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Post by stepper on Mar 15, 2016 19:42:15 GMT -6
Then they aren't "here" - but they could be in the area someplace. I recently found out that there are robins in the NW corner of the county; having missed them for these past several years I could easily fail to see crows too.
[quote They are amazing birds and are probably my favorite. [/quote] I don't know that I have a favorite bird, but if I do I think it'd be hummingbirds.
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Post by stepper on Mar 19, 2016 18:35:15 GMT -6
In Spring Bored you mentioned "it's supposed to be in the 30's and rainy all next week". If there is such a thing, we're having an Indian Winter. We've been in the 80's and then last night it rained. Hard. This morning and all day has been windy and very cool. The weather guessers are saying that the wind will die down and tonight will be calm. Perfect for cooling even more - San Antonio won't freeze because of all the concrete and asphalt, but outside of that they're saying to expect a frost.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 20, 2016 6:36:15 GMT -6
Is frost this time of year typical there, or is it bad thing because you're far enough into the growing season that there will be frost damage?
It's pretty frosty here this morning; right now it's about 28 degrees, though the sun it out, so the frost will melt quickly.
Nice day for a drive. Good thing. I've gotta leave here in a few to pick up BP; she spent the weekend with LX up at college.
Later, Taters.
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Post by stepper on Mar 20, 2016 10:15:03 GMT -6
I'd say it's a bad thing, but this is the approximate time for a last frost in the hill country which is where it matters most. If nothing else, this slows the growth of smaller and budding plants and it will take some time before they recover.
Again? I take it this works out well for both of them.
You didn't say - how'd the a cappella weekend visit go?
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2016 6:09:43 GMT -6
Everything here is pretty much still dormant, or just starting to come out of dormancy. Driving up to the college this weekend though, there were acres and acres of bright green farmland. I'm sure it's a cover crop of some kind, that'll be tilled under as soon as the fields are ready for machinery. It was nice to see those big patches of green in an otherwise brown and bare landscape.
The a cappella concert was only one event out of many on Sibling's Weekend; they all had a fabulous time though.
Yep, again...and probably again in another two weeks; they plan on spending some time together during BP's spring break. It makes my heart smile to see them together, and how much they really do love each other (which I'm sure is another Mom Thing).
This weekend though, was kind of spur of the moment. LX and her roommate finally found an affordable apartment that isn't a mold breeding ground for next semester. Since she's a student, she needs a guarantor for the lease, and I wanted to check it out before I signed anything.
Hubs was going to go too, to check out her car; he didn't want her to get ripped off by an opportunistic mechanic that was going to take advantage of a kid that doesn't know anything about cars except how to put gas in it, and check the oil. She called him Wednesday and said the engine light came on. He hasn't been a very good patient though, and now his foot is swollen again; I call him Fred Flintstone Foot - it is not a term of endearment.
So, I checked out the apartment (very small but decent), checked out the car (an O2 sensor), and left BP up there for the weekend.
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Post by stepper on Mar 21, 2016 18:10:07 GMT -6
Sure 'n so soon after St. Patrick’s Day you shouldn't think this is a surprise. {read that in your best imitation Irish}
Even if it has less space, the fact that it's in better condition makes it an improvement. Still close enough to campus to be convenient?
I'm sure he's not thrilled with what's going on either.
Good for you! If she has only a generic engine light, how did you figure that out?
It's great that they get along so well - I've seen families where it was very different.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 22, 2016 5:12:06 GMT -6
I completely missed St. Patrick's Day last week. I heard a joke though: What do you get when you cross a four-leaf clover with poison ivy?
A rash of good luck.
Hey, it's better than my old standby St. Patrick's Day joke.
Right now she's got about a 5 minute walk to campus; the new apartment is still within "walking distance", but is about a 30 minute walk.
Oh, I know he's not. If he would have done what the doctor told him though, (keep his leg raised above his heart, and open the boot to ice it down on occasion for the first few days), he wouldn't have had Fred Flintstone Foot.
We took it in and had it hooked up to one of those diagnostic machines that spits out a code.
Looks like we might have another blast of winter coming through. Depending on who you listen to, we're in for a lot of rain, a rain/snow mix, or heavy snow.
