Freeze Warning

6:18

6:19

7:54

Well, we did not have a frost this morning though tomorrow it may go down into the 20's early morning.  When I woke up at 6:10, it was 33º out but now, at 7:30, its warmed up to 44º.  We should have a couple of cool but sunny days ahead of us, perfect for working in the yard.  Our lawn needs cutting and we have lots of seeding to do in our backyard which was torn up last week to get our water line fixed.  I have a few trips ahead of to pick up topsoil. Good news at 8:30.  I have spotted some purple martins.  Either they just awoke or just arrived but I can hear their songs and see them at a few houses.

Yesterday was back to routine for us, a leisurely morning until about 10:30 when we drove to the Chautauqua Institution, to perambulate the the rapidly greening grounds.  It was a chilly morning and we brought gloves as well as hats which we needed.  We ran into Linda and Ron, who also take Sunday walks at the CI and returned a film to the library.  We cut our walk short because we have not been used to walking lately and wanted to get home to breakfast.  I can hear lots of sparrows chirping in our bushes but not purple martin songs yet, alas.

While Evie fried the bacon and eggs and made the toast, I watched Ohio State's Men's Volleyball team win the NCAA championships.  Interestingly, Ohio State has two players from France, as collegiate volleyball, like basketball, is getting more and more international.  Breakfast was tops and we watched our usual, CBS Sunday Morning.  Just before we finished up, we watched Saturday nights SNL skit, mocking Morning Joe.  It was hilarious, as the cast got both Mika and Joe down.

We were having Ron and Linda over for a Sunday dinner but for once, it was a fairly easy Sunday dinner.  We had read about the most popular recipe on the NYTimes, a chuck roast recipe called Mississippi Pot Roast.  It's made in a slow cooker and basically all you do is brown the meat, drop it in the slow cooker, add a packet of ranch dressing and au jus gravy, 8-10 pepperoncinis, turn the slow cooker on and eight hours later, you have a delicious dinner.  So we had a easy afternoon, watching some TV and I finished my book set in Vietnam, A DANGEROUS FRIEND, which I really enjoyed.  I was tempted to get outside and start throwing dirt but tempered the urge and kept reading.

Around 5:30, Evie prepped the salad, asparagus, and I washed the potatoes, getting them ready to be mashed just before dinner.  Linda and Ron arrive just after 6:00 and we then spent the night listening to lots of Neil Young and talking about the progress of their new house, the ups and downs of being able to see it each day.  All four of us really liked the pot roast which Evie pulled apart with forks before serving it on a bed of mashed potatoes, so it's a little like pulled pork, only beef with a different flavor.  We ended dinner with brownies and ice cream and talked until  it was close to 10:00.  We rinsed a few dishes but left them for this morning.  I started a new book, MATTERHORN, a very different Vietnam novel, set among Bravo  company in the highlands of Vietnam, in other words, a soldiers' view of war.