Various comments:

1. It's quiet this morning. After three days of wind roaring through the trees, the wind has finally died down to a faint breeze. All the leaves that were on the ground in the woods now seem to be either on the fence line around the dog's yard or in a swirl around the front steps. The wind has sounded like a freight train for three solid days (which leads me to wonder what people compared it to before trains? Actually a freight train sounds like a gale running through the bare limbs of the winter trees.)
2. Somehow I didn't get the memo that the offspring don't have school tomorrow. I don't think I would have scheduled my annual poke and prod for tomorrow if I had. Maybe I can sneak in a trip to Robin's farm afterwards?
3. K is a genuine 1st soprano. This amazes me - I could never reach higher than an F on a good day - she soars to A without a stop and in an argument with her brother over who could go higher (she or his trumpet) she managed to hit an even higher C# with barely a wobble. Vocal lessons have given her the discipline and support she really needed. (He was annoyed - his highest on the trumpet was only B flat).
4. Falling downstairs is not all it's cracked up to be. The visible bruises are starting to fade and the whack on my head is almost back to normal.
5. It's a sunny day (though cold) and I want to go for a walk. Better find a new book on tape though. Hmmm. Maybe a trip to the library had best come first.
6. Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin is a fascinating book. I have to get hold of another of her books (Thinking in Pictures). Her world view is very interesting and she pulls together an incredible number of different fields in this book. I got the book out of the library because people on the dog training list were discussing it and differing from some of her opinions on dogs and I see where they were coming from, but I also see (and they acknowledged) that she has a lot of really interesting material in this book on how autistic people think and how that relates to understanding the behavior of animals.
7. The red cat has developed a habit of prowling the house when everyone else has gone. Then, having checked the perimeter, he comes in and stretches up as high as he can reach and carefully inserts his claws in my leg. Having gotten my attention, he awaits being picked up and settles himself carefully up over my chest and shoulder. One hand of mine is expected to support his rear and the other is expected to begin the patting. This doesn't leave me many hands available for typing.
8. I got an A in my latest class. I am happy.