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Post by stepper on Mar 22, 2016 17:56:31 GMT -6
I got some jokes, but not one's I'd post in the forum. Here, let me show you what I mean... Mick walks into Paddy's barn and catches him dancing naked in front of a tractor. Mick says, "Oh no, Paddy, what ya doing?" Paddy says, "Well me and Mary haven't been getting on in the bedroom lately & the therapist recommended I do something sexy to attracter..... ( a tractor). ~~~~~ The Irish have solved their own fuel problems. They imported 50 million tons of sand from the Arabs and they're going to drill for their own oil. ~~~~~ Paddy says to Mick - I'm ready for a holiday, only this year I'm going to do it a bit different. 3 years ago I went to Spain and Mary got pregnant. 2 years ago I went to Italy and Mary got pregnant. Last year I went to Majorca and Mary got pregnant. Mick asks - So what are you going to do this year? Paddy replies, - I'll take her with me . You gave it the mom security check? She'll only be going that far when it's light, etc? I don't hear much in the way of sympathy in that. LOL! That's my preferred method - but the last time I did it it cost me $300. Here too, or, the coldest days seem to have passed but we're still on a roller coaster with chances of rain late Wed/early Thurs, and drizzle for Easter Sun Rise services. With the repetative comment usually espoused when discussing the weather -
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Post by Phalon on Mar 23, 2016 9:26:55 GMT -6
You posted that one before; I'm sure it was in the pun thread. You should never have to explain your puns, btw; it takes some of the oomph outta them, no matter how bad they are...like this one:
What kind of furniture do leprechauns use? Paddy o' Furniture.
Grrrr. This has been an issue between her and I for years. I'm sure I've mentioned she always worked the closing shift at DQ, and there was more than once when she'd call me on her cell walking home, just to stay on the phone with her because "some creeper" was following her. I had told her many times I'd pick her up from work...all she had to do was let me know when (hours varied greatly depending on what was happening in town).
Now it's the library; it stays open until midnight, and she does all her studying and homework there, often staying until it closes. I'm sure it'll be the same next year because same roommate/same "people over at all hours" problem, I'd assume. At least she carries pepper spray with her, which isn't much, I know. The library will be closer to her new apartment than the one she's in now; the apartments are on opposite ends of the campus, but I still say it's too late to be out walking. I told her to sign up for campus parking; I'd pay for it. She is frugal to a fault though (read "cheap as hell"); even though I'd pay for the parking pass, driving requires gas, and gas requires money to buy it, which is money she doesn't want to spend if she doesn't have to.
Kind of an interesting conversation with Crazy Cheryl on this topic recently. Her daughter is going into neuroscience, and is applying for fellowships for the summer, but most of the good ones in the specific field she's going into are either out east, or west - the cost of living in either place is an issue. I mentioned I heard Wayne State in Detroit had quite a reputable neuroscience department; has the daughter checked into it? "No way she's living in Detroit - she's too unaware of her surroundings, unlike LX", Crazy Cheryl says, "LX is savvy, and isn't going to take any sh!t from anyone." Never realized my daughter had that air about her. Like the pepper spray though, it's not going to be enough to deter everyone looking for prey.
I feel bad for him, I really do. I know he's getting stir crazy, especially on the nice days we've had. I know he can't stand that he can't drive for six weeks. But I also know that he'll heal quicker if he does what the doctor says to do - he's a grown man, and I can only remind him of doctor's orders so many times. If he ignores the orders - then no, I don't have a great deal of sympathy.
Nothing in the way of any kind of precipitation here yet, though it's dark, cold, and windy right now. Definitely a stay inside day, and a good one to get on with "the purge"; contractors are supposed to start tear-out on April 9th, and I want to get rid of everything we don't want or use before then, so we're not moving it around from room to room as they work. Probably be in and out of here throughout the day to catch up - spring cleaning, as far as I'm concerned, requires frequent breaks!
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Post by stepper on Mar 23, 2016 19:53:35 GMT -6
It fit the season and the mood of the post. The others were a bit more graphic.
I remember that coming up. She's a bit more mature now - she should know that even if she's "sure" it's okay; safe better than sorry.
I know you've talked to her about that. The roommate needs to be as good a friend to LX as LX is to her - meaning she needs to agree on some kind of time limit so LX can go home and be comfortable. Maybe tell her she doesn't realize how much her choices affect you? And I'm letting it go here because I'm not saying anything you haven't already thought about.
Well, yeah, okay. He does have a responsibility to you and BP & LX. If that means taking care of his ankle, that's what it means. Some how it always seems harder to do when it's that kind of thing - but it's still necessary I guess.
I agree, especially when the breaks are several days long. Sometimes I have trouble parting with stuff even when it's no longer useful. But when I do get started I tend to go to the other extreme as if the goal isn't just to clean up a bit - the idea is to make space. Lots of it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 23, 2016 20:19:19 GMT -6
Deadbolt on bedroom door?
