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Post by Phalon on Oct 26, 2020 8:36:35 GMT -6
You know me well!
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 26, 2020 15:54:24 GMT -6
Yeppers.
I believe that the days of temps in the 70s and 80s is officially over, and that Autumn is most definitely here. However, never say never, as Mother Nature loves nothing more than to say: “Here, hold my beer.” We’re still seeing highs in the 60s, but they’re fewer and farther between. Halloween has been warm from time to time, but not as often as it has been cold. Around the last week of October is when Autumn temperatures stay consistent. And then Winter temps take over soon after, in order to prevent us from enjoying a full Autumn of cozy cool temps. Summer and Winter are selfish, jealous seasons. They both hog the spotlight in Spring and Autumn.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 30, 2020 5:21:51 GMT -6
I think the 10 degree average temperature difference between where you and I live, has increased to about 15 to 20 degrees. Highs here have been in the 40s for the most part, with lots of rain.
I've been really tired when I get home from work, and pretty much crash after dinner - probably a combination of it getting dark by 7ish, and working out in the cold and wet all day. I'm the last person standing at work (aside from the crews) - it's only me covering the store, and much of the time, I'm the only one on the entire property, because the crews are still busy with landscaping. One co-worker's last weekend working was scheduled to be the weekend her sister tested positive for the virus. My other co-worker who got the flu that same weekend, has been out sick for 3 weeks now, with headaches, body aches, and a fever hovering around 100 degrees. Personally, if it was me and I had a fever for that long, I'd get retested for Covid just to be absolutely sure; he's been doing video calls with his doctor though, who is just recommending bed rest (I don't know if I'd be comfortable with just a doctor video call, and not actually being seen by a doctor). He's out for the rest of the season. Boss lady has been in and out, working retail with me when we're busy, but for the most part because it's the end of the season and the weather has been bad, the flow of customers has slowed to just a trickle.
It's a d@mn good thing I've always talked to myself, because some days, the only voice to keep me company is my own.
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 30, 2020 11:18:55 GMT -6
Yeah. Sometimes our temps are further apart. I think it depends on if we get the same front that’s moving in. Sometimes we get the same weather moving in, and sometimes one will get something, but not the other.
The highs next week have a lot of 60s in it. Sunday night is supposed to drop down into the high 20s. The trees are still mostly green. There is color here and there, and some trees are almost bare, but no beautiful Autumn dominating colors across the landscape. And with Sunday nights 20s, I’m worried it will be the same as last year, where the leaves just fall off without changing.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 2, 2020 12:09:48 GMT -6
The highs this week have a lot of 60s and 70s in it. So, maybe Autumn is going to give Winter some attitude. I hope so.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 3, 2020 6:08:19 GMT -6
I hope so too! Here, it's supposed to get up in the high 50s, and dang, that'd be wonderful. Had snow flurries most of Friday - just spitting tiny flakes. Saturday was perfect Halloween weather in the mid-fifties - had a few trick-or-treaters; I had put a table with candy on it at the end of the front walk, and "Happy Halloween-ed them from the front porch. I replenished the candy before we left for our cemetery randonauting adventure; the candy was gone when we came back.
Sunday though, the weather was horrendous - snow flurries, quite hard at times, but it was the unending wind that was scary, scary. Gusts were clocked at 70mph; I thought the maples surrounding the house were going to snap in half, they were swaying so violently!
Calmer, but still cold and windy yesterday. Crossing fingers the forecast for the rest of the week is correct!
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Post by Phalon on Nov 8, 2020 7:32:21 GMT -6
This past week, the weather has been glorious, glorious, glorious!!!! Highs in the sixties with lots of sunshine, it seems Autumn decided to give us one last hurrah! It's been pleasurable working outside at the nursery....and yesterday, at home. The thing about having extensive gardens, is there's so much to do....and it's much nicer to do it when the weather is good! I worked in the yard from morning until evening yesterday, and have just about as much that I want to get done today, because I think this might be the last nice day I'll have a chance to work in my own yard. The week is supposed to start off with good weather, but turn cold by next weekend.
Later, Taters - the sun is up, the temperature is great, and I've got work to do!
