The holidays? It's about family, eh?

The bed

Katie and Bella continue to thrive with their grandparents, although I'm sure they miss their Mom and will be happy to see her in November - as she will be happy to see them.  They bring us so much fun and affection that we look forward to what each day brings with them both.  No dullards they, when Sophie starts complaining that she's hungry, Bella shows up soon after and Katie isn't far behind.  Katie has taken a liking to the cheaper food that we feed Sophie and cleans her plate (or dish) each night.  It's probably the McDonalds of cat food and she's becoming a junk food junkie.  Bella, like her grandfather, eats whatever doesn't eat her first.  Sophie pays them little attention and still hasn't uttered the slightest negative sound when she sees them.  Bella, on the other hand, hisses at Sophie and makes even more hostile noises when she comes into close proximity with Duncan.  Duncan can't hear her, of course, so isn't offended by the unfriendly greetings.

Ahhh...Aberlour

Sophie continues gradually to disappear.  She eats twice what we fed her years ago but cannot gain weight.  I'm sure that she has the irritable bowel problem that cats often develop as they get older.  Thank God we have a basement to keep the litter boxes in.  Duncan is doing well although some days his joints are pretty stiff in the morning.  He can still do the doggie dance at dinner time if I don't move fast enough, however.  I took him for a ride in the Mazda SUV the other day and had to help him get up into it.  It's much higher than my Subaru Forester and he's just not as spry as he used to be.  I feel his pain, to paraphrase 42.  We'll both be glad after our first hard frost because it will kill the the goldenrod and allow our allergies to tone down a bit.

Piper, Glen Garry

The approach of the holidays always seems to bring family to mind and it should since family is all that's important in the end.  It's what I'm most thankful for and I know that others feel the same.  We won't have Stephanie, Adam or Keith with us this Thanksgiving but we will have Sarah and her parents and brother as well as our niece Cheryl, and brother (in-law) Ron.  I'm looking forward to having them all here for the holiday and expect a warm and happy celebration.  Part of that warmth ( a small part, to be sure) will come from a new furnace.  I'm having a great time getting quotes from a number of contractors and learning about furnaces and furnace salesmanship.  Our existing furnace is original equipment and is 20-22 years old.  It hasn't failed yet but when is does it will surely be on the coldest Sunday of the year so we're going to do a preemptive strike on it.

Speaking of hard freezes, we're supposed to get one tonight so I picked the basil, the eggplant, and the cucumbers and we'll see what happens. I'm hoping my chard will survive - it can take some frost - but if it gets well down into the 20s, it may be toast. My parsley, oregano, sage, thyme, and rosemary are along the south side of the garage and will be OK...I think. The coming of the dark time here in Wisconsin brought to mind the need to store away some pulled pork for the long, cold winter months when BBQ is pretty much infeasible. We found some large pork shoulders on sale and I smoked two of them for 6 hours and then put them in the oven for another 4 or so at 230F and they came out tender and sweet.  A couple of squirts of Fergie's mustard& vinegar sauce and you're in heaven!  We had some for dinner then bagged and froze the rest. We're well prepared for pulled pork sandwiches for the remainder of the dark time.  I did a couple of polish sausages at the same time and they'll be ready to go when the gumbo bug strikes.

Family (-1), Stirling Castle

Most of all, we look forward to the return of the last trauma czar in November.  She has only a few months left in the Air Force and that's a good thing.  Even though she's gone out of her way to stay in touch with her old gits, we've missed her and we will be much happier to have her back in the USA.  We'll have to haul out the Springsteen to welcome her home, ainna?