Miscellany 1

I listened to the weather report. The weather this week is supposed to suc–er, be less than desirable.

So I did my outside Christmas decorations Saturday; then, since I had the extension ladder out already, cleaned the gutters. Four hours on a 28-foot extension ladder. Sunday I was sore. Not to mention that, before that, I washed both dogs and mopped a couple of floors.

I won’t turn the decorations on until Thanksgiving, though. I have some standards. Not many, but some.

Monday, I’m still sore.

Sunday, I got out this neato hydraulic log splitter I bought from a neighbor of my boss and split logs for an hour and a half. Given what’s predicted to happen to natural gas prices, I expect I will be using my fireplace a lot over the next four months. I doubled the size of my woodpile Sunday afternoon. And . . .

Monday, I’m still more sore.

I noticed a couple of newspaper columns this weekend that I want to muse about, but I don’t have the energy yet. I’m still letting my brain cogitate on them in the background.

It will be a different Thanksgiving. I no longer have any parents to visit. My father died in May and my mother is in a home. My kids are scattered to the four winds, except for Second Son, so it will just be him and me. (I will go to Pine View Farm and visit my mother on the Friday after Thanksgiving.)

So, instead of a turkey, I got a turkey breast. I’m working on the menu. Turkey, rice, gravy (not out of a can–homemade; it’s so easy to make there’s no point to buying canned gravy), some kind of vegetable, and sweet potato pie. Same color as pumpkin pie, but it tastes good, not bitter. And maybe sweet potato biscuits–depends on how much energy I have on Wednesday. Oh, yeah, and cranberry sauce, the real kind, the kind with the rings around it.

If you haven’t had sweet potato pie and sweet potato biscuits, you have suffered great deprivation.

Oh, yeah, and SWEET POTATOES ARE NOT THE SAME THING AS YAMS! A pox on anyone who thinks otherwise.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!