Silly Spike

Spikes 'grin' always makes me laugh. Here he's trying to act like he's not begging for the last bits of foamed milk from my coffee. 

Jim is in Indiana visiting his mother and brother. It's Will's birthday and he walked over with Dana today. He's going out to dinner with Chloe tonight to celebrate.I was so busy trying to get a picture of Blake and Spike, both watching my every move as I attempted to sip my coffee, that I forgot to take a picture of Will. I'm adding a picture I took of Will and Chloe having a light moment at Dana and Jim's 'brisket party' a couple of weeks ago. Happy Birthday, Will!

We sorted out the question of what to get for Jim for Christmas, walked part way back to their house with them and have spent the rest of the day recuperating from two dinner parties in a row. There was once a time when a recovery day wouldn't have been required, but those days seem to have have passed. 

We had a tour of the 'rock house' this morning. The wallboard has gone in, which gives it a more finished look, but also covers up all the wiring and ductwork underneath. Bart and Renee told us that there are something like 63 (!) fire sprinklers in the ceilings and a fire alarm that 'you will hear' if the sprinklers go off. The ceilings are probably 20 feet high, so I would guess the sprinklers would have to be able to produce quite a deluge just to reach a fire. Janet and Paul (on the other side) had to put in a water tank to run the sprinklers if they go off during a power outage (cutting off power to the well pump) but I didn't see anything like that that at Bart and Renee's. On the other hand Janet and Paul didn't mention a fire alarm. I don't know who makes these rules, but they don't  seem very consistent....