Good morning GH. We have just passed 2:30 AM in "The City," and the current temperature is 51 degrees under rainy skies. It appears that that may be the case for both today and Saturday too. Oh well, since I was able to wear shorts and my Red Sox regalia on Thursday, I"ll take it. However, we are under a wind advisory with gusts up to 50 MPH, and sustained winds up to 30 MPH until 8:00 AM.

Given the wind that is currently happening and predicted for the rest of this morning, I'll either have more leaves to rake or they will all be in someone else's yard. With any luck, the ones that were still in the trees will probably be down by morning. Here on the palatial estate, we always end up with more than I want. There is another plus to the winds. It is easier to see the trains as they pass by.

I had my orthopedist's appointment for my knees on Thursday morning. My knees feel better now. I also made an appointment for getting my aching shoulder repaired. As Adam said, "It sucks short term, but it is the best thing in the long term." I say sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. The alternative to fixing it now, doing nothing, might have led to a crisis that would be totally unpredictable and not at all welcome. As Mary said, no winter sports, but lots of spring, summer, and future fun. Too many bike crashes, too many turns of a wrench, and too many baseballs thrown, not to mention lots of strums on the guitar I guess. None of those things helped. I think that the only thing I could have done without were the bike crashes.

Today we have an appointment for Sugar to get her Bordatella booster at the veterinarian. No injections, just a snort up her nose. She won't like it, but it is a must if she is going to be boarded in the future. It is also the day for her flea and tick treatment and her heart-worm medications. On Thursday, Sugar made new friends downtown. The young ladies who work the drive-up window at one of the banks have seen us going by many times and wanted to say hello. For her cuteness, Sugar received a small biscuit and the young ladies got to see her up close and personal. A win-win for both parties.

We had a few young people for Halloween trick or treating. The rain probably kept the numbers down along with the city sponsored downtown trick or treating at the businesses. I think I have to wait for Thanksgiving before I can convert our decorative pumpkins into soup or some other foodstuff. I have plenty of possible recipes.

Otherwise, no editing today and no other activities planned. By late today or early tomorrow, my knees will have their usual post-treatment pains and that will limit me for a day or two. Then all will be well. Overall the treatments are worth the aches that come with them.

Looks like that's about it for now. The first train is just going by, a short one with one locomotive, but not much automobile traffic. The automobile traffic seems to come with Friday and Saturday nights, at least in the off-season. Tea time awaits the rising Sun at 8:20 AM. Then it is time for a trip to the veterinarian. Ciao.