The cold front is moving in, with promises of a hard freeze, first of the season. Last night I couldn't sleep for worrying about whether I drained the sprinklers adequately. All those warm days we've had when I could have done it, but for some reason I never got around to it. Not that I have been so busy, it was just easy to put off.

This morning when I got up it was warm, about 39 degrees, so we weren't even close to a freeze last night. During the morning it actually got colder than it had been overnight. So that was my reprieve, and I didn't squander it, spent a couple of hours blowing out the sprinkler system and all the loose hoses. It's amazing how much water a garden hose can hold.

One year when we were working on the sprinklers we found a dead mouse in one of the pipes - I guess he was running along and came to the valve and couldn't figure out how to back out of there. No wonder that particular pipe was flowing slow.

Here is a note from Mr. Troutbend. I think a lot of people have some Clampetts in their neighborhood.
"Since about the time you left here, I've noticed a chirping sound when I'm outside. Finally figured out it's coming from the Clampetts' house next door. One (or probably two, judging by the intervals I'm hearing) of their smoke alarms needs a battery and they're too stupid to change it out. How can they stand it all this time, or get any sleep at night?"