Getting lost on the Trail?

Remember the day before yesterday?  I had Trail Mix on the table for pinning-hum.  I got one 4' x 6' section all pinned and began getting the next section ready when I realized I had put the backing on going the wrong way!  Today, I made my fingers very sore when I took out all the pins, carefully measured each layer and labeled the short side/long side so I didn't get confused again.  Then, since I had it apart I thought I might as well fix the borders which looked like the ocean on a big wave day!  So now they have all been taken off.  Tomorrow they will be measured,  and starched heavily enough that they could stand alone ~they are flannel after all and therefore STRETCHY!  Hopefully, I will get them sewn back on as well.  I have to say all this difficulty comes from putting away one quilt to work on another!  I no longer knew the measurements, etc.  Maybe, I won't make that mistake again?   No, I probably will, sigh.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 63F/17C  Low 31F/-.5C

When I went out at noon didn't need a jacket!

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75 more days!

 

What do you do. . .

when you've run out of words?

I was doing pretty well with the every day posting until Christmas day!  Now I have to do a little catch up.

On Christmas morning about 8AM I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to have made Cheesy Potatoes for dinner at Beth's that night!  Sheer panic and terror for about 5 minutes, then I set about seeing if I had all the ingredients.  Luckily, the pantry held 3 very large baking potatoes, and the frig had heavy whipping cream and plenty of cheese!  The seasoning are always in the cabinet so I was good to go!  Whew, dodged a bullet there as all the grocery stores were closed.  Potatoes were thrown into the oven and baked, then when done and cooled I realized that the dish I normally used was still in Columbia (a-hum Scott!) so I went looking for something else, settled for my little dutch oven which turned out to be perfect!  I gathered all the stuff and the dog and headed over about 1:30pm.  Helped Beth with her current jigsaw puzzle before dinner, then ate steak!  Beth's bunch ate Snow crab legs.  Good food all around!

On the 26th, Quinn had a vet appointment for shots etc.  She was, as always, very good.  We got about half-way home when the vet's office called to say they had forgotten a shot!  So back we went.  The vet just gave her the shot in the waiting room, cause she was so good!  Then I took her home and went to the grocery store as the last of the milk had gone into my coffee that morning!  Why is it that when you go to the store for bread and milk you end up with quite a few other items?  Also, it was laundry day so, ugh.

For the rest of the time, I did a little housework and made chili.  I brought up the cross-stitch, table and all.  Today I am working at getting Trail Mix sandwiched--for the second time!  I put it away to finish Paper Dolls and Tumbler Confetti and it had gotten all messy, plus the back had wrinkles.  So tonight and tomorrow I will pin it and begin tying it.  While the Baptist fans looked really nice, I need this one finished! It would have been really nice to have on the bed on those really cold days.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA  

The cold has departed!  Temperature: High 58F/14C  Low 50F/10C a little windy.  The day started out with a really amazing sunrise--gorgeous dark pink reflected on the snow--followed by brilliant blue and now clouds.  The snow is all but gone, I'm sure I am now living in mudville.

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77 more days!

December 24th. . .

I have nothing Chrismasy left to do so this afternoon I'm going to work at getting this room straightened out!

My office.  Where I work on Family History, write blogs and pay the bills!

It seems to always be in a messy state.  I organize and put away etc, then I start research on another family line and it's back to being a disaster!  My own fault for not tidying up each day.

If you look on the back wall you can see the top shelf of a bookcase filled with white notebooks.  Those are the paper files for my HICKAM line.  The bottom shelf is full as well, and I think there are some in the closet!  Even though I have everything on the computer I seem to NEED paper!  Guess that might be showing my age.

Weather wise we have crawled out of the Minus range (okay not in Celsius)!

Today's high is to be 19F/-7C and the low 4F/-15C

The sky is a gorgeous winter blue!  

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81 days

 

Today's News

 I actually did something creative.  I hung my 16 year old grandson's art on the wall.

Chalk on black.  I think it's amazing!

For my creative thing, I bought a 24 x 24 canvas and mounted this 19 x 19 piece with double stick tape.  So far I've had to re-stick it once~using larger tape~ I hope that holds!

The big news for the past two days is the weather.  In doing the little updates this month I've noticed that it really doesn't change much from day to day.  Check it out now!

