Growing, Autumn and Voting - It Was a Busy Wednesday

It's 5:00 am, pouring rain, and DH has already bustled into the computer room to grab the flashlight and umbrella and go outside to take a look at his drainage, trying to make sure it isn't overflowing or doesn't need tweaking in any way. Of course, he also scattered the last of this year's grass seed on the bank only two days ago, and a good rain may well sweep all of that away with the water. I'm hoping not, since we're not going to buy more grass seed until next Spring. 

We've talked about using a grass seed blanket 
on our slopes, but they're expensive. So we still 
bought grass seed to scatter instead. We might 
look at a blanket for some of the steeper slopes 
next year, but for now, we'll stick with the 
old fashioned way. 

I took the time yesterday to fill out my absentee ballot and then drove over to the Library to turn it in. The line of people waiting for early voting was quite long - it's nice to see that people are still concerned with democracy and anxious to have their say in the direction of the nation and the state. Fortunately, since my ballot was filled out, I was able to go right in, show the election official my sealed and signed ballot envelope, and deposit it into the locked bin for ballots. I picked up an "I Voted" sticker for November and headed back out. 

I've voted Absentee before and always feel pretty comfortable 
with the process. The ballot is exactly the same as the one 
I would fill out at the precinct. I filled it out, folded 
it back up, and put it into the "Secrecy Envelope" which 
then got sealed. That envelope then went into another 
envelope which identified me with a unique ID, and 
I also had to sign that and provide my ID number 
(in this case, my Driver's License number). At that point 
I could have put it into the final envelope and mailed 
it back, but I felt better about actually dropping it off. 

My grocery bill yesterday was slightly over $100. ACK! But understandable when I looked back over the invoice and realized I had spent $20 on grapes and $10 on blueberries, not counting any of the other groceries I had chosen. I do love my fruit, and this late in the season, I'll be getting my oranges soon, which will have to carry me through until April or May. I'll pay for fresh fruit when it's the good stuff, and the grapes (which are washed and in the refrigerator waiting for me to indulge) are absolutely lovely - large and sweet. I'm hoping my weekly shop will be a bit less later in the Fall and into the Winter. 

I adore fresh blueberries. I have them with my morning 
oatmeal, and often on my evening salad as well. The 
berries I got yesterday were HUGE! Soooo tasty! 

I spent the rest of my day doing boring things - housecleaning (not too much this time, I was still a bit overdosed by my marathon cleanup on my sewing closet), laundry, and grabbing the chance to weave another row when I could. I probably should have washed the kitchen floor, but gave it a solid brush instead. I was running short on time by then - needed to get the dinner into the oven and wrap things up for the day. I think I ended up getting at least five rows woven. I have a total of 900 threads for the shawl, and I finished the first 100 yesterday at some point. Progress ... LOL. 

I took this very autumnal photo of my front yard fencing 
yesterday to share with all of you. I just love the colors 
I get during this time of the year. 

Have an excellent Thursday. It sounds as if our rain has already passed over and we're back to silence once more. DH said the drainage was working well, except for pine needles, which we can't really do a lot about. He's concerned about the drip line on the back of the shed, but hopefully it will rain again during the day today and he can get a better look in the light. I hope your day is one of fulfillment and happiness. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of "Random Thoughts". LOL