Mom and Dad went on their trip to South Dakota. They had a wonderful time. Things have changed a lot since the last time Dad was there. Mom was there not too long ago with the scouts so things weren't too different for her.  I'd love to go back sometime. They rode the train at Keystone, went to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Mt. Mariah cemetery, and gambled in Deadwood.

No issues with the guest dog while they were gone. He seemed happy to go home because we didn't know that he's an indoor dog. So being left in the run for a week probably wasn't how he wanted to spend his "vacation". All the other animals are well. Had a bout of kennel cough that Morgan took forever to get over. Of course the day I go to get more medicine he stops coughing and is completely fine. Oh well, I have it in case of another round.

I'm pretty close to being "ready" for winter. Despite the fact that I really, really, did I mention really don't like winter. There's some question on whether it will be a hard one or not. The Farmers' Almanac says to be ready for a harsh winter. The National Weather Service says it'll be one of the warmer in the last few years. I'd rather be ready for the hard one and not need it than find out the hard way that I did. We got a lot of cabbage and zucchini out of the garden. The tomatoes aren't ripening how we'd like so we'll probably pick them green and let them ripen inside. Not sure if I mentioned our lack of intellegence so in case I did, the pumpkins the horse ate are well dead but we did get things taken care of so that they won't eat the rest. And the raspberries are coming back very well.

Work is it's usual self. I read in the paper that we don't have a vote for the new contract yet because neither the company nor the union are in a upper hand position so we're stuck in neutral. I have no idea when we will get another offer, vote or contract. I do have a week of vacation coming so I need to decide when to use that. My cousins from Montana are considering coming down around Christmas, now I just need to tell the management that I will use my vacation when I see fit, and not let them bully me like last year.

Going to put one more log on the fire before I head up to visit at Mom's. They can laugh all they want because I'm the one with the credit on my bill at the end of the winter.

Hope all is well with everyone. Have a happy day!