F'd up Halloween

1. In Davenport they trick-or-treat on the 30th
2. Miner bit/scratched (it happened so fast, we couldn't tell) a kid.
3. Kid is fine.
4. Skin was broke, but bleeding stopped quickly
5. Animal control was called
6. Miner is on in-home quarantine until November 9th

feeling pretty good

I went to Jazzercise today. Feel pretty good about myself. I actually made it all the damn Celine Dion outer thigh routine that always kills me. It's an oldie but a goodie. So, I don't feel too bad about having 1/2 a box of mac and cheese for dinner. Too tired and the taco meat wasn't thawed.

snow, kind of

Sunday night, and again yesterday evening, we had our first snow flakes. I am not even sure they touched the ground. I still think our first full-on snow will come after November 5th. That's my prediction.

Heel

When you jog/walk with the dog and he won't heel, just move the collar farther up on his neck. He'll make himself heel if he starts to take off. About 15 minutes to go 3/4 mile. It's a start.

Blustery Day

Is that a word? Blustery? Anyway, it's super windy here and there is a chance of snow tonight. I pulled the last of the green tomatoes off the vine and cut the plants down. It's too windy to mess with raking leaves, so that will have to wait for another day.

There's a pile of dirt and rocks on the concrete next to the garage. It's left over from the flower bed building. A friend gave me a 5 gallon bucket full of irises that her neighbor divided. 2 or 3 months ago, I planted the ones that looked good and healthy and tossed the rest on the pile. This morning, I noticed that there were about 6 or 8 of them that had sprouted up. So I pulled them out of the junk pile and planted them. Who knew a pile of dirt, rocks and dead house plants sitting on a concrete slab was a fertile environment for bearded irises. We'll see how they survive this winter. Worst that could happen is they don't make it...but they were free, so no huge loss.

"You can't stop me"

OK, so for a guy who has only ever been in academia, the guy teaching my statistics class is actually quite good. As he's lecturing he will define something to be true (what normal distribution is, for example) and says, "I'm defining this...you can't stop me." Maybe it's a "you have to be there" kind of thing, but it happens nearly every class and always elicits giggles from the class.

"Look, people, this isn't junior high, OK?"

...was what the guy teaching my statistics class said when he was talking about our grades last night. Meaning, the complete grade for the course will be on a curve. As far as the mid-term goes, I got a 43 out of 60 - which incedentally was the median. And I got an 85% on the group project we turned in 3 weeks ago and have 95% or better on the three homework assignments. Though, the 4th one we turned in yesterday I am still not too sure about. But whatever, in general, I am still feeling good about the class and not freaking out.

So Confused

We covered some new stuff in class last week that isn't in the text book. Which sucks, because I have to rely on my notes for making sure I understand this stuff. So, I sent an email to the prof. and his response got me even more confused! So, I asked some more questions. His response to that one started with, "Take a deep breath." Damn, how's he know that I need to be reminded of that?!

Fall is Here

As much as I hate winter in the midwest, I LOVE fall (and spring, too). Summer was strange. Rainy, so it screwed up the timing on vegetable gardening. It's been cool, then warm, then cool again. Amazingly, the $0.40 geraniums I bought from Km@rt are looking awesome.


And the front door is all dressed up for fall, too. (Note my reflection - I've started wearing overalls when working in the yard. An homage to Grandpa.)


Finally, a photo of the massive entertainment center that took over our basement for at least a month. I think David did a great job, but then, I am biased.

Dag Nab It

Still no midterm grades posted.

Midterm!!

Today was the midterm for my statistics class. Shawna and I studied most of the day Saturday and then I studied again on my own last night. I spent most of my solo study time reviewing what we did Saturday and making my "notes pages." We got 3 sheets (both sides) of notes pages. I only used 2. My plan was pretty simple:
1) Don't get cocky
2) Read the whole question before I start thinking about a solution
3) Don't freak out.

Actually, that makes me think of Erin and John's rules for Owen.
1) No running
2) No screaming
3) No running
They really should add "no freaking out." It served me well.

New Curtains

So, there was a window treatment sale at JC Penny, and I took advantage. I do have to say that the lady was very helpful in helping me pick a good color. What do ya think?