Taking care of business

I took this week off to take care of things like annual physical, car and furnace tune-ups and use up some leave time.

All went well last Friday with the car and the physical. I came away with a clean bill of health from the doctor and a lower bill from the garage than I expected.

By Sunday, the car wouldn't start - wouldn't turn over. And it was a holiday weekend, so I couldn't even get it checked until Tuesday. So Tuesday morning I ended up buying a new battery.

The furnace guy came out Tuesday and informed me he had disabled the furnace (state law, I think) because it isn't safe. So instead of buying a new furnace next spring as planned, I'm buying it this week. It will be installed tomorrow. The positive angle here is I shouldn't have any problems this winter and it hasn't reached the freezing point at my house yet. I'm still in the 40s at night and 60s during the day, so the space heaters I have do a fine job keeping the place warm and I don't have to run them constantly.

Today is my birthday, and I decided a great way to start the day was at Creamer's Field for sunrise. There were a lot of geese, but I didn't see or hear a single crane. The sun was gorgeous as it hit the yellow leaves of the birch trees, and the sky was blue shot through with a lot of pink. It was a beautiful morning.

I shot a few photos, then came back home to prepare for our upcoming train trip to Denali National Park. My friend Mae and I do this trip every year, and it's something we look forward to.

I whipped up a pot of clam chowder (great lunch!), cleaned up the kitchen and now it's time to take the dog out and relax.

Happy autumn everyone.