Hey, WendyPete:

Good to see that you dropped by. We did see a couple fine snow flakes yesterday, but it isn't that cold here yet. The fall colors are at their peak around here, so driving in the country is breath-taking, especially late in the afternoon when the sun is low on the horizon. That seems to bring the colors to their full brilliance.

Speaking of getting an early start on the holidays. They had Christmas decorations on display before they had the back-to-school displays up. August? It's time for the pre-season sales. Christmas, that is. When I was growing up, there was an unwritten agreement that no Christmas decorations in stores would go up until after Thanksgiving. Now, the Christmas season is as interminably long as the election season over here. Funny thing is, I've completed my Christmas shopping already, so that I can try to get beyond all the jingles and stale Christmas songs (Jingle Bell Rock, anyone) and focus on the Reason for the Season.

Today we were out shopping(Ruth hasn't finished her shopping, yet.) While she was at the checkout counter, I saw what looked like Easter Bunnies, wrapped in gold foil. I said to the woman at the register, "Please tell me that these aren't Easter Bunnies..." She said, "Oh no, they're reindeer." They'd drawn what were supposed to be horns on the Easter Bunny's ears and magically transformed them into Rein Bunnies. Rudolph the Rednosed Rein Bunny. Maybe we could come up with one irritating song that could cover all of the seasons.
Rudolph the red white and blue nosed rein bunny. That would take care of Christmas, Easter and the 4th of July. Then, they could put a feather in his antlers to symbolize Thanksgiving.

I think I've stumbled onto the greatest potential growth industry in the world!

Jerry