Halloween is over for another year, and it’s feeling like False Fall here in N.C. Time for Thanksgiving, except for those people who skip over that and go straight to Christmas 
Also, my tree has been up for 19 years straight as of today(It’s nor sloth anymore, it’s tradition!)
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Hijack away while I’m heaving.
(grump) Dropped the cover for the Instant Pot’s air fryer lid on my foot a couple of hours ago and the foot still hurts.
Went to the store this morning and they were taking down the Halloween stuff and putting up Christmas stuff.
Talk to y’all after a sleep.
I was at a Target a couple of days ago that was already pretty much evicting the Halloween stuff to make room for Christmas (grump). Holidays need to wait in line, take their rightful turns, and not stomp over the ones before them (such as Thanksgiving, for USians).
Good November, folks. I hope we’re all doing well.
Nettie, I hope your foot is ok.
Not much is happening around here, today. I’m just about to go get another cup of coffee, put away some dishes, run the rollersuck, and do up a little bit of laundry. That’ll take care of things for awhile.
I don’t know what I want for dinner. I may just roast some cabbage steaks, and call it good. I love cabbage, so, that would work out fine. A bigarse salad would be easy, too. Nothing really sounds good, though.
I switched the thermostat from ‘cool’ to ‘heat’, yesterday morning. It’s going to be down into the mid 20s (F), so, I figured I’d better. Otherwise, my daughter would be whining, and so would my husband, when he comes home next weekend. Hell, it might be back up to a/c temperature by then. In Indiana, you just never know.
Have a pleasant day. I need to toddle off to the kitchen for more coffee.
{{Nellie}}
Halloween’s not so big round here- decorations rarely go further than sticking a pumpkin or two outside- so there’s nothing to stop the creeping Christmas decorations. I saw the first ones in supermarkets in the last week of September (together with traditional Christmas foods with a ‘use by’ date before Christmas), and now even the town decorations are all up, though the lights aren’t on yet. I feel extending the Christmas season to 1/4 of the year is excessive.
The clocks changed here on Saturday night, and it’s been really wet, wild and windy. It’s about mid-Autumn here; many of the trees have turned, some are already bare, and it’s dark now by 5. Time to stock up on the hot chocolate and floofy socks.
I did get some chocolate in just in case of ToTers- I wouldn’t expect kids here, but being in an on-campus house- albeit one that is hidden away in the corner of the site- a few drnuk undergrads was not out of the question. The weather was bad enough that they probably all stayed inside though. Unless it was one of them got in and drunk some of my milk- I suspect that was just the housemate I share a fridge with though, which is annoying because she has 4 litres of the stuff in there, but apparently opened the new one I bought yesterday instead of using either her open bottle or her unopened one… I would just suggest we switch, as she has an unopened one, but it has no label on and no date 
I think I shall just passive-aggressively write my name on mine in sharpie and grump about it.
I ran into Food Lion last night and already the Halloween candy was in the discount cart and their former shelves were full of red and green items. ho ho ho
Our change this coming weekend. rah.
I am sooooooo happy to be back in my own house and able to sleep in my own bed! I crashed a bit before 9 last night and got at least 7 uninterrupted hours before Taz started banging on the bedroom door. I played on the tablet a bit, and now the critters have been tended to and I’m having some cottage cheese and diced peaches.
I definitely overate this past week, so it’s time to get back in the proper eating and exercising routine. Today’s main chores are cleaning the critter fountain and the ice maker. I poured vinegar in the latter so the mineral deposits dissolved overnight. Now it just needs a good wash and rinse and it can start churning out little cubes again.
There’s not enough for laundry yet, but I do need to push the vacuum around. And some day this week, I’ll change the sheets in our room. It may even be time to put the electric blanket on the bed. All this week, it’s supposed to drop into the 30s. Time to bring in my spider plants, I guess. Dammit. Taz eats them, so I need to put them in an inaccessible place where I won’t forget to water them.
If I’m motivated enough, I’ll get out the mulcher-vac and attack the leaves. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, which means I really need to do it today. But I have to fetch Roxy this afternoon and it’s too cold this morning. We shall see. Maybe I’ll just let John Deere chop up what he can and let that be it.
