I Fidget.

Actually… I am a Fidget.

Or at least an honourary Fidget.

The Fidgets are a rather funny Improv Comedy troupe lead by the hilariously funny John Hollingsworth. In the past I've performed with them on stage and have invited them back to my place to put on a backyard show.

I actually videotaped our performance in our backyard and couldn't watch the tape of my performing for a long time.

What happens if I don't think I'm funny? My budding career would be over before it began.

Eventually I did watch the tape, and it turns out that I think I'm hilarious!

There are a couple of reasons for me telling you this – the first is topical – I'll be performing with the troupe a week from today (which turns out to be October 1^st, 2011 for those of you reading the archives rather than keeping up).

The second is a little more self-serving. When you come visit us and spend a night, you can expect a rather entertaining and lively discussion on a wide variety of topics – if that's what you're looking for.

I also do weddings.

You know its fall when your trees leaves start to turn.

What I didn't realize is how cute it would be for a 12" tree to have its leaves change colour.

Everything about babies is cute – puppies, kittens, new born babies and as it turns out, tiny little trees. And it's always fun to watch the 'firsts' – the first time a puppy comes across a grasshopper or the first time a baby tastes ketchup or (in my case) a leaf changes colour.

I'm really pleased with my tree lot (in case you can't tell) and I can't wait for Fall to come in all its glory so I can watch all of my trees get ready for winter. And then I'll wait on pins and needles until they all bloom again in the spring.

In Other News

Everything grows well here – even the mushrooms! We have several varieties on the lawn and I haven't even gotten sick from eating any of them yet!

Re-pointing the bricks has been put on hold as we ran out of mortar. It's been taking a lot more of the stuff to plug up the gaps than I anticipated and we'll have to run into town again and buy more. I'll buy several this time – we still have a lot of work to do – at least the major areas are done.

We've ordered wood pellets for the Central Boiler again. We're looking forward to firing that bad boy up again and tuning its efficiency – I think I misunderstood the computer on board last year and was telling it to burn more pellets that I meant to. I'll keep you posted.

We're also having our door re-seated (tomorrow!) The team that put it in didn't quite get it square. At least it's guaranteed for as long as we own the house. That's kinda cool.

Our gardens have pretty much yielded as much as they're going to. We have a few more tomatoes on the vine ripening now, but with the cold weather almost everything else has been harvested. I understand why Thanksgiving is so popular with Farmers now. It's been a fun harvest season!

I so have to say that it's really nice going into a Fall season with everything insulated this year. We were pretty panicked last year with the state of the house not being what we were used to. This Fall is a lot more calm than last year – and hopefully with the trees being another year older – next year will be even better still.

I had my first toasted tomato sandwich this week.

Oh, not my first toasted tomato sandwich, but the first one with my tomatoes.

My mechanic is also a bit of a green thumb-kinda-guy. He grows some of the best tomatoes that I've ever tasted (and the best maple syrup – bar none!)

Last year I took some of the seeds from a tomato that he gave me to eat and put them away until this spring. I sprouted them, nurtured the little seedlings (dozens of seedlings) and then transferred the most vibrant ones to the garden.

They are really late ripening tomatoes, but – WOW – are they tasty. The tomato that I chose to make my sandwich out of was massive – that large tomato was the same size as… ummm… another tomato that is large (hats off to Haden for that simile – brilliant!)

You can see that the slice of tomato was larger than the bread it was on. And.. yes.. it was tasty!

In other news

We continue to work on bits and pieces around the house. I've been slowly getting my lawns under control – the Tree Lot looks amazing and it completely mowed right now – that'll change tomorrow, but for right now, this very moment in time it looks amazing. I should get a photo to document it.

There's been some pretty heavy rains here recently – that's pretty standard for this time of year. This time last year there was a waterfall behind the brick (where the mortar was gone). This time? No rain. Not a drop. Big difference from the waterfall last year.

I guess there's a reason that we repoint the bricks every so often. We still have weeks of repointing to do, but we have the worst parts done now, the rest is just routine maintenance and aesthetics.

We helped a buddy move this past weekend – it was a lot of work, but very satisfying to see them in their new place. It looks like a great move for them, but they've given up some square footage in exchange for living with a lot less debt. Hopefully he'll find a place for all his gorgeous tools… hmmm… I have some room in my workshop…