Hi neighbors. A cup of hot coffee has felt pretty good in the hands as well as in the tummy this week. I hope you have all had your furnaces checked by a professional and got your roof gutters cleaned (by your son if possible.)

I told Bill he had to clean the gutters and he reminded me we had no ladder.

We borrowed a ladder and as we were going to clean the gutters, we decided that we could avoid having to clean them each year (or at least make it easier to do) if we had gutter covers. It seemed it would be simpler to clean the gutters and apply the gutter covers as one job.

So we put off cleaning the gutters until we bought the gutter covers.

Wanting to get it done as quickly as possible we went directly to the garden store and bought the gutter covers and discovered they only had one bag of gutter cover attachments.

I pre-ordered more gutter cover attachments and once they arrived (a week later) we had company appear and not wanting to work outside and ignore our company, we put it off a few more days. Then it started raining -- and hasn't stopped yet.

As soon as it does stop raining though, we will climb the ladder (at least my son will), clean the gutters, apply the gutter covers with the gutter cover attachments, rinse out the entire length of gutters with the hose and call it done for another season.

Whew! I'm tired already! It seems life becomes more complicated than it needs to be. I suppose it has always been this way.

We just have a different set of complications now than people in the past have had. Do you think Clovis ever had to clean gutters, or ever thought of cleaning gutters?

Do you think Clovis ever had gutters to worry about? I don't. But I'm sure he had other things to worry about.

"What are you carving on, son?" Clovis asked his pre-teen son who was whittling a large chunk of wood.

"A mask of course, it's almost time for the annual "bat-chase-away-so-we-can-move-in-for-the-winter" ceremony and I want a really cool mask for it this year." He held up his handiwork and the wood did look like a twisted face with holes for eyes and mouth.

"That ought to scare them alright," Clovis said.

From the cooking fire, Mrs. Clovis had taken out several large coals and placed them in hollowed turnips and pumpkins. Many holes were carved in them to let out the light.

"Do you have your mask from last year Clovis?" she asked.

Clovis pushed aside some baskets made just for the occasion to find his mask. It was painted bright red and did look frightening.

"We'll scare those bats out quickly this year," he said happily. "Then we can move into the communal cave for winter. Many fires are warmer than one."

"Yes," she said and smiled to herself. "Many hunters are more successful than one too," she added under her breath.

Near dusk they gathered their baskets and their vegetable lanterns and joined the other groups of families headed toward the large cave they had wintered in for many years.

As they reached the cave the bats were just streaming out for their nightly feeding.

As soon as the large cloud of bats was out of sight, they all donned their masks, held their lanterns high, and entered the huge cave. It reeked of guano.

"Ok, kids," Clovis yelled loudly, "while we men chase off any left over bats, you start filling baskets." A collective moan followed.

The men rid the ceiling of bats and the children scooped up baskets of guano to take outside.

Meanwhile the women were cleaning.

By morning the cave was relatively clean, bat-free, and the cooking fires were blazing. Each family group headed back to their own cave to collect their food, clothing, tools, and other effects.

Because there was only one type of basket made, the women were very careful to make certain the children didn't pack things to take into the cave in the same baskets they had used to pack guano out of the cave. Older children did play tricks though and occasionally would put a sibling's favorite toy in a guano basket.

Perhaps this was the first cave man trick or treat? Well, maybe not.

Until the next time friends remember; things don't have to be new to be fun -- or complicated.