Weather Conditions: Not As Cool. Windy. Rain In The Morning…Then Scattered Showers In The Afternoon. Highs Around 57. South Winds 20 To 30 Mph With Gusts To Around 45 Mph.

Everyone has left for work. David always has to leave by 6:30 on Saturday mornings. He has drivers out to the office by 7:00 to get paid. And, quite honestly, he’d just as soon they come early like that. Its usually 10:00 or after before he is able to leave, and then he goes to work “for real” — usually changing truck tires or whatever simple maintenance his harem of trucks need (Major maintenance or repairs, they do take to the shop).

Ethan has a split shift today. Actually, he was orginally scheduled for 4 hours today; but someone needed to trade. So, he didn’t work last Sunday, when he was scheduled to work, and now he is working her shift today. He does have tomorrow off, which is a good thing. He put in a request to be off, but it doesn’t always happen. However, it was once of those instances if they HADN’T given him the day off, David or I probably would have gone up to talk to them. Ethan really needs to not work tomorrow. His Barbershop quartet (JIMS) is singing Special Music at church. And then tomorrow afternoon, we are heading up to Topeka for Alex’s 1st Birthday party. They are pretty good about honoring requests, unless its right before a holiday. But they know this. Its in the employee handbook. For the most part, we have found that they are pretty good about working with us for the few times he has needed off. And the times they have called him to work when he wasn’t scheduled to work far exceeds the times he’s requested off. So, hopefully, they see him as a team player and that they can depend on him. That is something we have tried to instill in him. He still has his opinions, which differ from ours from time to time, what is “important” and whats not. But for the most part, he has really stepped up to the plate and done the right thing, whether he liked it or not.

I will probably work a few hours on the IFTA paperwork; but in the meantime, as always, have a long list of things to do, that need to get done. Just need to focus and not get lost in mindless stuff that doesn’t accomplish anything, and I could make some progress is crossing things off that list. I only have today to do it, instead of the normal “2 day” weekend. We will attend church in the morning, and then shortly after that, we will go to Topeka. The Birthday Party isn’t until 4:00; but its an hours drive up there. And we still need to buy his gift. I also need to get a pair of church shoes, and also a bra. Both of which can’t be bought at Walmart. So, thats 3 stores we need to hit before 4:00. Like I said — tomorrow is pretty much a run-run-run kind of day, although in a good way. Spending time with family, celebrarting a milestone. Yes, life is good.

I thought today was going to be “one of those days”, but it actually turned out to be OK. I was able to get the newsletter done and ready for proofreading. But then David called and said I needed to go straight out to work, and get a deposit ready. Since we didn’t work last Thursday and Friday, which is when I usually work up the checks, we really needed to get it done. Plus, I needed to get the cash receipting done — something I usually do on Wednesdays. But I didn’t do that last Wednesday because for whatever reason, the electricity kept going off. Yes, it was cold and rainy, a bit of snow in the air. But it wasn’t bad enough for power failures. I would say that the electricity went off 8 or 9 times. About 10 minutes apart. After awhile, we just gave up trying to do anything computer related. I felt sorry for Ethan. Busiest day of the year for the grocery store that he works at — he is a checker. And this power thing was county wide. If we thought it was frustrating at the trucking company — I can only imagine what was going on at the grocery store. But, it sounds like they got through it OK.

Better than tonight:) Ethan said they had an irrate “customer”. He wanted to cash a pay check, and the courtesy desk told them they didn’t have enough to do it — and he got really “in your face” with them. So much so that the cops needed to be called. He was drunk for one, so that didn’t help the situation. But he also was making vague threats. He tried going through Ethan’s line with some grocery items (and the checkers had already been told not to cash his check, at this point, just on principle). But, Ethan didn’t have to “deal with it”. The managers were keeping an eye on this guy, (they were waiting for the cops to get there), and when he went through Ethan’s line with a few grocery items and wanted to cash his check, one of the managers said “Mr. Hoover has already told you that we were not going to cash your check”. Because of the vague threats, Ethan was really nervous about him being that close to him. Enter the cops and the gentleman was escorted out, and subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct.

