Although the temps are in the 20's, the breeze is brisk, from the north, and it is definitely wintry.  Snowflakes are falling, they tell us it's lake effect snow, but north of here, this lake effect snow is really dumping many inches.  Soon the ski hills and trails up north will be open. 

We had a birthday celebration for my son the other night at the restaurant where my son-in-law is the chef.  That boy can cook!!!  On Wednesday night, they have a buffet, featuring all of the things on the menu.  I also got a salad, a relish tray, home-made bread, along with veal parmesan, shrimp in linguini sauce, cheese dumplings, spaghetti with marinara sauce, Italian beef, barbequed pork, Sicilian breaded chicken.  There was pizza, mussels on the half shell, and other goodies I couldn't get to, because my plate was too full.  I told myself I would come back for more, but that never happens.  After eating as much as I could, I was just comfortably full, so didn't go back.  I settled back with a cup of extra delicious coffee and contented myself with a few spoonfuls of my son's birthday ice cream.  He got lots of nice presents, and the restaurant brings a camera and a big birthday hat; all the employees stand behind singing "happy birthday."  Well, it was a good time, lots of good food.  My son and his new wife look so happy together. 

But my left front tire was almost flat when I came out later.  I had to hurry to a gas station and put air in that tire.  This always happens with that tire, and I'm going to have to take it in and find out what's wrong.  My daughter attended the birthday party too, but the next day, she was very sick with her multiple sclerosis.  I had to spend an hour with her before she could even go to the party.  Yesterday, she came close to being hospitalized.  And just then, she got a letter from her neurologist, saying the neurologist was transferring my daughter's case to another doctor.  She has decided to go to a different clinic altogether.  I can't wait until they finally come up with something that will stop the immune system from destroying the myelin sheaths of the nerves that go to the brain.  I don't want her to get worse.  So yesterday was a scary time. 

If nothing else, I am beginning to work in the house, cleaning and decorating for the holidays.  There's no end to that work, is there?  I won't comment on the political scene, as that has enough commentators already.  My son is gearing up for the hunting season with his friends and father gathering for this coming weekend.  I hope he brings me a deer.

Just got back from a walk with Pepper and have constructed a fire in the wood stove, that is taking off very well, and it will soon be warming up in the house.  There's about 3 inches of snow now, and I believe I may be safe from having to blow more leaves this year.  It's snowing sideways, the wind is roaring in the upper branches of the barren trees, and I'm loving this weather, of course.  I bought some "barn boots" awhile back for only $12.00 at Walmart.  They have a lug sole, plastic toes, fake felt sides and are lined with fleece.  I bought them a size or two big for me, and I like the extra room-iness they give me.  I got them big so I could just stick my feet in when I want to go outside.  As I walk along, I pluck twigs and dead branches, and old birch bark off dead wood, and bring it home with me for fire-starting.  Works very well. 

Soon I will be eating the chicken noodle soup I made the other day for my lunch.  I love home-made soup.  Browsing through the frig, I found a head of cauliflower that is recent, so I'll make a cheesey-cauliflower soup again today, using some smoked turkey brats I bought (low-cal stuff), but don't like at all.  I'll put those turkey brats right in there with the cauliflower.  My daughter keeps trying to steer me to the turkey brats, but all I could find was these smoked ones.  I hope it tastes all right. 

Seems that not much is happening in my life right now:  I'm hunkering down for winter.  So politics is on my mind.  I got an email the other day, and apparently, I've deleted it, but it has stuck in my mind.  It was about the "One Drop Law" that states:  black man, black woman = black baby; white man, white woman = white baby; black man, white woman = black baby; and white man, black woman = black baby.  The email said that this constituted a racial mindset, and I agree that this was (and is) a discriminatory practice.  So that is why Barack Obama's white heritage is never mentioned, because of this "One Drop Law?"  I had actually been wondering about this for quite awhile now. 

I don't want to take away from African Americans' joy at having an African American President elected for the first time.  I can understand what a major event this is for them.  But shouldn't he be referred to (to be totally correct) as an African-American/European-American?  Of course, it's a huge description, and I look forward to the day when racial prejudice is such a thing of the past that we don't have to make such discriminations anymore. 

