Leftover Halloween Candy
We still have leftover candy from Halloween. It is still sitting out and very tempting to grab one here and there. There is nothing wrong with the candy, so I thought it could be put to good use for Christmas.
Our packs of M & M’s and 3 Musketeers could be put in stockings. Would that be like re-gifting? I would hope not, just an idea to save a few bucks during the holiday season.
I know my wife won’t go for it, after all the candy isn’t shaped like a snowman or like Santa Claus. Oh well!
North Carolina Apples
I enjoy a crisp apple. Red delicious, Granny Smith, and Pink Lady’s are my current favorites. They all tend to stay crisp. A couple of days ago, my coworker, Donald Jones, brought me an apple that was just picked off a tree in western North Carolina. Oh my it was tasty.
I have a new appreciation for locally grown and freshly picked apples. I guess it’s time to visit the local farmer’s market. mmm
Fall Color
Fall colors are peaking here in central North Carolina. I have always loved the colors of fall. Where I grew up, we had a sugar maple in our front yard and it would always change to a pretty golden yellow.
I bought a sugar maple 13 years ago to have a tree that reminded me of the one I had as a child. Now sugar maples are not native to this part of the state. They grow well in the mountains where it is cooler. I know my tree has struggled during our hot and humid summers, but it has survived. It even fell over during its first year during strong winds! I tied it down after that, and it has grown albeit very slowly.
This year is the first year that I have had solid color. Although some of the colors have some orange in them I am happy with the look.
Maybe next year, the tree will be more all over yellow, I can wait, after all I waited 13 years to get orangy yellow.
Cat “Bee” Costume
Our orange tabby, Pumpkin, is a pretty laid back, no he is a complete laid back cat. He has let us, for years, dress him up for Halloween. This year we decided on a bumble bee costume.
Pumpkin is a big cat and used to be able to wear Build-a-Bear clothes. Now, he is in dog costumes. I have found that most ‘normal’ cats wouldn’t put up with this, so cat costumes are not usually made.
Pumpkin wore the bee outfit all evening and even greeted trick or treaters at the door. He tired out and the following pictures show him after a festive and active evening.
Halloween Costumes
I have been “Seaweed”, a “Carrot”, a “King”, an “Indian Chief”, a “Court Jester”, a “Cheerleader”, “Pa Ingalls”, a “Domino”, a “Cowboy”, a “Genie”, just to name a few, and these were all as an adult!
My wife helped create all these costumes. It’s been about 3 years since I last dressed up and I haven’t decided if I am going to be anything tonight. But it is Friday, and I don’t have to get up early tomorrow, maybe I could dig into some of the old costumes and come up with something. How about a king carrot that wants to be a cowboy?!
Happy Halloween.
Early World Series Memory
Watched the World Series last night; it was great that the game didn’t end late at night. Baseball puts their games on too late at night. Games ending after midnight aren’t going to attract kids to baseball when they can’t watch.
I remember watching the World Series as a kid, after all it was on during the day, never late at night. When I was in 5th grade, I decided to bring a portable radio to school to listen to the game. We had those desks that lifted up, and I slipped the radio in there, and turned on the volume low. I would lean down on the desk to listen as the teacher taught. Well, I was having problems hearing, so I thought that a just a little louder would help. I reached into the desk, felt for the volume button and oops. I accidentally cranked it! I was embarrassed and needless to say, I had to wait til I got home to see who won. By the way, the Orioles lost to the Mets.
Natural Snow In The NC Mountains
Not enough natural snow fell from the sky yesterday to allow for skiing. As I talked about yesterday, ski resorts had to make their own snow if they wanted enough to cover the slopes.
But it was interesting to see this early season snow fall which was accompanied by strong winds. Here is picture from the Sugar Mountain area near Banner Elk.
I haven’t found out yet if the Wooly worm predicted this! They just had their annual festival last weekend in Banner Elk.
NC Skiing Already?
I got notification from the Southeast Ski Association that a ski area is going to try to open today.
Cataloochee, near the Smoky Mountains, was able to fire up its snow making machines. Here is a picture from yesterday.
You need 30 degree or colder air to make snow in these machines. The closer to 30 you get the drier the air must be to be able to make crystals. Once the air is below 20, then it’s ideal snow making conditions no matter what the humidity. It is cold in the mountains today with temperatures in many areas staying below freezing. They even had some natural snow.
Here is an illustration of how a snow machine works.
A) A compressed air line. B) A water line. C) The area where as the compressed air expands, rips the water into very tiny droplets. D) The tiny droplets form into crystals and interact with E) Cold air, 30 degrees or below. Finally F) Snow is made!
This snow is real not artificial.
I wonder how much one of these costs?…………………………….. I looked, several thousands of dollars; and they use a lot of water over 35,000 gallons to make 6″ of snow in a 100×100 sqaure foot area.
So much for making our house have snow on Christmas!
The New Mower Flies
Tried out the new mower yesterday that replaced my 16 year old mower; I gave it back to the store where I bought it last week after a long useful life.
Well, I tell you mowers have improved in 16 years. This Honda model I bought is faster and lighter than my old John Deere. I know my old mower lost its self propelling ability toward the end, but this new goes fast. When I put it at top speed it reminds me of waking a big dog who pulls you along during a walk!
I hope to keep this mower for a long time, I just hope I can stay enthused about cutting the grass like I was yesterday. Yes, we all love new toys.
Junk The Old Mower
I splurdged in 1992 and bought a nice mower for $500. That would be about $780 in today’s dollars. Well I kept that John Deere mower for 16 years and finally it died a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t want to put anymore money into to it, so yesterday, I took it back to the place I bought it and gave it back. The mower didn’t self propel anymore and it took me a dozen or so pulls to start it. But I used it to the bitter end.
I did buy a new mower, hopefully one that will last just as long.
I did some calculations though, and proved to myself that spending more on a better mower is cheaper than paying less and having to replace that mower more often. I figured after I include maintence costs, the mower cost me about $50 a year to use. I think the neighborhood kids charge $25 to $30 per mow! I cut about 36 times during the year and I look at it as good inexpensive exercise.
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