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Post by stepper on Mar 24, 2016 18:52:40 GMT -6
That's an option Joxcee, but it won't help keep out the noise.
We got nearly three quarters of "only 10% chance of light drizzle" early this morning. Unfortunately, a lightening strike burnt a home to the ground.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 26, 2016 6:57:53 GMT -6
Is that to keep Hubs in?...LX in?...the roommate out?...the winter weather out?...or to keep me from purging everything in the upstairs?
Updates: Hubs is feeling and getting around much better. Go figure; he's finally done this week what the doctor told him to do two weeks ago. I even took him on his first outing yesterday, aside from going to the doctor's office - nothing major; I just suggested he ride along to do errands with me to get him out of the house. It was quite fun, actually.
LX has decided against the current roommate as next year's roommate; I guess the roommate's impromptu party midweek and LX having to pick up the aftermath was the final straw. Not quite sure what she's going to do yet next year, though.
The snow missed us, and stayed north. Plenty of rain though - two days of it, at times very heavy; the ravine flooded. The ducks didn't seem to mind, though - the mallard couple is back, using the ravine as their stop-over until they continue on to wherever they go each year.
The purge; I started upstairs where they'll be working and got very side-tracked. Like so many projects, one thing led to another. Grabbed a few books from the bedroom shelf that I didn't want anymore, and ended up clearing off an entire shelf of books from the living room bookcase to take to the book sale the Humane Society is having to raise money. Found an old Walkman type CD player in a dresser drawer, and ended up scouring the house and basement for all the old electronic/computer equipment - four more Walkmans, a portable radio/CD player, two VCR/DVD players, a hand-held mini-TV, our old cell phones, various remotes that I have no idea which devices they were for, two wireless routers, and the old printer. Put it all in a huge box, and left it in Computer Guy's garage; the electronic recycling company is coming next week to his office. Since we got our tax return back, I cleaned out the file cabinet and boxed up last year's records to put on the basement shelf with all previous years' records, and then...."keep these for 1 year, that for 3, the other stuff for 7, and those indefinitely"...I ended up going through each year's box, and getting rid of what we didn't need anymore. So much work, and I'm really no more done with what I set out to do than I was before I started!!!
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Post by stepper on Mar 26, 2016 12:33:11 GMT -6
Good to hear that Hubs is getting out and about. The walls can close in on you and it makes you grumpy. A wise if difficult decision. I'm sure the library is a good place for homework, but unexpected parties when you are more interested in passing with a decent grade are not welcome. Party some, not much. Ah, Spring! [ quote] tax ... records [/quote] That's one area where I keep too much. We have pretty much everything from the time we got married. I have too much in way of electronics too but our electronics turn in isn't until April. One of the local colleges runs it. I know, Right? This happens to me all the time. It feels like the hurrier I go the behinder I get. For example… My motorcycle battery light came on indicating the battery wasn't charging. I got to work, and then got home, okay. It took me a day to get back to the cycle which is a bit involved, but basically you pop the tank cover, unplug a few things, and I sit on the cycle to access the spot where the battery is bolted in; it turned out the battery cells were dry. Not good! So I fetched some water and one of the syringes we used to feed the cats - used that to put water in the cells, and hooked up the trickle charger. Unfortunately the next morning it was flashing indicating it wasn't done charging yet - another great riding day missed. Finally the next day the charger indicates the battery is fully charged and I'm good to go. Except when I tried to start the cycle, nothing. And I mean nothing. Not even a hint that there's enough juice to turn over the engine. It took me two days (meaning this morning) when it dawned on me that I should check the kill switch. It's an emergency stop the engine switch, and yep, I bumped it while working on the cycle. Hopefully everything’s okay with the cycle now. I don’t know because while trying to figure out what happened I ran the battery down again. And I noticed the passenger side door to the truck has a problem. It needs new hinges and bushings. This takes two people because of the electronics (and wiring) in the door. Did I mention it’s Easter? While hunting wascally wabbits one must also set aside time for coloring Easter eggs. Steppet really likes coloring the eggs you see.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 26, 2016 19:43:24 GMT -6
Oooh! Multiple choice! Where to begin!
LX's bedroom door. Keep the partiers, & roommate, out.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 2, 2016 9:02:14 GMT -6
I can deal with grumpy. "You are acting like a crotchety old man. Quit." Hubs though, was very, very down in the dumps - almost depressed. Due to the extended period of swelling, and not being able to put any weight on it at all, he had to completely rely on his crutches; he had to call me even do something as simple as carrying a cup of coffee from the counter to the kitchen table. Normally he's always doing something around the house or outside; if he doesn't have a project, he's out puttering around the yard, playing outside with the dog, or tinkering in the garage, so not being able to do these things was, in his words, "killing" him.