December 21 Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:: High 36F/-16.1C  Low 3F/-16C

Cloudy and windy.

That low indicates the arrival of the Siberian Express, and SNOW.

Today's Weather is quite a bit different from the norm.

At 9:30am it was -2F/-21.7C  With a Feels Like Temperature of -23F /-30C 

At 2:30pm it was -4F/-20C with a feels like of -26F/32C

There is no way we are reaching today's forecast High of 9F/-13C!

The predicted Low is -6F/-21C-that we might make.

Tomorrow is supposed to be single digits without that minus sign!

As far as snow goes I have an inch or so on the ground-it's hard to tell as it blew around like crazy.  This is powder snow, a skiers delight, and with very little moisture.

I'm sure Denise in Michigan and the Canadian girls got way more snow and way colder temperatures!

(Something really weird happens to Celsius once Fahrenheit goes below zero-I ran these conversions through TWO programs and got the same thing.)

It appears I will have a white Christmas!  Doesn't happen often.

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83 more get ups!

A Life Well Lived.

Today,  I went back to the church I grew up in for the funeral of a dear lady.  She was 98 so there were not a lot of tears, instead we told funny stories about her.  Juanita and my Mother were good friends and they sometimes took me along on shopping trips combined with lunch, and the Christmas homes tour.  Her oldest son married my first cousin and we three girls took classes at the Seminary one fall, carpooling the long drive.  She was so much fun, so full of life, and so in love with her husband that most of here conversations involved "Ervin."  She live a full and happy life and was a blessing to all who knew her.  We will miss her.

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Today's Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High  26F/-3.3C  Low 21F/-6.1C

Cloudy and spitting snow.

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84 days to wait!

Today's stuff

 I suppose you could call this little arrangement of trees and toys Holiday decorations, I mean I did buy all the trees last Christmas.  BUT I leave it up all year.  I like it and Izzy loves to play with it when she comes.  The Disney dolls are about 2 inches tall, Ive been collecting them the past few months.  So far I have Anna, Elsa, Moana, and Rapunzel  I hope to find more.  The Santa truck is a wind up toy and the Santa in the far back is one of those toys that you push on the bottom and they collapse then when you let go they stand back up.  I bought both of those years ago and the Grands have fun with them.  You  just never see those spring toys anymore, if you did I'd have more 'cause they're just fun!  (I am a child at heart and proud of it.)

Today was begin to get my house back together day.  Change the sheets, do the laundry, tidy the kitchen, etc.  I had to re-arrange my counter top appliances to make room for the new toaster oven I got for Christmas.  It's nice, made great toast this morning, and will do lots of other stuff once I read the manual and figure out how it works.  One really nice feature is that it tilts up for storage so I don't lose much space.  I don't have much space so that's helpful.

I also watched the final public hearing of the Jan.6 Congressional Committee.  Very interesting.  They said they were only touching briefly on the material they have and that was pretty damning.  I have ordered a print copy of the report which is due to be released sometime in January 2023.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 39F/3.8C  Low 22F/-5.5C

It snowed!  Well, kind of, not enough to stick to the ground. Then it rained.  Then it was cloudy.

We are under both a winter weather advisory and a Wind advisory beginning Thursday.  Then the really cold stuff gets here.

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85 Days

RIP Percy!

 

He finally bit the dust!  I think he had gotten cold before he came to me as he looked rather bad right from the start.  Every day he just got sadder and sadder looking until it was obvious that he was gone.  Poor Percy!

Yesterday, we had our family gathering for Christmas.  The Nashville kids were here (and going home today), so we celebrated pretty early.  I was tired when I got home and so I missed another day of blogging!  That makes 3 I've missed for the month~still that's pretty good for someone who was posting every two weeks or longer.   

Now, I have to figure out what to do with myself!

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Weather Report for Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 32F  0C  Low 27F  -2.7C

Sunny to partly cloudy.

Yesterday was much the same.

However, we are expecting a Siberian Express in the coming days!

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86 more days!

Baking!

I used to do a LOT of baking for the holidays but now everyone is choosing not to eat many sweets, sigh.  I do love to bake.

The only time of the year I make Povitica  (p-tetska) is at Christmas.

