Carter has leapfrogged all other priorities, though. His latest enchanting things are eating rice cereal (with a spoon!) and approaching outgrowing the sink for baths. He's getting to be a pretty big fan of propping himself waaaay up with his arms and sticking his neck waaay out and looking around and giggling. Very cute. Many mornings I check on him before leaving and find a babbling baby boy kicking around his crib not caring one iota about daylight saving time.

I care about daylight saving time because we're now into the days when I don't see the sun except through the occasional window. I remember this from Webb days; the tail of my first semester was dark for a lot of reasons but I distinctly recall answering the dinner bell in the dark and wondering how I was going to last two more months. Incredibly I've been to Pella, Inc, in Pella, IA, since last time. This was a work benchmarking and ERP trip and it was awesome. Plus, Steve served as hometown guide and took us to the original grill-your-own steakhouse: Rube's in Montour.

The intervening weekend saw the removal of the garden and other seasonal trimmings. I filled the Vibe with grass and tomato vines for a very comical trip to the composting center. We bid adieu to potted plants and the trunk-like brussels sprouts. I mowed the lawn one last time and marveled at the fact that it still isn't dry - since June.