Random 5 for November 10 – Winter, weirdness, pumpkins, nature, holidays

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The real pumpkins in the front are the ones that get attacked by the cats. (And that’s why I buy fake ones.)

It’s here – We had our first killing frost this week. My hoodie wasn’t warm enough for a quick errand. My fall jackets weren’t either. *bangs head on table* Time to bring out the warm stuff. Before you know it, I’ll need gloves!

Idiosyncrasies – Everyone has them. Stuff that is weirdly unique to you that may seem dumb to other folks. I have two. (Besides my shoe fetish.) I like soft towels and nightgowns. I switch out towels yearly and buy the best I can get. I think of myself as a delicate flower. On the other hand, the beloved husband says his are just fine. They are more like coarse sandpaper!

Pumpkins – If you read about my cat’s attack on the little pumpkins (Friday’s Sassy Cats post), it continues. Each morning there is a lonely pumpkin sitting on the floor wondering what happened. If you perchance click on the post be sure to read the poem submitted in the comments by Autumn Ashbough. Very funny.

Speaking of pumpkins – The big one on the front porch has a proper squirrel hole in the top so they can grab a few seeds for snacks. (No, I didn’t make it!) It will be moved to the back yard where they can consume it without witnesses. In the spring I will find a deflated orange skin lying on the ground. Nature’s way.

Holiday time – The mail is stuffed with delicious catalogs filled with stuff I don’t need. (This takes me back to my childhood days with the Sears Catalog. I would dog ear the papers and drool over the clothing. Sweet memories!) I am being bombarded with early “black Friday” sales offers. It must be time for Christmas shopping. Since I don’t buy gifts anymore, it’s all for me! Yay!

So what’s new with you?

57 thoughts on “Random 5 for November 10 – Winter, weirdness, pumpkins, nature, holidays”

  2. So far we haven’t had any frost. Our temps on the West Coast are a little above normal this year. I doesn’t take much of a chill for me. I take out my gloves when it’s 50 degrees.

    Pumpkins are such satisfying things–their orange color, their round shape, their ridges and bulges. A couple of weeks ago we visited the Dale Chihuly Glass Museum. Despite all the beautiful, intricate blown glass fin the exhibit, it was the blown glass pumpkin display I liked the best.

    I’m way too … what? conservative? cheap? I can’t even count how old my towels are. And yet, I love a new, soft towel. Maybe it’s time to buy some new ones.

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  3. We have dozens of squirrels in our yard at all times, but I’ve never had one even approach our pumpkins. I’d never thought about it before, and now I wonder why? But it’s definitely funny that you have to have faux for the cats! I think they enjoy conspiring to keep you guessing!

    New towels every year? That’s a real luxury and I am not that particular, but I can see how nice that would be. We do all have idiosyncrasies and when you have a preference, why not!! 🙂

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    • I follow a blogger in Michigan and she has written about all the squirrel damage to Halloween displays. They eat the corn and pull the straw apart in addition to eating the pumpkins. Maybe it’s there is more food where you are. I don’t have much damage at all. Just a hole and now it’s in the back for them to enjoy.

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  4. You have brave squirrels if they’ll come all the way your front porch and gnaw on your pumpkin.

    It started out at 52 degrees this morning. I went for a gentle jog with the long-legged dog. It’s supposed to be a low of TWENTY tonight. How do things change so quickly?!

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  6. Stay warm there, Kate! I wonder what is going on with the pumpkins? I would think either they would leave them alone or they would all be toys. Unless it isn’t the cats – maybe the pumpkins are thinking about making a break for it and they send out a scout each night to try to make it to freedom?

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  7. Mother Nature turned on the snow machine this morning – another 12 hours of the white stuff makes me weary of Winter … oh that’s right – it is still Fall. I’ve watched my neighbor’s six large pumpkins that I used for my last post have “faces” that are barely recognizable … for the squirrels, it is climb right on in and make yourselves at home … come to think of it, it is probably a little insulated and could provide shelter from this 3-5 inches of snow we will get today. I used to love dog-earing the Simpson’s and Eaton’s Christmas catalogs. I even wrote a post about it once … I was told I could pick a few toys and Santa would bring them, i.e. Mom & Dad and my grandparents … no one else as I had no more relatives. I used to get tons of catalogs and they flooded the mailbox and broke it, so I subscribed to Catalog Choice for a few years and now don’t get any … I love”The Grommet” which I view online https://www.thegrommet.com
    Every day they send an e-mail of their new fun item – I’ve never ordered anything but drool over almost every new item.

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      • When I worked, I used to order alot from Coldwater Creek, especially after Robb/I moved out on our own so we had a relaxed dress code. They changed buyers though – their clothes became trendier. I hop on their site from time to time, but don’t buy anything.

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          • I used to get some of their holiday items, some sweaters and especially holiday pins and earrings … my mom would usually order them for a surprise for me. I have a cute pair of Rudolph earrings. They are rather small, reindeer heads with red noses and their legs are attached to the earring backs so they wiggle when you move your head. At holiday times, especially Christmas, I feel badly that I chose to work from home after being laid off and then rehired later, as I had collected lots of holiday accessories/clothes over the years. I used to collect teddy bears and for Christmas one year my mom bought me a tapestry jacket (like a blazer you wear inside) that was all teddy bears dressed up for Christmas and holding gifts.

