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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

It has been a busy week trying to get end-of-the-year projects completed and tax stuff gathered up. I got busy and purged all my files this week and so I spend a lot of time shredding and burning lots of paper. Boy, there is a lot of stuff that accumulates over a year! At least now I have some room in my files to start anew with the new year's stuff. I also got some of Dave's filing/purging done that he had been collecting in the office for the past couple of years.

We have been having "on again-off again" stormy weather. There was a nice sunny break from rain over the weekend so Dave and I took the opportunity to clean out the gutters on the house. Now that all the leaves have fallen off the trees, we can feel like we have accomplished something. The gutters on the house were so full that when it rained, water just poured off the roof like a waterfall, especially the one side that has all the trees around it. Dave began to remove the leaves and debris from that side that it had completely blocked the downspout and was overflowing. It was a good thing we got them cleaned out because it has been raining constantly ever since. I also raked up a wheelbarrow load of the leaves and branches that had fallen during one of our wind storms while we were away. That's a never-ending battle around here!

Dave also installed my Christmas present over the weekend. He had gotten me a new kitchen faucet and an "Instahot" faucet for the sink. The old faucet was leaking and the original Instahot was broken. I am so pleased with the new ones. I haven't had an Instahot faucet for such a long time that I had forgotten how convenient it is. I am so used to heating water in the kettle on the stove and after he had installed the new one, I was in the process of doing that again when it dawned on me that I don't have to do that anymore! I really appreciate his efforts as it took most of the day. He had to really squeeze his body into some pretty tight spaces under the sink to get it installed and a couple of times I thought I was going to have to pry him out!

It feels good to be back in my old routine and back home after being away for three weeks. I love to go away but I always love coming back home again. I started my water aerobics classes on Monday and fortunately the instructor took pity on us because of our three-week vacation and started us out slowly. As it was, my arms were a little sore by Wednesday.

The two tom cats were glad to see me, although Leanna did a great job feeding them while I was away. They are sure growing and seem to be a little more comfortable around me. They even meow at me when I bring them their dinner. Now if I can only keep them from stalking my birds! It took about a week for some of them to return to my feeders - Chickadees, Varied Thrush, Junkos, and of course the Blue Jays, but they seem to be alert when the cats are around. I have one fat squirrel that is still about (why isn't he hibernating with the rest of them?) and he was having a staring contest with one of the cats the other day. I have been putting a small ground feeder by the tree where he hangs out and he grabs the feeder in his teeth and pulls it close to the trunk of the tree so he has an escape route while he is eating, just in case.

On Thursday, we woke to a light dusting of snow on the ground and temperatures in the freezing range. The mountains looked so beautiful with the sun shining on them. I took a couple of pictures from our deck but the mountains are pretty far away in the photo and I don't think I captured the beauty of it all. Dave had to drive into Portland for a Blazer broadcast and I was worried about the roads being covered with snow but he called to let me know that he didn't have any problems and arrived at the Rose Garden with two hours to spare! It looks like we are going to keep this cold front that has moved in from Alaska for a few days. Dave was planning on going to Seattle on Saturday to attend the NWSS board of directors meeting but cancelled his plans. He doesn't need be stressed out driving all the way to Seattle and back in that kind of weather.