Today was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies and much warmer temps--we reached the low 60's and, after having highs in the 30's, it felt wonderful.  The warm weather actually brought out some flies and ladybugs again.

With the light snowfall and rain showers of this past week, John thought the ground might be soft enough to till the garden and his new spot for raspberries.  The garden tilled up real nice, but his new raspberry patch will take a little more work as the moisture didn't get too deep.

 New raspberry patch east of garden

 Garden put to bed for the winter

John and I spent the afternoon taking care of the outdoor chores that had been put off due to the cold, wet weather.  John cleaned the leaves out of the house gutters and then hosed them out to clear the downspouts.  We bagged up the cushions from the porch furniture and stored them away along with the wind chimes and plants.  I then gave the carpet a good vacuuming and we brought in the other deck furniture onto the porch to store for the winter.  The trees around the house are just about bare, so I swept the deck clear of leaves while John drained the hoses and got them stored away.  There are just a few containers in the garage that need to get stored away and then we have the outside ready for winter.

 John getting the gutters and downspouts cleared

While we were standing outside, John happened to look into the field north of our house and saw a turkey.  I ran inside to get the cameras and we stalked it getting some good photos.  We don't know what kind of turkey it was, but think it belonged to the neighbors as it didn't seem to spook when we got closer to it.  When it was done walking around behind the shop, it headed back down the hill toward their place.

 After a busy day, we spent a quiet evening watching some TV and working on the computer.