Saturday at the Aerie

Yeah. Winter is coming. I woke up this morning to another dusting of snow on the ground and temperature on the deck of 33 degrees. When I went out to get the mail I also emptied the rain gauge. It held 0.45 inches of water--some of which was melted snow. The sun DID come out around noon--for half an hour. Slate gray skies returned soon after.

The clocks get set back tonight. This gives the pols an extra hour to make those calls we all love so much. Even so, I'm glad to rest the clocks. I woke up this morning at 4:30 AM with congested sinuses that had me sniffling and coughing. That noise was enough to trigger the cats who insisted I get out of bed. I tried to ignore them but they would not let up and I couldn't breath very well laying horizontal. So I got up at 5 AM, got dressed, and fed the little buggers. I'm going to need the extra sleep tonight.

I'm not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or if the addition of Miss Kitteh has triggered a critical mass of catitude that my allergy pills can not battle. In any event, I've swiftered to remove cat fur from the hardwood floor and plugged the air filter in. It seems to be working. Then again, Miss Kitteh, who has taken to sitting on my stomach and trying to catch the cursor icon on the laptop screen while sticking her tail in my face, hasn't bothered me today--much. She seldom comes up to the loft where I do my TV watching. (And Julie will share the recliner but stay on my ankles. Most of the time.)

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Terry's Embroiderers' Guild event has wrapped up in Santa Fe, NM. She was on the road heading home soon after breakfast this morning and should be home late Monday unless she A) gets too tired or B) runs into foul weather. If delayed, it will be sometime Tuesday.

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Political ads....

There have been lots of them on the tube. I'm watching football games on a station located in Scranton-Wilkes Barre, you know, where Joe Biden grew up. Other stations come out of Elmira, NY. Some of the ads are for positions in Pennsylvania. A few have been for offices in New York State. Lots of them have been for president. Some observations pertaining to the latter:

• Obama ads have been on the air around here for the last two weeks. Romney ads have appeared within the last week.
• Obama ads are invariably negative attack ads. Romney ads are primarily positive and...ahem...forward looking.
• If PA--like NY--is supposed to be in the Dem's pocket, why the big push? Could it be because a recent poll has said the Tom Smith (R) vs Bob Casey (D, incumbent) is suddenly even? 
• Or could it be that someone in the DNC finally realized we in PA elected a Republican Governor and a Republican US Senator in 2010 and that the Democrats could/should not take PA for granted.
• PA was pretty much ignored by Obama until the debate debacle. Romney made a few appearances and various PACs made a push in coal and gas country, but things ramped up considerably in the last two weeks. Something tells me the race for PA's 20 electoral votes became important to Obama when he realized he would lose many of the other swing states.
• I've also received half a dozen phone calls. Three for state offices (US Senate, Attorney General, State Treasurer) and three for president. I'm registered as a Republican so it's no surprise that the calls all came from Republicans. But Terry is listed as Independent and has received NO phone calls. SHE's supposed to be a prime target. Ya think they know she's in Santa Fe?

All that said, it will be the turnout in Philly and Pittsburgh, as well as how many of the voters in the subrurbs of those cities who voted for Obama in 2008 make the switch this time that decide this particular contest--and perhaps how things turn out in the nation.

I, for one, will be glued to the TV on Tuesday night.With my friend Jim; Jim Beam.