Fall has arrived :(

It's Sunday, 1 pm and 47 degrees out. Snow forecast for Tuesday. Fall has arrived.

I spent about 6 hours yesterday in the last of the beautiful, 70 degree weather....helping Mike with our marathon "last blast" in the yard. I raked a few leaves out of the gardens, yanked my annuals and cut my peacock orchids and mums back and mulched them over for the winter. Looks awful here - so bare :(

Put away all the rest of my lawn decorations, mostly boxed up in the basement or hung up in the garage......all except this guy that we bought from Stupid.com. His name is Ogod...because that's what everyone says when they see him (we had him perched under our kitchen window...just inside the gate....the first thing you saw was his ass ;). Anyway we brought him inside and he has a place of honor next to the kitchen window on the inside. Quite appetizing. I don't mind as long as he doesn't make any noise. And besides, he expresses my sentiments about fall/winter exactly. First snowfall and his ass is gonna be IN the window conveying his expression to the outdoors.

So now I'm looking at holiday preparations and re-organizing stuff inside. We have no real plans coming up other than North Dakota at Christmas so if anyone wants to come up and go Christmas shopping at the Mall of America with me, I'm game!! Just let us know - room to spare here!

Love to all
Mike and Gail 

Bleghhhh Mondays suck

OK so the weekend just went by too fast. Haven't done much this past week or so except leaves. I broke the electric leaf blower/sucker so Mike's working on getting the gas one running.

I'm also just about done with an afghan I started to crochet about 5 or 6 years ago, so kind of went to town on that this past week.

We did go to Target over the weekend (woohoo) and I found a really cute sweater. Funny 'cuz I really hate Target's clothes. Mike got both of the new Santana CDs. The live one (only can get it at Target) is very good.

The kids seem to be well. Alex got a job (in case I didn't mention it) and Amy and Jared are both working. Their lives seem to be coming back together. Hayley celebrated her FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! on the 4th of this month. She's walking (or running???) and into size 5 shoes. Bigfoot like her gramma ;)

Mom is doing good too, I didn't get a chance to talk to her over the weekend so will call her today or tomorrow.

There are a couple of fall craft shows we are hoping to get to this weekend so I will probably have to do all my weekend housework during the week this week :) Hope to get some new pictures up soon.

XOXOX
Love
Gail and Mike

Wednesday Update

The kids are moving out of the motel today! :) :) Jared's parents got a house and they will be staying with them until they find a place of their own. At least that's the plan as of this morning!

Mom's home

Mom got back into her house yesterday. A tiny bit of minor damage that she got repaired right away and some food she had to toss out since their power was off for a few hours was about it. So things should be back to normal down there for her now.

Kids are doing fine. Amy and Jared are still in the motel. Hopefully they will have a place by the end of the month.

Nothing new to report in Minnesota. Chill is in the air and a hard frost yesterday, but will be in the 60's by the weekend - about 20 degrees above average. Time changes this weekend, will be nice to sleep in that extra hour in the mornings :)

Love to all
Gail and Mike

Monday Update

Wilma passed to the south about 45 miles from Fort Myers. Mom is fine - is actually staying in her old neighbors house in Cape Coral. Looks like they got roughly 45 mph winds there, some rain. I talked to her last night and at 5:30 am CST this morning and she had emerged out of her closet shelter and was trying to get some sleep. As of this writing (9:30 am CST) it looks like they will be in the clear in about an hour. She will be calling me sometime this morning and hopefully will have some news about damages and/or power outages in the area where her house is. But she is safe; by the grace of God the storm entered further south than originally targeted.

I did speak briefly to Amy Saturday and Sunday. As far as I know everyone is doing well and they are still looking for a house and working with the insurance agency.

Mike and I worked on the Olympic leaf gathering yesterday and got a good 4-6 additional bags filled and the front yard reasonably cleared.

Have a great day!
XOX
Mike and Gail

News for Today

Nothing much new to report here.....Talked to Amy for a little bit this morning. Didn't hear from Alex today. Watching Wilma......hope it goes SOUTH if it heads for Florida. Will probably talk to Mom in the morning before she heads out to safer ground.

Love to all,
Gail and Mike

Today's news........

Both the kids called me today. Amy and family are doing better, they've (finally) been put up in a motel for the week. No phone in the room but I know that at least there's a place where I can leave a message.

Alex lost his job today.....bad timing....but has a couple more offers for places to stay (thanks Wendy, Deb and Sheila!!!) and is at this time planning on heading down to Florida in a couple of weeks unless things turn for him here.

Speaking of Florida....Mom is packed up and ready to hit the road if Wilma gets much closer. Cape Coral/Naples is the dead on target right now. She's going inland to stay with her brother and I think she'll be safe there (at least safer than where she is now). Please say a prayer for everyone down in that area, they will need it..

Love to all,
Gail and Mike