The changes that autumn brings

I really enjoyed this brief narrative that was on the back of our church bulletin yesterday. I thought I would share it here -

IN Ecclesiastes 3:1 we read, There is a . . . season for every activity under heaven (NIV). A lone dove eats beneath the feeder; close in, the grass is green and needs mowing. The trees are dripping; the sun is bright, misleading of its warmth. Beneath the fence a still blanket of pale green frost stretches. A trio of crows crosses it. It turned cold overnight; our neighbor's once green corn is now brown. A cardinal acts as if nothing miraculous were happening. This is the second night of autumn; the third day. The land gets ready for sleep.

Thanksgiving is three weeks from today

I've been so busy with daily gift basket orders and Christmas gift basket orders (Yes, large orders are coming in early - which helps the customer and us tremendously) that I had not realized how early Thanksgiving is this year. Abraham Lincoln set the time for Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November in his Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1863. The news that Thanksgiving is coming early also means that another unofficial holiday is coming quick as well.

Black Friday.

Yep, the day after Thanksgiving sales are generally referred to as Black Friday. Find out the lowdown on Black Friday at www.squidoo.com/black-friday. You'll see a crazy video of how not to act when the stores open their doors as well as a Top 10 List of how to make the best of shopping on Black Friday. There are also links to some Black Friday ads that have already been posted online.

We will be unveiling our Christmas gift baskets next week so stay tuned for some great deals on gift baskets

The Ada Witch

Happy Halloween! Enjoy this tale from Ada, Michigan about the Ada Witch. I came across it at a Squidoo page (not one of mine ;) ) called - Halloween Ghost Stories. You might want to check that site out as there are plenty of kid-friendly stories too.

Finally turned my furnace on

I am marking October 23, 2007 down in my personal history books. In the four years since we have moved in to our current home yesterday was the latest I have ever turned my furnace on. We have yet to have a hard frost and the last frost of any kind we had was around the 20th of September. It's hard to believe we had a couple of inches of snow on October 12 last year. The last day of October is one week away and we have yet to even have a decent frost. Don't get me wrong, we are picking tomatoes out of our garden at the latest point ever. Normally at this time of the year the garden is dead and we've pulled out all of the plants.

I don't want you to think I am an advocate for Global Warming. I am not even sure Global Warming is as significant as folks have touted. When the people touting and promoting global warming are telling me to conserve energy and not rely on oil are flying in private jets and traveling across the country in caravans of SUVs I tend to not listen to their message. You have to walk it if you are going to talk it.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the news that I finally had to turn on my furnace.

Mild winter predicted for Michigan

You can take this with a rather large grain of salt, but Accuweather.com is predicting above average temperatures and around normal snowfall amounts. Don't go betting the farm that you'll be saving big bucks on your heating bills though. I don't put too much stock in the forecast for an entire season. There could be a month or so stretch of bitter cold weather such as we were blasted with last year. Sandwiched between super mild weather we had a mean go of it for 6-8 weeks.

This is disappointing news for my 3 year old and other snow lovers out there. It will be devastating to the winter tourism businesses such as ski hills throughout the state. Especially businesses in the U.P. who rely on snowmobilers to ride their trails, buy supplies, and stay at their hotels in order to stay in business.

Detroit News Article