Indian Summer Days

Indian Summer is defined as those warm days after the first frost. Our first frost was last week, killed all the veggies in the garden, whacked a few of the more tender flowers, but the leaves on the cotton wood over the pond are still hanging on. The bird net we put up is doing it's job, but we really haven't had a lot of leaves drop yet.

I made the move to winterize old truck (96 Ford Supercab with 156,000 miles) and ran the Suburban in for a quick oil change and antifreeze check. So far, things seem OK.

The days have been fabulous! Night temps may drop as low as 35, but the daytime temps climb to around 70 and even higher. Next week, we are forecast to have temps nearing 80! I don't relish scraping ice and rime off the truck on mornings, but those mornings are around the corner. Some of the older locals tell us that this will be a fairly mild winter. I hope so. Dolly and Max don't like cold weather but Indian Summer is a big favorite with them too.

Last evening, we held a prayer vigil for the election next week. We had about 32 or so prayer warriors and the horns of the altar got a pretty good workout. I don't think the country is ready for a socialist commander in chief. Having to endure the Wicked Witch from the West as Speaker of the House is stomach turning enough.

Last Saturday was the celebration of two friend's birthdays. Ralph Benge, a member of my Lion's Club turned 90! He's the only founding member of our club left around. The other celebrant was Mayetta Parr, a neighbor lady, good friend, fellow church member and charter member of our Saturday Diner's club; she turned 80. We joined her and about 40 or so friends for dinner at the Country Barn. Sunday dinner was at our house, but Wendy brought a toothsome brisket and all the local family was present. Sorry, no photos.

Fall Cleanup, Winterize

Every autumn, we are faced with the problem of what plants to save, when to rig the bird net (nope, we aren't bothered by the birds, but we want the leaves to stay out of the pond) and trimming some of the wild undergrowth that our TLC and Mother nature have provided to the trumpet vines, grape vines and neighbors morning glory. The pergola over the pond has been covered heavily with trumpet vine and morning glory, so we decided to clean it off. It looks sorta bare now, but hopefully, next spring the clematis planted each side, will cover the pergola (after we replace the lattice) and bloom heavily like the clematis in other parts of the yard.
It's hard to see the bird net, but it's there. We have to leave access to the pond for Dolly and Max. We do feed the fish until the water gets below 50 degrees, and both dogs consider the pond their water dish. It is also a trap for squirrels and small birds, so we leave an escape hatch for them.

Gonna build an ARK!

It has rained for oh I can't remember when it started, but I sure would like for it to stop! As you can tell that's 3 inches in the guage, and I think it started on Saturday. That was the second week in a row that we had to slosh through ankle deep water in and out of church. Hopefully, some of this moisture is making its way to lake Meredith, that forms a reservoir for most of the high plains and even as far south as Lubbock! The lake has been on a decline for a few years, and the cities that draw water from that body are going to see a major cut in available water. About the only good thing about the rain is that it is RAIN and not SNOW! I can't imagine how deep the drifts would be if we had this much moisture as snow!

Grandpa sittin'

Last night was a special night for the girls. Paige turned the corner at the big four oh, and Judy was tied up at a ladies function at the church. I took Judy to Trinity Fellowship Church about 6:30, and expected to pick her up around 9 pm. Brad had called earlier to see if Peyton could stay at our house while he took Paige out for Shushi (I did tell him that there were other ways to get intestinal parasites, but he wanted her to have bait) so he dropped Peyton by about 10 after 7.

Peyton and I talked about his likes and dislikes, his girl friends, his pals, how he was doing in school, his favorite cars, how the expected the Colts (he's a Colts fan, better than a Redskins fan I guess) and generally how his week had progressed. He really likes to talk, especially when it's his favorite subject, like the Colts, or cars. I found out that he really likes chicken. He's a lot like his dad when it comes to liver. He does have a weakness for certain other foods, but generally, he's not a picky eater.

We talked politics, and how sick we both were of the endless political ads and how much we both disliked how the media was so biased. He said he probably was going to be independent this election. He didn't like Obama (one of the few young people who don't I guess) and he agreed with me that John McCain had really changed from when I knew him back in the 60's.

