Winter, Ducks, Dave and Jack

It was a nice day yesterday, getting into the low 70s ºF again.  Last night we went out for dinner and I wore just a tee shirt and jeans comfortably.  This morning I wore a winter jacket and gloves to go shopping as it was below freezing and hasn't gotten much warmer since.  Quite the temperature change in just a few hours, more evidence of climate change in Wisconsin, I guess.

The gutters are cleaned and the garlic is planted, so not much else to do yet for winterizing.  I still have leaves to deal with, but mowing to mulch the black walnut leaves in the back and being down to just one maple tree out front means there just aren't as many leaves to deal with as there used to be.  Depending on the weather, I may collect what leaves I can out front to mulch and put in the flowerbeds or I may just mow everything and be done with it.  There's not enough to worry about even if it snows and I don't see those leaves again until spring.  Things have certainly changed in the last decade or so.

The creek is low, but the ducks get fed by some neighbors across the creek.  I expect most to be on their way south soon, but inevitably some choose to stay the winter.  Why?  I just don't know.

Neighbor Dave called me over a week or so ago to catch me up on what's been going on.  This last summer he was laid up with a torn achilles which has since healed, but he still had that rattle in his lungs and lost breath easily.  The doctors have recently determined that he has lung cancer, though they won't do a biopsy to verify.  They've not given him a timeline, but he is now on oxygen and is in hospice at home.  He has a hospital bed in the front room he sleeps in now and needs oxygen 24/7.  I've agreed to help him in any way I can, but it sounds like he has good support with his kids, nurses, and meals on wheels stopping by almost daily.  Still, I will take care of his garbage, putting it out to the curb and bringing the bins back in, picking up his sticks, clearing his snow as I did last year, and anything else he may need.  Even watching for where his newspaper is in the mornings and putting it in his door if it's not put on his top step where he can reach.  He's been a wonderful neighbor to have and I don't look forward to losing him.

Mr. Jack O. Lantern is still around, but barely.  After Halloween I put him on the stump for the critters and they have been steadily eating him up.  Shortly after, I put the trail cam on the fence facing the stump so soon I will hopefully put together a video of it getting eaten up.  I've not checked any footage yet and probably won't until it's mostly gone, currently about halfway there so maybe next weekend.

Today is Veteran's Day here, so if you served then thank you for your service.  This hasn't been a day off for us in the past but work has changed up our holidays with more of the federal holidays off instead of the religious holidays, which only makes sense.  Some good games on this weekend and a trip down to Mom's again tomorrow to keep me busy.  Have a good weekend, everyone.