Lazy Labor Day

Today, I played with apples. Again. I have lots of apples. I have done pretty much everything with apples, and still I have more apples. It is exciting, in a ridiculous, Tribble-like way. They multiply when I am not looking, I swear. So, I have cans of applesauce, apple chutney, frozen apple slices, and apples in the dehydrator laced with sugar and cinnamon. If the sun would stay out consistently, I'd load up my solar dehydrator with more apples for the rabbits to enjoy as supplemental food this winter. But it has turned cool with intermittent puffy clouds, so today the dehydrator outside is taking a break. It seems fitting for Labor Day.
I mowed the lawn, which was desperately needed, and I think I discovered the hidey-holes of one or two ground bee nests. No stings were involved, just some mild posturing on their part, and me steering my whirling blade of doom the other direction when they appeared. I'll wait to clear the head-high shrub weeds that they seem to be nesting in when it officially freezes in another couple of weeks. Lucky me, ground bees, wasps and bumblebees all die when it freezes, so then I can clear out their old homes without needing to run for my epipen. (Yes, I have one, because my old bee stings wake up and itch from time to time, which makes my doctor think I am now allergic to bees.) The flies are lazy and persistent, due to the cold I think, and it is a hoot to watch the chickens polish them off, snap by beak snap. There is some kind of huge garden spider making a prolific web in a corner of the coop. He/she has caught several flies and a large ground bee, and doesn't seem phased by the prolific dinner at all. The chickens are wisely leaving this pest-control expert alone. I swear, this spider is the size of my thumb--the whole thumb! Giant spiders appearing out of nowhere, cold mornings with faux frost covering the garden, needing a quilt on the bed at night...it must be September.
Here's me, off to deal with more apples.