It’s getting pretty cold at night, so I took the jasmine plant* in today and put it in the cellar. I hope it gets enough light during the daytime.
I also cleaned up leaves and greased the tailgate.
Ron took the door down to work on the weatherstripping but couldn’t find a replacement part. So, he retacked the old stripping and the door is working just fine now.
We brought Fluffles for a follow-on visit to Dr. Alfano this morning and stopped off at a couple of holiday fairs. The doc said Fluffles is doing fine. He wants to check him again in a couple of weeks.
I made soup and roasted seeds from one of the sugar pumpkins Peter asked us to take back. We ditched the big pumpkin, since it had started to rot. The pumpkin soup is a delicate, refined treat, much milder than pumpkin pie and even winter squash.
*Instructions from a website:
Woody-stemmed tropicals, such as jasmine, brugmansia, tibouchina and bananas, should be brought indoors before the first frost. Let the plants rest in a cool place (40 to 50 degrees F) with little or no light—they’ll get the message that winter has arrived and their leaves will gradually yellow and drop. The plants can then spend the winter in an unheated basement, root cellar, unheated garage, or even a cool closet. Make sure the area is relatively dark (try enclosing the whole pot loosely inside a heavy black trash bag) and that the air temperature stays above freezing. In most cases, woody-stemmed tropicals should not be cut back until early spring (unless you can’t fit them into the house!). Water the plants sparingly throughout the winter, checking monthly to see that the soil is barely moist. When early spring arrives, revive the plants by repotting them in fresh soil. Water thoroughly and provide a weak dose of liquid fertilizer. Expose the plants to bright, filtered light, gradually acclimating them to full sun. Try to give them about a month of indoor (or greenhouse) growing time before moving them outdoors.