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  8. 63 here with a 59 dewpoint this morning! We haven’t had a dewpoint out of the 70s for months! I don’t get a lot of catalogs in the mail but the ones I do get have all winter clothing. You would think there was a catalog for us peeps still in shorts and sandals! I did get to wear my Tinykittens hoodie last night while we grilled. No shopping at Christmas anymore, no cards. SSNS and I do not exchange gifts. Those little pumpkins got some courage and determination!

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    • We do a few cards but less each year. No shopping except for me. I remember the dreadful dewpoints we had this summer. Often in the 70s for days. Now it’s really too dry. Bothers my eyes. Can’t win!

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  10. The temps have turned here too (though not as cold obviously), but my wife continues to believe it’s still summer. Each morning as we preparing to go to the gym, I’ve now got my thick sweatshirt on, but she goes outside in her t-shirt only. So who got a cold today? Me! Life is unfair.

    Your neighborhood squirrels are lucky. – Marty

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  11. As a little girl, I remember getting so excited when the thick Toys R Us catalog arrived in the mail. I will scan the pages for hours. This cold snap is miserable! I’m not liking it one bit and I hear next week it’s going to get worse. You’ll probably think my brain is frozen, but yesterday evening I had Derek go up in the attic and bring done all of our Christmas decorations. Now the house has a warm glow of red and twinkle lights. For me, that makes the cold all the more bearable. 🙂

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  13. Ever since we made the decision to stop giving gifts, the holiday season is so much more relaxing. That’s a great idea to share your “used” pumpkin with the squirrels but, after one dug under my blueberry cage and helped itself, I can’t say that I’m feeling all that generous. Best not to encourage its long term residency of our yard.

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    • We back up to a game preserve so we have no choice. I figured it best to be friends with them. We also have a fox family that comes through and thins the ranks so maybe we have less than other places. I tried blueberries. No matter what I did, they were eaten by groundhogs, birds, chipmunks and squirrels. Now I buy them.

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    • Looks fabulous! I bought a long one of those from Lands End a few years back and love it. I don’t get cold at all especially if I have to go out at night. I bought a “transitional jacket” from LL Bean (I love them) which I thought would take me through December. I wore it Friday night and almost froze. The temps were 30-40s. I may have to return since the prime time to wear it seems to be when I grab a hoodie.

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  17. I wouldn’t have thought of leaving a pumpkin outdoors for the squirrels to consume. That is a kind and thoughtful gesture.

    I had the same problem this week with the cold. It finally tipped the scale in the chilly department warranting the winter-weight coat. How sad 😕

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    • I’ve been known to scout the neighborhood for pumpkins (uncut with the seeds inside) put out for the trash man to rehome in my back yard. It’s written in the contract. The squirrels stay out of my house if I keep them fat and happy.

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  18. My husband and I exchange gifts but that’s about it other than a couple of close friends. We have little family and when kids all grew up that was it for exchanges. Most people get what they need all year long anyway – holidays are for TREATS! We had our first killing frost a couple of nights ago – time to clean out the deck flowerboxes………..

    Hugs, Pam

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    • My husband and I don’t really exchange gifts anymore. We tend to buy what we like and what we want when we want it. I just saw a big bag of stuff from Lands End so he bought new flannel shirts. Back in the old days, that would be a gift I’d give him. We usually go out to dinner to celebrate or cook in something decadent like lobster tails. I cleaned out my annuals a few weeks back when the weather was still mild. I’m not one to work in the cold. I get cranky (or crankier!).

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  19. Thanks for the shoutout on Mx. Pumpkin’s Courageous Rhyme! (I went with the honorific Mx. since I referred to said pumpkin as “he” and you referred to her as “she.”) Has Mx. Pumpkin withstood further attacks?

    Alas for Exterior Pumpkin. Squirrels are ruthless.

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  20. That was funny reading about the cats attack on the pumpkins. I was recently helping a customer to help boost traffic to his site , when I came across an article that explains why cat purrs are healing , it was so interesting.

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  21. We’ve been inundated with catalogues filled with stuff and more stuff. We don’t exchange gifts either, so I glance through the catalogues them put them in the recycle bin. More stuff, I do not need. The right stuff, of course, I do need and usually find it in the endless black Friday sales. That’s where the deals are in my experience.

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    • Despite not exchanging gifts with anyone, I still buy more around the black Friday sales as the prices are better, lots of free shipping and good stock of merchandise. I just bought some great top line bedding for 50% off. Most of the time the sales are 40% so in my mind I got that extra 10% (that savings will come in handy for Starbucks!) I get Soft Surroundings catalogs. If I wasn’t always in casual clothes, I would buy a lot from them. Their clothes are interesting and not run of the mill.

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  22. Those pumpkins sound like they are really getting a workout. Those will be some fat little squirrels, for the start of the Winter. The holidays, just don’t seem the same anymore, or perhaps it just me. Too much hooplah over making sure everyone gets the same amount of gifts etc.

    Me? A warm cup of coffee or hot chocolate, simple decorations, and the one/s I love.

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    • Ron, I’m a lot like you. In our family we stopped exchanging gifts when the kids grew up. I could even do without a tree (but the can’t isn’t there yet). Friends, hot drinks and a winter hunkering in works for me.

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