Winter is Coming

This weekend I got my first taste of New York snow.  Luckily, it was just a small amount and it didn't stick.  Still, it was enough to make me dread the upcoming winter.

Over the past few days I've been busy raking up the leaves that are falling.  We have an acre lot with 10+ mature trees on it.  The trees are great in summer and provide a lot of shade, but now it seems that they have endless leaves. Raking is a lot of work, so this weekend I plan to mow over the rest of the leaves and mulch them.

After our taste of winter last weekend, I decided that I needed to stock up on everything I'll need to make it through the winter.  I ordered a set of Carhartt quilted bib overalls (in pink!) and a pair of snow boots.  The boots are rated down to -32 F...Hopefully that will be enough.

Some days I wish that I could go live with my sister in Phoenix where it never snows.  What are you doing to prepare for winter?

Cider Tasting

Brian leaves for a 9 month deployment this weekend, so I took Friday off to spend the day with him.  We decided to drive about two hours south of here to visit Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in Marietta.  Beak and Skiff makes 1911 Cider and Spirits, and I've tried their Cider a few times since living in New York and really like it.  They also have a huge apple orchard where you can pick your own apples and a cafe/bakery and general store on their property.

Their facility was really beautiful, and we were surprised at the amount of people that were there on a Friday afternoon.

1911 produces several apple ciders, two apple wines, and vodka and gin that are distilled from apples.  Apparently distilling the vodka from apples allows it to be gluten free.  We were able to taste all of their product and they were all quite delicious!

After visitng the orchard, we headed to Syracuse to go to the mall.  Syracuse is home of Destiny USA, which is the second largest mall in the US (behind the mall of America).  They have a lot of shops and a lot of fun attractions - a go cart track, dave and busters, comedy club, and ropes course among others.

Today is Brian's 30th birthday (happy birthday sweetie!) and we celebrated a little early. Some of his favorite gifts were a nice bottle of scotch, new tumbler, and whiskey stones to keep it cold.

I'm going to miss him so much, but it was fun to spend some extra time together before he heads out!