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 8, 2020 21:26:18 GMT -6
It's been so nice, and now I want Spring. I wish the temps didn't jump around so much, it makes it harder.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 9, 2020 6:16:50 GMT -6
Too busy here savoring these last glorious days of nice weather to even think about Spring (which is my least favorite season anyway). I think we reached 70 degrees yesterday. I got so much done in the yard, that if I don't get a chance to do anything else this fall, I'd be satisfied that all the big stuff is completed. Except the leaves. I raked and raked, and hauled tarpfuls of leaves out to the curb, and dang it, by the end of the day, aside from the long snake of piled leaves along the curb, it hadn't looked like I'd even touched a rake. Three of the maples are bare; the other two still aren't, but decided to perform a leaf dump, probably due to the warm weather - it was literally like it was raining leaves! Thousands of them; the lawn looks like it's covered with a harvest gold shag carpet from the 70s.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 10, 2020 1:14:28 GMT -6
Today will be the last day the highs are in the 70s. The highs for the rest of the week are in the 50s/60s. Still nice, just not summer-wear nice.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 16, 2020 6:05:57 GMT -6
Last week began with summer and ended as winter. Monday and Tuesday were in the seventies! It dropped 30 degrees overnight, and dipped into the 20s overnight a couple of times. I froze my @ss off at work on Friday, being outside all day in weather below 35 degrees. Brrrrr!!!!
I went this weekend to the home improvement store to get warmer work gloves and another pair of long-johns. Apparently, women don't need warm work gloves, just pretty gardening gloves....and men don't have small hands either; I had to get a men's large, the smallest size they had. They did have women's size small long-johns though - tops and bottoms in one package, though I only needed the bottoms. Got them home, pulled them out of the package, and WTF?! The top was a small, but the bottoms were a size large - a men's large, at that. I could hold them up to my neck, and still have them drag the ground. I guess Hubs has a new pair of long-johns, and I'll just get by for now with my old, holey ones.
Not for long, I hope - I really want to be done at the nursery for the season at the end of this week. Got to hustle to make that happen though; I'm figuring I've got about a week's worth of outside work to get done, and I've still got to finish the spring perennial orders, which I've been putting off while the weather has been nice enough to work outside. The crews are still busy off property, and I'm alone 95 percent of the day, which I don't mind (especially with the virus still rampaging), but it does make the days seem longer, especially with gloomy, cold weather.
This week though, looks as if it'll be the opposite of last week's weather - we're starting off cold and it's supposed to warm up to the 50's by the end of the week.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 17, 2020 1:22:35 GMT -6
It's supposed to get down into the 30s the next couple of nights, but most of the days/nights are still on the nice, Autumn temps side.
It was FINALLY starting to be colorful around here. More and more trees were turning, although there are still a large number of hold outs. And the strong winds that passed through here a few days/nights ago did away with the beautiful scenery. The best part of Autumn gone in a flash.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 19, 2020 6:08:17 GMT -6
It always is! Halloween this year, we all commented here, was very leafy - there has been years past in which all the trees were bare at Halloween, but this year, even the maples out front in the parkway which usually are the first to change leaf color and the first to drop, were gloriously decked out in golden yellow. The dogwood though, which stands in their shade, on Halloween was as green as it is in summer. Then we had that week of unusually warm weather right after Halloween - which caused the maples to drop their leaves instantly, and the dogwood, now in full sun, changed from green to the most beautiful fall color it's ever had. Usually, it turns a dull burgundy color, but this year it was shades of bright red, reddish-orange, and wine all at the same time. Then the temperature dropped again, and with it down came the dogwood leaves - all at once. It went from bright green to completely bare in just one week!
Pretty much everything is bare now, except for a shrub here and there; amazingly, there are a few blooms still on my roses, and my parsley is still kicking butt, looking extremely good even though the temperatures have been down in the 20s. I keep meaning to cut it, but it's too dark to see by the time we finish dinner. Writing myself a note now to cut it as soon as I get home today - I promised the boss lady a big bag of it, and whoo-hoo!, I am finished with work for the season after tomorrow!
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 19, 2020 16:48:01 GMT -6
Yay! On your time off for the season. Enjoy. How are the girls doing? Coming home for the holidays? (Assuming that college is doing in-school classes.)
Today it got up to 69F, and the wind is blowing strong from the south/south west, mostly. It is nice outside. As December nears, I wonder just how many warmer days of Autumn are left. It tends to warm up in February, which I hate, because then I get Spring fever.
I can sleep under the blanket and comforter still, so my hot flashes are a lot better than they were. I still get overheated from time to time, but it's far better than roasting alive. I've no idea if it's my body calming down, or if it's the Black Cohosh I take for a couple of months spurts from time to time. I tend to lean towards it being the Black Cohosh, because each time I take it for a few months, I notice my hot flashes have diminished more and more once I've stopped taking it. I have 31 capsules left, so I'll probably start taking it again at some point. I'll probably wait until I have another bottle, as I like to do two- to three-month sprints at a time.
