0093

Busy with miscellany the past several days. Have finished laying the vapor barrier under the attic insulation; I will need to add insulation there and in the walls - probably my early winter project. Also need to start cutting firewood in earnest; have taken just a couple dead trees so far.

Rained some last night. This morning is cloudy but dry, so I bike to Mass, and meet a couple new people afterward: Ken, a computer teacher, and Larry, a fellow gardener and recent convert. The rain has picked up again, so I stay awhile in the empty church, a little visit with Jesus in the tabernacle, then bike home in a light mist.

For my dinner, I start in on the all-natural beef just purchased from a local farmer, and open my own first package of frozen corn.

Upstairs, I find that my seed-drying table has been discovered by hungry rodents. I can't fathom how little mice could manage to jump that high, or climb upside-down to get to the table top, but they obviously have found a way. A highway, by the look of things. Sunflower seeds nearly a total loss, as well as all my best watermelon seeds and garlic heads. (I'm sure I just read from some credentialed expert that no other animals will eat onions and garlic, but humans only!) Is there nothing a poor farmer can do to protect his hard-earned livelihood? I will have to put all the remaining seeds into hard containers, and invest in some mouse traps.