Friends,
I’ve been away from writing something substantial for a while, but this is just too good. First, are the delightful Thanksgiving bits. The folks, the sisters, the cutest nephew ever 
(Oh, I still win. Don’t even think about it.) and our significant others were in attendance. The house performed nearly flawlessly. The heater worked when it felt like it and the wood stove had a little smoky flue problem, but that was it! My Dad considers anything below eighty degrees to be the harbinger of the next ice age, so he was uncomfortable. I also thought that the family left too soon (Feh. Jobs. Whatever.)
Delicious food and good fun was had by all though. 
I had way too much fun with my nephew just screwing around. He had plenty of play time with everyone, but there was some very important knuckleheadedness to be done. Like this:
But back to the tradition. Last year, my next door neighbors thought it’d be real fun to burn their house down. The fine folks at the Idyllwild Fire Department had other ideas though, only allowing a minor conflagration.
This year, my neighbors across the street decided to pick up the baton with a nice chimney fire. 
And once again, the Idyllwild Fire Department had something to say about that too.
Sure, that’s fun, but what about the Tree Lighting Ceremony? Glad you asked. Here’s a tree.
More later…
– bob