That Fall To-Do List.. Not Making Much Progress

I started with very good intentions! You'll remember way back in September, I made my "to do" list for the fall, and I was keen to get everything done the next available weekend. Not surprisingly, I haven't had an available weekend since then!

Yet I have still managed to stroke a few off the original list:

· Make a fall wreathe

· Change the weather stripping on the side door - I can SEE the light from outside, that can't be good for the heating bill!

· Clean the eaves - still some shingles to be removed

· Bring in my geranium and pull up my dahlias

· Pull up the rest of my carrots

· Paint my porch lights (the hose chipped some paint off them)

· Touch up paint and seal around windows where its needed

· Put away the patio furniture

• Lacquer crab apples - is this even possible???!

And a few I've added since:

• Rake leaves (I've collected 4 bags so far, there's probably 14 left...)
• Heating ducts completed for bathroom
• Final roof caps

The crab apples... I have collected a few to lacquer, but I didn't get them off the tree in time to try making crab apple jelly. I have heard you have to get the apples before they are too ripe and/or fall off the tree, because that's when the worms get them. Had I done that, it also would've saved my back. I picked up 2 bins full of apples on the weekend, and that was only from one side of the tree! Besides looking pretty for 2 weeks of the spring, I can not see any other value in ever planting a crab apple tree in your yard. Of course, my crab apple tree is owned by the City, so I can not cut it down or do anything with it, except clean up the mess it makes, of course. I'm terrified someone is going to slip on a rotten, mushy apple on the sidewalk and break their neck!

The goal for this weekend? Stroke the remaining items off the list. It's a big goal... but not unthinkable. Like every farmer in Ontario, I'm wishing for good weather this weekend!