| Nov. 30th 2002 Hello All, Well it�s the end of November already! Most of the trees are devoid of leaves. Last week we ate the last of the tomatoes we had picked green and were ripening on the counter. The chickens were turned loose in the garden for a day to clean things up and then a cover of straw was placed over the top. The end of October we had warm days and then some cold nights in the 20�s. We had some rain a week or so ago and now we are back to clear skies! The boys and I have been taking advantage of the weather and we have been cutting trees. I still have several more that must come down. The boys are such good help. We usually start a fire to burn the limbs that are too small for firewood. I make the cuts to bring the tree down and then the fun begins. Adam likes to use the machete, so he whacks off all the small limbs. Jon likes the bucksaw so he works on the medium size limbs. I follow up with the chainsaw. We can devour a good size tree in just a few hours. When Cody helps it takes us a bit longer. Jon and I went over to �Gary�s Pond� a couple of weeks ago. We have never fished it, this late in the year before so I did not know what to expect. Jon took his cane pole and sure enough he out fished me again! He pulled in 13 or 14 Bluegill! It was getting late in the day and we were down by the dam, we had been rained on earlier and Jon was wet and cold. My hands were numb, but it was a beautiful evening. Suddenly there were three or four huge �Plops� in the water about 15 feet from the canoe. I first thought Jon had tossed his line in, but I quickly ruled that out, too far for his cane pole, then I thought someone must be throwing rocks, but there is no one within a mile of our fishing hole, then I realized and looked up, and sure enough a flock of geese had just flew over our heads. They just missed us! Jon kept two of the largest fish he caught and brought them home to eat. Adam and Jon are doing great in school. They really seem to enjoy it. Adam has been doing extra credit in nearly all of his classes to make sure he keeps up his straight A�s. The past couple of weeks, between school, basketball and chores he doesn�t have much spare time. All of us boys slept in the tree house a couple of weeks ago. Temperature outside was in the upper 20�s, but we stayed cozy inside. About 3 weeks ago Jon, Cody and I went back over to our apple spot, 20 cents a pound. We brought back 90 pounds! Lorelei said that we got too many. Well we just finished the last of them this week! We have found that there is another animal that we must keep out of the apples, Buddy! He sneaks up on the deck at night at snags one occasionally. Adam has really been enjoying basketball. The team lost their first game by a slim margin and since then have convincing beaten all opponents. They have really improved! In Chess news, we have been playing at home a couple of times a week. Cody is a crack up, he really likes playing! We went to a tournament weekend before last, I took all of the boys. I wanted Cody to see what it is like because he has been hearing his big brothers talk about it and he has said that he wants to be in the tournament too. We got there and this tournament had a �Primary� division, which is K-2nd grade. Cody saw all the little kids and says �I want to play in the tournament�, I talked him out of it until next year when he is actually in Kindergarten. During the day at the tournament Cody played at least 8 games of chess. He played with me, he played with other kids between rounds and he played with his brothers. Adam won 3 out of 5 and finished somewhere in the top 20 for the middle school division. Jon�s only loss was to the eventual winner of the tournament. He beat his last years nemesis �Wild Hair� Craig Cheney, and took home a 4th place trophy in the grade school division. It was a fun day. Lorelei is also learning to play. She is doing fine, but she feels intimidated by the whole thing. She and Cody are a good match for each other. I came home from work the other night and Cody climbed up on my lap to tell me about his day. He tells me that Mom has been teaching him about money. He says �a nickel is 5, a dime is 10 and a quarter is 25� I say �wow Cody that�s great!� He then gets a twinkle in his eye and asks �Dad how many is a credit card?�. Oh life through the eyes of a 4 year old! Well we made it through Jon�s B-day. Lorelei�s is next week, then Adam�s and then Christmas! That�s about it for now. Glynn Jr. |