Fall Is Finally Here

The weather has finally figured out that it's fall here in Tennessee. This September has been the hottest and driest on record for the Nashville area with highs in the mid to upper 90s for almost every day of the month and even into the first week of October. Our change to fall last week was pretty abrupt (though not as dramatic as Denver where they dropped from the low 80s to the mid teens in an 18 hour period). We wound up switching from using the air conditioner to the heat overnight. And it's been so dry that it looks like we will hardly have any vibrant fall colors this year, though the trees are turning.

What really blows me away is how quickly the first nine weeks of school have flown by. It seems like this school year is moving faster than most. Now fall break has come and gone, and we enjoyed a few days to pull back from life and catch our breath. We spent the weekend before last at the lake house as we have done several times before.

This is the sixth time we've rented Don and Penny's lake house. It has been so nice just to pull back and enjoy each others company whether eating, chatting, or playing games. Our go to game this year was Ramen Fury, a quick play card game the boys picked up somewhere. The funny thing about us was that we did our grocery shopping when we first got there a week ago Saturday and were content to stay put until we headed home Tuesday.

Thinking about the last few weeks, we've been busy will all the normal things. Cross Country keeps Nate busy after school and he has done well this season. Weekend before last Nate traveled with the XC team for a meet in Louisville, Kentucky. The course there is known to be a good course to run on and Nate set a new personal record when he finished in 20:20, shattering his previous PR of 21:40. Then this past weekend he bettered his PR to 20:17. He has one more race to run next Thursday. He's mentioned that he would like to join the 19 Club next time. He's going to have to do some work to shave another 18 seconds off his time because the course he runs on next is hilly.

Ben says he's having a good first semester at Tech. He tells us that a lot of his classes are mostly a review from his high school coursework and seem pretty easy. Vicki and I say enjoy it while it lasts. What's funny, and also good, is how thrifty (or tight-fisted) Ben seems to be. He just doesn't spend money, but finds a lot of free things to do for fun. We're not complaining.

As I've mentioned before, Jenna is just weeks away from finishing at Trevecca, which just seems odd. She's getting things in place to start nursing school this spring and is set to move back home in December.

Vicki and I have been working hard to absorb things from Mom's house. There's been a lot to go through. Our house is no longer a hoarder's showcase, but I can still hardly move around in my shop. We have been through just about all the keepsakes, except the pictures. There are still boxes of pictures. We'll get there. Slowly but surely, we'll get there.

Just to let you know that our life isn't the ideal picture I may paint it each time I write, Vicki has been dealing with a pretty rough case of poison ivy. She must have gotten into it when we were cleaning out some of our landscaping (such as that is) a few weekends ago. She had a pretty severe rash to flare up just before we headed to the lake. The rash is healing now, but she is still itching all over and taking all sorts of medication to keep the irritation bearable. We're hoping she's near the end of this unpleasantness.

So, that's where we are a quarter of the way into this school year. Nate and I returned to school today and have five weeks of classes before Thanksgiving break and then three more weeks after that to Christmas break. The holidays are on us people!

Joe