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Halloween Recap

Here's one thing The South has over The North:

When it comes to Halloween, no linebacker princesses!

(i.e. extra large princess costumes on top of puffy down coats!)

Of course, when the Hubby goes all out for the Best Costume Award,

there's nothing cooling him down, either!

I, on the other hand, sacrifice a recycled costume in exchange for NEW BOOTS!

It is Red RIDING Hood, after all!

I love our neighborhood tradition of gathering for appetizers before the Trick-or-Treating begins.

There's always something for everyone!

As it turns out, some of the kids don't even need costumes.

They've grown so fast......

they're nearly unrecognizable!

So stop growing up.

I love you just the way you are.

I want nothing more than to hold your hand .....

..... just a little bit longer.

We came home from our 1st Grade Back to School Splash around 9:30 PM and were so tired, we could hardly move. Rather than just go to bed, however, we stayed up another couple of hours and watched "The Tourist" because that is the logical thing to do when you are so tired you can't even get up off the sofa. Around midnight, when my husband let the dog out one final time, he called me to come and look at the bright midnight sky. The sky was so bright, it was hard to believe it was the middle of the night. So I went back in and got my camera, because taking pictures at half past midnight is the logical thing to do when you are so tired you can't even stay awake for the last ten minutes of a movie which stars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. But at least I got to share these beautiful, midnight clouds with you. And that, to me, seems completely logical.

This is Minnesota

This is Minnesota. When I first arrived here in late June, the locals were complaining about the cold spring and the day's high temperature of 59 degrees. Complaining about the cold, it seems, is yesterday's news.

Today we're enduring the heat. Having lived in The South for the past 12 years, I thought I knew what heat was. Apparently, I did not. Apparently, I had to come back to Minnesota to figure that out.

Today we set an all time Minnesota high dewpoint of 83 degrees. That is the temperature at which condensation on your windows and glasses will occur. It's also as low as the thermometer is going to get tonight.

Combine the forecasted high of 100 degrees fahrenheit with a dew point in the 80's and you will come up with a heat index of well over 120 degrees. If you don't believe me, you can figure it out yourself:

$\mathrm{HI} = c_1 + c_2 T + c_3 R + c_4 T R + c_5 T^2 + c_6 R^2 + c_7 T^2R + c_8 T R^2 + c_9 T^2 R^2\ \,$

where

$\mathrm{HI}\,\!$ = heat index (in degrees Fahrenheit)

$T\,\!$ = ambient dry-bulb temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit)

$R\,\!$ = relative humidity (in percent)

$c_1 = -42.379 \,\!$

$c_2 = 2.04901523\,\!$

$c_3 = 10.14333127\,\!$

$c_4 = -0.22475541\,\!$

$c_5 = -6.83783 \times 10^{-3}\,\!$

$c_6 = -5.481717 \times 10^{-2}\,\!$

$c_7 = 1.22874\times 10^{-3}\,\!$

$c_8 = 8.5282 \times 10^{-4}\,\!$

$c_9 = -1.99 \times 10^{-6}.\,\!$ ]

I'm not kidding. This is the real formula.

Who knew all those weathermen had to know so much calculus?

In simple terms, it means that walking outside will rival walking through the rain forest.

Only instead of Tarzan and monkeys and vines, there are cornfields.

Cornfields that are blanketed in a hot, sweaty haze.

What they say up here is this: If you don't like the weather, just wait a few days.

Or wait six months when it will feel 160 degrees colder!

Strawberry Picking

I LOVE my sister-in-law, Janet. We go together like peas and carrots or peanut-butter and jelly or spaghetti and meatballs. (I would definitely be the meatball!) We think alike.

So when Janet apologetically asked me if I would be interested in going berry picking, my immediate response was - YES!! And since strawberries were still in season, we packed up ourselves, two minivans and the seven kids between us and drove to the nearest berry patch.

I've been dreaming of going berry picking for approximately seventeen years. Seventeen years ago I actually lived just 1/2 mile from an apple orchard with a berry patch. But did I ever go berry picking when I lived just a brief walk away? Of course not. Going berry picking required me to move across the entire country, have four kids and then fly 1500 miles back (with nothing but carry-on luggage!) Of course, one can go berry picking in The South. I have just two words to say about that. TOO HOT!!