Cold showers and recycled tires

The thing I have always marveled about the changing of the seasons is how one day you can fry an egg on the hood of your car and then suddenly the switch is flipped and the 100 degree temps go away. Well, last week that switch was flipped.

I had told my husband that when the low temperatuers dipped into the 60's I was NOT taking a shower outside. Last week we had a couple of nights where the temperatures got down into the low 60's so we had to figure out something else. I ended up taking a sponge bath inside and my hubby was gracious enough to help me wash my hair. I hung my head over the side of the bed while he washed it. I can't see us doing this everyday so things are going to have to get under way quickly to build a bathroom that is enclosed.

Things have warmed back up for now, but we have entered the cycle of cooling trends and from here on out we will gradually see the signs of fall.

In other news, my husband  and the kids planted a potato a few weeks ago. It was one of those that we let sit for too long and it started to sprout. Well, to my surprise, it's growing! It likes the compost we have been  putting on it so well, we have actually seen it grow a half inch in one day. We had it planted in a 5 gallon bucket that we had turned into a planter but since it is doing so well we decided we needed to do something a little different.

The other day I had stopped at a gas station and noticed some used tires behind a tire business next door. There were two that were the same size so I picked them up and tossed them in the back of the van. I brought them home and we put down some weed barrier and transferred the plant to its new home. As you can see in the pics, the plant had gotten fairly tall. We covered it mostly with dirt and put on the second tire to give it more room to grow. I've got two more tires to add as it grows and hopefully we'll have some potates soon! We've got several weeks before first frost so hopefully we'll have something to harvest by then. If not, it has been a fun experiment.

Despite the fact that everything has not gone as we would have liked, there are certain things that I really like about living in the country. This evening we have a cold front pushing through and there are some impressive storms. We have't really gotten any rain, but we did get a spectacular sunset. I walked outside to check the skies and I was greeted by a brilliant gold sky. The clouds were in such a position that the sun was reflecting off of them to create a sky of pure gold. It was absolutely breathtaking. Even the kids were impressed. Then the wind started to pick up and we were greeted by the first cool breezes of the cold front.

It's for moments like this that we came to the country. Well, one of the reasons anyway. These are the things that can't be traded or bought and unfortunately so many people just don't understand. But for those of us that do, we know how wonderful it is.