October 15 - Dinnertime

My husband and I are having Chicken Tikka Masala.
Hershey is having … kibble. Again.

My energy ran out half a yard too soon

So did West Virginia's, apparently. But I'm not talking about football.

Wow, what a miserable sports weekend this was. WVU plummeted from 4th to 17th in the AP poll after being blown out by Texas Tech. Amazingly we came in 13th in the first BCS rankings. The Yankees made it to the ALCS by the skin of their teeth, but have dropped the first two games and lost their shortstop my baseball boyfriend, Derek Jeter, who fractured an ankle. OUCH!

My NFL boyfriend plays tonight. His old team (the Colts) managed three field goals yesterday in their loss to the Jets. And he's not doing so great in Denver so far.

No, when I say "yard" I'm talking about mowing the "lawn," a term I use loosely to describe the field in which we live. The weather yesterday was lovely – warm, sunny and dry. After I raked three huge bags of leaves for the compost bin I used the string trimmer around the herb and landscape beds. Then I got on the mower and cut about half the grass, thinking I would finish up today.

I mow nearly three acres, and unless I'm in tip-top form – which I haven't been lately – I like to split the job into two sessions. Also, it's been kind of dry, and the dust I was kicking up with the mower was annoying. And made me sneeze and itch and need a Benadryl.

So, of course, it's raining this morning. NO MOWING TODAY! Er, I mean, darn it, no mowing today.

I shall, therefore, turn my attention inward and work on tidying up the house. I'm mailing the costume to my granddaughter today, sans wings, because the wings made it look too "homemade with love," if you know what I mean. I called her daddy and hooray! They have a set of wings already.

The structure of the wings was accomplished by sewing long chenille stems onto each piece. You were supposed to do it with a zigzag stitch, but I thought that was a recipe for disaster so I took the invisible nylon thread and a needle and attempted to handsew it. Not quite a disaster, but certainly not lovely, either. Also … invisible thread is, um invisible. Very difficult for old-lady eyes to work with.

Anyhoo, with the sewing project done I can put the guest room back together and begin getting ready for company this weekend. Should be able to finish mowing in a day or two.

I. Just. Can't. Wait. Heh.

October 14 - Makes you laugh

This was a difficult concept for me. I realized, thinking about it, that I don't
laugh much or often. I live in an isolated little bubble in the Middle of Nowhere,
I watch very little television and my screen time is filled with politics and more
politics. I'd love to live closer to our grandchildren (whose portraits are pictured
here), I'm sure I'd laugh more. Someday ... it's not possible at this time.

I love this blog

I'm not sure how I found "If Beth had a blog." Sometimes when I have a little time on my hands I poke around in others' blog feeds, and I think that's how I started reading Beth's blog. She's a Presbyterian minister in McDowell County, WV. She's spirited and spiritual. Her writing flows and her ideas are original and forward-thinking. I'm glad I found her. I found this post is exceptionally thought-provoking. What do you think?

If Beth had a blog: BethRant6 - Let's End the Generational Wars

October 13 - Landscape

I cheated on this one, since I took the photo last fall.
This is the view to the west from our front door.

I don't need filters …

I just need to read my freakin' e-mail! Here's the funniest one I found when I plowed through them (finally!) yesterday.

And this is funny why, exactly? Because I telepathically invite the local deer to live in my woods and drink from my pond during hunting season. Hunters are supposed to request permission to hunt on private property, and that hasn't always happened. I've seen men dragging dead animals out of the woods a couple of times, and my husband saw a dead fawn near the pond several years ago. (Who would shoot a fawn!?!?!?!)

As a gardener, I know I shouldn't like deer. This year, especially, I should really, really, REALLY not like them, since they harvested the tomatoes before I had a chance to. But I think they're beautiful and graceful and still, now, 15+ years after I moved here, I run to the window when I catch a glimpse of them in the yard.

If I were gardening to feed myself for the year, I might have a different attitude. But I'm not a survivalist and, well, the deer were here first. And they're pretty!

Honestly? I'm more miffed at the birds for eating all the blackberries. Heh. I'm ready for them next year, though. I now have bird netting and a holographic owl that shines and flutters and is supposed to be freaky-scary to birds. We'll see. It looks pretty benign to me.

Fairy wings tomorrow. I worked at Democratic headquarters today and since no one else volunteered I will be there today, as well. Then football at 3:30, leftovers for dinner (the soup was delicious but it makes a lot) and, probably, more football. WVU is ranked 4th, so we're running out of teams to watch who are better than we are. Not being smug, it's just a fact. Heh.

October 12 - On the table

Happy birthday to him!