Fall Tidings

We probably experienced peak fall color here in Eau Claire this past weekend. The vibrant reds, oranges, rusts, and yellows really stood out, especially during the sunny interludes we had this weekend.

Sunday the kids and I drove to Cornell, to visit Jon's parents, and even that short distance north noticed there's considerably less foliage and color than we have here. So now we approach that gray, gloomy part of fall that sets the scene for Halloween...

I saw Jon's mother in Eau Claire on Friday. Her daughter Ann brought her to an eye appointment here and, as I don't work on Fridays, the three of us were able to meet for lunch.

Jane has had problems with one of her eyes for years now. She's been taking three different kinds of drops to keep pressure off her eyes and prevent glaucoma, but the specialist she saw this week thinks she already has glaucoma. She's having surgery for it this week (possibly tomorrow; Friday at the latest) to try and prevent things from getting worse. Hopefully things will get better for her; keep her in your thoughts this week.

Jon had to work this weekend but had a few days off last week, due to rain. The positive thing about him working so far away is that sometimes the rain they experience at his work site doesn't make it all the way to Eau Claire, and he's able to get things done around here. The weather cooperated enough where he was able to tear the shingles off our garage roof. Right now there's paper on one side of the roof and tarp over the other; but hopefully in the next week or two he'll get it shingled.

An assessor from the bank came to our house Friday. We want to know how much our house is worth now so we have an idea of what our equity is. We'd like to buy a piece of land in the country (and yes, we have a specific piece of land in mind). We should find out later this week what we're working with. Our fingers are crossed!

I also had a doctor's appointment on Friday. I thought I was having an ultrasound, and even dragged Jon along with me, since he happened to be home. But my next ultrasound won't be till next month... November 23rd, I think. So we have to wait a few more weeks before finding out if it'll be a boy or girl. Very disappointing. I know I knew the sex by this time before, with Mikey and Emma. But both times they warned me it was too early to be sure and they weren't promising anything. Oh well. At least we were able to hear the heartbeat and verify that things are still proceeding normally.

The other day I saved a bunch of photos taken from John, Don, and Laurie's blogs (Bill, I'll get to yours next!!). I saved them on the hard drive of my computer, then burned them onto CDs. Then I had photos developed from the CDs. The photo quality was a little off, but not that bad, and thanks to you guys I have a bunch of nice pictures of our recent visit to Madison and new nephew Stephen. (Our digital camera decided to croak during that visit). So I'm very pleased and have a renewed appreciation for our blog efforts!

We are excited that Laurie and Mark will be visiting us in Eau Claire soon, for a Friday to Sunday visit. Jon and Mark will do some hunting on Saturday, and hopefully we will all be able to do some fun autumn things (pumpkin patch and possibly a haunted house?). Should be fun...