Labor Day...

If you look closely at the end of the log on the left you can see the remains of my early morning cigar...

...weekend.  Started this Friday morning at 5:30 with a problem from work...appropriate I suppose since we are after all celebrating labor...so I got my butt out of bed and fixed yet another problem caused by a recent operations upgrade from hell.

Since I was up anyway, I showered, padded downstairs, and spent some time outside in the pre-dawn darkness...eventually decided to enjoy an early morning fire, and shortly after sunrise, a good morning cigar.  No whiskey...yet...

So this week we and a couple of neighbors paid to have several trees removed from the property behind us that were blocking the horizon and crowding out the sun...here's the new view:

kinda reminds me of Sinatra's Twin Palms...ok, I'm reaching...

That view used to be dominated by a wall of walnut trees...now we can see blue sky and sunshine...unfortunately we can also see the outline of an ugly apartment building, but that's life in the big city I guess.

While we're on the subject of trees, here's another addition to my upcoming Halloween display:

The Tree Creature during the day...

...and at night.

If you're not a fan of Halloween, we should talk...but either way, you have to admit this is cool...I'll put a spot light on him to add to the creep factor that night.  As always our goal will be to give the little trick or treaters an old timey spooky thrill, some great candy, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A good time will be had by all...

Earlier this week I got a surprise in the mail from Bob Adams of www.RonsonRepair.com and this time he was in cahoots with Karen...sent a package to her attention, and this was the surprise:

I think Bob knows this may be the closest I'll ever get to having my own bowling lane...what a great lighter...thank you Bob!  Oh, the ashtray it's sitting on was also a gift from Bob.  Truly, he is all about his passion for collecting, fixing, and promoting Ronson lighters and related items.  Very cool!

So the rest of today will be about getting down to the Douglas / Saugatuck area, browsing the antique mall there, then bowling a couple of games at the LakeView Lanes.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about...(please ignore the fact that was a brooklyn strike...even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while...)

Later, mcm fans...