It's October: that means 3 things. It's Friday: you know what that means.

You're here, I'm here, outside the cold rain is dripping like misery, but it's Friday, so Johnny's here too. I kinda missed him. Thanks for reminding us to dress warm, Johnny.

Summer is over, kids. I'm as melancholy as you, I'm sure.

October means:

1) digging out the warm hats and flannel shirts. That brings me just a small comforting measure of happiness. I busted out the earflaps hat the other day.

I love flannel. For me, a good plaid flannel shirt is one of the best things about cold weather. It represents warmth and reality and signifies a trustworthy, honest person. Sounds corny, but that's what it says to me.

I'm taking any comfort I can these days. Now that it's over, I can confess that it wasn't the best, most fun summer of my life. We were totally broke, not in the "Can't afford to go to the movies" kind of way (which is why I did NOT get out to see Johnny Depp's latest), but in a "Can't buy cheese and meat in the same week" kind of way. Since I'm training myself to always look for the bright side - even if it hides from me - we did not starve. (I thank God and loved ones for that.) We are not homeless, despite not knowing where we'll be living a year from now. This past summer was all about uncertainty, but we got through it.

There were a few good things about this crappy summer.

I had visitors out to the farm. I got to use my tiny saddle on the little Lady so my friend Cute Stuff could ride her. See, I'm glad I decided to hang onto those cowboy boots my kids outgrew!

We actually did ride, but she would have been okay with standing around and being admired.

It's good to have friends over. Even dogs need friends.

We got one trip to the beach. One. We picked the only nice day in August.

September, however, was beautiful. I'm thankful for weather that allowed me to enjoy the great outdoors with my horses, and kept my kids out of the house after school.

Now it's rainy and miserable and feels like our two weeks of summer never even really happened.

October also means:

2)the Ol' Man will be packing his truck away for the winter. I finally drove it again after a few years of chickening out. If the seat moved all the way up, it would work better for me, but heck, I don't have to shift it into 5th, right? Too skeert to open that thing up and go full speed.

Like the door lock? I think my dad might be a redneck.

He's still got his winter van, but it only seats one other. I need to roll my truck down the big highway. I need wheels (under a cargo box) out at the farm. I need to do something about that highway phobia if I'm ever going to get my truck there.

October brings me a jarring change this year. I'm wandering around my house putting things in boxes. It makes the house look less like our house. My dog is following me around all day looking very confused and concerned.

I'm staring at bookshelves feeling very indecisive. Books don't belong in boxes. They need to be on shelves where they can breathe! This is very hard. I haven't even started on the bedrooms yet. I'm still fretting over books.

Know what else?

October means:

3) It's my Blogiversary.

It's been FOUR YEARS since I started this bizarre little interactive journal. Many of my readers have gone on to other things, and I've gotten new readers, and I'm still writing although finding the time gets harder.

Help me out here. What should we do to mark this occasion? What would you like me to write about? I'm overdue for another H the Heidi magazine but that's really hard to pull off on dial up. Maybe you should tell me about a particularly memorable blog post and I'll re-run it with updates and commentary. I do want to know what readers want to see. I'd be here typing anyways, but it sure is nice to know somebody's reading.

Gotta go. Boxes do not fill themselves.


ps  I pressed a few virtual buttons so that now anybody can comment.  (I think you all know who you are!)