A wonderful sweet bread with a walnut filling.  It isn't particularly difficult except for the rolling out.  The dough has to be really thin, rolled as large as possible then stretched by putting a hand underneath and pulling it out.  Usually, I have to stop and let the dough rest at least once.  After spreading the filling on the dough, you roll it up in a long "Snake" and cut it to fit the pans.  

It is SO good!  My children are always afraid I won't make it!  I keep offering to teach anyone and everyone how to make it but so far there are no takers!  (I have considered making a video of the process, but that would mean learning how to make a video!)

These are Call for Seconds cookies.  My middle son and his wife love them!  They will be in tonight sometime so I made a batch.  I had to make a special trip to the store as the coconut I thought I had seems to have disappeared!  I haven't made them in so long I forgot how many they make!  If I ever needed to take a lot of cookies somewhere this would be a good choice;

I'd be happy to share recipes if anyone would like.

How about an overload of cuteness?

The girls waiting to play the in-out game again!

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Today's Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High  32F  0C  With a feels like temp of 17F  -8.3C  due to a 20mph wind coming out of the west northwest.  Low  22F  -5.5C

This morning when the sun came up the sky was blue!  I had rainbows in my bedroom for the first time in many days.  Of course, by noon it was gray again.

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Only 88 more days!

 

Trees

It was blustery today.  Trees are bare skeletons against the sky (which was actually blue part of the day!)  I stood in the patio door after letting the dogs in (or out-it's a game) and thought about what trees have to teach me.

 They have a solid root system developed over years.  I have been a sort of rolling stone but I get the appeal of being in one place all of one's life.

They are flexible.  The high branches literally danced in the North wind.  They bend under the weight of snow and ice.  Perhaps I can learn to dance in whatever the day brings and bend when the weight of life would threaten to break me.

They are strong.  There are a few things that break limbs (Ice, Tornados), split trunks (lightening) and there is always the threat of fire, but trees live through many adversities and for a very long time.  Humans are not so lucky-many things can kill us and we mostly have short-in the grand scheme of things-lives.

I often spend time with the lessons I see in nature, if only I could truly adopt those lessons!  Alas, I am after all, only human.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 34F  -2.2C  Low 24F  -4.4C

Very windy!  Cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon before the clouds rolled back in.  Pretty typical.

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In 89 days I leave LAX for Australia!

Now for the boring stuff

Like cleaning.

I think I'll go down and tidy the studio tomorrow.  Maybe, just maybe I'll cut some fabric, take some stitches, do some mending and IRON.

Truthfully, other than my office the house is in pretty good shape.  Once the great room is cleared of packages on Saturday I might have room to move around again!  The package explosion has grown larger!

I think I might bake some cookies tomorrow.  Called "Call for Seconds"  they are my middle son's favorite and he will be here again on Friday.  Then there is only Povitica to make and my contributions to Saturday's dinner to prepare.

Nothing exciting at the moment.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 40F  4.4C  Low 28 F -2.2C

There were gorgeous blue skies and sunshine this morning but clouds came back towards sunset.  The dogs sunbathed!

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90 DAYS!

Now what?

I have all the decorating done, all the packages wrapped, the kitchen cleaned and the dining table cleared.  Whatever shall I do next?

I guess I should go to the grocery store and UPS tomorrow.

Maybe one day very soon I will go down to the studio!  Or, clean my office.

Not much excitement in any of that!

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Today's Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High  56F/13.3C  Low  29F/-1.6C

There was rain in the night and well into today, which means puddles in the backyard and MUD.  Wet, muddy dogs-really the towel I use to clean them up enough to let them in looks disgusting!  Still we needed the rain.  There was a brief window of clear blue sky and sunshine but the clouds have come back already.

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91 days from now I fly!

The stockings were hung. . .

but not on the chimney!  There isn't room, so they are hung on the stairway.

Now my fingers are sore!  With that finished all the decorating is complete, big sigh of relief.

I am nearly ready for Saturday as well.

I'm dog sitting the Nashville pup--Lola!  A Husky Shepard mix she wants to run the fence with the Great Danes next door--Quinn stands back and watches from a safe distance or Lola would run her down!  I learned long ago that when the two of them are in the same house and want to go outside you open the patio door while standing out of the way!  They go through the door together and they will knock you down if you aren't careful.  They don't really play together, Quinn is wary of those big feet and Lola's rambunctiousness!

