Good morning and happy Thanksgiving to everyone on this rather cool, cloudy and windy afternoon!  It certainly does feel like fall today.  Really, it does.  But the brilliant colors of yellow, gold, orange, red and shades in between, still shine brightly and they are very much at their peak right now even though some trees still retain their summer green.  But all those colors just radiate their beauty among the greens of the pine, spruce, balsam and cedar.  A fabulous painting, more breath-taking than the largest display of fireworks, given to us by God to enjoy.  With all the hills in this area it is possible to see this display of color for miles around.  Speaking of displays.  I like to feed some of the smaller critters around here.  And peanuts work just fine for all of them.  I just open my door to feed the squirrel and 5 chipmunks and doing it this way ensures they actually get the peanuts and not the blue jays and crows.  Although I do feed the birds as well.  Anyway, I put my hand out one day with a nice peanut for RB and instead of grabbing the peanut, which I accidently dropped, he latched onto my finger.  Solidly.  And would not let go.  Muffin was right beside me while this was happening and I could just imagine what was going on in her little mind.  Muffin is thinking, “ you have him hooked good, now just swing him inside and I will do the rest!” Right.  Like that is going to happen.  I tried to gently shake him off.  No good.  What to do?  Then he must have spotted the real peanut and he let go, grabbed the peanut and he was off.  I looked at Muffin.  Her eyes were half closed and she was thinking, “if you were a cat you would starve.”  And she walks away.  Hmm, sometimes I wonder if I spend too much time with animals.  Sigh.  Speaking of time.  Another week was missed.  I know.  It was technical difficulties again.  Namely me.  It was just one of those weeks.  Computer didn’t want to work properly.  Printer ran out of ink, right while I was printing something important.  Naturally.  And I didn’t have an extra cartridge.  Naturally.  I have been trying to make myself a pie for my birthday.  I know, it’s not my birthday, that’s in June.  I just haven’t been able to get it done yet.  Finally did.  Dropped it on the floor.  Splat!  Pie everywhere.  Except where it is supposed to be.  In my mouth.  Sigh.  Muffin came running to see if it was something good to eat.  Naturally.  And it was.  She enjoys that same kind of pie.  Sigh.  Since I am on this terrible gluten free diet pies are no longer easy to make.  Gluten free flour is just not the same as regular flour.  So I bought a pre-made pie shell.  That thing cost $8, only to end up in pieces on the floor.  Sigh.  But I’m not giving up.  Even if it takes me until next June.  Sigh.  Speaking of bears.  I am.  There are at least 2 that come around regularly, at all hours of the night, or day.   So I have to look carefully around before venturing outdoors.  One is small, less than 200 lbs, the other is about 500 lbs.  They both come up on my deck whenever they decide to walk through the yard.  They probably found some leftover food on the bird feeder once or twice so now they check it regularly.  I make sure there is no food left on it overnight now, but since these bears come around during the day also, that makes it a little tougher.  Sigh.  Hopefully I can get a nice picture of one at some point, but from a safe location.  If that’s possible.  Speaking of hospitals.  Ever have to go to the emergency room?  They have an odd way of determining what constitutes an emergency.  I assume that as long as you can crawl in on your hands and knees, then it can’t be too serious.  Which means a long wait.  Me; how long before I can see the doctor?  Receptionist; it will only be a minute.  The waiting room is empty, so I  assume she is right.  I sit down.  An hour later.  Me; is the doctor very busy?  There is a young boy that has a cold, but the doctor will be with you in a minute.  I’m not sure about you, but I always thought a minute was 60 seconds.  In the emergency room it is one hour.  Amazing. So this means I have another hour to wait.  For a cold.  Already my back is screaming with pain.  Has been since I left home.  Sigh.  My own doctor shows up, what are you doing here?, she asks.  Just wanted to rest my feet.  I explain.  Be with you in a minute, she says.  Great.  Three hours now.  Sigh.  But it was actually only 5 minutes.  At least it is getting closer to real time.  Calling a taxi.  We’ll be there in just a minute, she says.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sigh.  Speaking of stairs.  I don’t really like stairs.  I very much dislike stairs.  Because at some point I am going to fall down those stairs.  Which has happened three times since moving to this apartment.  Not nice.  It hurts.  Especially with my back.  So now I am moving around even slower than normal.  Sigh.  It’s fall.  And the colors are simply beautiful.  Hard to truly describe it properly.  So get out and enjoy the colors, they don’t last long.  Too often we get so busy that we miss this simple beauty.  Enjoy your week, happy Thanksgiving once again and God bless!

