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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Good-bye summer, hello fall. Lately, I have been getting up before the sun is up and that isn't early either. The days are definitely getting shorter and cooler. We are trying to keep our furnace turned off until it gets so cold that we can't take it any longer. The utility company raised our electricity another $20 a month for the coming year so when it gets chilly I just put on some extra clothing instead of turning up the thermostat. In spite of the fact that it's getting cooler, the sun is still shining and the days have been beautiful. Right now the east wind has been blowing pretty strong and so I have had to water my flowers more to keep them from drying out.

Speaking of fall, the Alder Creek Farm had their harvest festival last Saturday and I helped in the Master Gardeners booth. We set up a booth during the farmer's market and also at the harvest festival so that folks can come by and ask questions about any plant problems that they may have. They had a cider press in which they were making cider, a live band, tours of the community gardens and other booths that people could visit. There were a lot of people and some familiar faces that I hadn't seen all summer so I enjoyed working that. While I was doing my thing, Dave was attending a birthday party for our friend's four-year old grandson. What's more fun, working at the harvest festival or attending a four-year old birthday party? Hummm.

Not much exciting happening this week. Since the weather has been so clear and dry, I decided to wash my windows. What a difference that makes and it sure gives everything a brighter outlook! While I was cleaning the windows I had to disturb the two spiders (Charlotte I and Charlotte II) that had taken over a couple of our front windows. They didn't appreciate that I disturbed their webs, but I wasn't about to drown them with the hose water. They just hunkered in the corner until I was done. Besides, I see that they have been busy spinning their new webs this week.

Also I got in the mood to clean out my dirty greenhouse. The greenhouse is not very big but you would be surprised of all the "stuff" that had been accumulating during the summer. The spiders had pretty much taken over the place and there were cobwebs all over the place. They took off on a dead run when they saw me with the shop vacuum ready to suck them in. The project took me most of a day as I cleared out everything and washed up empty pots so that they will be ready for next spring.

The Park and Rec. committee had a work party on Wednesday and I finally managed to make an appearance. It seems like I have been gone every Wednesday for the last month so I needed to let them know that I was still around. There were only two of us that showed up as most of the other members were either on vacation or working but we pulled a few weeds and spread bark chips around the base of the trees in the park. The City finally hired a helper who has been doing a lot of the maintenance in the parks. The only problem is that he will be gone the end of the month as there isn't that much to do once the summer season is over.

We did get back to what is becoming a regular Wednesday night event for us - dinner and a movie in downtown Wheeler. The Rising Star Cafe hosts a free movie on Wednesday evenings and so we go get a hamburger and take in the film. This week it was a beautifully filmed movie called "Bride Flight" , about a group of Dutch women who were "mail-order brides" flying to New Zealand. Interesting story and the scenery was fabulous! I'm thinking about buying the book to see how it compares.

Dave has been helping Des Kahrs with one of their rentals. The man who had rented the house for the past seven years recently passed away and the place needed a lot of work to make it presentable again. He had been a heavy smoker, so everything inside the house had to be cleaned, scrubbed or re-painted. Des worked 12 hour days for two weeks getting it done. They put in new carpeting yesterday and the place looks real nice. Dave spent parts of two days helping with electrical projects. He's not crazy about working on existing wiring because he never knows how it was done in the first place. It seems there's the right way and then the way many other people do it. Sure enough, as Des says...he "shook hands with the power company" a couple of times and got knocked off his ladder once. He killed the power to the whole house after that!

This Saturday, Dave has another Portland State Football game to broadcast, so he will be off doing that. I am going to stay home and keep the fires warm. Next week the schedule looks to be a little bit busier and will have more to talk about then. Happy Columbus Day!