended up with giant puddles on rainy days that are now extra muddy and squishy from my attempts to fill them, alas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also, I almost forgot, Alistair lost his third tooth! When it rains, it pours, and I can’t believe since school started he’s lost three teeth, what a big guy. First his two front teeth, and now one of his front bottom teeth, plus he also has a wiggly molar! By the time we get to the dentist in December, he might not have many teeth left to check. He does look very cute though, somehow missing teeth suit him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In other news, it is almost Halloween! We still have a few leaves on the trees, and it looks like it will be warm enough to go without coats on All Hallow’s Eve. It will probably be warmer than it was this morning, actually! The kids are excited, and we have all seemed to accept summer is just a distant memory, even though it seems like just yesterday was perfect beach weather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once Halloween is over I expect the weather will get even colder, hence my interest in the Lands End sale, but also it will be Christmas season! Having to bundle up in coats against blustery weather is much more fun when it’s nearly Christmas time, it becomes festive and cozy instead of a chore. Once January hits, it’s a misery, of course, but for the next two months we get to embrace everything wintery, festive and even barren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today was quite a cold and rainy morning with blustery autumn winds chilling us to the bone as we waited at the bus stop. Usually on rainy days Alex will take the kids in the car to the end of the driveway and wait for the bus, which I think is cheating. Today we just ran out and huddled together for warmth yet again, only stopping for just a moment so I could take these few snaps. Finally we dug out the Carhartt coats, and Ariana was going to wear hers which is the exact same color as this sweater, but it needed a wash first so here she is freezing instead. Alistair opted to yet again wear his Black Dog hoodie, but I’m pretty sure he was wearing two layers underneath, while Ariana had only a t-shirt on that she refused to change! While the Carhartt jackets are heavy duty and great for playing and washing and all that, they are not the heaviest padded material so during deep winter I really think they aren’t enough. There is a big Lands End sale for kids on right now so I’m looking at proper parkas for at least the three little ones- Arin is beefy enough to survive with a heavy hoodie and his Carhartt, or he could steal one of Alex’s coats in a pinch. As you can see from the giant puddles, the driveway here needs some work. In days gone by, the driveway used to be graveled with the prettiest round white stones, you can still see them mixed in with the dirt. It also looks like it was paved with cement at one point too because there are remnants of that closer to the house. We considered getting a load of gravel, but of course it’s far down on the to-do list. So, I discovered that walnut shells are apparently a good gravel fill replacement. Well, luckily for us, we are surrounded by hundreds-year-old walnut trees and it basically rains black walnuts for two months of the year. They are covering the back yard, and there is even one or two of the trees over the driveway (the one at the end is a maple, unfortunately, though I hope to try tapping it for sap next year), so of course I collected a bunch of whole walnuts and rolled them into some of the holes. I thought that since we have thousands of walnuts throughout the yard that it was a great plan. Unfortunately, walnuts have a thick rind that falls off and turns into a deep black soil, which is lovely if you want to compost… but not if you want a sturdy driveway. The actual shells of the walnuts are tiny compared the the rind, so I figured I’ll just have to collect a TON of them so the shells fill up the holes. The squirrels, however, had other ideas. They thought I was leaving them a piled up feast, and have been picking out -just the shells- and leaving all the muddy soil rinds. The animals have even picked out the shells that have been pressed deep into the driveway by trucks and cars, somehow digging them out and leaving the outer walnut wrapping so it looks like odd donut-shaped cow patties are splattered all along the driveway. I must add, that the back yard is still quite literally *chock full* of undisturbed walnuts still in their rinds – the squirrels seem to prefer removing my driveway filler rather than helping me out with the landscaping! So, the point of the story is that walnut shells may make great driveway filler, but not if you have animals around to come eat them. And so, we ended up with giant puddles on rainy days that are now extra muddy and squishy from my attempts to fill them, alas. Also, I almost forgot, Alistair lost his third tooth! When it rains, it pours, and I can’t believe since school started he’s lost three teeth, what a big guy. First his two front teeth, and now one of his front bottom teeth, plus he also has a wiggly molar! By the time we get to the dentist in December, he might not have many teeth left to check. He does look very cute though, somehow missing teeth suit him! In other news, it is almost Halloween! We still have a few leaves on the trees, and it looks like it will be warm enough to go without coats on All Hallow’s Eve. It will probably be warmer than it was this morning, actually! The kids are excited, and we have all seemed to accept summer is just a distant memory, even though it seems like just yesterday was perfect beach weather. Once Halloween is over I expect the weather will get even colder, hence my interest in the Lands End sale, but also it will be Christmas season! Having to bundle up in coats against blustery weather is much more fun when it’s nearly Christmas time, it becomes festive and cozy instead of a chore. Once January hits, it’s a misery, of course, but for the next two months we get to embrace everything wintery, festive and even barren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everafter.emmechatterton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}