In addition, he fell going down the two stairs in the mudroom early last week, banging up the knee on his "good" leg pretty badly. On top of all of that, the weather last week was gloomy with off and on rain - which makes people already in a gloomy mood feel even gloomier.
It all came to a head last Saturday. I had planned on being gone for a few hours; because I'm going back to work now, it was the last monthly meeting of our writers group that I'd be able to attend until next November when the nursery closes again. Even the weather had cleared, it was warm and sunny, and he was getting around better, Hubs was so glum that I was concerned enough to cancel my plans and announce "we are getting you outside today".
He of course, protested me not going to the meeting, and mumbled 'what are we going to do; I can't do anything but sit around'....
Same. Even stuff that never should have been kept in the first place - phone, cable, medical bills, insurance policies and bills for vehicles and houses we haven't owned in decades - you name it, we still had it. And since I'd gone through it all, it was now separate from the things we need to keep.
"What are we going to do?" Hubs asked. "We're going to burn sh!t!!!!" (It's a long-running inside joke.)
So I sat him down in a chair by the fire pit, gave him his long fire poker stick and two huge boxes of old bills. Although we'd had rain, there was enough dry wood and a huge pile of brush left-over from my holiday arrangement-making extravaganza. For almost three hours, he had a grand time feeding the fire paper, while I fed it with the brush.
After the fire, I moved his chair across the yard, "While I clean up the garden, you can keep me company, and back-seat weed." He laughed at the back-seat weed comment, but he did, like I knew he would. We spent the entire day outside, and afterward thanked me for "the most amazing day ever!". The transformation in his mood was amazing, and made cancelling my plans, and singeing about two inches of my hair (a trip to the EHT was required - Emergency Hair Technician; she evened it all up yesterday) was all worth it.
He's been rejuvenated, and has a fresh outlook on everything now....just like spring. Probably time to retire this thread to next year...
...although the sky says "winter". It's dumping snow!!!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 3, 2016 22:56:27 GMT -6
When I went looking for this thread, I was thinking to myself that it's probably warmer out now than it was when we put this one to bed last winter and moved on to the spring thread.
Apparently it was!
Whew! The holiday market is done for another year! I make some extra money, have a lot of fun, meet some really fun people, but I'm always glad when it's over - it's a ton of work, nearly all in the prepartions. I did pretty good today - not quite as well as last week, though, but still some nice profit. Hopefully the arrangements I donated to the Humane Society open house will do well too.
Now that that's out of the way, I suppose I should start Christmas shopping!
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 3, 2016 23:20:55 GMT -6
It's snowing in Hawaii!!! Apparently it does it every year. Who knew? (Not me, evidently.)
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Post by Phalon on Dec 3, 2016 23:25:33 GMT -6
In the mountainous areas? I never knew either - I never really thought about it actually. When Hubs and I went to Hawaii way back, it was late winter here (we lived in Philly at the time), but quite tropical there.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 3, 2016 23:36:26 GMT -6
Yes. There are three high volcanoes that get light dusting of snow every year. It's gone in a couple of days. But Hawaii is in the news because they're getting over a foot of snow on those mountains. Whoa!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 3, 2016 23:51:24 GMT -6
A foot of snow is generally a lot of snow anywhere!
I think snow is in our forecast sometime for next week; at least that's what a man at the holiday bazaar told me. It's still a few weeks away, but it'll be nice if we have a white Christmas this year.
I gotta get to bed, Joxie. I've been chasing you around the board, and you always seem to be a post or pm ahead of me, and I can't catch up! I'm tired and the words are starting to blur, and I'll probably be back tomorrow, reread what I wrote, and wonder what the heck I was babbling about.
Sweet dreams.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 4, 2016 0:52:54 GMT -6
Night. I had wandered off to YouTube and got sidetracked. Now I'm back.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 4, 2016 22:00:28 GMT -6
Oops. I messed up:
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Post by Phalon on Dec 5, 2016 9:40:22 GMT -6
So the guy at the bazaar was right - we got snow yesterday. Not nearly as much as in Hawaii, but maybe about 3 to 4 inches. It fell as big, wet flakes that piled up quickly once the ground got cold enough; for about the first two hours it snowed, it melted as soon as it touched the ground. It was beautiful and strange at the same time - the Norway maple and dogwood are still covered in fall-colored leaves that were then covered in snow on the trees. Beneath the trees it was just the opposite - the snow was covered with a layer of newly fallen leaves.
