Family time

Last Saturday was a lovely day, so we skipped out on work and had a little fun. We headed up to the apple orchard and spent a little time poking around in the woods that were pretty thoroughly washed out in this spring's floods.

It's so hard to get Kayleigh to look at a camera, and then not to make a disgusted face.

Political Sunday

We're getting close to the election. I hope you're paying attention. There's more to the candidates than sound bytes. The person we put in office does matter. Please look at the issues and where the candidates stand on them. Maybe this quote quiz (Thanks, Dorothy!) will help. Want to try to guess my score?

October

October is my favorite month. It's not hot, it's not obscenely cold. When it's not raining, it's gorgeous. The leaves are turning and beginning to fall, apples are ripe, pumpkins are ready, the farmers' market is bursting with the fall harvest, and kids are thinking about Halloween. I suck down vats of hot tea in front of the fireplace and fantasize about all the trails I could be hiking instead of doing homework. (Hi, Katy! Hi, Lew! I love school!)

You need to get your fill of fall hiking before gun deer season starts. Last November, not heeding common sense, we set out into the hills just before sunset, gunshots echoing around us. The charm of little wisps of snow floating down with the crisp, fall leaves sort of fades when you're wondering if you're going to be mistaken for a turdy point buck.

October also means it's time to turn the heat on. I think we could have suffered a little longer, but I make it policy not to bitch about turning the heat on once 10/1 rolls around. (You should hear me howl if someone dares to try to turn it on in September. Ha! Not happening. Bake a pie if you want to get warm in September.) October is settlement month with the utility company. They check our annual power use against what was budgeted, and we either get a refund or pay up. Refunds are nice though infrequent. The downside is that you don't get cheap-cheap bills in the summer when the only things running are the computer and the Wii.

The thing I really dislike about turning the heat on is the smell. All the dust that's collected since April or May comes whiffing out the register with that stale, burned sugar odor. And it's so dry. I think I could peel my face off in sheets.

Do you have a favorite month? Does it have anything to do with face peels?

Kayleigh says my name should be Jo

Last week at the paper, a friendly debate began over the phrase "openly gay lifestyle." The parties involved agreed that being gay is a fine way to be, but they disagreed on "openly gay lifestyle." Two of the three parties involved were gay. The phrase was used in the paper in a quote by a woman who disapproved of any gay lifestyle. The article was written by the gay guy in the discussion. He had no problem with it. He thought it reminded people that not all in this world are free. The straight guy didn't like it because he thought it was demeaning. The woman (also gay) agreed it had negative connotations.

They started trying to figure out different ways to say gay and straight and every other manner of sexual identity that weren't so loaded. I must say, it was rather distracting.

So I chimed in.

"What do you call someone like me who's straight but everyone thinks is gay?" I asked.

"In the closet."

"Latent."

We settled on butch.