Saturday, November 5, 2022
Ray cooked lunch today by combining all of our leftovers including some succotash and adding rice, broth, and spices. When Matt saw the dish, he said, “Oh, we’re having succotash again.” I said, “It might be more like succo-trash.” But it wasn’t too bad.
The leaves are falling and the temperature is cooler this weekend. The leaves seem to gently glide from the sky to the ground at times. I guess they are actually blowing off of our roof. It’s hypnotic and entertaining to watch.
The two inches of rain that fell last night along with the drop in temperature has brought the birds back. I hung a broken feeder outside the dining room window and put a little expensive food and some peanuts in it. I’m keeping an eye on it to see who will be the first to discover it.
Friday, November 11, 2022
Matt and I came to Texas for a wedding, a baby shower, and a memorial service. I stayed at Stephanie’s house while Matt had the car most of the week. I thought being without transportation would force me to be a productive writer, but I still found ways to procrastinate. I accomplished some writing-related research and online Christmas shopping.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
The first snow on the ridge happened while we were in Texas, but it was only a dusting and melted before we arrived back home. Traveling home through Arkansas, the trees on the hills surrounding the highways were frosted and in a mist. It was beautiful—something you don’t see in Texas, at least not from the part of Texas that I’m familiar with.
Fuel prices have dropped to $3.25 around here and we paid under $3 in Texas.
Trump announced he’s running for President in 2024, and while hell may not be freezing at the sound of that news, most of the US will be. Buffalo, NY could see four feet of snow tomorrow and the ridge is only expected to reach a high of 33 degrees.
Friday, November 25, 2022
I don’t care what the magazines say, there’s no such thing as stress-free holidays. We went to a restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal and I still spent six hours on Wednesday making snacks and sides for the rest of our Thanksgiving Day. But the food was great and we had a wonderful day together.
We leave next Wednesday for Ft. Worth for routine medical tests for Ray and retirement paperwork. I feel like I’ve just got caught up from our last trip and we’re off again. Even more frequent travel is expected once the grandbaby arrives.
Sunday, November 27, 2022
I don’t know where to begin. I was out filling my bird feeders when the female guard dog lumbered up to me. She’s in heat and was supposed to be locked in the chicken house with the dozen pups we’re still trying to sell. Hey, we’re down from 21, so we’ve sold almost half of them. I managed to get her on a leash and we set out to find Ray who had left his phone on the kitchen table. He was trying to pen our escaped sheep flock. Now’s a good time to mention that it was very cool out and I should have worn a jacket to tend to the birds, but I hadn’t realized I’d be dog-sitting in the great outdoors. Queso naturally found this female unusually irresistible and was sniffing her mercilessly when all the other dogs started barking and going nuts. I walked mama dog and Queso around to the chicken house to find two puppies outside the chicken yard whining to get back inside. Back up the hill, I trotted with the dogs to report this new development to Ray. He was almost finished patching the sheep pen and soon all the animals were back in their rightful homes. This all took about an hour and a half. What an afternoon!
Monday, November 28, 2022
I let Queso outside around 1 a.m. and the mama dog was out again. This morning around 8 the dogs were barking and I looked out the window and saw the mama dog with a parade of five puppies behind her. It’s like 101 Dalmatians around here.
Ray and Matt have a stomach bug. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!