Hurricane Epsilon is still churning in the Atlantic. It poses no threat to land at present, but the cooler temperatures should have slowly sapped its strength. Its baleful eye glowering at the satellite is forecast to finally weaken and die over the next two days, but so far it has defied predictions confidently given by the meteorologists.

The Congress is mostly churning over the liberal attempt to rewrite history about the Iraq war. It's like they think we won't remember how many of them agreed that Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction and voted for the war. It's like they think we didn't hear about the truck convoys going over the borders to the neighboring countries while the weapons inspectors were stalled as much as Saddam could manage it.

They seem to be hypnotizing themselves into implanted memories of an alternative reality. I sometimes wonder if they have slipped over the edge and actually live in it, which would be nicer than saying that they are lying as they keep claiming about the President since he keeps repeating the facts as the Democrats proclaimed them before the war. The political fog is as thick as ever over that august body.

Our local radar map is spattered with gray blobs threatening an early snow or sleet storm. We should know by tonight just how bad it might get. If it is an ice storm, it could do some nasty damage. There is enough moisture in the air to cause considerable precipitation.

The cats are bitterly complaining about being kept inside so much of the time. We refuse to stay up all night to let them run in and out trying to find warm weather again. We had another frost last night, but that didn't stop them from going out repeatedly until about midnight when Mom put her foot down and refused to humor them.

The air is clear again. The fall haze freezes out as outdoor life goes dormant for the winter. There are still plenty of leaves to rake, but the yard is opening up to winter sunlight as the tree canopies thin. The red fringe tree is a blaze of crimson glory in its sunny corner.

The houseplants have made the transition to indoor life. I have a few cabbage seedlings under the grow light from an experiment to grow a few for greens indoors. It is almost time to start more for the early spring garden outdoors. We're not far enough south to garden outdoors in the winter, but gardening basically slows for a few months instead of stopping completely.

I'm still working on Mom's Christmas present. I've got enough yarn that I might be able to turn the stole into a capelet. It is undergoing the usual design meandering where I can't quite decide what the project is going to be until it is declared finished. My projects get finished a lot faster when I use someone else's pattern, but the meandering ones are more fun.

The Christmas boxes are on the way here. There is a box with some Homer Simpson slippers for Steve. He loves watching "The Simpsons," so Mom decided that would be a funny present for him. They are put on by sticking your feet into Homer's mouth. It is going to be interesting to see what he has to say about them.