Ahhh, we finally have cool weather! Now I'll be comfortable when I go outside to work. The nice thing is that the usual fall rains held off long enough for the farmers to get most of the soybeans in. Last fall it got wet early and there were some beans that didn't get harvested until this past spring. Now, with the wet weather they can turn their attention to taking down and stripping tobacco. Can you tell I kind of miss farming?
CLAP YOUR HANDS. Nate now claps his hands! When you put a Cheerio in his mouth he grins and claps away. Now if we could just dress him up in a seal costume and teach him to balance a ball on his nose....
FRUSTRATED WITH PARENTS. After Ben's shower Sunday morning I dried him off and I sent him to his room to get a pull-up (yes, he is a stubborn boy). He went running through the house. After a moment I heard him in Nate's room where Vicki was nursing Nate. I then heard Vicki say, "Ben, go get a pull-up and take it to Daddy."
He then runs through the house again before coming to me--without a pull-up. I said, "Benton, go to your room and get a pull-up." He retorted, "Hmph. That's just what Mommy said."
A few days later Vicki got him a cup of yogurt for an afternoon snack. While he was eating she noticed him about to stick his fingers down in the cup. When she told him not to he said, "But Mommy, that's what kids do."
KNOW IT ALL. Thursday morning I took Jenna to school. It was a cool morning. Jenna put her hand on the window and exclaimed, "That's cold!" Then she added, "That's because it's cold outside."
"You think so?" I replied.
"Yes. I just know all about this world," she answered.
LEAVES. We raked and burned leaves early this week (before the rain came). It seems like we loaded my truck at least a dozen times and it doesn't look like we made a dent in the yard. The kids really loved it. One time when I came out the back door I looked around and saw everyone except Ben. When I asked where he was he popped up out of a nearby pile of leaves saying, "Here I am!"
We are more fortunate than Aunt Mar. We have about 25 trees in the yard, all of which drop all their leaves in a few weeks time. As most of you know, Aunt Mar has about 125 oak trees in her yard. Oaks are notorious for dropping leaves all winter long (most of the leaves come down in the fall but not all of them). I read somewhere than a mature oak tree produces about 700,000 leaves each year. Kenny has visited her yard with leaf removal equipment twice already. I couldn't tell he had been there at all.
A BROKEN FURNACE. The heat exchanger on our furnace is cracked. We can still use it but the part needs replacing. Fortunately it is still under warranty! Unfortunately the part was ordered on October 31 and still hasn't arrived (we are hoping it will be here by November 12 but have no guarantee of it). I was told that if I wanted the part sooner I would have to pay the shipping costs--company policy. Very frustrating.
Joe
