I began this writing last night with a Florence update in the background until Cliff switched over to our next Amazon episode of The Sopranos.  I think it ran on HBO years ago but we never got involved because we never had HBO.  Surprisingly, I'm more interested in the story than I thought I would be.  My brain and heart can't tolerate emotional and physical cruelty/violence so I remove myself from TV or conversation that involves toxic drama.  This series isn't just focused on the mob whacking people but the struggle in Tony Soprano's attempt at being a good family man while running the New Jersey mob.  After our evening meal, Cliff stacks the dishwasher for me, cleans up my messy cooking pots and pans and counters before we settle in our recliners for the next episode.  Watching the series has given me a vivid image of our saying "going all Tony Soprano."

As of the 5 a.m. Weather Channel update on Florence, the present track shows the tropical low over us on Monday.  It's still too far away to know and there are lots of variables that could change her path over the next few days.

Our female bear hasn't been sighted by neighbors for weeks.  We believe the black bear that was hit and killed by a truck on the Blairsville Highway a few weeks ago was our female.  We'll miss her visits. This will be a difficult winter for wildlife.  Pesky squirrels frantically run up and down trees foraging under leaves in search of acorns but the acorns this years are puny, black, and deformed.

It's cute but still a pesky rodent.  Our seed feeders are strategically placed so that squirrels can't reach them but their food supply is so scarce, they're catapulting themselves from the trees trying to land on the hanging feeders.  They've calculated the jump to hit the feeder, shake seeds to the ground then eat the ground seeds.  Our hummingbirds have another three to four weeks here before their journey south.  I have a large section of the vegetable garden covered with black plastic for the winter and for the first time, not going to plant fall garlic.  It's difficult for me to think about not looking forward to my spring garlic but with a cold wet winter predicted and fretting over the maddening voles, it's not worth the frustration.  Here and there I still see a new vole hole in the soil.  The summer flowers are going to seed but the holy basil still flowers for the few bees we've seen.  Most of the Genovese basil
was harvested last week.  It loses flavor when dried so I made a basil slurry and froze it in an ice tray to be used in soups and sauces during the winter.

Tomato plants have been pulled up.  Potted herbs will thrive until our first cold snap........ooooh, I hope it's late and we don't have a long cold dreary season.