Autumnal Equinox

Fall begins tomorrow; the autumnal equinox will occur at 9:49 a.m. (MDT).  It's been cooler here in the morning - today I wished I had either a sweater or light jacket while I was out and about, travelling between houses at 5:30, an hour before sunrise.  But we bounce back into the 70s and 80s in the afternoon, and I'm back in shorts and a T.  The kits are happy that I'm home tonight; they run outside, and then run back in, meowing, and jump up onto my lap.  They are sweeties.  I made a lemon pound cake last night, using a natural sweetener that, supposedly, has no calories; at least it tastes good.... I kept the equivalent of 3 small slices, gave the majority to Kathy, Jim and Mike, and also gave slices to Bernie.  I left six slices at Alexy's for her and Patience to eat.  Luckily, I well remember how to cook and bake without sugar, thanks to my hubby....
   The house where I'm staying during daylight hours has an infestation of yellowjackets, which I'm allergic to.  The owners have placed plastic over the window that the insects are "oozing" through, in hopes of keeping them out.  I killed 11 of them today; in the first two days I killed 28.  I think they have nested in the wall of the house and are coming in through the window's soffit. They then fly into the kitchen, where there is a sliding glass door; some manage to get out, the rest I kill with a fly swatter.  I have been startled by a couple of red flickers at the house - I was reading during my first day there, and someone knocked on the front door, three times.  I ran downstairs - the house is built on 5 levels - and opened the door.  No one was there, or even in sight in the yard or street.  It took me three trips downstairs before I realized it was a flicker "knocking" on the door jamb.  And I was able to see him do it the next time.  Then I had the back sliding door in the kitchen open; I kept hearing what sounded like one of the cats picking with its claws at the screen door - but both cats were with me on the sofa.  I finally managed a peek, and saw a red flicker clinging to the screen, and eating the yellowjackets that were on the outside of the screen.  The only problem was that the flicker ate the 8 bugs on the outside, and was then trying to grab the bugs on the inside.  I had to shoo the bird away.
   College football tomorrow!  I'm happy!

Olympics, Critters, & Baking

I've been able to view the coverage of two days of the Three-Day Event - I thoroughly enjoyed the dressage competition, and today's coverage of the Cross Country was grand - even though I didn't get to see all of it.  I hope to be able to view more of the jumps via film on the Olympics website.  I have to say I was almost struck dumb by Mark Todd's horse trying to put in an extra stride just at the last jump - it looked like it surprised him, too.
  Brandi and Peach were great yesterday.  And Brandi and I slept together last night.  My kits are running in and out today - they come get a bunch of love and scratches, and then they run back out into the sun.  I'm going to take a nap with them, then I'll need to go shopping for my bus drivers bake day.  They have requested brownies, and lemon, strawberry and peach pound cakes  -  that should keep me busy in the kitchen for a while tonight!
   Boulder has had late afternoon and early evening thunderstorms since Friday, and it's expected to continue during this week, along with highs in the mid-90s.  We're back to our usual weather pattern, even though it is warmer, overall....

Lightning Storm

After blogging last night, I moved into the kitchen and started my prep work for the Berry Uglies.  Then several more lightning storms came through the area - I had had the TV on, as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was playing. The power began to go on and off - and I had to laugh because of the bits and pieces of song and dialogue that I heard from the movie.  As the lightning was so erratic, along with the power outages, and the storms continued in waves for several hours, I had to give up the plan of baking the BUs last night. Even though I had, by that time, turned the TV off, it kept turning itself back on for a few minutes - thanks to the electrical charges in the air, I guess.
When I finally fell asleep, having run out in between storms to take Lucy out, and then visit Brandi, I had really strange dreams.  I dreamed I was walking about a town, and I knew who I was, but had no idea where the town was - and they didn't speak any language that I could recognize.  Then, in a couple of dreams, I was in very familiar places, but didn't know who I was.  Then, in another dream, I was in the passenger seat of a car, and was with four librarians - we started to go down a hill (like one sees on a roller coaster), and the driver told me to hold on - and the vehicle did a loop-the-loop...  In the dream, I lost my lunch....  After that dream, I seemed to be in places I recognized, but it was as if all the usual physical properties of the universe could be broken - I know that I walked through several solid walls in one part of a dream.  After giving up on the baking, I did read a part of Dragonflight last night, but reading about Lessa and F'lar and Pern have never affected me in that way before....  Hmmmm. Is a puzzlement.

...And a Gracious Good Morning to You!

I have a blueberry, huckleberry and strawberry pie in the oven; once it's done, I'll head around the corner and walk the Rs. If you find a lot of typos today, please blame Banichi, who thinks Jim's keyboard is the only possible place to sit. I'll take the kits home this afternoon on my way to DIA to pick up Kathy and Jim - they've been in Phoenix, running in a marathon. Brought the kits with me so I wouldn't have to run back and forth every day while I was here; the kits have had a ball running up and down the staircase, and attacking the dogs (Suki and Boo) from above like kamikaze pilots. The Rs have been super in behavior - they even ignored their arch-enemy, Brio, while he was in their yard! They listen and do their best to follow the guidelines you lay down for them.
I see Dr. Repine about my knee tomorrow just before noon. I'll have to see what exactly he says, as it's been very painful recently. And I have my usual sinusitis and bronchitis fling going on - I cough and cough and cough, and have blown my nose 'til it's raw. Yuck. - But, while baking yesterday and today, I wore a surgical mask, ate tons of throat lozenges, and washed my hands frequently. Once I had the brownies and scones cooled off and packaged is when I finally uncovered my face - don't want to give anyone anything nasty. Thursday I hope to start daily postings once again... I'll be at Alexy's with Cloudy and Shady for the up-coming week. And on Thursday, I'll let you know what the ortho-Doc says about my knee. I put a huge pile of peanuts out for Gimpy before I brought the kits over here on Friday - I hope that he's still got a few in reserve for today.
It's a nasty, grey overcast day with the possibility of snow falling. They are predicting snow again on Saturday - and I've read the BF Oliphant mysteries, and am about to begin the third Jean Fairbairn/Alaisdair Cameron by Lillian Stewart Carl. I'm looking forward to it! Enjoy your week!