Hints of fall are in the air as are falling pine cones everywhere.

I don’t believe I have ever taken the time to really study a pine cone. They are really quite beautiful. This is a female cone. I am guessing most readers will be as surprised as I to learn that pine cones have gender. The entire subject of conifer cones is quite fascinating and I refer you to Wikipedia for further information.

Having lived in Concord for some 17 years now, there are two things I could have predicted with great certainty. First, that nothing would stand in the way of our Annual Town Meeting and second, that it would be conducted in strict compliance with COVID 19 safety regulations. What I could not have predicted is that they would use my soccer team’s home field on the day of our first league match of the season. Fortunately, we were able to gain access to an adjacent field by moving our start time up to 8 AM. Despite a lot of sleepy-looking players, we managed a nice start to the season with a 5-1 win over Hopkinton. I played for 2/3 of the match before tweaking a muscle. Nothing serious, but I thought it better to stop right away before incurring further injury.

Where’s Waldo Bonus: See if you can find me in the photo? This is far easier than the count the number of turkeys in the photo that caused so much controversy on a post last spring.

The corn crop that has been growing behind our house since the spring was harvested today. It was a three-person operation. One to drive the combine, and one each for the two trucks that make alternating runs back to the farm. If I had to guess, I would say that the farmer netted at least 20 truck fulls of corn feed. The degree of coordination between the combine and truck drivers was incredible. The entire operation was completed in less than four hours.

At Digital Alloys, we print 3D metal objects from 0.89mm wire. Sometimes that wire is dirty or has developed an oxide coating rendering it difficult to use. We have a machine at work that was designed to clean wire but it is not very effective when it comes to oxides. This evening I built a quick prototype of a device that I am very confident will do the job. The wire is sandwiched between the sides of two grinding wheels (with inside labels removed). The shaft that holds the wheels has a hole in the center through which the wire passes and has a pair of lock washers that serve as springs to keep the wheels pressed against the wire (which can be seen poking out the end). Now for the fun part. The grinding wheels do not rotate. Instead, the entire assembly rotates around the wire as it is being drawn through it. On Monday, I plan to connect this creation to the flange on a hollow shaft motor we have at work to see how it functions. Total cost of parts: $28. Time to fabricate: <1 hour.

The home we are in the process of purchasing was built in 1952. Based on the blueprints we obtained today, a major addition was added in 1963 to accommodate the family’s rapidly expanding family (five children in total). Regrettably, we have not been able to obtain the plans for the original home thus far. The information they provide is extremely helpful as we plan out the renovation. Because the paper on which they were reproduced is so fragile now, l took the time to carefully photograph them for future preservation. The one drawing that is from the original house is the landscaping plan shown below.

Progress continues on our master bedroom walk-in closet project which involves connecting the previous closet to an adjacent room to make for a very spacious walk-in. Among the challenges, the original closet has a textured ceiling that will not blend very well with the smooth finish of the adjacent room. It is easier to give the textured areas a skim coat of drywall mud than it is to try and remove the texture. I am using a spackling compound that goes on pink and turns white when dry. I have been trying to put in one hour a day on the project and it is now getting closer to the end than the beginning.

Today, Jeanine and I had an opportunity to check out the Conantum community garden. Residents of our new neighborhood are welcomed to put their green thumbs to work here. I have little doubt that we will be spending time here in the years to come. In the background on the left is a baseball diamond although I suspect it is rarely used for that purpose. On the right, a meadow of wildflowers which I believe was planted to attract butterflies. Behind the meadow to the right is the entrance to a woodland trail that exits on the other end of the neighborhood close to where our new home is located. Other amenities of the neighborhood include three tennis courts and a boat launch where residents can keep their canoes and kayaks. We continue to temper our excitement about moving due to the year-long effort we are expecting for renovation.

Now that we have made good on our objective to purchase an appropriately sized home for our retirement years, we are getting more serious about selling furniture that is either too large or of the wrong style for our new residence. This will include some of the wonderful antiques we acquired when living in Indianapolis. I spent a few hours this morning working on our updated walk-in closet project and a few more in the afternoon photographing our collection of antiques which included these two pieces among many others.

Maya and her boyfriend, Bryce, drove back from Wisconsin where she spent the last week on vacation there with his family. They returned with 3-year old, Maisey, the family’s magnificent husky who will live with them for the next several months at the home they are renting with four other Olin students in Medford. Maisey and I had fun in the backyard playing fetch with a corn husk which she found extremely entertaining. Jeanine tried to curry favor by feeding her leftover salmon. It is pretty clear, that Jeanine and I will be adding a dog to our family once we have both retired.

Located 1/2 mile from our new home (situated but not visible in the lower right-hand corner of the photo above) is Fairhaven Bay. I anticipate that it will be a frequent destination for kayak outings once we have settled in. Massachusetts has 8,229 miles of river, of which less than 2% are designated as wild and scenic including 10 miles in either direction of our new house.

“A more lovely stream than this, for a mile above its junction with the Concord, has never flowed on earth.”
– Nathaniel Hawthorne

Because it is on the way to work, I have taken to stopping in at our new house every morning to see what there is to see. Today, I found a cormorant perched on the same submerged branch as the imaginary bird from yesterday’s visit for an upgrade to the composition.

I swung by the new house on the way to my early morning soccer practice to see what kind of wildlife I might find. I encountered two blue herons, the regular assortment of turkeys, and for a moment I thought I spotted a bird perched on a partially submerged tree branch in the river. The silhouette was deceptively similar, but closer inspection revealed a non-avian composition. With the mirror-like reflection in the still water, it made for a nice photo none the less. Jeanine learned from a new neighbor that a bald eagle is often seen in our section of the river. We are both very much looking forward to our first encounter, should we be so lucky.

The full moon of September was known as the Corn Moon by some Native American cultures because it arrives at harvest time for those essential crops. It will be interesting to see if the farmer who manages the cornfield behind our house subscribes to this schedule. Because it is corn destined for animal feed, Jeanine says it will not be harvested for quite some time. There is no doubting a woman from Lebanon, Indiana in matters related to corn. Apparently the corn kernels need to dry on the cob. I plan to obey the moon and will harvest a cob tomorrow and see what it tastes like.