The warning not to take Black Cohosh for more than six-months, or more than a year, is the reason why I take breaks every two/three months. Plus, I feel it's best to give the body a break every so often when something has a warning. My body tends to hold medications longer than most peoples, so that is another reason I decided to take breaks from time to time. I'm thinking one more sprint of Black Cohosh might be the last, but one more sprint after that might also be in order.
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 22, 2020 11:41:06 GMT -6
The highs and lows are going to be dropping over the next several days. Going from the 50s/60s into the 40s for the highs, and from the 30s/40s/50s into the 20s/30s for the low. So, my furnace will be kicking on and off constantly soon. And I doubt there will be anymore days where I’ll be switching to the a/c for a few brief hours when the sun turns my home into an easy bake oven. It will now be cold enough outside to prevent my home from overheating in the sun. December will soon be here, so I’m sure the new highs/lows will be dropping again soon enough. Can’t believe 2021 will be here so soon. I hope it’s a much better year. I hope the planets have a better alignment, and it’s a year of peace and healing . . . and a year of great health and wealth.
Stay safe everyone. Hopefully we won’t have to keep hanging in there for too much longer.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 23, 2020 8:24:24 GMT -6
The girls are doing well. BP never went back to the university for in-person classes this fall; after being stuck there during the lock-down in spring semester, she didn't want to be in the same situation, so she switched to a completely on-line student. She and her boyfriend are living together in a small house they've been renting for about a month. It's a second home for a Chicago resident who only uses it for a summer house, so they've got it until April. I think I mentioned before, her boyfriend is, to put it mildly, not the most responsible young man as far as keeping a job. She gave him a 'get your sh!t together, or I'm out' ultimatum a little over a couple of months ago, and it seems to have been a turning point for him. They're both working their butts off to make rent and living expenses, so we shall see if he can stick with being responsible. It's not only a chance for him to prove to everyone (Hubs, me, LX and The Boyfriend) that he can do this, probably most importantly it's a chance to prove to himself that he can; a foster kid with a horrible childhood through his teenage years, he really had no guidance in how to be responsible, and therefore, he has insecurities which tend to lead him to self-sabotage any success that comes within his reach. Sad really, but he's made it worse for himself because he can't seem to let go of his past.
LX, The Boyfriend, and their four(!) cats are settled as a happy family. She got a new job a little over a month ago. It was a tough move for her because she absolutely loved the job she had. I always knew she'd choose doing something creative as a career, but never in a million years would I have guessed it'd be baking! She took that job at the little bakery almost three years ago though, just as a temporary thing until she found something permanent - and I think she would have stayed there indefinitely. She went from just helping in the kitchen, to being Bakery Lead, then Social Media Manager and Web Designer (which is what her degree is in), to General Manager when she left. The owners really took her under their wing, taught her a lot about owning a small business (her goal is to open a Cat Cafe one day), and they all hated to part ways. There is one thing they could not offer her though - employee health insurance. She turned 25-years old in August, and only has one more year to be covered under our plan. This new job at a larger bakery (she is Assistant to the Bakery Lead) offers a lot higher wage, but more importantly, it comes with a full benefit package.
HA! "The Conjuring" was on T.V. last night, or maybe the night before, and I chose not to watch it - because I still get hot at night and like to sleep with my feet out from under the covers!
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Post by Mini Mia on Nov 23, 2020 23:55:44 GMT -6
Glad to hear they're all doing well. I hope they continue doing well. Yeah. That's the part I hate about scary movies, they make me not want to come out from beneath the covers. And right now, it's the cold keeping me under them.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 24, 2020 19:10:01 GMT -6
We had our first actual snow today - it seemed like it was going to be an actual snow anyway. Big, fluffy flakes coming down hard, and accumulating fast. It was very pretty for a while, but then changed to rain in the late morning as the temperature rose to the mid-to-high 30s. It rained for the rest of the day.
It usually doesn't bother me, but that particular movie had a couple scenes in which the demon ghost witch grabbed a girl's feet that were hanging out of the covers, flinging her about the room by her foot. If I remember correctly. If my eyes were actually open while it was happening on screen.
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Post by Phalon on Nov 29, 2020 9:41:57 GMT -6
Hubs told me when I finished my last day of work, that I should just take a week to do nothing but lay snuggled up under a blanket and watch old favorite movies or read. "Oh, no!" I said, "I can't do that! I've got way too much to do!!" HA! Though I did get stuff done (took the dog to the vet for her vaccines which were due last month, ran some errands that could only be done on weekdays, and such), for the most part I didn't do much of anything except what I said I couldn't do!
