Well, Friends...

 I have been busy trying to stay calm until at least after the election.  It has become easier now that I automatically shut down the annoying political commercials.  Won't miss those at all!

I think what amazes me the most is that so many running for office seem to think that the ones who might vote for them are dumb as a box of rocks.  Which tells me politics has nothing to do with the care of citizens and everything to do with money and power.

So, until the votes are counted (Does anyone actually believe elections are fair anymore?) my time is filled with things that make me happy.

I just love retirement.  After years of working jobs, sometimes more than one - kids need to eat so we do what we need to do - I am enjoying this time immensely.  No alarm clock.  No spending time doing things I dislike.  OK - there is still mopping floors and laundry.  But I get to decide how to spend my time.

Right now, my kitchen table is covered with file folders and manila envelopes full of genealogy paperwork.  Found my mother's high school diploma from 1942 and a postcard written by my dad to his mother in the middle of the Depression of the 1930's, letting her know that he and his brother had found work picking up potatoes from a field in Montana.  When work in northern Minnesota couldn't be found, they rode freight trains west in search of a way to make money for the family.  Found a letter written by my paternal grandmother, describing her encounter with a black bear while in the woods picking blueberries.  (She ignored the bear and exited the woods slowly and quietly.  Me... probably would have run away, screaming!)

Many would find this activity dry as dust, but I love the research about ancestors.  I find that my adult children seem to be a bit interested as well.  And a granddaughter was asking about this, so I have hope that my family will find it interesting.  They should know where they come from.

I haven't abandoned preparing.  Earlier this week I cooked up some odds and ends of poultry and pork that were languishing in my freezer.  My grocery order for next week includes veggies to add to the meat to make 'meals in a jar.'  I love having the jar meals on hand so I can just heat up the contents and dinner is served.  Think this time I will cook the contents together, cool and freeze in quart freezer bags.  I am pretty much out of shelf space for jars.

And I have rambled on long enough.  Sometimes these posts are more like emails between friends.  Take good care.  Stay safe.  Things might just get crazier when the election results are in.  And may God place a veil of protection over all of you.