Day 21

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
6:34:57 AM

Waking up this morning wasn't as easy as it normally is. Suffice to say, the word 'normally' has its own relative definition lately. At any rate, I can definately feel winter settling into the mountains. I expect to see snow here within the first week of December, if not sooner. The nights are dipping down to just below the freezing level now, and although the days are still inching up to the mid-60s range, the length of time it stays that temperature is shortened daily.

Yesterday, Jerry finished washing down the rest of the windows, and I cleared out the planter beds and prepared them for a spring planting. We're thinking that Nasturtiums will be a nice addition to that pile, especially when the planter boxes are repainted and filled with a good solid mixture of top soil, peat moss and potting soil. The looser the soil in those pots, the better the Nasturtiums will grow. Eventually, we'll need to set a trellis in, so that the plants will not inch their way up into the Pine tree that hangs slightly over onto the side of the property from Gene Schutt's house. It's a gorgeous tree, but none the less, a tree, which can still be easily killed off.

I'm also considering planting some sort of Hygrangea bush set along the back side of the driveway. There's not but a stone wall there, and given the fact that it's not much more than a total eye sore, it needs something other than rock, rough concrete and weeds. Then there's the issue of painting the house itself, which will have to wait until the late Spring time. This will definately be a challenge, considering the fact that the back side of the house almost completely hangs over the bank of the river. We've chosen to repaint the house white, but give it a 'face lift' by using a dark/slate blue color called 'Sea Star'. Then, once the main highlights and trim are painted, we're going to add several nice Victorian looking corner decorations to each section of the back porch, as well as peak decorations to each peak on the roof of the house. Those will be painted to match the trim coloring. Then, the planter boxes will also be painted to match that color, as well as the window trim of the front door.

Jerry keeps insisting that we have to have a Stainless Steel kick plate for the front door. However, given the fact that everything else is brass coloring, the silver tones of the Stainless Steel will be a bit of a off-set as far as cosmetic appearances go. Hopefully, we'll be able to talk him into the Brass coloring. Granted that will have to be replaced, where as the Stainless Steel will not have to be, but time will tell on that one.

Mom kept talking about having the drapes in the living room dry cleaned today. That's just not going to happen. The last thing we need to worry about right now are drapes. She's pushed Jerry into getting in contact with the school for a job, which now they're wanting him to make a contract bid on it, and even then, the school has to come up with the money to do the job. Jerry's got this idea that it's going to get him in aroudn 2500 - 5000. He says that 'in the big cities that job would get beterrn 5000 - 20,000, depending on the size of the school itself, and the amount of time it would take to do that kind of a job'. Good thing we're not in the big cities, or else he'd never get that job. As it is, the school here is aching for any help they can get. They just hired a new cook at the school, and she's still having to work part time at one of the local inns (The Riverside Inn) as a maid.

The people up here that make the most money either own solid businesses, and/or work for Cal-Trans (the state). The retired people up here that have their own homes and live comfortably have been the ones who have been lucky enough to have had solid long term jobs throughout their lives, and have been blessed with good retirement packages, solid stock dividends and a touch of a good inheritance from their relatives long past.