Ups and downs

Well, a second night at 30 degrees meant when I went outside this morning, the begonias are pretty much begone and the tomato plants are looking bad. We figured we were done with them anyway, but there are a cluster of green ones that may survive to be fried. If I can find a simple recipe that doesn't actually involve doing things that the doctors don't want old coots to do -- like frying. I imagine there are baked green tomato recipes, but I doubt they will have the same zing. Tom is due back from Chicago by dinner-time Monday, so if I get home from the office in time maybe I'll do some pseudo-fried green tomatoes and do something with the pork chops he thawed for Friday but never got around to cooking. He does most of the cooking, and the least I can do is occasionally have a hot meal when he gets back from a long trip. When we first moved up here, I tried to do my share of cooking on the weekends, since I worked during the week, but I think he was not impressed with my efforts. Over time, he seems to have taken over the kitchen duties altogether. I get the clean-up, naturally, but he does the hard work of putting the evening meal together.

It was cloudy most of the day, but it got into the upper 60s and tomorrow is supposed to hit the mid-70s -- with a good chance of thunderstorms, lest we get complacent.

I went into Reedsburg in the afternoon -- partly because they have the only local public library that is open on Sundays but also to do some casual exploring for Oprah's house. I have been warned not to give any spcifics if I do find it, out of respect for her privacy, so don't go expecting a map with a big red arrow if I have any luck. I did sight a house that could fit the vague description I've heard, but I also saw lots of houses that, IMHO, indicate that plenty of people have way overbuilt, and I am not sure how much of that is ue to the mortgage situation of recent years. This is not a particularly prosperous area, but there are a lot of folks from elsewhere who built McMansions for retirement or vacation homes up here to be near the golf courses, the hunting and fishing and the water parks (for the grandkids, I assume). It makes for some interesting interactions at the town meetings, or so I hear from Jerry. You have the old farmers struggling to stay alive financially but sitting on a fortune in land value, the fairly well-to-do who want to have their own places in the country and pay low taxes but expecting a level of public services more appropriate to a city budget, and also wanting the farmers to sell land to folks like them but not to build anything on the farmer's own property (like for a son or daughter's family) that might spoil the view from the McMansions.

And here you thought it was only in places like LA that people wanted to know why we can't just all get along!