Greetings and HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Not much planned for the day.  Build some shelves for the new shed,
sink a few more screws into the shed frame/floor articulation, go to K-
MART ($3.99 cans of coffee today only), and have a stray over for
dinner as Jan and Binkey are in Iowa.  Dinner tonight will be grilled
cow flanks, not my first choice (or second, or third) but appropriate as
Ron stayed in the house during our trip to Ithaca and Sophie (a dog)
confiscated his steak in a moment of his inattention.  He had been
between jobs for a while, behind in child support and some other bills,
and generally at an ebb when he came to MoDOT and the cow flesh
was the celebration of his new life at MoDOTUS IDIOTIUS.
Apparently, Sophie was quite taken with said food group.  I wonder if
he will know what to do with an artichoke, being that he hails from
Iowa.  We will be drafting an article over dinner on an unusual
archaeological feature and determining the analysis protocol for
30,000++ chert flakes found in a 10 x 10 x 10 cm zone within a 6,000
year old pit....  happy happy, joy joy.

I hope the coat of paint on the shed floor had time to dry before
freezing.  The days have been in the upper 50s though the nights sink
into the 20s.  Cold, clear, and moon bright.  A few hale greens are all
that survive in the garden.

Somehow, Sophie managed to find a freshly painted shed surface.  I
had not noticed it but it was a latex redwood and a neighbour inquired
as to how she had cut her leg.  Out came the comb!  More than one
kind of snarl!

The Gov gave state employees tomorrow as a holiday.  He always
does this but he typically would not announce it until the end of the
24th because it saved the state money if you were not a gambler as a
prior vacation request for the day took precedence over a last minute
holiday in most agencies.  Part of the trend toward "warm and fuzzy"
to allow the state to compete with Ben and Jerry's ice cream, etc.  Flex
time, cafeteria plans, matched contributions to investment portfolios-
who knows maybe telecommunting  and virtual environmental
compliance will be next!

Not much else is underfoot for the day,

Best

James