The weather finally turned nice yesterday. Not exactly hot out there, but at least it stopped raining and snowing and the sun was actually out for most of the afternoon. Still cool in the morning though, so it was spent doing my usual routine of reading and doing the crossword puzzle. Also worked a bit on my taxes, but became stymied when they wanted some bank info that I thought I had... but didn't. Do you know how hard it is to break into your own account when you haven't been into it for several years and have forgotten all the passwords and user ID's? All that back and forth, trying to remember answers to security questions you set up years ago. It finally got done, and I think the info I needed is now in my hands, but what a pain in the butt.


    It was much better to just give up on that for the day and head out to the big city. Headed into Christiansburg for a few items on my shopping list. On top was a new pair of tennis shoes for dancing. That's right, we are headed to Memphis tomorrow for a fun weekend of contra dancing to the Great Bear Trio with calling by Nils. It's a 10 hour drive so I hear, but what the heck, great dancing requires some commitment.


   Also picked up some groceries while in town, including stocking up on a couple more corned beef briskets while they were still on sale. They may not be all that healthy for you, but it sure does taste good, and making one every other month or so should be okay. Also a few other things were picked up, including potatoes and other veggies and a nice pineapple which I hope will be ripe in a few days.


   On the way back out of town there was one last stop at Home Depot to pick up a couple of 1"x6"x 6' fence stave's. I wanted to let Rima have a look at them, as I want to use them as a replacement for some of the barn siding which is starting to rot and fall off. I also want to use them as material for a couple bird houses that I want to build. But that may not happen until the weather turns off bad again. Which is bound to happen at some point or another. For right now though, the weather outside is even better than yesterday. With any luck some of the mud will dry out a bit by noon and it will warm up sufficiently to make me want to go outside and build more fence.


   One last thing while I'm thinking about it; it has been real pleasant sitting here at the kitchen table drinking my hot tea this morning. Just outside, not more than 50 feet away have been 5 deer browsing through the trees. It seems that most are eating acorns from under the leaves, but several have been sampling small twigs off some of the trees and a couple were standing up on their hind legs in order to reach the lower leaves on some of the rhododendrons that are just down the hill. Pretty cool.