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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

There has certainly been a nip in the air the past few mornings, and with that I can finally feel like fall is really here. The trip over to the valley last weekend was a beautiful sight, with all the leaves turning colors and I even spotted a flock of geese heading south for the winter. We haven't turned on our furnace yet but have been using the little propane stove to take the chill out of the air. When I heard that the temperature was going to drop into the 30's I put all my fuchsia plants in the greenhouse and took clippings from the geraniums to see if I can get some starts for next year.

I had a new visitor to the bird feeders this week, a huge Western Gray squirrel who I have named "Earl" as in Earl Gray. He is fun to watch at the feeders but he also is cleaning them out! He's as big as a rabbit and three times the size of our other squirrels. What an appetite he has and I think he has found himself quite a banquet at our place. Between him and the raccoons, I don't know if I can afford to feed them all winter. This photo is kind of fuzzy, but it's the only one we have of him so far. To give you an idea of his size, that jar he's eating out of is about four inches across!

We met up with our family for a birthday brunch for Lara on Sunday. We drove in from the coast and got there early so we could reserve a table for 11 people at Elmer's. There aren't that many opportunities for us to get together with the whole family and it was great seeing everyone again. Jordyn showed up wearing a colorful mask that her sister Jadyn had made. She was certainly in the Halloween spirit. After brunch we headed over to watch Paige play her soccer game in Tigard. It was a good game as usual and we had really nice weather. Afterwards, Dave and I headed for Target to pick up a new coffee maker. Our old one died on us and we wanted to get a different kind this time. We liked the "dispenser" type that my sister Jeanne has so we decided to try one of those for a change. So far, the coffee has been great, but I'm not too sure about the dispenser - it's TOO convenient and we're drinking more coffee than before!

The rest of the week has been the same as usual. I went to my monthly garden club meeting on Tuesday to listen to this guy talk about putting a garden to bed. Unfortunately, he didn't have much to say about that, but he sure was trying to sell us on his landscaping business. He did bring a box of VooDoo donuts to share with us and so we enjoyed that part. The donuts were all decorated with a Halloween theme. There were donuts shaped like eyeballs filled with raspberry filling and others with mini marshmallows and coconut on them. The sort of thing you don't want to be tempted to eat late in the afternoon before you have to go home to fix dinner.

This week, Dave has been busy with city council and Nehalem port meetings. He is also in the final week of rehearsals before the big opening performance of their play tonight. He would ordinarily be busy with Trail Blazer broadcasts at this time of year, but there's still a labor dispute between the owners and the players, so nothing is happening. There's still some optimism that they can reach a deal in time to play a full schedule this season. We're sure hoping that's the case because it won't be as much of a financial hardship if he works the same number of games as he usually does.

Today I am driving into Hillsboro to get my teeth cleaned and will then head back to the coast in time to make it to the play, although I haven't decided if I'll attend tonight or Saturday night.