Now, on to the bailouts...where was Congress?  Sitting on their hands?  Daydreaming out the window?  Giving billions of dollars to the very people who were responsible for destroying our economy WITHOUT CONDITIONS.  And watching these same crooks take the money and say no.  We're going to do other things with the money, we're going to have our golden parachutes, beef up our stock portfolios, take some time off at posh resorts.  Screw the American taxpayers, the people who are losing their homes, the small businesses that are in dire straits.  I'm with Keith Olberman on this one.  He calls the bailout "the reason daddy went to prison."  I want these people punished and the money returned and given to those who need it to save our economy. 

Now the auto industry, seeing the possibilities of cashing in on Congressional generosity without oversight, is screaming for another bailout, too.  Have they come up with high-mileage vehicles?  No.  They haven't made any of the desired changes to the gas guzzlers.  Last night on Bill Maher's show, Ashton Kutcher came up with the brilliant idea of having the oil companies bail out the auto industry with all their enormous profits they have made, with the auto companies going along with the gas-guzzling, heavy SUVs they have built for the oil companies.  Brilliant, but we still need to have CONDITIONS before giving them any money. 

And President Bush!  In the last throes of the worst presidency in many years, we have him trying his best to establish regulations that would prevent any future president from changing things back to the way they should be.  He is again attempting to slaughter wolves in the lower 48 states, and is giving out uranium leases in Yellowstone Park, oil and gas drilling leases right and left.  The greedy businessmen who are his supporters will stop at nothing in their attempts to strike the death blow to this country.  Bush has extended the spying he loves so much to give local law authorities the right to spy at will on anyone they choose, without a warrant. 

Then, the Supreme Court has recently ruled against the whales in the Sonic Blast trials in the Pacific.  Why do they have to do it?  They could perform their tests right up to where they actually do the sonic blast and call it a day.  Sound kills!  And it's extremely painful.  Talk about not agreeing with the Supreme Court - this must be one of their worst decisions in awhile. 

Today, making chicken soup and tinkering with a recipe I dreamed up for salad slaw.  We'll see how it turns out.  It's cold outside and I still need to get those leaves off the driveway. 

Or is it?  Yes, it is.  It's snowing, but not heavily.  Yesterday's dusting was still on the ground, and it was snowing when I got up, but the temperature is warming now, and it turned to raindrops.  I love this weather for being inside the house.  My chicken is warm, dry and happy.  The dogs love colder weather, but not wet conditions, so they are asleep now inside.  I still have a lot of things to do outside, but they are not critical. 

Sunday's debacle was the Green Bay Packer game, which loss I could see coming all along during the game; so I slept and read, not doing anything.  On Monday, I baked bread and made a crockpot of store-bought frozen meatballs with 2 packages of brown gravy mix (a "recipe" from my new daughter-in-law).  I added 4 home-grown potatoes into the top of the pot and put it on low for a number of hours.  It was tasty, but the package told me I was getting a lot of cholesterol in the meatballs.  I've been eating a few of them each day since, with potatoes and green beans.  I feel the need to cook something low-calorie now.  I have been eating a lot of fresh fruit since I went shopping.  Two bunches of grapes, one pink and one dark red, oranges and grapefruit, and today, I got out some frozen blueberries.  Think I'll make blueberry pancakes for supper.  Is that cholesterol free?  How about calories?  I think it depends on what you put on those pancakes. 

Well, I obviously don't have much to talk about, even to myself, today, and I'm tired of expressing my political opinions now, too.  But I'm glad that Obama is going to close Guantanamo.  That has been a stain on America for long enough.  I hope he restores all of the lost Constitutional rights to the people, too.  I hope he does something to insure that voting is carried out in a generically safe and sure method, with no hanky-panky allowed at the polls or registration.  And the more I hear about these spendthrift companies crying for more and more bailouts, the more I think they should either be allowed to fail, or that their officers, etc. should go to prison for their corruption and mis-management. 

