Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Karaoke at Hacienda tonight. Enjoy the day and hug someone.

Kenyan Special Reserve brewing right now! I really like this coffee.

Running in town today to take care of my friend's kitties while they are on their last camping trip. Tomorrow is the big Trick or Treat at the campgrounds, but I have a feeling it's going to get rained out. There is a 70% chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon starting at 4:00. Also stopping at the PO to mail a box to my oldest granddaughter who is finishing up her last semester at Colorado State University. Three bottles of my smoked hot sauce and two small jars of that strawberry syrup should help her survive mid-terms! Since we missed her high school graduation because of COVID, we will be flying out to Denver for her college graduation in mid-December.

Then it's date night tonight... dinner somewhere and a couple of beers at the American Legion.

Hello all. Life is back to relative normal. My sister came and picked up my mother yesterday. My mother is a mixed blessing and her visit was very stressful without John here to mitigate. However, we both survived it and she's in Victoria now for a few days before flying back to Hamilton.

I was outside today doing some cleanup chores in the garden and experienced a sudden pain in my thumb, which is ominous. My hands have been hurting since I started packing for my move and I guess this is just an extension of that. No gaming for me for a while, I think. Too bad -- I was dying to get back to BG3 but it will have to wait. I think I need to get one of those horizontal mice, too.

Dude has completely recovered from his surgery and is back to being a playful little boy, but also pacing and whining to go outside. There was a large male cat sitting on top of my fence the other day and I suspect Dude wants to go out and mark his territory. I'll try walking him again in a few days if he doesn't calm down. However, you would never know that he had major surgery a month ago, apart from the shaved tummy and scar. The only difference is that he isn't wheezing when he runs now; his lungs and heart are no longer compressed and he must be feeling better.

OK. NOW all is right with the universe! Hagatha, so glad to hear from you! We figured you were under water with your mom's visit, but so glad to have you back again!

And talk about a mixed blessing - Dude is not only back to himself, but now in top form after his surgery! I take it he is not satisfied with his catio?

I haven't had a chance to set up the catio, but my guess is he won't like it after having had that taste of absolute freedom. I'll see if he calms down over the next few months. If he doesn't stop I might consider a cat flap since the pacing and howling and banging on the window and jumping down from the window with a loud plop every two minutes really is driving me nuts and it keeps me awake all night sometimes. I've never seen anything like it. Much as I love the little guy, it's intolerable and the choice is to let him out or rehome him. The only good thing about the pacing is that Willow uses it as an excuse to ambush Dude as he paces down the hall. It's pretty funny.

The Stellar Sea Lions have a a winter haul-out nearby, somewhere just down the hill. Tonight I went out to look at the moon and I could hear the barking. It's very loud. I'm in the middle of the peninsula. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on the water close by.

Probably not with the catio, but maybe worth a try? I know mine wouldn't be satisfied!

Yeah, barking sea lions would be very cool... from a distance!

It's a really pretty night, with a bright moon and very still. The barking was a surprise as I hadn't heard it from my house before. Just another great thing about this place.

I think if I do what I did with my Rachel, which was to unlock the flap in the morning and lock it at night so that once they're in for their late-night snack, they can't get back out, they should be okay. I'm pretty sure Willow would be fine since she's such a lazy girl. Dude will wander a bit but he's got competition and he might decide the garden is enough. There is absolutely no way he's been an indoor cat all his life, though. Not a chance. I wonder if he's been adopted a couple of times? His previous owners lived in an apartment, I was told. But he's very self-assured out there.

Of course, Willow is now so fat I'm not sure she can get through a flap!

Nice to have you back, hagatha! I hope you will give the catio a chance.

I would give the catio a chance but not with my hands the way they are. I had trouble brushing my teeth just now.

Also, the catio is one where you have to put the cat in and take it back out, and frankly Dude will just escape.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Halloween party at the Eagles tonight. Enjoy your day and hug someone.