Steve. And Muffin.

Good morning on this rather cool, cloudy, wet evening on the last Monday of the month of September and it is definitely a cool day once again and we have been getting cool day after day for a while now and though I know it is fall, or autumn if you prefer, but it is still very cool even for this time of year although it did manage to climb all the way up to 52F, or 11C for those who prefer the more inaccurate form of measuring temperature, which I definitely do not and I can’t understand why anyone would but this is a strange world at times and it is really and actually officially fall now and this is a beautiful time of year except of course for one thing and that is quite simply because it is very cool and wet and is supposed to continue very cool and wet this fall, meaning of course that it rains a lot, which is not something that I enjoy since I am definitely a warm weather type of person where it is warm enough that you don’t have to dress so warm it is hard to move around and of course fall means that we move from cool to cold to very cold to extremely cold where we stay for a few months and…sigh.  What a terrible thing to think about.  I missed last week.  Well, in some ways I didn’t miss last week but I still missed last week, if you know what I mean.  Technical difficulties again.  Me, this time.  Often it is, even if it isn’t, if you know what I mean.  I have started my Christmas shopping.  Hey, it’s cold, what else is there to do?  Besides, stores are putting out Christmas displays already so why not start shopping?  And to think that dad and I used to enjoy going insulatoring this time of year.  Though it was nicer when the weather was a bit warmer than it has been lately.  This is just too cool.  Or did I mention that already?  Anyway, back to insulatoring.  Dad and I finally made it to our destination, or at least the beginning of our destination.  So we decided to sit down and have an early lunch before heading out looking for the elusive chunks of glass and porcelain.  Dad says to me, you sit here while I go sit over there.  How nice, doesn’t even want to sit close to me.  Oh well.  You’re not going to sit on that log are you?, I asked.  Naturally, said dad, it’s a good place to sit.  Could be bees living in that old log, I said.  Too fresh and solid, he replied.  Uh, maybe you shouldn’t sit there anyway, said I.  Just toss me my sandwiches, said dad, and do it gently.  So I did, and he caught them for a change.  Then it happened.  Dad suddenly jumps up, drops his sandwiches and starts yelling and dancing around.  Good thing no one else is around to see you, I said.  I’m covered with ants, dad yelled!  Not surprising, you put your foot right on top of their little home, I said.  Dad was ripping his pants off at this point.  AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!  What are you doing?, I yelled.  Dad didn’t reply, he was too busy wiping ants off of himself.  Why didn’t you tell me there was ants?, asked dad.  Well, actually, I did try to warn you but you didn’t listen, I replied.  BONEHEAD!  Strange that he could possibly be enjoying himself.  For any new readers out there, dad used to say BONEHEAD a lot when we were together.  I finally figured it must mean he was enjoying himself.  Couldn’t think of any other reason for saying it so much.  Oh well. One of dad’s sandwiches was now covered with ants.  Just scrape them off, I said, they are likely clean little critters.  Dad just looked at me.  Somehow I don’t think he believed me.  Sigh.  Dad sat down on a small rock and asked me to toss him his thermos of COFFEE.  So I did.  Dad was bent over looking at something on the ground.  THUNK!  Right on his head.  Knocked his glasses off.  And his hat.  And he got up quickly holding his head and moaning.  NO, be careful, I yelled!!  Guess it startled dad and he sat down very suddenly forgetting he had been sitting on a rock so he yelled again.  Then he asked what was wrong.  I didn’t want you to step on your glasses, I said.  I had already picked them up, dad replied, now I have dropped them again, and I can’t see them now.  Neither could I.  Dad just sat there looking all around, after telling me not to move.  I just wanted to help.  Over there by the ants, I called out.  Good, go get them, he said.  Me?  It was your fault, he said.  How could it be my fault when I was trying to help you?, I asked.  But I got them anyway.  You really should be more careful with these, I said as I walked over to him.  That’s when I tripped.  Dad’s eyes got real big.  He was pouring his COFFEE at the time, knocked the cup on the ground, COFFEE ran down his leg.  Dad jumped up again.  At least he didn’t dance around this time or rip his pants off.  BONEHEAD!  Amazing.  It was such a nice sunny and warm day.  Unlike today which is cloudy, cool and wet.  Sigh.  Whatever the weather I hope you can get out and enjoy your week!  God bless!

Steve.

And then there are critters.  But that is for next week.