The wind is blowing again tonight.

It's easy to forget the wind. It is mostly kind of quiet. Even when it roars, it rarely says anything worth remembering.

I moved here from the coast. Wind country. A calm day is a rare treat back there.

Here, calm is the norm. First, I found the place lacked character because of this. Actually, the lack of wind and the incessant forrest everywhere you (try to) look, conspired to give me this weird clostrophobia. I used to drive to the north, just to get a little view. To breathe.

But this holiday it has been windy. Here, that is called a 'storm'. Jeez. I could show these people a real storm. They would be scared. It seems that if it rains here, and it isn't completely calm, it's a 'storm'. Boo-hoo!

Even the trees around here are wimps when it comes to the wind. They just give up. They feel something tugging at their branches, and they go "OK. That's it. I give up." And with that, it starts to rain. Trees. Branches fall from these wusses like they are getting paid for it. I will wake up in the morning, after barely hearing the wind rustling some leaves during the night, and in the morning there will be this humongous branch, violently sprawled across our road.

I can just imagine the mounds of conceded woods, littering the streets tomorrow.

So, the all-American holiday of Thanksgiving is upon us.

The street that I live on is virtually deserted. Kind of like in the middle of the night, only with daylight. Everyone has gone to their parents. To eat the big bird. And the rest. Apparently, there are no parents living here. At least not old enough to have their children come here for Thanksgiving.

It still hasn't started to snow. By this time last year, it was arctic around here. Not that I miss it. I guess it will be white soon enough.

We have been watching the extended DVD version of The Two Towers. My wife has officially become a Tolkien nut, and we both love the films.

This edition, however, is nothing short of a completely new film. It adds more than 40 minutes to the footage, bringing the total length of the feature from a respectable 179 minutes to a whopping 223 minutes! And the additions are not some low-grade stuff either.

This is simply awesome. I can't wait till December 17!

I am getting old.

Really.

This is not because my back is killing me. From biking like an idiot yesterday. Neither does the fact that I have almost no hair anymore, at all, figure into this revelation.

However. I did figure out the other day that I am losing my hearing. On the right ear. That might have something to do with this.

No. Mainly, it is Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. I mean, I used to find this stuff funny. Beavis and Butthead were funny. Sort of. South Park was hilarious. Still is, probably (I don't have a TV, remember?). And I want to think that this guy is funny, too. It's just... Nothing is happening. I try and I try...

Is this what impotence feels like? That's probably next...

This was an excellent day. Not that there has been any lack of those for the last, oh, ten years or so. But this one was one, anyway.

First, I attended a real-life baby shower. Not one of these cozy little afternoon things, were a few friends come and have some tea. No. This was an all-out, all-American, organized, big-time Event! It had an organizer, a very surprised mother-to-be (mainly because she had attended another surprize baby shower yesterday), a special venue for the occasion (a local club house), a mountain of presents, twelve quiches, and twenty women. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Then, one of them took me bike riding this afternoon. Because, you see, Nature is teasing us these days. She is acting just as if spring was coming. So we had sun, calm, clear skies and temperatures in the fifties. And it's less then six weeks till Christmas!

Finally, I got to spend the rest of the day with two beautiful women. My daughter is looking more like her mother by the day. Which is a good thing.

Thank God for women!

A perfect day.