He wanted to watch a little TV, so he turned on the History Channel, and we enjoyed a little of America's past. He commented that some of the History had been edited so that it really didn't mean much anymore. His comments on the Constitution were lucid and pointed, and we both agreed that the congress needed to get back to basics and quit trying to amend that historic document. It was a pleasant evening, and I think we will do it again.

Gettin' Ready for Old Man Winter

Shorter days and cooler nights have stirred Judy to start planning for the really cold days ahead. She and Darin potted a bunch of the plants around the pond, and I knocked a bench together, Darin and Judy brought them in and now we have a "Green" room (well, it's our dining room, green paint, you know green paint, green plants oh well, forget it, bad joke anyway) Now if she can just remember to water these old friends, and the littlest grandson doesn't pull them off the bench....



The other evening, I was surprised to see this spider web attached to the post light in the front yard. It sure looks like this old guy picked a good place to trap bugs. Those are gnats and small flies in the web. He also gets the night traffic.

An open and shut case (uh, well, sorta)

Friday afternoon, Mike was holding the garage door opener, with the door part way down. He had a puzzled look on his face as if to say "How did I do that?" We just could not raise or lower the garage door! Being a little brighter that the average bear, we decided to muscle the door open, and leave the cars outside! Holly and Mike had to make an early get-away back to El Paso on Saturday, so that's what we did. I was worried that we would not be able to get someone to come out on the weekend to replace the door opener, so I called around and found a guy who works on weekends! He promised to have someone come replace my old opener on Sunday. OK, so far, so good.

On Saturday, Brad needed to cut some plywood on my table saw, so we muscled the door open again, and Brad said "You don't need a new opener, your spring is broken." Sure enough, the photo below shows the broken spring. To bring things to a close, the young man came to the house at 1 pm on Sunday, replaced both springs, cleaned things up, and we have an operating garage door again! HOORAY!

We probably still need to replace the opener, but now we can do that at leisure, and not have to sweat the weekends.

Oh, we had a nice little rain last evening, gentle Texas rain, sideways, of course, not like those boring vertical rain showers in Virginia. Here it always rains on a bias, sometimes as much as 45 degrees, depending on the wind. It rained more this morning, and the weather guessers say we may have more this afternoon, and tomorrow.

Birthday Celebration(s)

October is a big month for the Sanders family birthday wise. We have a granny, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and a grandson all with October birthdays, and a son with a late September birthday. This time, we celebrated ALL of them at one time.
Chuck and Diana James, old PanAm friends were on hand, and Wendy was busy trying to get nephew Peyton to eat. He's ailing with a double ear infection, so he was a tad cranky.
OK, Judy turns 68 on the 14th, Mike is 51 on the 21st, Wendy is 40 today, Paige is 40 on the 10th, Brad was 41 on the September 19, and Will is 12 on the 6th.
The huge standing rib roast Judy cooked is almost a memory!
We only put 12 candles on the cake, if we had put candles for every birthday, we would have had a major fire!
Will managed to get most of the candles out. (with a little help from his friends)

We all had fun! The meal was great, the roast was done to perfection, and the company was almost complete, missing Kari, Wayne and Carson. It was a very pleasant evening. We even had a call from Holly's brother-in-law, Nick Makrides, and Zach called from Manassas, VA. too!

Holly, Mike and Will had to leave this morning. They managed to get underway around 10, with a quick stop at Toys R Us so Will could pick up a couple of necessities. Zach returns to El Paso tonight after a couple of weeks in DC and Manassas.

Welcome visitors...

Last Saturday, Holly flew in on Southwest Airlines from El Paso. Her school district is year round, so she, Mike, Will and Zach have three weeks break before heading back to class. Zach is in Washington, DC, having been a delegate to the National Youth Congress. He is spending quality time with a couple of aunts and a few cousins now. These two aunts, one from each side of the family, live about 35 miles apart, one in Manassas, the other in Fredericksburg, VA.

Mike and Will spent a few days in Ruidoso, some quality time in Cloudcroft, NM, and drove in here yesterday. Will got to spend the night with his cousins here. We plan on several family events while they are here, most importantl is a group birthday celebration on Friday for Brad, Wendy, Paige and Will. We don't dare have candles on the cake, there would be over 130, and the heat would trigger the fire alarm....

More pix when the big day comes..