It has been a gorgeous autumn here in the heartland. I heard it reported yesterday that it’s been the warmest November on record through the first week, and I can believe it. Nevertheless, we can feel the premonition of winter in the north wind. This week we’ve been getting ready for it.

I spent some time early in the week putting decking in our garage attic and yesterday began taking long term storage there. I mowed our lawn for the first time yesterday. It’s looking pretty good. See the picture below. It didn’t really need it except in a few spots, but I ran the mower out of gas for the winter, which needed to be done. Wendy started getting Christmas decorations out. It will be our first Christmas in the new house and she’s excited to make our home merry and bright.

We also got a couple of matching area rugs that arrived on Saturday. One for the living room and the other for the back hallway. They look great. We’re prepping for an Open House and Stock the Bar party scheduled for Friday evening, November 20th from 5:00 p.m. to whenever. We’re inviting people to stop by and see the house. We’ll have light appetizers and those who wish to do so can bring a bottle to share and help us stock the bar. There will be more details on Facebook later today.

On Friday afternoon Wendy and I paid a visit to the Frelighs in our old house on Columbus. They have done a ton of work to our cute little brick house, and it looks fabulous. When they first toured the house Wendy had a Costco death by chocolate cake out for some event and Peggy commented that if they bought the house the cake was part of the deal. So, Wendy and I took one over for afternoon coffee time.

Suzanna came home from Cedar Falls and we went to see The Aadams Family musical in Knoxville. A few of our USP friends were in the K-Act production and it was fun to see the show. Last night Taylor, Suzanna, Wendy and I sat down to a wonderful family dinner. Wendy made her Italian chicken and pasta, we opened a wonderful Italian red, and stoked the dining room fireplace. It was nice to sit and chat. The “if” question of the evening was “if you had to choose a famous couple to raise your children, who would you choose?” The answers included Chip and Joanna Gaines, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.