There has been plenty of time to indulge in our favorite outdoor hobbies - maybe hiking in the woods and enjoying the changing colors of the leaves or perhaps just road trips with the motorcycle to see what other parts of our state look like.
Whatever your choice of fall activities this year has been a gift for the outdoor lover in all of us.
Looking ahead at the latest weather reports it sounds to me like fall may actually be morphing into winter. No big blizzards (yet) but cold temperatures and even snow in some parts of the state are coming down the pike. Perhaps this is a good time to look inside for a change.
I don't mean meditating or contemplating your navel, I mean inside your house.
Every year around this time I try to take a good look at my supplies - not just the "oh my god the world is ending" selection - but also the "how long could I have decent meals without going to the store and where the hell are all my flashlights" area.
I am making the assumption that you checked for soon outdated supplies earlier in the year - and hopefully donated the ones close to the "use by" date to a local food pantry. It'd be a shame to let them go to waste.
That being said, did you replace them? Yeah, you know: did you get newer versions of the things you had to discard or donate? So there isn't a big gap on the shelves where you keep extra supplies.
If you are still trying to remember if you replaced the staples you had to toss, that means you probably didn't. Admittedly the owner of the shelves in my example is set for beer for a while (although I do question his/her taste) but otherwise not in such good shape.
So take a few minutes to look around at what you actually have and make a vow to fill up those blank spots on the shelves. It's a wonderful smug feeling when the weather turns to crap to be able to be confident that you and yours will continue to have the meals that you are accustomed to. That you won't have to try to explain that it's actually a new cholesterol lowering diet and they can learn to love oatmeal - several times a day - for several days!
Or, worse yet, that fried mush is actually something you have been meaning to try for a long time....trust me on this one I speak from an epic fail!
There is one outside thing to address - throughout the year I try to keep my car at least half full of gas but in the colder weather I pay extra attention to it. If for no other reason that a full gas tank prevents the condensation that may, in a real cold snap, end up freezing your gas line and you will go nowhere! I don't really expect the emergency of having to get out of Dodge at the drop of the proverbial hat but then, the definition of "emergency" must have the word "unexpected" in it somewhere.
And, by the way, where the hell are your flashlights anyhow?
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