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 45F  7.2C  Low 33F 0.5C

In the morning it was foggy, then cloudy.  Bur ion the afternoon there was a brilliant blue sky and sunshine!  Now it's cloudy again.  So it goes.

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93 days til Australia!

 

Stockings with bows

 The first three stockings have bows!  Now I only need to make twelve more, sigh.  I am getting quicker at it though.  Maybe that will be finished tomorrow.  On other Christmas fronts I have nearly finished wrapping stuff!  I still need to decide on my California family, especially my granddaughter, this week. After the 16th all the excitement will pretty much be over I'm sad to say.  Gathering the clan is difficult.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 50F/10C     Low 27F/-2.7C

Still cloudy, still gray, a little drizzle this morning.  Under a dense fog advisory for tonight into the morning-guess the humidity is up there!

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94 days until I fly!

Explosion!

Of Christmas (and Birthday) presents!  There isn't room for all of them under the tree!  The Nashville kids came in last night with all their gifts for our family Christmas on the 17th.  I have all the actual gifts wrapped with 4 of the goody bags for my adult children left-they are silly and say that those goody bags are their favorite part of unwrapping gifts!  Can I roll my eyes and shake my head at them!  I also have the books for book flood on Christmas Eve to wrap and sort by households.   Some more wrapping will happen in a little while.

I missed yesterday--oops!  After the kids arrived and we had a late dinner we just chatted while they curled up under Confetti Tumbler. I think they'd fight me for it but there's no way I'm giving that one up!

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 42F/5.5C  Lows 35F/1.6C                                   

It rained a little last night not enough to truly get things wet but I will take it.  Then it was once again gray clouds.  This is winter here-we go days and days without seeing the sun!

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95 more get ups until Australia!

 

Those pesky bows

I am struggling to get the bows on the stockings!  I used to be able to make really pretty bows but last year was a failure (which I tossed after Christmas) and so I need to make bows again.  I bought ribbon.  I broke down and bought a bow maker, once it came I went looking for the wire to tie the center-that took two days.  I still haven't found any wire snips.  I played around with the bow maker yesterday but I can't figure it out--it doesn't help that they sent instructions which use very hard to see ribbon in the illustrations.  I'm trying YouTube when I finish here. I expect it to be a few more days before they are done.  All the other decor is out.  Tonight, I'll sort out the gifts while I watch Pearl Harbor.  Tomorrow I'm going to do a little baking, some cookies and cinnamon buns. And. . .clean house!

Percy update:  I watered him and put him in a sunny window but he looks worse today then yesterday.  I'm afraid it might be hopeless.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 48F  8.8C  Low 41F  5C

It was gray again today with heavy clouds-apparently the clouds are going to deliver some rain tonight!  That would be nice.

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97 more getups until 

Australia!

Meet Percy

 

The Puny Poinsettia!

You can listen to his very funny song on YouTube! 

(Just search for Percy the Puny Poinsettia song by Elmo and Patsy)

My little town gives each household a Poinsettia plant each year in December.  It's a nice little gesture.  This little guy arrived shedding leaves and a bit droopy which immediately made me think of the Percy song!  So, even though I rarely name plants, this one is definitely a Percy! Maybe he will perk up with time, I can only hope, otherwise he will die before his time!

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High-42F/5.5C  Low-35F/1.6C

Cloudy--the gray time is here--no rain or snow though.

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98 getups until I fly off to Australia!

Double Digits

99 wake ups before I leave the US for Australia!  I need to start nailing that agenda down!

I was gone most of the day today so not much in the way of decorating.  The Stockings are hung but don't have bows yet.  There are some candles to place here and there and I'll be finished.   #2 son and bonus daughter will be here overnight on Thursday from Nashville.  I need to have their gifts wrapped before they arrive!  They are headed to Jamaica for their yearly island fix.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperature:  high  50F  10C-----low 34F  1.1C

Cloudy in the morning with sunshine in the afternoon.  

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Here's a Santa to make you smile!

See you tomorrow!

