Hoots and hollers

There's something about fall that enthralls me. I was driving home yesterday and, as I passed by cornfields near my town, my gaze was captured by the setting sun lighting the rows of recently harvested corn. I wanted to pull onto the shoulder to sit and soak it all in, but I didn't. I needed to get home. It didn't stop me from slowing down and enjoying it while I could. Fall is my favorite time of the year. There's a magic in the air as the cornfields turn brown, the trees start to change color and leaves fall from the trees, the grass grows slower and that first breath of the morning as you get in your vehicle brings to mind fall festivals, parades, halloween and hay rides. It's a soothing feeling of warmth and peace, of gentle sleep as the earth prepares to rest for the winter. This is the time of year when I begin to get impatient for pulling out my flannel sheets and increasingly suffer cravings for pumpkin pie. I'd still have the windows open in my house if it weren't for my dogs' thin fur coats. The poor darlings think they're freezing. I even pulled the portable heater out of storage so they could bask in the warmth on those few chilly days we had last week. Of course, summer isn't quite done with us yet as yesterday's warm temps showed us, but we're close...very close...

Zander Update: His vocabulary is getting a little better and "Ma! Ma!" is starting to sound like "Mom". He's also learned to associate hitting an object with being mad at it. Becky thinks he learned that at daycare. Now that he can drink whole milk (instead of the special-calorie formula) he's been gaining weight and filling out his clothes a little better. Apparently he's suffering from size issues like the rest of us increasingly-middle-aged folk....one size on top and another size on the bottom. Becky won't be buying matching sets of clothes anytime soon...at least not until his bottom half can catch up with the top! I also recently heard that Zander can climb stairs. He just hasn't figured out how to go down yet. :) That's all for now. I'll be seeing them this coming weekend so maybe I can get some good pics.

House Improvements: We finally finished shingling the house. I'm relieved because now I can completely focus on painting the outside, which I've already started. I'm hoping to get the carport section done first so that I can move my shelving and other objects back against the wall and then be able to fit my truck back under the carport before it begins to frost every morning. I consider this very important. lol

Medical news: I've finally had the last of my tests and can officially be called bacteria-free. Woohoo! Since I've been feeling considerably better after the antibiotics in August, I wasn't expecting to hear anything alarming anyway. The ironic part is that my neighbors' kid had also developed H. Pylori. Weird, eh? What did we get into?

Misc: Not much time for other stuff but I did receive notice that one of my favorite author combo's are writing a new series...Mercedes Lacky and James Mallory. I loved their last trilogy and am looking forward to the first installment of their next one!