I did walk downtown on an errand Friday though. It was nice walking through the neighborhood, looking at houses decorated in varying states of holiday decor - some still had Thanksgiving harvest displays, while others are already decked out for Christmas. Our house? I've got three holidays happening! I made two big greenery and berry arrangements in large urns, still have pumpkins and gourds on the front steps for Thanksgiving, and yes, the Halloween lights are still on the porch railing (though they haven't been turned on since the day after Halloween). I have to amend that today, and whittle things down to just Christmas! Especially, I need to get the lights switched on the railings, from orange and purple, to white. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and though I've put up Christmas lights in the snow before, it's a whole lot easier to do it when it's clear and dry!
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Post by Phalon on Dec 2, 2020 5:57:29 GMT -6
OMG, soooo windy here the last couple of days! It's been in the thirties, but it's seemed way colder with that wind blowing. I took a walk on Monday and could barely see through the tears streaming down my face from the stinging wind, and dang it, my ears were frozen and hurt like hell by the time I got home. I stayed inside yesterday! But of course, I was outside last night...
The full moon though has been gorgeous the last few nights, ranging from orange to bright white depending on the time of night I've viewed it. Although it's looked full since Saturday and still appeared full last night (the first night of December), it was officially full on Sunday night/early Monday morning - while it was still November. So it's the full Beaver Moon....or the Full Frost Moon, which I think sounds prettier.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 5, 2020 9:15:19 GMT -6
After the bitterly windy start to last week, it actually turned out pretty nice with some off-and-on sun, and temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s. The birds have been busy at the feeders, the squirrels have been busy with the corn....Hubs cracks me up; after years of viewing them as pests in the yard, he's switched to a "if you can't beat them, feed them" philosophy. It was Puffball the Squirrel Without a Tail that did it, who for some reason Hubs has decided is a female - she(?) is just so danged goofy-cute, that she melted even his squirrel-hating heart.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 11, 2020 8:33:09 GMT -6
We woke up yesterday to a heavy frost and frozen fog; the ground and rooftops were white with it, and in the dark it looked as if it had snowed overnight. The temperature was predicted to be in the upper 40s though. Soon enough the fog lifted, and the sun started to shine.
I had some errands to walk downtown, and decided it was much too pretty of a day not to spend as much of it as possible outside. I decided I'd extend my time in the sun by having a little randonauting adventure after completing my errands. I wrote my random course before leaving the house, figuring I'd start following my set of directions wherever my last errand left me. LX calls it "homemade randonauting" because we've never used the actual app.
My intent - what I was looking to find at my destination - was "Hope". I've been reading way too much news lately, and was feeling down because the world, in many ways, seems to be unraveling. My spirit could use a little pick-me-up. Even if I found nothing at the destination, being outside on a nice day always picks up my spirit!
My little adventure led me to some really cool messages of "Hope" though! When I reached my destination, I was standing in front of a house with a white picket fence decorated with garland made of evergreen branches and pine cones, the symbolism of which I know well - it's printed on the tags for the holiday arrangements I sell at the holiday market. For thousands of years, evergreens have been used to symbolize life and as a reminder that light follows darkness just as spring always follows winter. Pine cones represent wisdom and light.
At the house next to the one with the picket fence festooned with garland, a concrete gargoyle sat on the front porch - gargoyles are guardians and protectors.
The following house had a string of pennant flags strung above the front porch steps - each flag was a different color and had a word, symbol, and verse printed on them - the words were "Peace", "Happiness", "Courage", "Love", "Tranquility", and "Wisdom". I looked it up when I got home - they are Tibetan prayer flags. The verses printed on them are messages of peace and hope meant to be spread by the wind, bringing goodwill and compassion to all people.
On the peak of the roof above the porch hung a plaque of a wise sun face - the sun, of course, symbolizes light, energy, and growth.
In the lawn of the house across the street was a yard sign - one that's been around for the past four years, and is so common everywhere that I often over-look the words written on them. All political aspects aside, it is a message of hope: "In this house, Black lives matter, women's rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, water is life, love is love, and America is already great."
Mission accomplished: I got to spend an afternoon in the sun, and my spirits were lifted.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 11, 2020 8:40:56 GMT -6
And oh! I was just looking through the photos I took on my phone while on my adventure, and saw something I didn't notice before: on the front door of the house with the Tibetan prayer flags and sun face, is a wooden sign that says "Peace on Earth".
