If this week was a flavor, it'd be pumpkin spice. We bought some coffee creamer in that flavor for a holiday treat. If you put nutmeg in the cup of coffee with that flavored creamer, it tastes like eggnog.

At the store, this older couple (older than us, but that's not saying a lot) were arguing about what flavor of eggnog to buy. It's no longer just eggnog or lower fat eggnog - there is vanilla spice, Southern Comfort, pumpkin spice, blueberry (!). The old guy was getting mad at his wife for naming them all, waving his arms: "HOW ABOUT GOOD OLD TRADITIONAL EGGNOG?" Life has gotten complicated with all the flavor choices for just about anything you buy. I don't know how the grocery stores find shelf space for it all.

We have a bunch of free gifts from casinos and some are nice, but a lot of them are cheap junk. Furthermore, many of them sport casino logos, so they are difficult to give as wedding gifts. I'm not as picky when it comes to Christmas gifts because they can take on the air of a gag gift when giving them to someone I rarely give presents to, and don't expect any back. We have to mail a package to that family with a gift for the baby (she's about 3), so I'm tossing in a couple of things for the parents. I already sent doll clothes I made for the girls' dolls and some pretty rocks for the boys. I know - rocks is a really cheap, crappy gift, but I made corduroy drawstring bags to hold them so the boys could dump out the rocks and have the little bags. We're sending a stuffed animal for the baby. The last couple of years her mother said don't bother sending her a gift because she wouldn't know the difference. I'm sure her grandparents didn't listen to that, especially the really wealthy ones.

Yesterday I wasn't looking forward to cooking for Thanksgiving, but the idea is starting to grow on me. It's one of those deals where it can't be avoided, so might as well enjoy it.

Today I got a call from a county guy who is going to start flood repair work on the park that is adjacent to our property. His boss told him to see if I needed anything done on my land while they have the equipment down there. When I talked to her about it last March, I had a 3-foot pile of flood debris to deal with, and the only way to get to it was from the county land. I told her I would pay for my share if they could help with that debris when they were there. She told me not much chance because the FEMA money to pay for it could only be used on public land. So I was surprised to find out she had a change of heart.


That pile was 20 feet high - several dump truck loads of debris.


This is what it looked like from our side of the river - it would have been very difficult to get to it with volunteers to carry it out by hand.

Fortunately, last spring the state Department of Transportation sent equipment down there to take care of it because it could have been a threat when the river rose during spring runoff. It was at least $15,000 worth of equipment time, hauling, and landfill fees.



I'm glad I didn't have to wait all this time to get that debris out of there, and now I feel better about the county because they made the offer to help.