We had our first frost of the year here at Chippewa Pines last night, and it was a heavy one, with grass all white this morning. So Dad and I spent the morning doing getting-ready-for-winter chores: Bring in the hummingbird and oriole feeders, put the canoe up in the barn, move the weed whacker out to the barn and the snowblower up to the garage. I'm hoping the guy who installed Dad's new generator gets back out here before I leave, as it's already not working, dang it.
Not only that, but Big Red, the three wheeler that Dad depends on to get around outside, is on the fritz with its brakes frozen up.Gotta get that guy out here too, and my gosh, I've only got 10 days left here! The time has gone fast.
Dad has two cordless phones that haven't worked in years because the batteries won't charge. I found out today it would cost more to replace the batteries than to just buy a new phone! I think I have convinced him to put the new phone within reach of the chair where he spends most of his time, instead of having to haul himself out of his chair, into his cart, and over to the kitchen phone, which is currently the only working phone in the house.
Yesterday Dad and I took a long drive to look at the fall color. It's about at it's peak a bit north and west of here now, and I'm sure last night's frost will move it along here.
We got home about dusk, and as we turned onto our road, we could just barely see three bicyclers ahead, in dark clothing with no lights, no helmets. We passed them and then stopped to get the mail, and I waited while they rode up: Two 12 or 13 year old girls and a maybe 9 year old boy. I asked them how far they had to go, and they said quite a ways. Turns out they were almost 8 miles from home! I told them to come on up to the house and I would drive them home after I dropped off Dad. But how haul them and their three bikes? I could get the bikes in the back of my car but then no room for them. 40-year-old Jeep pickup to the rescue! It started, somewhat begrudgingly, we threw the bikes in the back and the four of us crowded into the front, and off we went, hoping not to pass any police cars.
Their story: Parents were away for the day, due home pretty soon. Kids had decided to ride bikes to visit Grandma. How could Grandma have let them go riding back into the dusk? Kids seemed really nice, happy, well cared for, etc, but still I lay awake worrying about them and wonder if I should have stayed with them until their parents came home. But didn't really want to get the kids in trouble either; I'm sure they will think hard before doing this again. I hope I did the right thing.
Watched Faux News this morning arguing with itself over whether the security on the new Iphone is a good thing or a bad thing. It's interesting to me which side they will come down on: paranoia about the "bad guys" being able to keep secrets from the government, or paranoia about the government being given more power to spy on us. As good capitalists they can hardly be against Apple satisfying their customers, can they? And yes, I know just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
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