This and that

Hi neighbors. Fall is a time for changes. How do you handle changes? I was always told that as we get older we become more and more resistant to change. I don't think it's resistance necessarily. More likely it's just that through the years we have found ways that work for us.

Once you find what you consider the "right" way to do things, other ways of doing things hardly seem worth the investigating. Is that what they call "set in your ways?" When the time changes occur each spring and fall, I find I change fewer and fewer clocks each time. Right now at least half the clocks in my house are still on daylight saving time. I guess they will be the ones to look at next spring. Now I just look at the ones I didn't change last spring so they are now back on the "real" time.

When I get too confused, I just call the time and temperature lady at the bank. She's always courteous and helpful, but not much of a social friend as she's never called back throughout all the years I've been calling her.

How are you doing with the turkey leftovers? After simply warming the traditional meal, there is cold turkey sandwiches, hot turkey sandwiches with left over potatoes and gravy, turkey casserole, turkey salad and let's not forget turkey noodle soup for the final remainders.

My daughter's dog Ziggy had an encounter with an opossum this week. She wasn't quite certain what to do about the big ugly rat-like creature that was eating the dog food she had spilt on one of her many trips outdoors. Until the possum moved anyway. With that motion what to do became as obvious to her as it would any dog. All dogs know when something moves you chase it! Luckily for Ziggy, she didn't catch the possum nor corner it under the porch steps.

The look on her face when she first saw it was a real photo moment though.

She looked like one of those ghost hunters when they hear a noise. Not certain how to react -- attack or run -- but certain she should do something.

It was obvious that Ziggy got much more excitement out of the encounter than the possum seemed to get.

Driving home the other night I noticed some Christmas lights were already up and shining. I enjoy Christmas lights as much as any decoration I know. It's a shame we can‚t use them year round.

I look forward to the lights around Radio Springs Park this year. I hope that is still something we can plan on.

For the last couple of weeks I've had car trouble off and on at the most inconvenient times. I'm very grateful Nevada has a taxi service. Like most drivers, I never think about the need for a cab, but when my car wouldn't start and I had to get to work, I was happy to find we still have a cab company in town. Thank you for being here M NOD cabs! Did you happen to catch the "Monk" special about his father showing up? It was a good show, holiday orientated, and was a nice insert into the usual re-runs. I think it will be shown again near Christmas so watch the newspaper listings.

Speaking of Christmas, if you plan on sending cards or packages to military men and women serving overseas, better get them mailed off as soon as possible.

This week would be the best time to send them. Just getting them sorted and out of the USA is the first step, but who knows what routes the mail has to take to get delivered in Iraq, Afghanistan or other places our military personnel are stationed? Until the next time friends remember, we‚ve always heard everything changes. Whether it's the seasons, the clocks or how we spend our holidays, "change" leads or chases most of us all of our lives. We are told to be flexible. However some of us are more breadstick than pretzel, and changes may have to wait on some of us longer than others.