And so begins the day and the month. Happy November and Happy Moanday!!
I was up at o’stupid o’clock no thanks to the husband. I gave up trying to sleep and rolled out of bed at 0300, took a shower, gave the dog his meds, and have just about finished my coffee.
It’s currently about 36 degrees with a 56 percent chance of rain; which usually means it WILL rain.
It’s back to work, work, work today and part of that includes two to three hours of union negotiations on the vaccine mandate. I’m not thrilled.
My daughter sent me pics of the kids’ first ToT adventure. It looks like they had a lot of fun and their Grandma M was out from Missouri to share in the adventure. The weather cooperated too, which is just a huge treat 'round these parts. Usually, it’s bitterly cold, pouring down rain, or both bitterly cold and pouring down rain. It’s rare to get decent weather for Halloween.
I need pick up more meds for Polar today, along with some more chicken to cook for him. I wish he’d eat some of his kibble so the chicken would stretch further.
I have to go into the office tomorrow. I really don’t want to, but I need to meet with the new MPA to go over some stuff. She’s off today, so that’s why the meeting is tomorrow. Subsequent meetings will be via Teams until we return to the office.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN I was a slugabed until seven-twenty this mornin’! 
‘Tis 46 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 73 and N.O.S. for the day. Definitely Fall weather. This mornin’ I must call the plumber we use over to the church house. I suspect there is a small leak in a water line between the Parish Hall and Church Proper. Definitely some water poolin’ which leads me to the suspicion. ICK! This means, of course, that I must purtify and don appropriate bein’ amongst people attire. ICK! again. OYKW is goin’ on a cheap chawklit hunt. Sup shall be poke tenderloin in the slow cooker, squishes, succotash, and rolls. At lest we’ll eat good.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, I suppose I must properly attire myself. Life can be such a bother!
Happy Moanday Y’all!
Critter fountain is clean, as is the ice maker. I’m about to make a shopping list and run to Food Lion. And it’s not even 9AM yet!! Go me!!
I was in NC last week. Went to a horse show in Tryon and revisited the Biltmore. It had been over 25 years since I’d been there (Biltmore) and my, there were a lot more people! And this was on a weekday. This was the first vacation I’ve taken in a very long time.
StG
Mornin, all. I have no idea what the day will hold, haven’t decided if I’m gonna go over to the shop. I don’t really feel like it, so probably not. May make it a mental health day and just do nothing.
Morning all. Autumn is definitely here, night-time temperatures will be in the 30’sF this week and highs will be only in the 50’s. Rain expected Wednesday but clear for Saturday and soccer. Not much on the agenda except for the Great Monthly Grocery Shopping, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Seanette, no way to start a week with an aching foot. Hope it feels better.
Paris (soccer fan here, Paris StGermain is a famous soccer team in France), never stayed at the Biltmore, but glad you got a vacation in.
VanGo, mental health days are good. I’m the most mentally healthy person I know…
OK, onward into the day. All y’all take care.
Happy Moonday!
Chilly morning at the park, 52 feels like 46.
When I first walked out the door, I thought I didn’t need my coat. Glad I kept it on, as it was windy at the park and cold.
Only 3 people and 4 dogs this morning.
Not surprising, as it gets colder it will only be a few of us idiots who still go out there.
One of the issues we are having in our group… we get there early. If Lily is coming, I get there between 6:15 and 6:30 as she is always early. If Lily isn’t coming, I get there around 6:40. Most everybody else comes around 7. By the rules, we should not be there as the park isn’t open yet, it’s open from sunrise to sunset.
In the summer, we get there between 5 and 530.
There was a new dog coming who is a barker. As in, we could hear the dog barking in the car when it pulled up, it barked getting out of the car, across the parking lot, down the ramp, into the cage, out of the cage, all the way down to the pavilion, up onto a picnic table, stood there and barked the entire time until they left, and barked all the way up to the gate, into the cage, out of the cage, up the ramp, across the parking lot, and into the car.
I don’t know how the dog wasn’t hoarse when it left.
I mean it quite literally, the dog never stopped barking.
There are houses around the dog park, and there are rules about dogs barking in the park, and one day one of the people in the houses yelled to shut the dog up as it wasn’t even 7:00 yet.
