Grateful!

   What a week!!  Michelle and I had a few minutes to talk today right after I came home, and she suggested I blog something about November "grateful" updates.  I had to ask her what she was talking about.  Apparently, many have taken to a daily update of "grateful for.." on Facebook and other social network sites.  Good idea.
   After talking longer about this with Michelle, I am grateful that my wife and I see so much eye to eye on things.  She and I try to laugh at the ironic humor that fills our lives.  And we do enjoy irony.  Example would be this picture.

  Now, I don't drink wine, and I am not promoting drinking for anyone, but I still found this to be very funny.

   That being said, we talked and laughed about the idea of doing sort of a tongue in cheek version, since real life is full of positives and negatives.  So we hit on the plan of sharing some "Negs", as "Big Bang Theory's"  Howard Wolowitz would call them.  "Negative Compliments", or in this case, "negative expressions of gratitude".

   Here goes:  I am grateful that the coldest night of the year so far, (hit 19 degrees),  came 6 days AFTER we got new chicks in the farm houses, rather than the night before, when it would have been impossible to heat up to the required 90 degrees with a broken heating system.  And a previous week with Michelle and Ben both sick, so all repairs, prep and most of the housework was done by yours truly after school hours.  Had to prioritize and feed/water and air systems were top.

   I am grateful that of the three damaged heating units in that building, only one of them broke beyond repair as I was disassembling it for replacement.

   And I am grateful that last night, after 7 1/2 hours of standing at the top of a 10 foot ladder, breaking down, and then re-assembling a heater unit, it fired up, and I didn't have to spend the entire night shifting small electric heaters back and forth in the chicken-house to keep 6 day old chicks from dying of the cold.

   Gratitude.....See, now that wasn't too hard. :))   

Change

   Two major changes this week.  Okay, maybe not major, but changes nevertheless.  Changing the clocks.  And the change of seasons. 
   I'll start with that semi-annual dance of trying to make more use of daylight hours, by saving some for later.  Actually,  not so much semi-annual any more.  I don't know, should I use the phrase semi-annual, even for things that happen at weird intervals, but still only twice a year, or is there a better phrase?  Anyway  the change is tonight.  It used to coincide with the Church's General Conference, at least within one week of Conference either way.  I don't remember when exactly, but within the last few years, it was "adjusted" to earlier in the spring, and later in the fall.  If I am smart, I will use the change "backwards", and get an extra hour of sleep.  If I am "normal", I will probably stay up a bit later than usual, and feel it all day tomorrow.
     As a history nut, I understand the origins of the practice, but I am also one who believes it is a practice that is no longer useful.  Does it serve any real purpose anymore?  Is someone making money off of it?  Does it really help "save" daylight?   Or is it still useful saving energy by shifting lighting and heating concerns in "afterwork activities"?  I love the old joke about the old Indian man when told about Daylight saving time.  Responds with "only the government would believe that cutting the end off the blanket, and sewing it to the other end makes the blanket longer".
   The other change is much more fun.  Fall.  Has long been high on my list.  Warm enough to still do stuff outside, but cool enough that you can still do stuff outside.  Yes, I enjoy hot sunny days at the lake.  Don't have a boat, and family has never been invited to spend the day on a boat, but a good long swim and some cliff jumping is a great time!
   However, off the lake, outside activities in Arkansas require sweating.  I love the fact that we are green.  I love not feeling like water is ever a real worry.  I wish it could come without the high humidity.  Oh, well.
   Fall, on the other hand, allows many of those same outdoor activities, with less humidity, more common breezes, and general weather patterns that I just love.  Oh, and don't forget the colors.

 

This year, the change was fast.  We had a fairly long summer.  It stayed warm unseasonably late for our part of Arkansas.  It had been somewhat dry, so many of us worried that the Fall change would be minimal.  It does affect Fall tourism in our state, since many travelers come to see the leaves change.  These pictures show why.

 

 

 

 

It happened this week!  Last week, there were some hints of change.  The gums and maples were slowly shifting to tones of red, other trees were losing their bright green of summer, and changing over to tones of yellow.  But the dominant view was still green.

 

   Then, we have had some rain, the temperatures dropped into cool ranges down into the 40's at night, 50's through mid 70's in the day, and this week.......THE CHANGE!

 

Monday, the picture was normal.  Tuesday, still mostly greens, but by Halloween  the picture had changed, and now many of the trees behind our house are nearly bare.  Leaves will fall for weeks to come, and the colors will still be nice, but the view was Thursday, Friday and today.  By this time next week,  who knows?  Winter will come, and with it other natural beauties that give this great state its nickname.  We ARE the Natural State!

 



Halloween/Holiday Fun

This week has been fun.  Michelle is slightly on the mend.  Ben is slightly LESS on the mend, but "mending"?  I really wish I could make their lives better when they are sick.  I do try to take care of cooking, laundry, chicken houses (as needed), etc., but I can't sew, and I can't do Ben's homework.  I was "under it" last week, but still had to run the tractor in the chickenhouses, so I am grateful that we are not on a superfast turn-around.
   Michelle's bout with asthma/....whatever? has had her coughing so hard and long, that she has pulled muscles in the abdomen.  That means she wakes up screaming in pain, anytime she shifts in bed, and she qualifies as a "flopper".  It is finally getting better, so she is currently sleeping.  I will wait a few more minutes before I go lay down, so that she can get "deeper" in.
   Ben has missed so much school this last week.  He will be very busy trying to catch up.  I am glad we have the Doterra oils.  They have been so amazing for me, that I can say they have actually CURED my allergies. The various oils and blends have really helped Ben and Michelle stay out of the hospital.  The house has smelled very nice too.  We have gone through a bunch of Deep Blue for muscles, On Guard for general immune system boost, and several others, which individually smell very good.  Together, we have ranged between extreme Christmas to life in the woods.  Oh, and maybe there are a bunch of citrus trees, and a vast groundcover of peppermint.
   Other fun this week.  Halloween is such a fun time of year.  We have been sort of a "stick-in-the-mud" family because of the "sicko's", but we actually got to have Michelle home for Halloween.  She has been in Branson nearly every year since we hooked up with her Branson friends, the Duttons and the Bretts.  This year, she went up earlier, spent two days, and had it such that she was home.  And sick.
   We are very comfortable doing Home family nights, when outside activities are normal.  There was not really an option to try trick-or-treating.  It was OK.  We bought a good sized bowl full of candy, intending to share it with anyone who showed up in costume.  Our road is not a through road, and few families out here, so traffic is light.  One of Michelle's clients came by with her little man in costume.  He got a good sized handful, and we "sampled" for the evening, as we watched Halloween movies.
   Just love "Hocus Pocus", with Bette Midler.  One very talented lady.  Corny movie, lots of fun.  We also watched "Beetelgeuse", with Michael Keaton.  Also a funny "ghost" movie.  The night was about perfect.  Had been rainy, clouds were moving and almost wispy.  We only lacked a big, full moon to have the quintessential spooky Halloween night.  Still loved it!