Good morning Sneakers. A rainy start to the day but warms up later in the afternoon. It was lovely and balmy yesterday and Mark was here painting window ledges and a new door for my garage which he is installing. I was out picking yet more tomatoes which are still ripening and cutting back dying foliage like the peonies and the phloxes etc. I can't keep up with Mark though so me and Jilly retired inside after a while, me with an achy back and Bean for a snooze. I'm going to be as snug as a bug in a rug if Mark continues with his home improvements. Between Corvid and Marks back the property did get neglected for 3 or 4 years.

It was definitely a human on the new deck JACKIE unless foxes/coyotes have taken to wearing hob nailed boots. I'm not too worried about anyone breaking in SANDY. In the more than 30 years of living here it is a very safe neighbourhood and I've never heard of a burglary or break-in. Jilly Bean and I would make short work of an intruder anyway, she'd bite his ankles I'm sure to defend Annie and Annie would hit any emerging head through small windows with a cast iron frying pan.

The dry wall was delivered along with the new garage door so I expect Mark will be working on the downstairs this winter.

My groceries are back to delivery this morning. I've just realized its Thanksgiving on Monday and I didn't order anything special. Mind you it said on the news that turkeys are very expensive this year and most people seem to be serving more mundane meals. Happy turkeys - I hope !
Anne.

Hello everyone.

Jackie, very good shopping my friend! I know no way to cut my bill in half unless I only purchase half the items! 🤭 I was reading ways that people hope to cut their heating bill this winter—supposedly people who live in Yorkshire. I doubt that was true and many of the responses were just attempts to be amusing.

Several suggestions were things we (young married and broke folks) tried when living in old drafty farmhouses. One was to put up film over the windows to try to compensate for the leakiness of the existing windows. Another thing was to put up blankets at the entrance to each room to keep drafts from traveling. We also had a draft stopper. That was something you put up against the door to keep the cold at bay. We also had a kerosene heater, not one on the list. Someone said they were going to put their cold weather sleeping bag in their bed and would then cover that with 3 blankets. Sounded interesting. In a particularly cold house, I wore a cap and heavy socks every night.

I think my heating bills will remain high!

Anne, well of course you should be proud of Mark. He has done a marvelous job on the house. It will be nice to see him if he works on drywall this winter. Will Mary Jo want to cook on Monday?? Any way to hint about that?

Sandy, I hope all works out as you have planned and you will not be rushed to pack on Sunday. And hoping your luck will be good.

Patsy, I cannot handle any horror movies. I just freak out and have nightmares. The only Halloween movies I have watched are Hocus Pocus and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I like nice shows like Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.

Yes, I still am on a few committees at my church even though I am still not attending in person. They are pleased that I send a regular check. The attendance has been way down for years now and the bad thing is many people still consider themselves members of the church but do not attend in person or online AND they stopped all financial support at the beginning of the pandemic. Just scraping along.

Take care everyone.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

PATSY, I received your input. I think life will be easier with the new iPad and that means once Mike has fixed it I should be able to settle down and do some REAL work! So give me a couple of days because of Reno's and thanksgiving and elder sons visits etc and away we go!
Carrying on with the theme above and old memories before Dad ripped it out after the war we had one of those old fashioned ranges in the kitchen. Mom had a gas stove but the old range was very good at baking bread in the oven next to the fire. Just wondered if anyone else had their school undies placed in a warm oven to be worn on the long trek to school, and of course the warmth had worn off by the time we went into assembly. AH memories are made of this.
Anne.

There are indeed some very sad stories. One of my friends at my workplace was slightly older than me. Her Eastern European parents emigrated to one of Canada's prairie provinces and were very poor. As a child she had to walk a long way to school. She had to walk in normal everyday shoes because her parents couldn't afford winter boots. One year she suffered frostbite in her feet. By the time I knew her, close to retirement, she was wearing fur lined winter boots as soon as October came along, because with any hint of cold she still suffered dreadfully.
I guess there are much colder places than Yorkshire but I've been lucky enough to avoid them in the winter.
Anne.

