Early Fall....

Wow, what a gorgeous fall weekend we just had! The outside air temperature was just about perfect both Saturday and Sunday. The Dog and I took the opportunity to re-explore the back side of Castlewood State Park via Sherman Beach County Park near the Meramec River. It's a rather remote, isolated area of bottomland forest that is popular with mountain bikers and hikers alike. I'd last been out there in 2004, I think. It was an enjoyable few hours for me and I think The Dog liked it too. I gave her a good scrubbing after we got back home, to get rid of excess mud and any bugs that hung on for the ride home.

Speaking of The Dog, her right ear is suddenly having issues. Constantly dirty and causing her to shake her head at random. She'll see an HSMO vet on Wednesday...

I've been limping along with my spare pair of glasses for the past couple of weeks. My usual pair suffered a broken right temple and had to go in for repair. This has happened twice before (over six years) and usually it's a week's worth of inconvenience but this time they went missing for a few days so I've had to endure a while longer. Thankfully, they arrived at the repair lab today and will get fixed quickly, I hope.

The way the Cardinals limped to the finish line the past couple of weeks, I don't like their chances against the Dodgers. They either got bored and went into cruise control after running away with the division or are just plain tired...I hope they've just been waiting for the postseason to roll around to turn it up again.

Niece Lydia has started calling me 'ya-ya' or -yuh-yuh' lately. At least she knows who I am...I've been fortunate to have had the past couple of Tuesdays off so i could accompany her on her outings with my mom and dad when they kept her on those days so I think that has helped.

I finally was able to pick up a copy of "In The President's Secret Service," by Ronald Kessler. (At Borders yesterday, 20% off PLUS $5 in Borders Bucks, thank you very much!) Its first printing sold out quickly so it's been unavailable until recently. The book is basically a behind-the-scenes look at the Secret Service as told by former agents who have protected former Presidents. I just started it last night and it looks to be a very fascinating read.