respublica

And just like that, it's November

Woke up to rain and dark and chilly this morning, November 1. Perfect.

There's something about the beginning of this month that makes news people feel obligated to report on things we just aren't ready for. Here's KMOV's Laura Hettiger: "Only two more months of 2018, who still has their New Year's Resolutions going?" And also Hettiger, "OOOH, Holiday music! Two of my favorite SIRIUSXM stations made the switch overnight! Am I complaining? NOPE!"

You notice she said, "holiday music", not Christmas music. Here we go again with trying to avoid actually mentioning the name of the holiday.

Most of the big box stores set up their Christmas displays last week and some shoppers were actually buying those items. By Thanksgiving much will already be sold out.

So many Halloween treats

After seeing stories of myriad Trunk or Treat events the past two weeks, I wonder just how much candy kids can deal with and how interested are they in actual trick or treating tonight. Seriously, it seems the past two weeks most towns saw trunk or treats at schools, churches, civic areas on many nights or afternoons. By now Halloween is mostly an afterthought except for local news people who feel the need to dress up during the newscasts.

Trunk or Treat affairs began, I believed, as an alternative to traditional trick or treating so that the kids would be assured of being safer than wandering around neighborhoods in the dark. These days you can't be too careful.

But the way shoppers were attacking the Halloween candy aisles yesterday, it looks like trick or treating is a go.

If elected...

Right at this moment in time, I would happily vote for any candidate who promised to work to eliminate the twice a year time changes. We don't need this anymore. The worst is waiting til almost 7 for daylight in the mornings. Mother nature is going to give us a certain amount of light and dark each day whether we are happy about the time or not. Let's just pick one set of times and quit the back and forth.

Sunset news

One of St. Louis' weather guys mentioned that yesterday was the last sunset in the 6 pm hour until sometime in April.  This info kept creeping into my mind all day because it didn't seem possible so I checked the sunset/sunrise times online. And, no, we still have sunsets in the 6 O'clock hour until the last day of October. On the other hand, we've lost sunrises in the 6 O'clock hour for some days now. Sunrises seem to take forever to appear, it's so dark in the mornings for so long. Sunrise on Halloween, October 31, will not appear until 7:26.

Morning Darkness

I'm kind of ready for the time change. It's quarter to 7, the time I try to get Ferdie out for his first walk and it's almost as dark as when I went to bed last night.

I'm not a fan of walking around in the dark when you can't see what's coming.

It's the season

When August shows up, so does the beginning of spider web season. I'm starting to see new webs in the yard, across the handles of our lawnmower, porch railings, bushes, just about everywhere. And walking through a sudden web is just icky.

Also I'm seeing more flies in the house. Maybe insects know more than we do about what's coming.

Happy 4th of July from our Nation's Capital

We are out here this year, but won't go near the actual DC celebration, it's just too crowded for us. But we had a great 4th celebration last night at the golf club Katie and Charlie belong to-food, music-games and of course some of the best local fireworks we've ever seen. Also a bigger event than that was Jacob losing his first tooth while we ate.

It was pouring down rain just as the party was about to begin, but it ended quickly and we all had fun.

 

Vacationing with family

Yesterday Dale and I drove out to Maryland with the two older St Louis grandsons to visit with Katie's family. The 4 boys get along really well and it's satisfying to see them play together. 

Today is some pool time and this evening is a 4th of July party at the golf course with food and games and fireworks. 

We brought Ferdie along and he got some snuggle time with Katie 

Big Time Growth

This summer's weather-hot-wet-hot-wet-has turned everything we've planted into thinking this area is now in the tropics. Such huge plants and early blooming.

These are those mushroom type things that grow around trees, just dinner plate sized

And, Spider plant perennial flowers are blooming at least a month early.

And you should see the eggplants we have ready to pick. They are so plentiful and big.

What indoor temperature is best?

KSDK in St. Louis had a feature this morning on what temperature your thermostat should be set for the most efficient use of the air conditioner. Experts recommend 78 degrees. 78 degrees! It's been in the mid to upper 90's the past few days and I doubt many of us would have felt all that comfortable inside at 78. In fact, none of the channel 5 news people talking about this story said they would set it at that number. Their choices ranged from 72 to 65.

65 might be a bit too chilly, the opposite of the 78.

I can understand the efficiency argument, the lower the thermostat is set, the longer the unit runs, the more it costs and may overwork the machine. We won't be one of those 78 people unless we're on vacation.

The experts also recommend settings for when you're away: 85

When you're sleeping: 82

82 for sleeping would be quite hot. We sleep better when it's cooler according to sleep experts. So it's a battle of the experts.