This is where I lived in the 1970's in the front upstairs apartment. The fireplaces were no longer functional and the apartment was heated with two small gas space heaters. It was cold especially near those tall windows. I wore a nightcap and footed pajamas when I slept. Now I am grateful on a daily basis for my furnace and heat pump and programmable thermostat.

Barbie

I'm having a hot chocolate because it is really cold here. We have a frost warning for this town tonight so I went out and picked the red tomatoes and brought in a plant I've potted but don't have much hope for.

I think I will dig out the draft excluder Derek bought me when a little boy for the same reason as JACKIE. We only had one fire burning in the long ago house and it was in the large kitchen, it heated the water. The only time any other fire was lit was at Christmas or when in bed with the flu. Did you get red legs from sitting too close? I got the same dire warnings. The kitchen was big enough for armchairs and a kitchen table and chairs. There was a freezing "scullery" beyond that which housed the kitchen sink and was cold enough to preserve things just like a refrigerator. Then you went outside to go to the loo. My dad named that after a valley on the moon. Needless to say one didn't go to the loo too often, especially at night when to a 7 year old ghosties and goblins were everywhere!

Marks been and gone. He was up his ladder peeling off the strips he had placed on the windows to protect the glass as he painted the frames. All just about done outside in the nick of time.!!!!

What a pretty house BARBIE, but I can well imagine cold in the winter.

I'm glad old memories came back with Thanksgiving arriving on Monday. A lot to be thankful for.

Anne.

Enjoyed hearing stories about everyone many years ago. The ac still comes on occasionally, which is set at 76 right now. It is in the high 80s during the day, so I am still in my capris. However that will change to the low 80s this next week. Loving that our evening temps are dropping too, which means I have a good nights sleep again. Still sunny California assuming there isn't any burning fires; the close one is nearly out finally.

I grew up in the city across the bay from San Francisco in a home that still stands and is 100 yrs old now. No ac there, but didn't need it and generally the furnace kept the house comfortable unless it was summer time. My bedroom was upstairs so it always seemed hot. Cool for us during the winter was in the 45-55 F range, so just a warm jacket was needed when I walked about 4 blocks to school. We were only allowed to wear dresses or skirts to school, plus we wore white saddle shoes daily and Mary Janes to church on Sunday. Clothes lines no one seemed to use.....Our electric washer and electric dryer must have been a rather new invention. The big freezer was placed in the same area. I was the eldest of 4 kids. Very contrary to my husbands up bringing in the mid west, which had snow and an outhouse too. Met him when he was on leave while in the Navy not far from San Francisco.

An adventure I still recall and it has been a long time..... I was walked to school on my first day of kindergarten. Being the eldest there wasn't a sibling to join me. A block prior to school there was an intersection where 5 streets met. So when I came home by myself I got to that spot and of course choose the wrong street to walk down. I walked and walked, but nothing appeared to be familiar. It was the longest street ever. Finally my mother must of gotten concerned because she drove around looking for me. Suspect many people observed me thru their home window wondering where I lived. I have always been small for my age and the shortest in my class. I never made that mistake again. Another interesting thing.....I got on to a realtors website checking out the old houses for sale. Ones perspective as a child versus an adults ideas on sizes of homes and narrow streets sure change....

New computers and a new I pads.....enjoy your new toys. Good luck Sandy at the casino.....

Flu shot and Pfizer Covid injection done.....No reaction, but were done several weeks apart.

Happy Thanksgiving this next week to my Canadian and British friends.....

Diane

I'll be back later because Michael is coming over to set up the new iPad. We will be only having pizza for lunch so I can hopefully absorb what he shows me. Reading DIANES piece I realize my old house will be 100 years old next year. The only thing I know, apart from a few antiques, that is older than me!

It was down to 39 F when we got up this morning. Porridge consuming weather.

See ya,
Anne