The Latest Belated News From Here

Sorry for the long lapse between these blog postings. It's been a very busy time for Michelle and I. In the last two months we've had to deal with the herculean task of post-Rita cleanup, followed by insurance and home repair issues, holiday preparations, and all the rigmarole associated with our impending wedding. Christmas is coming, sales are up, and I've been working overtime as usual. Hopefully things will eventually return to normal. Maybe sometime after the wedding...

Tomorrow a tree service is coming to remove a couple of trees from our backyard. One is still standing, but its top branches are broken and hang over the house. The other is a big oak that uprooted and came down on our back fence. After the trees are removed we can have our fences repaired and our cable TV and phone lines hung (they are connected but lie on the ground now). Allstate had initially been rejecting claims for fence damage and tree removal, but recently changed its position and will hopefully pay part of our expenses.

Bird activity has been low, with little news to report. In November a Selasphorus-type hummingbird (Rufous? Allen's?) was coming to our feeders. Yesterday I again saw a hummingbird briefly visit one of our feeders, but it sat on the far side of the feeder and I wasn't even able to identify it to genus. Haven't seen it come back today. A cold front has moved in and it's very chilly outside. Already some of our tropical foliage has withered. I'm keeping the hummingbird feeders up in case our little friend decides to stay for the winter.