Feels like I'm back in the saddle getting this thread started before noon.

We had dinner on the patio last night just because it seemed like it might be the last time for the year in our little Indian Summer warmth. It might have been. But we weren't mentally prepared for it to be dark at 7 pm. My mind isn't going to give up on summer easily.

Down here in Florida we are dying for summer to end. Usually it goes through October with one or two days of reprieve here and there. It sounds good if you hate the cold but it is pretty much the same from April-October and after living here 29 years it does get tiresome.

We biked both Saturday and Sunday. Loving my new bike!

Good morning! Pretty decent weekend here. DDs are cutting their first molars so the past week has been not great in terms of sleep, but they're finally over their cold at least. A has been coughing some still -- seems to have started after the cold ended, so I'm a little concerned. If it doesn't get better in a few days we'll take her to the doctor.

Speaking of doctors, it occurs to me that my doctor retired and I need to find a new one. Also need to get my medical records from them so when I do find a new doctor I can transfer them. Sigh. I hate going to a new doctor because I have no way of knowing whether they'll be okay or terrible, and I've had too many bad experiences with primary care physicians here. The topic came up this morning because DH hurt his hip a little while back and it's not better yet, and I was thinking maybe he should see a doctor about it but then remembered we need a new doctor.

In other news, I'm pretty sure we have a few reliable words from my girls now! "Hi" is pretty good, and "bye" happens occasionally. "Moo" and "baa" are becoming reliable with photos of cows and sheep, and I sometimes hear "mouth," "dog," and "all done." C has figured out that if I ask her a question and she nods her head something happens, though I don't know that she really understands nodding means yes (this morning I asked A if she wanted more raspberries, and C started nodding even though she had a pile of raspberries on her tray already). A has very particular sounds she makes over and over that don't sound like any real words. I wonder if they're her approximation of a word and I just can't understand it. She often points to things in books and says "wazza!" and I'm not sure if it's "what's that" or just miscellaneous vocalizing. It usually alternates with pointing to other things and saying "showsh!" which is pretty much nonsense as far as I can tell.

Fall is in the air here. There is a chill in the air when I go to retrieve my newspaper in the morning. I think our low was 67 last night. It was enough to allow my evaporative cooler to vary off during the night (which caused me to be a bit warm at 3 AM).

We had our monthly Wine Women dinner last night and I feel as if it was a success. I had only one appetizer and didn't stuff myself at all. The plates are generally small in the first place but I did not fall into the clean plate group and neither did DH. It was a fun evening.

The in-laws return on Thursday so we'll be busy most weekends with them for the next many months.

Jessica-- they sound adorable!!
Wazza sounds like "What's up!?".... hilarious!

My friend had a baby on Monday and I went to visit on Saturday. I held him for over an hour while he slept. So sweet. Newborns are so tiny!

It's fairly cool today but summer is going to make one more appearance later in the week with highs back to the 90s. I love summer so I'm happy to have the warm weather.

Dh finally returned from China yesterday. Very jet lagged. We started talking about possible trips over my spring break in April. We are thinking of another cruise but to a different area and on a different cruise line. We'll see.

We are going to visit a breeder on Saturday. Not to get a puppy. Just to meet him and his dogs, and get some information.

Bill, stay in that saddle! I'm noticing the encroaching darkness too - though ours leans more to the morning. 6:45 at the bus stop is pretty dang dark now.

Cal, I've always thought of Florida as a lovely place to visit ... and I empathize with the Snowbirds. I could easily see myself being one someday. At least you're able to get out and pedal. Hit any palmetto bugs yet?

Jessica, I don't envy you the doctor search. Mine has decided on an early retirement instead of succumbing to the new regulations; the doctor I had before him is willing to take me back but he now has a four-month waiting list, for the same reason. Grrrrr. I love the baby stories - it makes me remember vividly the neat things DS was doing at the time!

Allison, congrats on the control. Wine is deadly to my determination, which is never particularly strong against tempting foods anyway!