The last few times that dog was there, she didn’t bark the whole time anymore.
However, now one of our group is coming early. She used to get there closer to 730. Her dogs bark, a lot. Both of them. In stereo.
All of our dogs bark at times, but it’s not often and not continuous.
The rest of us are afraid that the people in the houses around the park are going to complain, and the park people are going to start locking the gates so we can’t get there early. That screws it up for the ones who like to go there before irk, and for those of us who like to get there early to start the day.
It’s just made the whole thing awkward. I’m the one who is closer to her friendship wise. I don’t want to get into the middle of anything, and I am sure somebody is going to say something to her.
I finished the laundry yesterday, but I need to put it away.
So, I guess it really isn’t finished.
We brought Mike the palm tree in last night. I was afraid the ToTers might treat him like a pumpkin. I was going to put him back out this morning, but I think it’s too cold. I need to find a good spot for him in the house, and hope the shock of coming indoors doesn’t kill him.
Good friend of mine lost someone very close to her overnight. Just got off the phone with her (and she’s on the West Coast, so it’s, like, five in the fucking morning over there) and she’s a weepy, near-hysterical mess.
Blaming herself, angry at others, the whole nine yards.
We’ve supported each other through really hard deaths before (my husband, her younger sister) but she is … well, she’s out of spoons.
What a lovely start to the day, to the week, to the month.
I gotta go to work in an hour, but I told her 1a.) to take the friggin’ day off, and 2b.) I’ll call her again tonight. She said she’d really like that.
We’re such opposites. When I’m hurting, I just want to curl up in a dark corner & be left alone. A phone call would just add to my emotional burden … but it will help her. So I shall do so. Have even set a reminder, so I don’t space & leave her alone.
But it coughs up a lot of dark things for me, too.
So “falling to pieces” is an apt title, for La Casa De Shoe today.
I got the waddle in today. I’m about to shower, then tackle (or attempt to tackle) my contacts again and see if righty repeats its northward migration in my eyeball. Kids were exhausted this morning, go figure. Overlyboy didn’t trick or treat, but he and his friend played laser tag in the wooded common ground behind the house. They were spotted by the neighbors who gave them most of their candy, so the same volume of sweets that left the house returned and then some.
Also, what is it about the obligatory TP’ing on Halloween? We all woke up to find the house next door and their trees and landscaping covered in the stuff (which was odd since they don’t know anyone in the neighborhood, but maybe because of all the pro-Trump, pro-gun paraphernalia plastered all over their house?). I feel kind of bad for them because it’s damp, which is the worst in terms of clean up.
Also, some kid my son was friends with in elementary got a warning from the police for chasing kids around and scaring the bejeezus out of them. Normally that’s not a criminal offense, but the kid was chasing the smallest trick-or-treaters around dressed as the clown from It with a chainless chainsaw during a neighborhood block party. As if that wasn’t enough, the thing was on. His friend was running behind him dressed as another scary clown dragging a huge metal shovel. I don’t normally advocate for capital punishment, but this might be an exception. The littles seemed to recover pretty quickly, but I’m sure that’ll haunt them next year, poor things.
I am so sorry, shoe, both for your friend and for you - I hope you take care of yourself as well. Grief is a tricky thing. So different person to person and sometimes so dark. Take care.
Groceries have been procured, but boy, have prices crept up! Can’t imagine what it’s like to feed big family - it’s rough enough for 2 of us, and I still need to get critter kibbles!
I don’t feel like doing anything now, so maybe I’ll just knit. I think the trip has caught up with me, what with lousy sleep and long drives. It didn’t used to take any time to recover. getting older sucketh mightily!
My esposa loves Halloween (seeing the kids, etc.), but last year was a non-starter. This year we decided to put out a box full of bags of saltwater taffy and a sign saying “take one”, as we are not yet ready to deal with the little petri dishes face to face. It worked okay for the first few batches of little kids, but then a group of teens showed up and took all of it. Miserable wretches.
The nearby amusement park decided that fireworks were a good idea for their closing night of the year, so the cat was terrorized along with most other pets in the area.
That stuff is worth its weight in gold these days, so now, when you’ve been TP’d it’s really saying something.