On Monday I got very ambitious, what with the nice weather and forecast of colder weather later in the week, so I decided to do some fall chores I'd been putting off. Nobody really enjoys washing windows, right? But I was inspired - especially by the dust and fly specks that had collected on my office window even though I've washed it frequently over the summer. Being a southern exposed window, it collects all sorts of critters this time of year looking for their last warmup.

I can't reach the top of the window in front of my desk without a step-stool, so I grabbed our short one in the kitchen - a miserable piece of equipment that is known to have an appetite for fingers - and before I could stop myself, opened it from the wrong side and it caught the tip of my finger even as I was trying to snatch it away. I don't remember what I said, but I bet it wasn't pretty. Nobody was around to hear - Fred had gone to work on the pontoon boat at camp.

Long story short, I plunged the finger into icy water, muttering at the stabbing pain and decided to just bandage it to stop the bleeding and get on with the windows. It worked out pretty well since the damaged finger was left hand ring finger, but it's surprising how many times a sore digit can be accidentally bumped. I got the windows done, and when Fred got home, he did the outsides of the ones I couldn't get from inside, and now we're finished.

Doing the windows started me back on the window quilt project, partly because I know time is getting short, but mostly because I couldn't type with my sore finger. I got quite a lot done, and will work on them again today. The finger is much better, but I expect I'll lose the nail. No big deal, but I was amused that I'd worked for weeks moving heavy stones around for my garden patio and walkway and fully expected to crush fingers at least a couple times, but finished unscathed, only to get pinched by a kitchen step-stool I'd opened thousands of times without incident, having learned the hard way years ago. Such is the nature of household accidents, I guess - they happen when you least expect, and often by carelessness or rushing.

When Fred got home from working on the pontoon boat, I asked him how it went - expecting the usual just fine response, but instead I got - if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have had no luck at all. So of course I couldn't very well launch into how I'd pinched my finger in a careless moment, could I? He said he jacked up the boat trailer to try to drain the pontoons of some water he could hear sloshing - something that happens over time and he's gone through the procedure any number of times over the years without mishap; but when he tried to lower the thing, it locked up and wouldn't budge. No big deal except that's not the way you want to leave the thing for the winter.









Yesterday he went back and worked on it with Jamie and Will (who lives at camp) and after unloading the boat and working with lubricants to free the seized mechanism, they were successful and the boat and trailer are set for winter.

Today is partly sunny - lots of clouds, but every now and then the sun breaks through. The temperature isn't moving up much, though. I'm not sure if we had a light frost last night or not, but when I reported precipitation (.04) at 9 a.m., the thermometer was at 39 degrees. Now, two hours later, it's only at 42. I've ordered a new thermometer that will record the high and low temperatures, so once that is in place, and I figure out how to work it, I will have a better handle on just how cold or hot we are around here. I am also going to set up a measuring stick for snow depth this year. I used to have one - a yard stick I could read from the window with binoculars - but all too often it got buried, so I haven't used it for a long time. I think I'll use a piece of PVC pipe and paint the numbers on it. I'm sure I have scraps of it that will be tall enough. I need to get going, though. We're expecting "a trace to 2 inches" later this week. I don't expect the ground will be frozen too hard to dig to set the post, but it will be better working conditions if I get it done soon.