One of the many things i love about my life is the opportunity to do things I never did before, thought to do before, or was permitted to do before. I grew up and worked as an urbanite, I’m not sure I ever got on a ladder and surely, never thought about removing leaves from gutters.

Today is different. Maria and I are undertaking two beautiful-day Autumn tasks, clearly leaves out of the gutters (I’m doing that) and putting a rain gutter up on the other side of the porch, to keep water away from the foundations of the farmhouse and ice packs from forming on the steps to the back door.

Maris is mostly doing that, I am helping out wherever I can. This afternoon, we are going to the Adirondack Fiber And Wool Festival to learn more about our Romney sheep and Maria’s booming yarn sales. (We picked up our very beautiful yarn yesterday, it will go up on sale shortly on Maria’s website, fullmoonfiberart.com, photos later).

The gutter-building stuff is not simple, much measuring, discussion of screws, clamps, sealants and braces. Maria woke up thinking about it, she couldn’t wait to get to work. Me too. A morning of guttering I call it, where I try and get comfortable up on a ladder.