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 17, 2021 3:11:02 GMT -6
When the crickets get louder because they're moving out of the fields and closer to the house, I know Autumn is coming. Oh, and it's dark at 7:30 instead of at 8:30. I'm trying to ignore that as best I can.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 21, 2021 16:04:54 GMT -6
Nights are supposed to drop into the mid-40s tomorrow night. I may not need heat, but I will turn on the furnace to test it. Sometimes a spiderweb will prevent the fan from blowing, and my b-i-l will have to remove it. Well, most of the time there’s a spiderweb, but once in a while it kicks on perfectly fine. I hope I don’t have to bother my b-i-l.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 22, 2021 4:59:52 GMT -6
Hope your furnace works on the first try, Joxie.
HAPPY first day of AUTUMN!
It feels autumnal out there this morning - it's 54F. Actually, it felt like autumn yesterday; I had to dig around in my car trunk at work, looking for a pair of jeans to change into....and hoping there weren't any spiders lurking in them when I put them on! I haven't worn long pants since probably early June, but always keep a couple of changes of clothes in my car just in case I get too wet, too cold, or too hot at work during the day. Too cold for the shorts I'd worn to work.
We finally got some rain - a little bit here, a little bit there, off and on since Monday evening, and by yesterday evening it totaled nearly a half an inch. Not nearly enough, but we'll take what we can get. I think it's supposed to rain today also.
I was sitting out on the back porch yesterday evening, watching the birds at the feeders, and the squirrels attack the berries on the kousa dogwood, when a sandhill crane flew into the ravine. It was fascinating to watch walk up and down the dry creek bed, searching for whatever it is that sandhill cranes eat. A rare visitor to our yard, it was fun to watch.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 23, 2021 21:42:43 GMT -6
When I was about to go to bed last night, I checked the thermostat, and it was one degree below what I had it set on. I flipped to heat, and I heard the motor kick on. I went to a vent, and waited and waited, and decided a watched pot never boils, so went off to distract myself, and I hear a puff of air . . . and I could smell that first time smell. So, I don't have to pester my bil.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 24, 2021 5:55:01 GMT -6
Glad it worked on the first try. We had our heat on too yesterday and last night - it was windy, cold, and rainy. Weather is supposed to clear today and be quintessential fall. Fingers crossed.
This weekend a family mini-vacation: a rented cottage in the woods on a lake.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 24, 2021 18:48:27 GMT -6
The temps here will be back up to 80s/60s from Sunday to Thursday, then back down to the 70s/50s. Most of the time late-September goes up and down between Summer & Autumn. It's in October when it's mostly Fall weather, but with Summer weather rearing its head from time to time.
Have a fun time on your mini-vacation.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 28, 2021 5:24:12 GMT -6
We had a blast! The weather was perfect for a fall(ish) getaway; chilly mornings and evenings, but sunny and 70s during the day. Fall colors across the lake were starting, and the upside-down reflection of the treeline on the calm lake water made the color all that more brilliant. The cottage was surrounded by large oaks, which with the slightest breeze, would dump so many acorns that we had to cover our heads with our arms to prevent getting pelted - acorns hurt! We caught fish (catch-and-release) - bluegills, bass, catfish, and one really scary-looking bowfin (dogfish) that bit the hell outta Hubs' finger when he unhooked it. Lotsa paddle-boating and row-boating fun on a lake we had mostly to ourselves - there was three other cottages on the lane; only one was occupied, and a big house on one side of the lake that was lit up at night - the only light aside from the bonfire we sat around telling spooky stories.
The "rustic cottage" we rented, based on the mostly glowing and very recent 50+ on-line reviews and the nightly rate, might have disappointed or even angered us due to its state of disrepair - one of those Air B and B horror stories you read about. We knew what we were getting into though - it's the little cottage BP and her boyfriend rented last winter, on a month-to-month basis during the tourist-off season. They only ended up staying less than three months - November through part of January, due to its remoteness and because it has no insulation and the antiquated furnace kept breaking down. It's only about 20 minutes from here though; the kids slept there, and Hubs and I drove back home at night to sleep, and take care of the animals. Oh, and the owner gave us a pretty steep discount because of his past landlord/renter relationship with BP and her boyfriend.
There was a guest book; BP and the boyfriend hadn't even noticed it when they lived there. Most of the pages were a child's crayon scribbles, but the last two entries were from 2017; one read "It is what it is. Make the most of it, and have fun."
The other was a kind of ominous warning: "Don't listen to the voices. Don't look at the lights. And ignore...but respect the graves."
Oh, did I fail to mention the "homemade" family graveyard mere yards from the back of the cottage that even BP and her boyfriend didn't know was there...and the fact that one of the other reasons the kids didn't stay through the winter was because they both felt was a nagging creepiness about the place?
You know we couldn't have a family vacay so close to Halloween without there being some kind of creepy-ass story involved.
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