I decided in the middle of all this to finish decorating the porch for Christmas. I wrapped the front railing with the fake evergreen garland and lights, and hung stars above...or at least I tried. Don't quite know what I was thinking - I usually hang the stars first by using a step-stool to get up on the railing and stand on the railing to hang the stars. I put the lights on the railing first though, so couldn't stand on it. I couldn't reach the hooks either by standing on the top step of the step-stool (which clearly states "this is not a step"). Instead of getting Hubs to reach the hooks, I thought I'd get a wooden ladder, and even thought to myself while doing so, "I wonder if this is such a good idea". It obviously wasn't. I leaned the ladder up against the railing, got about three steps up, and the ladder slipped on the wet, snowy decking of the porch, sending me crashing down on the railing. My first thought as I hung across the railing, was my ribs were broken (which they aren't - I just had the wind knocked out of me); second thought was "I pulled a Hubs"; and the third one was WTF was I doing, and I hope no one saw me.
The snow is melting as quickly as it piled up. Getting ready to walk downtown to do errands before it starts again. First though, I'm going to hang those d@mn-ass stars. Think I'll try standing on the table that sits on the porch....and wondering if this is such a good idea.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 5, 2016 18:28:26 GMT -6
Being short isn't always a good thing, is it? And, as much as I hate bothering my b-i-l, sometimes I just have to. I do sometimes do stupid things, when I'm in a hurry, and I can't wait for him. I'm happy and surprised I haven't killed myself yet. Hope you don't do yourself in either.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 6, 2016 22:36:02 GMT -6
I know, right! Wait, wait, wait - OMG, have you ever done this? You're in the grocery store, there's something on the top shelf you need, and no other customer or store employee is around to ask to get it down for you, so you stand on the bottom shelf to reach it yourself, and think "I wonder what would happen if this whole shelving unit came down on top of me?"
I might not haven broken any ribs the other day coming down on the railing, but I've been sore as hell.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 7, 2016 0:34:06 GMT -6
Actually, I have climbed up the shelving to try and get something. Sometimes there are people, but they don't want to get involved. I'm always grateful when there are those who offer their help. I make sure to let them know I appreciate them dearly. I've had cans fall on my head when I've tried to carefully pull them off of the top shelf. People just mulling around and walking past like they can't be bothered, or I might be deranged. Really irks me. Some people can be really rude.
And I also think in the back of my mind ... why aren't the people behind the mirrors and cameras sending someone to help me? Makes me think there's no one watching ... just the illusion that there is.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 7, 2016 7:35:20 GMT -6
If I see somebody - I don't care who it is, whether it's a store employee or a customer, as long as they're taller than me - I ask, rather than waiting for them to offer help. No one has ever refused, I often make a joke about being short, and we usually get a chuckle out of it.
We're supposed to get the first real winter weather of the season starting tonight - there's a winter storm warning from midnight lasting through Friday late afternoon. I don't think there's a lot of snow predicted - less than a foot - but the temperatures are predicted to stay in the twenties, with a lot of wind, so white-out conditions are expected.
Hubs got all the leaves to the curb yesterday afternoon. I hope the leaf-sucker truck comes by today, or I'm betting they'll stay there until spring.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 7, 2016 17:09:39 GMT -6
It's getting really cold here now. No light jacket ... which I keep forgetting when I go to Mom's to feed the cat. Sometimes I wear shorts in the house, to prevent a hot flash, and I'll forget and go outside to do stuff. Before it wasn't so bad, so I'd do my task and get back inside quickly. Can't do that now. Gotta run back in and bundle up.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 8, 2016 7:27:32 GMT -6
My hot flashes have really subsided during the last couple of months since the weather changed; they mostly only happen at night now, when I'm buried under the blanket. It used to be I could never sleep without being covered, even in the summer. Now most of the time, except for when I first get in bed, I don't even use a blanket - a bonus for Hubs; he always complained I hogged the covers!
It's nasty outside now - it's in the twenties and not very snowy yet, but what is falling is hard icy pellets and the wind is howling. I'm glad I got the Christmas lights up on the porch railing yesterday evening - again!!! Half of them went out the other night - grrrr! We replaced a lot of the light strands a couple of years ago, and more last year; the one on the porch that went out was (I hope) the last remaining old one. Bought a new set, and seriously thought for a minute about just winding it on the railing over the old one - it was very windy last night too, and not pleasant to be out there messing with Christmas lights. In the end though, I figured it'd be worse weather when it's time to take them down, and so might as well do it now.
Oh! And the leaf-sucker truck came by while I was putting up the lights. Must have been working overtime to suck up the town before we get buried in for the winter.
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