Fall Weather Is Upon Us

First of all, I need to say goodbye to my Uncle David, who passed away Yesterday morning. My sister Amy wrote a nice eulogy on her blog, so go there to read what she wrote. She obviously knew him a bit better than I did. Fall weather is upon us. That's right. We are being slowly closed in around here! Each day Dr. O goes around putting plastic on windows and doors to keep the wind and cold out. What with the price of propane going up and gasoline, we will be hard pressed this year to keep the house warm. Last year we got a late start and had a hard time getting the plastic up and to stay up. When Dad was here last fall, he helped us put up insulation in the basement. Then we spent the rest of the winter chasing down drafts and trying to stop them up. This year we are getting a head start on closing up the house. But it is still none to soon. And of course AFTER we put up plastic, the LL tells us that he will be replacing some windows that very badly need to be replaced. But that's okay, it takes him forever to get to it, so it might be next year before he gets it done, by which time he has already promised to blow insulation into our west wall anyway. (The whole wall leaks like a sieve) It makes for a very cold house in the winter. I'm about partied out. Well, sort of. We've had or been to a lot of parties or dinners lately, and now, I'm beginning to weary of them. But I love the excitement of getting ready for them and of having the company of friends and family. Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving and we still don't know who is coming. We've invited a few people, but you know how that goes. Everyone is busy. So, we'll see how it goes. The kids are looking forward to doing their part (peeling all the veggies and stuff!) I really mean that! They've been asking if we're going to do it like last year. The day before, we put a heater in the mudroom and a very large trash bag on the floor and 2-3 chairs on top of the plastic along with a bag or box of things to be peeled; then the kids use potato peelers and peel everything onto the plastic floor and drop the veggies into a pot of water. When there are enough veggies to work with, I chop them up at the mudroom counter into another pot then cover them and put them into the garage. It worked out so well, that Thanksgiving was virtually stress-free. Plus we had all the pies and salads and other desserts done up ahead. That left, just cooking for Thanksgiving Day. It was soo cool, plus the cleanup was a lot easier. I like that!