Scattered Thoughts . . .

A fter checking the weather forecast for the next 10 days, we decided that today would be the best day to be outside putting up our outside Christmas lights.   We started by trimming a couple of trees around the house.  Some of the branches were touching our roof after our last snowfall a few days ago so these needed to be cut back.  On the positive side, these branches were now available to be used to make a big wreath for our front door.  We make a large wreath every year out of the branches that need to be trimmed off the trees.  So, the first thing we did today was to cut some branches and make a wreath.  This is the most back-breaking work so I wanted to start with this and get it out of the way first.  My spinal injuries have been screaming since moving some snow the other day.  It's been keeping me up at night and I cannot get comfortable.  Well...  not even close to comfortable...  at rest, the pain is around a seven on...

Our youngest grandchild spent some time with us this past weekend and we had a good time with him! He is beginning to talk now.  Whenever he wanted something to eat, his word for that was "mom" which is very much in line with what my first psychology professor had taught me many decades ago...  mom = refrigerator.  When he wanted another Graham cracker, "mom"...  when he wanted more Chex mix, "mom"...   Although he is still not talking much, he had no problems calling out my name but, then again, "papa" is a pretty simple word to repeat for a toddler.   On and off for very short periods of time, he played with some cars, trucks, airplanes and some typical toddler developmental toys.  We had pizza and then he had some bathtime with a few bath toys.  He would occasionally sit next to Gee or me on the couch but, just like with playing with his toys, that never lasted long before he was up and trying to get into something else that he should...

I t looks like we missed our surprisingly long window of unseasonably warm weather in the 70s everyday so we chose to decorate inside the house for Christmas today rather than the cold damp outdoors through this weekend.  Decorating outdoors was our plan but, honestly, I have no desire to be out there when the temperature gets down to around 40 degrees.    I was thinking that the unseasonably warm weather we've had for months would continue through Thanksgiving.  Why would I think the temperature would drop suddenly to early winter temperatures?   We've had weather consistently in the 70s for months so I was expecting the everyday highs to slowly and steadily drop to the 60s for a bit...  then the 50s...  then the 40s.  I thought I had all sorts of time before needing to decorate outside.  Instead, we went from the 70s everyday to the possibility of snow for the foreseeable future.  I think our outdoor Christmas decorating may be mi...