Today

Cliff is at his brother's place, helping him fix a neighbor's tractor.  I know Cliff is enjoying himself, since he loves the challenge of getting a tractor working the way it should.  
It's the strangest feeling, however:  I don't think Cliff has been off the place without me since he retired, except maybe to run to town and get tractor gas.  I feel like part of me is absent!  Maybe it will be good for me when he goes back to work part time.  It's official, by the way.  He'll start the last full week of next month, and continue to work one week each month.  I asked him, "What if you don't like doing this?"
"Then I'll quit," he said.   
I got a little more harvest from my weed patch garden a couple days ago.

Some good-sized sweet potatoes.  Since I haven't had much luck storing sweet potatoes in the past, I think I'll boil these, peel them and mash them, and freeze them.  When my cousin was here from Iowa, she told me they dug some of their sweet potatoes early because the moles had started eating them.  Guess what?  

Varmints have been at mine, too!  If I hadn't heard my cousin's story, I would have blamed mice.  
I brought in some peppers too, since there's a chance of freezing and frost Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  
Because of a month-long drought, the grass in the pasture to which Adam's horses had access was getting pretty sparse.  Yesterday Cliff did some electric fencing that gave them a lot more grazing room.  
Now, when horses find out they have access to new territory, they get excited because they think they've escaped.  When they're excited, they run.  And they run so fast, they'll run right through electric fence, breaking the fence and getting a shock in the process.  I looked out the window and saw Tude in a place the horses weren't supposed to be, and Cliff and I got him out and patched up the electric fence.  
We were very thankful it was Tude and not Sassy; once she's been shocked, she will not go near the place where she entered, and she won't let anyone near her.  
Anyhow, this morning when Iris and I headed out for a walk, I saw the horses were in their proper place and breathed a sigh of relief.  However, when I got to the back of the electric-fenced area, I saw it was down in two places; so I got to patch up some electric fence by myself.  I imagine by now those two have experienced enough shocks to realize where the fence is.   
Those who pity our neighbors on either side of us because you think they are victims of the poor economy, think again.  In both cases they are victims of their own bad choices and wrong decisions.  
Enough said on that.  
I do have hope that something will begin to happen with the big house on the west, because I saw online that the local bank has a court date with the squatter in November.  Something about Unlawful Detainer.  It would be SO great to have that place cleaned up!