Yeah yeah YEAH! Another week in heaven! Grillin' stuffs, sitting on my duff, drinking a couple sips, scratching dog ears, and petting cats. I expected this week off but it was not offical until a few minutes ago. So far it is mostly good. Not doing so good on my chores... the truck is still dirty. Down to my last two gallons of apple/blueberry wine. Homemade with no sulfides so it is drinking down fine without the pickled tummy feeling. A trip to the city to visit a friend that was struck blind this year. So glad I had time to go visit. A bit frightening to see FoMoCo report such devestating losses. Part of me wants to laugh because the auto industry worships incompetence and part of me is worried about the loss of such a large customer. I made a couple extra years of wages working overtime building Ford parts so it would be sad if they failed. Just turned down a day shift job leading a new Ford truck product line. It should have been a prize line but current economic conditions just don't look good for it. My garden is not doing so well. Deer raided most of the veggies. A young doe with three fawns hanging out in the front yard. Don't know if she adopted some or actually had triplets... twins are common. Cross your fingers Jessy and we might have some tenderloin for you this year. It was so dry last month. I watered but it is not the same as a good rain storm like we had this last week. What is left is growing strong... lots of cayenne, habenera, and serreno peppers. Some yellow tomatoes and the Romas are growing strong. Biggest plant and most interesting is a volunteer squash plant. Looks like acorn squash but I'm not certain yet. It seems to have sprouted on its own but may be a prank from the teenage girls next door. Last year they went around my fields planting sunflowers... their mom narked them out. Real joke is I'd probably pay them to go out and plant birdfood. I don't get the humor but I'm very pleased anyway. Off to make some kombucha tea. Never tried it before so it will be a new toy. : ) lyra

Nancy's post reminded me of how my sister-in law (a nurse) got hired from hospital to corporate nursing job--better pay and much better hours in this case. Someone she had worked with in the hospital moved to a position with a large company in town. They were looking for someone to fill a position and SIL's picture just happened to be in the paper for winning a trap or skeet shoot. Friend clipped the photo for the bulletin board and a light went off in her head. Why not call and see if she was interested in the job. Heck yes! So, hey, you never know what contacts or exposure will lead to a job. Glad to know both your stories have happy endings, Auntnete and Nancy. Nancy, I was just about to mention that home prices here in Rochester are pretty stable and reasonable compared to most of the country. And I'd be glad to let you know what areas are more desirable and those to stay away from, but really glad you don't have to move. That's the best possible outcome.

christine1950- I'm including a link for applying bubble wrap to your windows for additional insulation in the winter, using nothing more than water from a spritz bottle, so it's easy to do and completely reversible. We've been using this tip during the winter for a number of years and getting great results. Our home is 7-years old and has energy efficient windows and we can still tell a difference - especially the bay window in the dining room when we sit down to eat. Tips about using this method.... -Cut your bubble wrap just slightly smaller than your window. If the bubble wrap is a little too generous and is larger than the glass, it will quickly get air under it and begin to pull away from the window. -Check your bubble wrap occasionally and spritz it with water again if it's pulling away from the window. -If you have hard water, use distilled water for the application. Hard water contains minerals that can actually etch your windows. -Bubble wrap with large bubbles works the best, but we have plenty of windows that have bubble wrap with small bubbles on it. -Check furniture stores for a free or cheap source for bubble wrap. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Bubble wrap window insulation

Here's a few additional pics of the space to give you a better feel for it as a whole!