Thanksgiving wasn't so long ago, but now it's fer shure December. I had a great time at T-giving, nice to visit with everyone. Sometimes I feel bad going there because Mark & Liza tell me how much they love having me visit. That makes me feel as if I should get there more often. Oh well, I do what I can do. At least this time I could say that I'll be back in 3 weeks. A week at Christmas, when we always have a really nice time.
Things in Hawkeye are fine. I bought 5 cords of Ken's wood and Bill arranged for it to be delivered and stacked in the woodshed. I have about 12 cords now, all dry enough to burn. That'll get me through the season, probably with plenty to spare. I'm still practicing new methods of burning in the stove (DON'T shut it down all the way!) and mostly I have no coals left in the morning or when I get home at night. This is a big change, and the price I pay for keeping my stovepipe clean and safe.
I've taken to visiting Ken's niece and her husband on the way home. All 3 of us enjoy this and like catching up on neighborhood news--Pat always has something to share, and I often have updates. Jim stands at the kitchen window nearly all the time, so he knows who drives by, how many times they do, what direction, when, etc. This means there's a gold mine of information for us all to share. It's an OK substitute for Ken, and we talk about him a lot, without too much sadness. I still think of him and want to call to share something, plus I want to have our evening visits again.
There are so many "Favorite/Best Books of 2009" lists that I'm spending a lot of time going through them to see which I've added to our collection, which I've read, what I think of them, if I've heard of them, etc. This is a project that can continue well into 2010, when the lists will hardly be relevant.
Do we call it two thousand ten, or twenty ten? I've heard a lot of twenty tens, I guess it all depends on how many syllables people want to say.
Big storm today, thank you Midwest. 4-8", or maybe a foot, or maybe less. Love these weather people. Snowing hard this morning, rough drive to work. I have yet to have my snow tires put on (oops, what a cliche to put it off this long) so I have trouble getting the car to want to drive without spinning tires and fishtailing. I'm used to dealing with those, so it's not a big deal, but it sure is frustrating when I can barely get up the smallest incline. I guess we're supposed to have sleet/rain this afternoon, but I don't expect to be able to drive to the house tonight. Donny The Plowman works nights so will only be able to plow before 2:00 or so.
I've been getting ready for Christmas but can't figure out if I have any Christmas spirit. I love buying presents for people but haven't shipped out the Italy stuff yet. I did cut 3 trees the other day, though. They're propped up on the deck, waiting for me to make a decision about which will be The Chosen One, or whether I'll bring anyone in to decorate at all. I bought a new tree stand, though, one that will accommodate the tiny trunks these have. They're skanky looking balsams, lots of spaces between the boughs, but they're fresh, free and they are what they are. My father always had us have balsam Christmas trees, but though they smell like Christmas, balsams seldom make good trees for decorating. Sparse, always sparse. My mother now gets Fraser firs, nice and full. Mark puts about 1000 lights on them (no exaggeration, at least 10 strands). The trees are always pretty. White lights. Do I want colored lights or white? Ah, life is full of complex issues, no?
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