I hope everything is well there.

We’ve had some beautiful fall weather here the last few days. Some of the trees are starting to turn (which seems early but maybe I have a short memory since it is later in September). We probably could use a bit of rain again.

My vegetables are starting to go down hill. I’ve decided to discontinue watering them. It just doesn’t seem to be an efficient use of my time or resources since we’ve entered fall and things are less productive. I saw at a house not far from here where someone created a rain barrel from a garbage can with tubing that runs directly from the eaves trough to the can (which is propped up so that the hose that they’ve attached at the bottom can readily let water flow out). I think the design and what they did to modify it are quite clever.

The price of city water is a definite consideration in not watering the plants. It seems like all the utilities and things have gone up in price. I’m concerned about how to best save money on natural gas (I’m on the city line) this winter. I usually plastic the windows, shut off the upstairs heat, and turn down the thermostat downstairs to about 60 weekdays and 65 nights. I then get to bundle up. Since I put in long hours at work during the week, that seemed to work (though I’ll admit I did forget a lot to re-set the thermostat many times). This year, I’m not sure what other measures would be prudent. I may get new windows installed in the 2 oldest downstairs windows (they do seem to be drafty now). Other than that – well I’ll have to keep thinking. I’ve heard that heating costs will be up between 36-55% this winter. It’s a scary thought.

My work is going pretty well. I’ve gotten behind on some things and I’ve brought home some of my procedure update readings so I’ve been working on that today. I should try and go into the office later today and do some data input for customers. Then I’d be further ahead with some of my work at the start of the week. We’ll see…

Well, I’d better get going. I still have a lot on my “to do” list and I’m running out of weekend to get it all done.

Best wishes and take care!