Autumn Rains Are Back

There's no way to take a picture of rain at night...but right now I'm hearing it fall. We might have 2-4 inches by Wednesday. The two weeks of sunshine and upper 60s that started November were very welcome, but it sounds like October is back!

Norm spent the week off and on vacuuming and blowing leaves around; on Saturday Raymond and a friend of his came to finish them off. Now there are about 40 soggy bags around our two houses, waiting for Wednesday pickup. And a big soggy pile out back by the compost pile, destined to become mulch! I noticed this week that daffodils are already peeking through along the driveway, so they will need that mulch pretty soon.

Our tuneful winter visitors, the white-crowned sparrows, are here. I heard one calling the other evening, and then came face to face with it in the vines along the garden fence on Saturday, as I was picking the rest of the tomatoes ahead of the rain. We have about a dozen that had turned color and will ripen enough to be frozen for soup or chili. I gave most of the green ones to Raymond's friend, since he likes to fry them. We kept a few greenies to try the recipes Carol and Jan suggested.

Ava stayed with us Tuesday morning through Friday night while Barb was out of town on business. She is really calming down now that she is an "adult," as she was 2 back in October.

Norm got his crown on his ailing incisor that finishes the root canal saga. So far, all is well. Thank goodness for dental insurance! (It paid about 50%).

Elaine, wife of the Linville sibs' cousin Joe, is in our prayers as her treatment will enter a new stage after Thanksgiving, or so she writes in her CarePages updates. We pray especially for her doctors, and for her peace of mind.

We also are thinking good thoughts for, and praying for our friend Nancy S from Colby. She is in a hospital in the KC area and will start rehab on Monday for a stroke she had a week ago. Nancy is the person most responsible for Norm and me getting together over 41 years ago. Get better soon, Nancy. If the weather holds out and we can clear a schedule or two, we hope to drive over to KC this week to visit her and John.

Last, but not least, I finally broke down and joined Facebook. All of my friends keep up with their grandkids this way; there is a group for our church; many of my former students are there; family members are there; much of my high school class is there; my next-door neighbor is there; so now I have another way to procrastinate from doing any real work. If you are on Facebook, look me up and if you want to be my friend, you can send me a request. Tonight I discovered some of my friends are becoming friends with each other! Will it ever end? First a blog. Then three blogs (one of which I neglect terribly.) Then twitter, which occasionally alarms me. Then a new cell phone that can send text and photo messages for a pittance compared to my old service. Now it's Facebook. What is next? Hmmmm.

Hope everyone has a good week. Stay dry (and if you are in Western Kansas, stay warm with all that snow.)