I have to say, we've had extraordinary good fortune with service people over the years.  Today kind of tops everything, though.  When Fred tried to shut off the water to our outdoor faucet for the garden hose, it wouldn't shut completely off.  We delayed doing anything right away - no big deal until it gets really cold.  But last week he called Bourne's to see if someone could stop by at some point.  They set up an appointment for this afternoon.  A very nice young man came, decided on a fix, but turned out he didn't have the replacement valve needed to do the job, so he called the office and set it up to have someone else come on Wednesday.  That was fine - no hurry.  About 20 minutes later Bourne's office called and said a man could come in about half an hour, if that was ok.  He did - the job took less than 15 minutes, and the new valve is much better than the old one - problem solved!  We've had that experience with these people before, both servicing our boiler and with plumbing jobs.  The work is always top notch, the workers always friendly and very  professional.
     So in spite of having a rainy, gloomy day, it was productive.  I've been researching and writing all day, with just a break at lunch to walk.  I started off thinking how mellow and warm the air was - and half way up the hill it began to rain.  By the time I'd finished climbing the hill it was pouring.  I didn't linger, but still got kind of wet where my wind breaker left off.  Not a big problem since it was about 55 degrees.  Now it's cooling down (43 degrees) and we're going to have clear, cold weather for a few days, according to the forecast.  One of these days it's going to be snow . . . but in the meantime, it's pretty typical dreary November, except warmer than normal.  Enjoy now, pay later.