Sunny Sunday in November

I am marveling a bit that here is November 2nd, and I'm wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Of course, this was standard wear in Alice this time of year, but we were in the southern hemisphere then, well into spring and headed towards summer. This is northern hemisphere and it's fall.

Chris and I checked out the weather in Baltimore to see how it looked for his business trip there this week. Highs in the 60's; lows in the 40's. That sounds warm-ish for November there, but he was glad he didn't have to take a coat.

It is nice to have a largely sunny day, though it's been sprinkling on and off. But it has been sunnier than it's been for much of the last two weeks. I'm hoping to jump in the pool a little later. I like to wait until after 3pm, when the water's had a chance to warm up and the UV rays aren't as intense.

I'm enjoying a day of football, watching the Titans win and Dallas lose. I've always hated Dallas. It's always a happy day when they struggle. Speaking of struggles, watching Tennessee play South Carolina yesterday was terribly painful. The Titans game got a little heart stopping as they had to pull it out in overtime. And it appears that my fantasy team, the Honolulu Hornets, will have a comfortable win this week, though overall my record, at 4-5, is barely better than UT's.

The craft fair yesterday was much bigger and better than I'd expected. I was going mostly just to have an excuse to take a walk. There was stuff all over the place! Booths were set up outside along the edge of the school grounds, creating a trail to the gym area where there were inside booths.

There were some nice Hawaiian crafts such as cutting boards made of local wood and beautiful door wreaths made out of shells. One lady was selling locally made soap which had a loofah inside, so I had to buy one of those. The guy next to her was selling locally made dog biscuits, so I bought a small bag which I plan to sneak thru the fence... I also bought a sun shade for my lounge chair so I can sit outside by the pool without a hat. Tried it out yesterday and it worked well.

People were also selling gift baskets, baby clothes and accessories, Christmas ornaments, beautiful local photographs and a really spicy-smelling dip that a lot of people were trying but almost ran me out of the room. There were also a couple of food booths including one with some good smelling sausages, but it was too early (9:30am) for me to eat a sausage.

I walked around it a couple of times, but it was just getting too crowded to move, and I had spent enough money, so I came on home. There's another craft fair coming to the nearby high school in a couple of weeks, so I now have high expectations for that! And I will definitely bring more cash.

We're still doing things to get the place more liveable, but it gets better every week. We could still use several major pieces of furniture, and we need to get rid of a couple of big items that we no longer have a use for. In addition to the pool man, we've hired a lawn service that comes every two weeks to mow the grass and take care of all the various plants we have.

We may have to hire a housekeeping service as well, since cleaning that stupid whirlpool tub we have may be the end of me. The sides are deep, and I'm short, so it's hard just to reach the bottom with my hand while I'm on my knees beside it. And those stupid jet openings are just mold / mildew magnets. I've never been a huge bath person anyway, and with the outside spa, I'm not at all inclined to use this thing.

The first time I cleaned it, I said to myself "never doing this again," and got on the internet and searched how to clean a bathtub. I found several people rhapsodizing over Mr. Clean Eraser. I bought one and that definitely makes the job easier. But it's still a job, and I still hate those jet openings.

Well, Dallas is still losing 35-14, with 2:30 to go, so I'll sign off with that happy note.