How to stay busy

I know, I haven't posted in several weeks. Been busy as a one-armed paperhanger with jock itch, in a roomfull of rocking chairs, dancing on a fire-ant hill. Or something.

Been foolish enough to add NANOWRIMO to my list of things in progress, and am only 6k words into it. If you've never heard of it, NANO... is a yearly challenge to write a 50,000 word novel, tarting on November 1, and ending on November 30. I've been gonna give it a shot for several years now, and finally got talked into it. It's really good exercise. See more at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ .

Weather's been mild for this time of year. Haven't been out deer hunting yet, maybe this weekend. I write in my head while doing other things, so that shouldn't interfere too much. I try that at work, but customers keep interrupting. :-)

Planted some bargain bin bulbs on Saturday, and saved a bunch of them for forcing real early in the spring. That really breaks up the long dreary winter, and I like doing it, especially with daffodils. After they blossom and die back, they can be replanted outside, and will come up again next spring. I also do some Paper Whites -- a variety of Narcissus. They won't come up again, but their beautiful scent makes it worth it anyway.

Back to nano!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Election Day

Well, it's 7AM here in New York, and we just got home from voting. Seemed like kind of a letdown after all the hype, pomises, and mudslinging we've endured for the past several months. I feel like I know a lot of crap I didn't want to know, about a lot of people I didn't want to know, at least at that level.

But most of the things I've learned about most of those people are not the things I needed to know in order to really cast an informed vote. In most cases I heard why I should NOT vote for a given candidate, and I heard very little about why I SHOULD  vote for a given candidate. And that is wrong. But unfortunately it's all I had to go on in many cases, so I had to go with what little I do know, or surmise, about my choices.

All we can do now is pray that it all works out according to God's will (and I do trust that), and, if you'll pardon the cliche, be the changes we want to see in our corner of the world.

Cold!

It's November already! And before you know it, it'll be time to plant the garden again! :-) I know -- wishful thinking. Gotta shiver through another winter before we can think about playing in the dirt again. Or do we? I think that instead of dumping and storing the planter boxes, I'll cobble up a couple of shelves and flourescent fixtures, and grow some salad indoors. Should be fun!

I picked up a couple halves of chicken, marked down at the store for quick sale, and cooked them up with some onions, carrots, and celery, and some herbs and spices. Ended up with a bowl full of chicken pieces for biscuits and gravy, a few very nice chicken salad sandwiches, *and* ten pints of excellent canned chicken stock, all residing on the shelves down cellar, and ready for some yummy soups, noodles, and other dishes later on.
Then Saturday we did this:

Cari wanted to come down and "Learn how to make applesauce so I can teach mommy!" So we did!
That's a Victorio Food Strainer she's cranking -- best investment we've made for the kitchen in quite a while. They're around $60 at Amazon.com.