And please, please start bringing our troops back home.  I was thinking about those contractors in Iraq, too.  The Blackwater people that are each making $400,000 salaries to do god-only-knows-what over there.  They are being paid by American taxpayers, we being the ones who are indebted to China, etc. for their pay.  Barack's head must be spinning when he lies down to sleep at night, with all the many huge problems he will have to tackle immediately to save this country. 

I know that Barack wants to bail out the auto industry too, and though I think he knows we have to do these things, I really want to believe that these people will not get off the hook for free.  They were complicit in the mis-management and corruption that's been going on for a long time now.  Barack is saying that we have to forgive them, because they were just going along with what was "the way" at the time.  But can I forgive AIG for taking the bail-out money and twice going to fancy get-togethers at taxpayers' expense?  No, I can't.  They should have cut back like the rest of us and gotten together in a much cheaper locale.

Monday, my daughter and I went Christmas shopping at Kohl's.  We didn't spend too much, and had a good time, getting into every department they had.  It was a long trek and I was so tired at the end, that I spent all day Tuesday recovering and resting up with my aches and pains.  Today, I can say that I feel much better and will probably get a goodly amount of housework done.  It surely does need some cleaning around here. 

Taking today off, I am.  Except for whatever I get done in the house.  I managed to get outside on Friday and put the finishing touches on the greenhouse, which consisted of bracing up the sides and roof, spreading the mulch on the ground and tucking some rolled-up chicken wire between the cage and the chicken's house.  It was very hard for me to do, and I groaned with every effort, moving slowly.  I didn't work outside yesterday, either.  It's been threatening snow, and we just have a dusting this morning, but the temps are down there.  I built a nice fire in the wood stove last night, which makes life worth living. 

I am concentrating on doing some Christmas shopping, putting my thinking cap on to see what I might be able to afford to spend.  Or actually, what I am willing to pay for on my credit cards.  I usually get done paying for Christmas presents by April 30.  I want to say this is a foolish thing, but that's not the point.  It's just the extra effort that is required to participate in our culture. 

Although I have a lot more work to do outdoors, my thoughts are naturally turning to staying in.  But on nice days, I'll be out there again, trying to get things done.   

The recipe for guacamole I found on the internet - just googled guacamole recipe and there it was - I only tinkered the recipe just a bit.  

                                    Classic Guacamole

2 ripe fresh avocados, peeled, seeded and mashed with a fork in a bowl; 1-2 tblspns. freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1 small tomato, chopped; 1/2 cup minced onion; 1/4 tsp. ground cumin; 3 drops hot pepper sauce; 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves; 1/2 tsp. sea salt and a dash of white pepper.  Mix this up well and transfer it to a food processor.  Pulse away until the mixture looks smooth.  Put into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Avocados, I have read, contain the best kind of fat - the HDL kind - that brings the bad kind of cholesterol (LDL) to your liver where it is destroyed and eliminated!  Yes! 

I did force myself to go outside as soon as the pattering rain let up and worked in the wetness on the greenhouse sides, stapling up plastic sheeting all around and laying boards on the bottom of the plastic.  Also dragged/carried the bale of straw into the greenhouse and put it on a sheet of plastic at the north end of chicken house.  Then dragged the bag of wood chip mulch into the greenhouse, where I intend to spread it around her cage and create a nice floor for me to walk on.  I anticipate spending some time in there with my gardening pretty soon.  It began to rain then, and I went inside with Pepper.  My back and shoulder are very sore now.  All that remains of construction is to apply bracing to the side and front walls, and across the ceiling panels for strength and stability. 

Today, I hope that is what I get accomplished.  The temperature is falling and winter-like conditions will soon be upon us.  I never got the leaf blowing done, nor all the clean-up of the garage.  But there may be better weather still to come after this blast.    The guacamole recipe I got off the internet was superb, and so sprightly.  What a treat to go with our fried tortilla strips, breaded, fried chicken strips, black olives, sour cream, sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes and the really good, refried beans John made after I cooked up a batch of beans all afternoon.  I went through the cupboards and found that I had no black beans at all.  So I cooked up what I had - soy beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans and great northern beans.  To 3 cups of mixed beans and 6 cups of water in the slow cooker, I added a lot of chopped cilantro, salt to taste, a few dashes of hot pepper sauce and one tomato, chopped.  Then John does something with some of them in a frying pan.  This must be the refried thing.  I don't know what he does to them, but they are good.  I froze the rest - two containers for next time. 