Ethan says he will do a blog entry about this, so once he does that, I’ll link it here, so you can read Ethan’s account of this. Sounded like quite the evening for him! Give me my nice quiet uneventful evening any day!

This is a week for birthdays. I celebrated turning *gasp! 49 on Monday. Next year is the BIG 5-0. That is a scary thought. It was an enjoyable day, with many emails being sent, cards given. David thought about sending flowers, but didn’t, because the Flower Shoppe was busy, and he had a small window of time (he wanted them delivered to the church). He also didn’t want to pay the $50 they said it would cost to send them. Which, knowing what he had planned other wise, I was totally OK with this. After work, we headed to Emporia. He had done his homework — I wanted a new computer monitor for our PC. Yes, I do use the laptop the majority of the time. But my PSP program is on the PC, and there are times I do use it, and the color was awful. So, I wanted a flat screen monitor, and that is what he decided I would be getting for my birthday. He made some phone calls, which helped him decide if we were going to Emporia or Topeka, and if we were going to Staples or Walmart. I love my new monitor, and will be using it a whole lot more than I have in recent times.

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Another Thanksgiving behind us. We really enjoyed the day. We slept in, which is a rare treat around here. We hadn’t been up too awful long when Matt called to say the turkey was ready. He got up at 4:30 to put it in, and it just waiting for us to come and devour it. I packed a box of things I knew I needed to take. The plan was Matt was to do the turkey, and April and I would do the rest. We got to Matt’s around 11:30, and I got the potatoes going. What’s Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Ethan also insisted I do Velvetta Macroni & Cheese, and David, of course, insisted I do my Apple Salad. Throw in a couple of pies, and I was good to go. When April & Jason got there, she finished up her stuffing. Add the pies and the rolls she brought, and we had more than an abundance of food. Matt did 2 turkeys. He baked on in the oven, and the smoked one of the grill.

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I knew this was to come, sooner or later. It has turned off cold and yucky — and we have a 4 day weekend ahead of us. But. Its almost the end of November. What else should we expect. We have been extremely blessed by the weather so far. I just hope all that are traveling have safe journeys. I know several families that will be on the road — actually, are already on the road. We’ll be on the road tomorrow, traveling to Emporia (just 45 miles away) to Matt’s house. He and I talked this morning, and I think I am just going to take everything up there to fix, instead of making it at home, and transporting it up. I’m looking forward to this. It should be an enjoyable day. If we can just get there safely. I can deal with the cold. I just hope we don’t have to deal with ice.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I am starting a new meme over at my “Focus On Kansas” blog. Every Tuesday, at your blog, post a picture or write something about your town. You don’t have to tell us what town you are from. Just share with us why its “your” town, and why you like or don’t like living there. Or just post a picture from “around” town. The possibilities are endless. Down the street. The changing of the seasons. Different stores. Landmarks. Things that make your town different from the town down the road. Then go to the current My Town Tuesday entry and sign Mr. Linky.

Taken at the Dairy Queen last month.

I knew better, but I did it anyway. It was warm this morning. I put on a pullover sweater, and ended changing into a short sleeve shirt because it just was not cold out. Maybe a bit nippy, but not really. And throughout the morning, it truly was comfortable at the church. I was glad I had decided not to wear something really warm.

And then. I stepped out at noon. It was misting, and it was cold. So. Do I go home and change clothes? or, hope that it was warm out to the office? I checked and saw my light jacket was still in my Explorer, and decided I would not change clothes. This is Kansas, though. I should know better. It can go from short-wearing, to winter coat wearing temps in just a few short hours. It wasn’t quite that extreme today, but there was a noticeable different in the temps between 8:00 and noon. Just a glimpse of things to come.