 

More Cottages

 The North Pole village that resides on the sideboard.  There are still some others to see yet.  Most of these were gifts, a few I purchased myself.  Some have special meaning.  The Jigsaw Factory because I like to do them, the Nutcracker Factory because my youngest danced in the Nutcracker Ballet 3 or 4 years running, and the Lighthouse as I make it a point to visit lighthouses.  I put fairy lights on the trees behind them.  I collected funky trees for a while to go with the pine trees to show my eccentricity!  They are fun.

I have, in fact, nearly stopped buying anything related to Christmas decor, and have sorted out quite a lot in the last few years.  I still have 6 big red totes though!

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 46F  7.7C  Low 34F  1.1C   

A dismal gray day of clouds.  Maybe that explains my lethargy?

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100 Days to Australia!

December Birthday No 1

Grandson # 3 had a birthday party today!  That tiny 2.5lb baby is now 11!  Well, he will be on the 10th!  Parties are always on the weekend as family has to come from out of town for them.  He seemed happy receiving lots of CASH for spending as he wishes and a Dragon toy that walks and spews "Smoke" from its mouth!  The toys these days are incredible!

 The North Pole skating rink!  The little skaters "Skate" around that figure eight-thanks to the help of magnets!  This one always ends up on the piano as it requires electricity to run the skaters.  Truthfully, all of the cottages have lights but this is the second year I have not used them as I find it totally nerve wracking handling them with all those cords and surge protectors.  No more decorating was accomplished today, I made a trip to Wally World for ribbon, the stickies for the command hooks and assorted other things.  That combined with parties didn't leave much time today.  There's always tomorrow.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High 46F/7.7C    Low 29F/-1.6C

Sunny and dry!

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101 Days until Australia!

See you tomorrow😀

The Missing Santa. . .

Found him! He's partying with his fellow Santas on the Mantle.

 The Cottages all found their place and all of their fun trees backed them up!  All the red totes have been emptied and taken upstairs for storage until after the holidays.  All that's left to do now is to hang the stockings on the stair rail.  I have to go purchase ribbon tomorrow to finish that job.  Then the cleanup begins, UGH.

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Today's weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

Temperatures:  High  52F (11.1 C) Low 21F (-6.1 C)

While there was sun part of the day, there was also both a High Wind Advisory and a Red Flag Warning.  Tonight there is a cold front coming in, unfortunately it won't bring any snow or even rain! Any kind of precipitation would be welcome right now.

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Countdown to Australia--102 days

See you tomorrow!

And Now It's December!

 Time to get ready for Christmas (and the four birthdays this month!)

The big grandsons came on Sunday and hung my outside lights so that's done.  If only I could find the timer for them.

My great room looked like this earlier today.

The dining area with the table covered with boxes, lights and one cottage, red totes on the floor.  Turn the other way towards the front windows and there's another mess.

More red totes, more boxes, the tree is up and the lights are nearly on.  Oh did I mention the ladder?  The tree is a bit over 8 feet tall and I am 5ft 3in-I need both a ladder and a step stool to do the tree!

Tonight it looks somewhat better.  The tree is finished so the ladder and step stool have returned to the garage, two red totes and the tree box have returned to the upstairs.  If only they could carry themselves up!

My small collection of Santa's have found their homes on the Mantle as well.  OOPS, I just remembered there is another one-somewhere.

Tomorrow, I will help the North Pole Cottages find their spots and deal with odds and ends.  That will leave hanging the stockings for Saturday providing I go to the craft store for ribbon!  

Then Christmas decorating will be finished and the debris cleared-thank goodness.

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My outling last week was to my youngest son's for Thanksgiving! The food was good and the company great.  A very Social day.  I came home Friday very tired.

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New Feature:  The Weather in Greenwood, Missouri, USA

At 9:00pm it is 46 F (7.7C) tonights low is to be 40F (4.4C).  It was cloudy (think dull gray not the lovely fluffy white ones) and breezy.  We were under a Red Flag warning as conditions were favorable for quickly spreading fires.  It has been very dry here.  Today's low humidity combined with lots of dead grass and leaves-a little spark becomes a fire pretty quickly.  I saw several places along the road on Thanksgiving where there had been grass fires.  Not large burns thankfully.

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I intend to blog every day this month.  I need to get back in the habit.  I was reading some old blogs - I wrote much more interesting stuff then!  I'll try to do better.

So, Until tomorrow then!