First Fire

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a bit of a weather geek.  This is why I was stressing so badly about the firewood, because every model I've see and every meteorologist and chaser I follow have said it's going to be a cold and snowy winter this year.   

I am so glad the firewood guy came through, because other than the wood I already had inside, 

this was all I had left.  

I didn't know what I'd do if the power went out during a cold spell. I guess I'd be scrounging for windfall out in the woods behind the house.  Now that I have firewood, it really is a load off of my mind.  My overthinking, worst-case-scenario thinking mind can now rest a bit easier. 

All my weather apps had been saying the lows were supposed to be in the low 40s last night, so I brought my outside plants inside, just to be on the safe side. 

Good thing I did, because my thermometer on my back porch said 34 when I got up.  They probably would have survived, but why take chances?  I think one of my projects for the week is to clean up the plant shelf I have outside and get my Whatever cacti settled in for the winter.  

Right now, they're sitting on the deep freeze in my utility room, and that's not a good spot for them.  I've read that moving them can cause them to drop their buds, so I want to get them in their winter home and not have to move them every time need to get into my deep freeze.  I've read that moving them can cause the to drop their buds, and I don't want that to happen.

All that to say, it was cold this morning when I got up, so I indulged myself with a little fire in the box -- the first one of the season.  By lunch time, it had warmed up enough I let the fire die down, but it was so cozy while it lasted.  

The cold weather and the warm fire put me in the mood to get started doing my Christmas cards. 

I'm doing something a little different this year, because I've been told the wax seals are getting ripped off the envelopes by our wonderful postal system.  To prevent that, I'm using stickers to decorate the envelopes instead.  They're still cute...and the wax seals are still there.  They're just on the inside this time around.  

I still have quite a few to go, but I hope to get the last of them into the mail by this weekend.  

In the midst of all that, I managed to cast on another hat.  

Now, I'm off to watch a cheesy Great American Family Christmas movie and knit some more, and maybe address a few more cards.  Oh, and the turkey is already in the fridge and Thanksgiving prep starts tomorrow!  

Oh, before I forget!  Thanksvember Nineteenth:  For the last few months, the radio in my car has been popping and crackling.  Not like regular static, but like something was interfering with the signal.  At first, I thought it was picking up a stray bluetooth signal or something, so I turned off the bluetooth.  It kept happening, so I just turned the whole sound system off completely and listened to silence for a few days....but it still kept happening.  Just not as much, but even with the radio turned off, I'd occasionally hear the pop and sizzle of...whatever it was.  I was on the verge of taking the car into the shop, because I thought my speakers were going out.  Maybe it was a loose wire, or so I thought.  

Then one day last week as I was driving home from work, it occurred to me I still had my Walkman MP3 player plugged in.  As soon as I got to a stopping place, I reached into the center console and unplugged it -- USB cable and all.  

It's been a week, and so far so good!  I'm thankful it wasn't the speakers after all, and I'm thankful I figured it out before calling the shop and making a fool out of myself.  

I'm thinking the USB cable might have come slightly loose from the car's vibrations, so it was like having a loose wire.  I haven't gotten brave enough to plug it back in yet, but I will.

Soon. 

I'll let you know how it goes.