Well, I got to the voting place before 11:00 a.m. and I was already 734th to vote.  As usual, I saw my friends there and chatted awhile, so it was an enjoyable experience, too.  They didn't need any more volunteers, so off I went to shop for groceries.  I surely needed food in the house, as the frij was barren and the cupboards were spacious.  I used coupons and only bought things that were advertised sale items or absolute necessities.  I even managed to get an English pot roast for $2.89/lb.  I haven't had a piece of beef, other than hamburger, for a couple of years.  I'm looking forward to this pot roast - a special occasion.  I also got avocados, tomatoes, cilantro and lemons.  I don't know what else goes into making guacamole, but I'm going to try my hand at it.  I need to look up a recipe - I'm not sure if tomatoes go in it at all.  So tonight, we are having Mexican food. 

The voting results were watched until Barack spoke, giving his acceptance speech.  The tears of joy!  It looked like half the people, including myself, were moved beyond anything we have seen in this country for a long time.  Even John McCain's speech had me weeping in appreciation for his life's work for this country.

Next morning, again I burst into tears when Nancy Pelosi spoke, telling us that the Senate and House are Democratic in the majority.  I know we still have to fight for a lot of things, but the fight will be fair from now on. 

One thing I don't like about our media is that they are behaving like vultures now, picking over Sarah Palin's defeat, as if she was the reason for McCain's loss.  She shouldn't be treated like this.  She did her best, rising to a huge challenge.  I hate that they are deriding her and her family.  No wonder some Alaskans wish they could secede from the Union.  This cat-calling won't help at all.

I went back into town on Wednesday, to go to two other stores, to pick up items that I know are cheaper there, and more cold medication that seems to work for me.  I have been gobbling my zinc, immune essentials, deglycerated licorice, vit. C, Sambucol tablets, and elderberry for days now, trying to avoid getting a nasty sickness that I was exposed to last Sunday.  So far, so good. 

Well, back to work!  It is still 60 degrees out, incredibly warm for this time of year, and I now need to finish the greenhouse sides and do some more leaf blowing.  It is supposed to get cold now and snow is on the way, they say.  I don't see any way I can finish all my outside work this fall before snow is here to stay.  All I can do is keep going for as long as possible.  My right shoulder is so sore!  I need to rest it soon.  But for now, I got to get out there and staple plastic sheeting and chicken wire onto the sides of the greenhouse.  I'm looking forward to planting winter lettuce in there.

Slept well, I plan to be at the polls by 10:00.  That would be the time of day with the least voters there, according to the news channel.  I will also volunteer to man the tables later in the day, when and if they need me.  John is a volunteer, standing outside, conducting after-voting polls, and checking off known voters from their lists.  What's that all about? 

This country - we need a whole overhaul of the entire voting system!  Back in the 60's, we finally got Truth in Lending, Truth in Packaging, and Truth in Services(?) passed, and aren't we all much better off for it.  Now lenders can't con you into loans that have hidden costs buried in the fine print.  Now items you pick up at the supermarket have labels on the back announcing what the contents are, a tremendous help in shopping for food.  And now, auto mechanics have to give you an estimate of the charges for repairing your car and stick to it.  These laws have helped, and now we must have TRUTH IN VOTING.  I am going to start a bill, if necessary, with my (new) congressman, and try to do something myself to get this country straightened out on voting.  No more should we have roadblocks set up to reroute voters into detours.  No more flyers announcing that Democrats are supposed to vote on November 5.  No more should there be only three voting machines when there are thousands of voters.  No more exclusion lists.  No more intimidation and dirty tricks.  We just have to do this thing.  We have to overhaul the voting system on a national basis.  I am making this my commitment after this election.  No more monkeyshines in voting!