Good morning everyone we made it to the weekend! Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Good morning everyone. It was very cold here last night -- down to minus 2C -- and the heat coming on woke me up, fortunately at 7 am ( a nice change from the feline dawn chorus at 5 am). Today I'll be raking leaves and putting them in the compost bin; our City waste collection here takes a bin of organics every week so I can easily dispose of yard waste. Then I'm putting my feet up and watching TV.

I hear that we sometimes have a few days of being snowed in here because our streets are never plowed. I think my new CRV will be extremely helpful in that regard. Everyone here has an SUV. Now I know why.

That's pretty chilly, hagatha! We are heading that way by mid-week. Yesterday was a horrible 85 degrees here! But a cold front moved through last night and the high today is only supposed to be 45. Supposed to rain, but I'll believe it when I see it! A lot of the Halloween festivities in town for the kids were held last night because the forecast for today is so awful for trick or treating.

My son lives in Denver and I see they are expecting up to 14" of snow today!

That dark Sumatra coffee sure hits the spot this morning, soot!

Cooking down the last of the tomatoes today and just going to freeze it. My son is having a clay bird shoot out here next Saturday and I'm making a big roaster of chili for them, so just going to use the frozen tomatoes for it.

Happy Saturday!

That is cold Hagatha and as Draclvr notes we have cold temp's headed our way this upcoming mid-week ... but not in the freezing range. Those below 0 C temperatures are more in our winter season. Draclvr, I must admit I enjoy the dark roast coffee blends the most. In fact, I still remember a couple of cups of coffee I had 'down under' in Brisbane's International Airport (Australia) while on a refueling layover at the airport ... it was a blend that had a fragrant and deep rich taste I will 'never' forget and unfortuneately have yet to match.

Happy Saturday Hagatha and Draclvr!

Dan, I'm lucky to live in a "foodie" area where there are many local roasteries. The farm market five minutes from here sells beans from one roastery that are as good as any I've had anywhere. I've been drinking the medium roast for a couple of months but bought some of the espresso beans last week. I'll see how those are next.

Well, winter has settled in. -1c with the wind chill it is -8c. at one o'clock this afternoon, calling for snow late this afternoon. it came a little too fast this year.

Isn't this early... even for where you are, judith?

Ugh, Judith. That's rough. I hope it's not the sign of a hard winter to come. Stay warm and safe.

Our weather here in the UK is currently mostly day after day of RAIN and I am very grateful that my area has so far not been badly flooded.
But some parts of Scotland have seen catastrophic floods 😱 So awful for all those affected.

Very glad to see you posting again hagatha 👍

Stay safe, everyone 🙂

Rosaboobie has posted some pictures of flooding in her area of Rogart on Facebook. Terrible.

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday to you. Dark roast Sumatra coffee, Scottish Breakfast tea and bottled Fiji water for the Break Room. It won't be long before we are visited by all of the cute little ghosts, witches, faeries and princesses. Send some rain our way Mad. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts and Bagels in the Break Room. Grocery shopping is on the agenda today. Enjoy he day and hug someone.

So nice to have that dark roast waiting for me this morning - stayed up way too late reading last night!

Usually my neighbor walks her two little grandson over for trick or treating, but mom and grandma and trail riding down in Arkansas, so not sure they'll be back!

Cold and rainy today. Seems like a good day to do a little gaming!

It's another nice but cold morning here, chilly in the house. My propane fireplace runs off a thermostat and if the temperature in the house drops below the setting it switches on. I got up to a nice cozy living room and a very happy Willow, but it's a bit disconcerting! I'll have to remember to turn it way down before I go to bed.

I don't think there are many children in my neighbourhood so there won't be any little trick-or-treaters here.

I did hear fireworks the other night when the sea lions were barking; I suspect the fireworks were set off to shut them up. I've been told by a neighbour that nobody here puts their house up for sale in the winter because of the barking. It's charming at first but after a few weeks it would be awful.

I might get to some gaming today after my walk. I think I'll drive down to Rathtrevor Beach and walk along the water's edge, and then do some grocery shopping.

Soot. You are very welcome to have some of our rain - but it’s just how to get it to you

It’s actually a lot better today with some sunshine, so hoping for more of that this coming week.
(Even though the forecast IS for more rain )