This and That

 I think it's time for some speed blogging. The timer today is set at 14 minutes.  

We won't be putting up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.

Anne at Cooking and All That Jazz has been doing a countdown 'til Christmas for weeks (months?) now.  Reading her posts about what she has done toward the holidays makes me anxious every time I read them. But it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, I tell myself. However, I have several gifts ordered and am working on ideas for others. We don't have elaborate decorations, so I don't need to start too far ahead of time. The weekend after Thanksgiving, the fall wreath will come down, and the holiday one will go up. The outdoor lights go up then, too, if the weather cooperates. A weekend or two after that, the tree will go up. 

Recently, we had a tree taken down, but before that happened, we had to remove the rock pile we had around it. We have very rocky soil, so when we dig up rocks in our various flower beds, we add them to the pile. We have accumulated quite a few since we started doing this. As we were moving the rocks, I felt like I was working on a prison chain gang. But I like rocks, and I like my pile. Just because.

As we moved the rocks, we sorted them into small, medium, and large sizes. This helps when we go to the pile for a rock for a particular use.

And speaking of maintenance projects, we figured out this week that we have a leak around the bow window in our living room. The window is only a few years old and didn't appear to be compromised, so we surmised the likely culprit was cracked caulking in several places around the outside of the window. After some major bush trimming to be able to get ladders in place, Ward did the tedious job of recaulking. While he did that, I cleared the debris that had been cut. I hope this fixes things because leaks are so hard to figure out sometimes. At least we know it hasn't been going on for long, so there shouldn't be much damage to the wood around the window. Fingers crossed. 

Installing the bow window a few years ago. Ward recaulked the outside of it.

While I enjoy the company of others, I am an introvert, and new social situations are not easy for me. However, when I was asked to join a bowling league, I said, "Sure." Not because I was dying to go bowling, but because I thought it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone. I have only bowled occasionally throughout my life, with years and years between games. I'm usually happy if fewer than half of my balls end up in the gutter. But this is a fun league, not competitive, so it was a good fit in that way. 

Last week, I went for my first time. Our local bowling alley does duckpin bowling, which uses smaller balls and pins, and you get three balls/frame. On the surface, that sounds easier than 10-pin bowling, but it has a set of challenges of its own. So, what did I think? The people were friendly and not too serious, but I'm not sure I like bowling. However, I'm going again this week. We'll see how I do.

My 14-minute timer is going off, so that's it for today. I'll set it again one more time to find some pictures to insert.

Until next ...