Michele, I'm also contemplating possibilities for April. DS's break is April 3-13. It's way past where I'm getting to the lunatic I-hate-winter stage (mid/late Feb), but it's the only long opportunity to get out of town and find some sun and sand.

We're having an outstanding run of weather. The stuff of which Michigan fall tourist ads are made. Our bees must have loved it too - DS pulled off just over 70 pounds of honey from the strongest hive. That's about double we had last year.

Do you use all the honey you harvest, or do you sell it? Do the bees have a particular nectar source? I see "clover" honey and "wildflower" honey so I'm guessing the bees are in areas with a lot of that stuff--or is that just marketing hype?

Becky, that's so great about the honey. I'm obsessed with local honey. My DH has a client who sells honey who lives only two miles from my house. Ever since I started eating a T of local honey each day I've had no allergies! When I went to California this summer I made my DD buy me some local honey out there before I arrived. I always tell my students who are having allergies, which is generally late January-May, eat local honey!
I haven't hit any palmetto bugs but there is this one mile stretch on the trail where for some reason there are hundreds of grasshoppers. It is so scary. They all hop on the trail, which is black top and some seem to burn up or die on it, others are mating and others are hopping. Sometimes they hop right in front of me, I hate it! They are huge! I keep wanting to take a video of it because it is so unbelievable but I'm scared to stop, lol. Plus we are flying through there. Also, you end up running over them and it makes a loud crunch.

Sheila, the spring honey here is mostly tree pollen. It's thinner and a light flavor. Fall honey, this stuff, is heavy on the goldenrod, darker and thicker. Bees generally forage in a 5 mile radius, which where we live means wildflowers and trees (and our garden and fruit trees!). We give a lot of it to friends and family as gifts - a few people have had such drastic reductions in their allergies that they are now paying us for it to guarantee they're on the top of the list. Honey's a huge commodity right now - you have to be really careful about where you get it from. Much Chinese knockoff in the stores that's been found to not even be honey. We have been thinking about tilling out one of the back acres and planting buckwheat for the bees. Buckwheat honey is amazing and complex ... plus mead makers will pay a fortune for it, upwards of $20/lb.

Sharon, I'm glad honey works for you! And high fives from me on educating your students about fighting allergies with something besides drugs. Yuck on the grasshoppers.

My SIL recently started beekeeping. I think her dad has done so for years so she's familiar with the process. I think this year they just got two jars full of honey. But they've also expanded the hive.

I love this cooler weather! I think the high yesterday was 97 or less. So refreshing!

Those are the lubber grasshoppers, I would guess. They are very big--about 3 inches long. They only live in the Southeast--their northern limit is North Carolina. I like them, but not in masses. I once saw a whole bunch of babies, maybe 8 or 10, walking forth from where they had hatched--they look just like the adults, only smaller. I cheered them on.

Palmetto bugs are native to Fla. and are also known as the Florida woods cockroach. It's a different species from the American cockroach that often lives inside houses. Big things also, both of them. You don't want to smash a palmetto bug--they are also called the skunk cockroach.

CalCounter, are you anywhere near Wewahitchka, home of Florida Tupelo honey?

After many months I'm back! I had a very busy and stressful summer as I had a full-time classical radio job in Aspen Monday-Friday and then some 50 weddings in Denver dispersed over most weekends (a 3 1/2 hour drive each way, each week). Amazingly, I managed to lose 11 pounds just by exercising hard (there's a bike ride at high altitude with a 1600' ascent I did almost daily) and being too busy to overeat.

I was good through most of September, but as soon as the weather began to cool a few days ago, I began to overeat! Time to nip this one in the bud toute suite so here I am back with my old friends.

Today I promise to be disciplined.

In the meantime, Karen and I are still insanely busy preparing for Choctoberfest, the big chocolate festival October 17-18. We have almost 50 booths, mostly chocolate, so that weekend I will give myself a break from my discipline... except I can't eat so much I go into a fog when I have to take care of thousands of customers and dozens on vendors!

Good to see you, Chris!

Looks like you're doing well!

Chris! Good to see you.

Bill, can you fix the title of this thread? Should start September 29.