I hope everything is going well there.

Winter has arrived the last few days. Flurries, winds, and temps in the 20’s and 30’s. I find it frustrating as there are still a few more things that I’d have liked to have gotten done before it was this cold. I guess even the best laid plans don’t always go as well – planned.

The furnace went out again in the night Friday night (the blower stops and then the house can’t get warm – it happened last weekend too). It only got down to the lower 60’s but still that was enough (especially since the next cold spell would drive it down even lower). The repairman was here by about 8 the next morning and has ordered a part. He did manage to get it going again which is good. Hopefully it’ll hold out until the new part is available.

Gas price downtown here is at $2.19 per gallon. I understand that in a lot of places it’s under $2 per gallon. It’s amazing but since I still don’t understand what drove it up, it’s hard to understand what is driving it down now.

My daughter surprised me my coming to visit on Friday afternoon and staying the night here. She had to work the Badger Game on Saturday in Madison with her security job. The weather (20mph winds and cold temps) made it a really tough game. In addition, she was catching a cold and has hurt her back again so that complicates things. With any luck she’ll be feeling better soon.

We had a nice visit Friday night and picked up a turkey at the grocery store (now called Piggly Wiggly but I have a hard time calling it that) for 48 cents a pound because we met the $25 in other items purchase requirement. Then we watched the movies “Get Smart” (Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway) and “Kung Fu Panda” (animated) and had some silly conversations. It was a lot of fun.

Work has been interesting. I had an organic conference on Monday afternoon (for area farmers about how to get certified and steps to prepare for certification). On Wednesday, I was at a local technical college to talk to farmers about FSA programs and farm bill changes. That was interesting… Other than that it was farm visits (in the rain/snow) and some office appointments and just general work. Still there’s a lot to do. I guess though that’s job security and I should be grateful for that.

Only 39 more days until Christmas. That’s a scary thought in quite a few ways. I really do try and plan early to make sure that I can get things done without getting too stressed out. At least that’s always the plan anyway.

I’m not sure what our Thanksgiving plans are yet. Today we’ll be in Madison (no Dad or step mother which is sad and they are truly missed) having a family get together at a restaurant. We had talked about going to Dad and step mother’s but they said it would be too much and Dad would get too tired too fast. It’s hard to do things without them but it is nice to see everyone.

Well, I’d better get going.

Best wishes and take care!