SPELLING BEE Time

BY BEA WESTERBERG

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk”. Thomas Edison

It’s a good time of the year to think of this guy as we begin to light up lights all around us. Yes, sometimes it does get too much and a dark night sky is a thing of the past for a lot of us.

The vacation information is all taken care of and we are back in our home zone. (Take a look at a map and see that Mexico is in the same TIME zone)! My chocolate supply is getting very low and I have ordered a few replacements online. I think the Mexican chocolate is processed differenttly as you do need to whisk or whip the chocolate mixture to get it to be smooth as we are used to here in the US. There is also cinnamon and sometimes other spices added to their chocolate.

The month of October must have been on Star Trek time as it went so fast. We did not get to talk about how beautiful the fall trees were this year. I had trees that were very colorful that I never remember having color in the 30 plus years we have lived on our site! It was nice to see the lawns covered with colorful leaves. I know that it did not make raking or removing them any easier, but it sure looked like an artist went to work and added to the usual brown colors.

The pumpkin spice everywhere happenings went on even if we did not talk about it. Right now I am finishing up some pumpkin spice tea so I don’t have to think about it in January. We still have to enjoy our Thanksgiving pumpkin pies and then maybe we can move on to peppermint and other things Christmas.

We are committed to cold weather seeing as we are in November and living in Minnesota. My neighbor Tony and 2 helpers got my Shelter Logic shelter all put up just before the weather turned cold and windy. I am storing the orange Mustang for winter but the pickup needed a nice winter home so I did not have to take snow/ice off of it every time I needed it. The shelter is 12’ by 24’ and the pickup fits in with a bit of room on each side. It is amazing how much the rounded roof design takes away usable space. We kept the concrete base from the garage that burnt down and installed the shelter on that. It’s hard to think that the area once housed 2 vehicles and a ton or 2 of “goodies”. Hopefully the garage building fairies will be back in business for 2023. If any one knows of any company willing to give me an estimate on a 2 car garage with shop space attached, please let me know! No bells or whistles, just a basic garage area. The shelter would be removed and the concrete taken up and be ready for construction.

My vacation joy was damped by finding out my well was having some issues. This was Husband Larry’s kingdom so I had to try to figure out which well company took care of us. There was nothing on the tank downstairs so I guessed, and I guessed right. They came right out and determined that I needed a new tank installed in the basement. That was a good dent in the budget, but good-by black water and no water! So I hope that if I add that to the lawnmower needing to be hauled away for repairs, the dog almost dying, my infection from the cat bit and the serious leg problem, will count for a number of years problems taken care of for years to come.

Christmas baking has been dashing in and out of my brain. I have not noticed what is supposed to be the “hot tip” for Christmas items this year but I do know that the Pintrest trending for this fall was the Donut Cake. I made several kinds and they all did really taste like you were having a donut. The apple cider one was the best. Lots of recipes on the web and none are hard to make. Some have a glaze coating and others are sugared. Enjoy!