There was an overcast much of the day, and though it is thinner tonight the moon still wears a haze-induced halo. The night has rapidly grown very chilly, and the furnace is running more and more often as the night proceeds. I guess we're lucky that the onset of cold was delayed past the middle of November. Had it started earlier I'd have gotten a much stiffer utility bill this month. As it is, it was only a bit over sixty bucks, which is not bad for late autumn. I'm unlikely to be so lucky in December, though. Or January or February, and perhaps even March.
I've got some stuff for the oven, but will have to work out the right schedule for it. There's a large frozen lasagna which will have to serve for two meals, and some frozen ziti for two more meals. One or the other will be for this week, but I haven't yet decided which. Tonight it's just going to be a ham sandwich, because the package is open and the stuff will be going bad if I don't eat it now. It's the last of the warm weather meals. There are always fixings for a couple of those left at the time the cold sets in, but after tonight I'm looking forward to nothing but hot dinners for the next few months. They make up for having to wear more layers of clothing.
No rain is predicted until a week from today, and the chances then are 50%. After that we will probably get the first freezes of the year. At least half the oak and walnut leaves should be down by then, and the first freeze will probably bring down most of the other half, especially if we get a bit of wind. It's the heaviest raking time of the year. The mulberry leaves will start falling about the time the oaks and walnut are shedding the last of theirs, so there will be no real raking respite until late December. But by January I should be able to go into virtual hibernation. I'll crawl under a pile of blankets and come out as little as possible until spring. Unless we get one of those nice winter heat waves when it gets up into the sixties. I'll come out for that.