My four I think were $3 each last year. I ended up thinning them out of the pond at least 5 times over the season. The garden center I go to had them, but I asked the guys and they both agreed I shouldn't get them yet unless I intended to bring them in if the temps drop

Maples are the worst. I too have thousands of those things coming up EVERYWHERE. Get them right away and they are so much easier to pull up. I am green with Envy. That must be a beautiful First Frost. I bid on one, on one of the hosta auctions, but was out bid seconds before it closed :(. Next time..:) Alexis

Not quite as cold here, but the temps did drop 20 degrees overnight with blustery winds. Poor ds10 had a soccer game this morning, his last one of the season, and the temp was in the 20s with a wind chill factor in the teens. He is "guest playing" for another team who didn't have enough players for this tournament, and dh was the one who wanted him to play. So you bet I pulled the covers over my head this morning when the alarm went off and let dh take him to the game. He had to go out and buy ds some Under Armour cold gear tights to wear under his shorts. He needed them anyway...tomorrow night we are surprising our boys with tickets to their first NFL game - the Redskins vs 49ers. Just our luck that it's going to be bitter cold and the game doesn't start until 8:45 at night. We won the tix at our school auction a few weeks ago and it will be a dream come true for them. Living in the DC area, they are Redskins fans (poor kids!) but dh is from San Francisco, so they are also huge 49ers fans. And to top it off, the husband of dh's coworker is a retired DC cop who used to do security on the sidelines so he has offered to try and get the boys on the field, on the 49ers side. It's not guaranteed but he's been able to do it every time he's offered the opportunity to anyone else so they will be in heaven. Anyway, I will be happily ensconced on the couch at home with my daughters in front of a roaring fire, toasty warm, while they freeze their buns off. Hmm, kinda like right now...sitting in my warm house smelling the aroma of the pumpkin bread dd and I just made, while dh heads home from the game.

Well, here it's raining. In the 40s tomorrow, then down to 17 tomorrow night, so I'm assuming it'll be slick. This was a couple of years ago, we can pile up some pretty impressive snow but we have experience and equipment, so we're good at moving snow and getting around in it. That's our old truck, a full size Chevy Silverado with a "crew" cab. The problem with putting oil on the weatherstripping of the doors is that if you then rub against it while getting in or out, you get oily spots on your clothes. (yeah, ask me how I know) WD 40 and PAM both work too, but can degrade the rubber weather stripping. Rubber conditioner is really best if you want to treat the rubber weather stripping. My problem is that water gets into the locks themselves and then I'm heating my key, or using Lock-Ease. The Enclave does have heated seats, and I have a garage, so I can start the car, turn on the seats, go inside and have a cup of coffee and then leave after the car warms up nicely. It also has all wheel drive to get me though most of the navigable stuff and the old farm truck is 4 wheel drive, of course so we're pretty prepared, usually. So we're enjoying the break, but it'll only last until tomorrow, then it's back to normal Michigan winter, it looks like the 20s in the day and single digits at night for another month or so. Annie