I want to write about addictions. Why? You ask. Well, I was sitting out in the garage smoking and drinking my first diet pepsi of the day. It is 39 degrees here in Central Wisconsin, and the winds are blowing at 17 miles per hour. I got to thinking, I had to put on a second layer of pants, my hoodie, and then my Winter coat, plus gloves. I also was wondering where I put that box of hand warmers, you know the ones that you snap and heat up, then you put them in your gloves or mittens. So I got to thinking about addictions. My addictions actually. I only know that for years I have drank diet pepsi. It used to be diet coke but I developed a huge reaction to some ingredient in diet coke. I have smoked cigs off and on for years. I have in the past stopped smoking for over a year a few times. I do drink a hell of a lot of water. Last Winter I reduced my intake of diet pepsi to on 12 oz bottle of diet pepsi. Randy buys me the 8 pack of those little bottles. So last Winter I was doing very well at my diet pepsi addiction. I smoke way less cigs in the cold, snowy months here. I feel that I should do better. I also want to write about how long I have played FarmVille on FB. I started playing FV on FB just a few months after they introduced the game. So officially I began playing FV in 2010. Recently, FB announced the FV will be ending on Dec. 31st, 2020. I accept this. I thought that I would be a lot more upset about FV ending. Not so much. This surprised me a bit about myself. I have spent hours upon hours on FV. I have enjoyed it very much. FV has helped me pass time especially in the long, long snowy and cold Winter months here. FV playing has helped me through times in my life when I needed a distraction to my reality. So needless to write here, I am proud that I am not so bent out of shape about FV ending soon.

On other news, I need go to my dental check up, cleaning, and x-rays. I still can't believe that I didn't have any cavities. In fact my dentist complimented me about how well my teeth and gums were looking. We did the happy teeth dance.

I have come to the acceptance that Mike Gates, my neighbor across the road probably won't show up here this year. If he shows up that will be nice. I won't hold my breathe. The other day, over by his flower garden and where he planted his two blueberry bushes, I found a large pile of bear poop. It didn't look older than a week to me. So I went into my granddaughters woods and scouted around looking for more bear poop. Remember on June 25th, a black bear tore down, bent way out of shape all the bird and suet feeders. He only left the thistle feeder. There are signs that there is a bear still around. So every morning when I open the South drapes here, I am relieved to see the feeders still up and not on the ground. When I bike and am out walking these days, I am on alert for the wandering bear. Right now bears are super eating in prepping for their Winter sleep.

I don't have much of anything else going on here. It is useless to even try do some raking here today due to the strong winds. The great thing is that it is sunny out. I still have some flowers blooming in two flower pots. I bring them into the garage each night. I try to keep them alive until early November. There are millions of ladybugs here. Peace.