And we must look at re-apportionment to see exactly what effect this has on the electoral college.  I know that I used to be in a district that was pretty solidly Democratic until they re-apportioned this whole area, and now I have a Republican representative who lives far from our area.  I never really understood what happened there, either.  I know that this was done to hopefully give electoral votes to the Republicans, and they said, "there!  it's about time!" etc.  Hmmm, got to see just what re-apportionment is and what it does or doesn't do to the electoral college.  Well, off to the polls!

Went to my son's house on Sunday to watch the Packer game with her family there, and we had a good time, eating snacks and drinking soda.  But the Packers went down to the undefeated Titans, and we could feel the loss coming all along the way.  My daughter-in-law is the only (and fervent) Titan fan and always has been, so she would run to the window, open it, and scream out every time they scored.  I can't imagine what the neighbors must think.  "Isn't she a cop or something?"  "They just got married - what is he doing to her?" 

That flu shot I got on Halloween is spooking me out.  I've never had any kind of reaction before to a flu shot, but this one is different.  I had a nasty bout of diarrhea along with a bloody discharge, back pains, and I'm very tired, with ringing ears.  I hope this is the end of it.  I did manage to get out there today and do some leaf blowing, but for some reason, I would rather have the leaves than the bare ground.  The leaves are a natural insulation.  Well, I just blew off my rock collection and a short path - that's enough for now.  Washed clothes, dried, folded and put away.  But I'm still tired and will lie down soon.  I have lost 6 lbs. since the wedding, and hope to keep losing by eating much better food.  Also, my blood pressure is going down.  I wish I could check on my own cholesterol, but if I just stick with the program, I should be going down on that too. 

Well, tomorrow morning, I will get up, get dressed, and go to the polling place to vote, and I hope all my friends and family do too.  I imagine we will be up late into the night to see who will win. 

A truly beautiful day again!  Over 60 deg. and I had to go into town on Halloween Day to get my annual flu shot, which didn't take very long.  I had made an appointment at the local hospital, and was the second in line.  I also took all my recyclables to the landfill, then went to the feed store and loaded up on goodies for the dogs and the chicken.  I took a couple of bags of old clothes to Good Will, a nice Pendleton jacket of my mother's and a good corduroy shirt, boy sized.  Then on to Menards, who has the best price on suet cakes for the birds.  I got 16 suet cakes and let's hope they last for awhile.  I have a new woodpecker or flicker (or both) that really eat a lot. 

In my birdbook, I have found the woodpecker, but it is called the red-bellied woodpecker.  There's a long streak of red on the back of its head, but no red on the belly.  I suppose it's a case of the namer of these birds not getting this one confused with the red-headed woodpecker, whose entire head is red.  Still, couldn't they have named it something a little more in line with its appearance?  I think the other one is the flicker, maybe the female.  If it would call out, I would know for sure.  There's the pileated woodpecker here, but they hesitate to get onto the little suet basket.  I need to get bulk suet from the butcher and hang it in a big basket right on the tree trunk, but I want to wait until the bears have gone to sleep for the winter.  And of course, we have the hairy woodpecker and the downy woodpecker.  The hairy is larger than the downy; otherwise, they look the same. 

I also bought a package of window plastic to keep cold drafts from coming in.  I've never used this before, so should be an interesting effort, getting it on the windows.  A tiny bag of candy, peppermnt patties, in case trick-or-treaters come by (they never have), and another electric cord and a cube for many plug-ins.  And they had a 1/2 price sale on wallpaper borders, so I bought a cute green-blue border with happy frogs and lily pads.  This will sit in a drawer until I need it (?)

Then gas in the truck and home.  I would be in a terrible state, if I hadn't made up my mind not to even think about the coming election - tension is high, so I limited myself to the 5:30 news with Brian Williams, Keith Olberman at 7:00, and a start of the Rachel Maddow Show, but I find her a bit abrasive, carping on things that she should just leave alone.  For Halloween, I watched a scary movie called "Second Subject" or something, that was truly nasty.  I worked the very last puzzle of Sudoku in my little book, and that's all there is to October.