Sunday, September 28, 2025 – Day 411

Sunday, September 28, 2025

Good morning. ☀️

Alex came over early yesterday and spent much of his Saturday working on my Christmas light tree. He pulled into the driveway at 9:00 a.m.—no small thing since it’s over an hour drive for him, and that meant an early wake-up on his weekend. Because I couldn’t really get things organized, he had to dig through the garage to track down everything we needed: the potato gun and supplies, extension cords, twelve working light strings, ropes, stakes, and plenty of miscellaneous odds and ends.

Of course, the best part is always shooting the arbor line over the tall oak branch. Honestly, that’s half the fun of this whole project. Alex nailed it on his second attempt and landed the line perfectly. He laughed and said, “That’s too bad—I don’t get to shoot the potato gun anymore.” Truth is, once the tree was up, I would’ve let him keep firing as much as he wanted.

Our neighbor Fred wandered over, saw what was going on, and stuck around to help untangle lights and lay them out. Meanwhile, I drove my chair around the backyard directing Alex, Fred, and Cindy. Not my preferred role, but I think I showed more patience than usual, letting them do the heavy work while I offered advice. Sometimes my weak voice carried, sometimes it didn’t—but they got the job done.

By 2:30 p.m., the tree was standing tall, with only one serious tangle that took less than an hour to sort out. I was impressed that Alex pushed through to finish the whole thing—this project can test anyone’s patience with bad strings and endless knots.

Thank you, Alex, for giving up most of your Saturday to get the job done. That tree has become a tradition that so many people enjoy during the holiday season, and it means a lot that you made it happen again.

The rest of my day was split between Ryder Cup coverage and Judgment Prey. Since the U.S. was getting thumped by the Europeans, I leaned more toward reading. I’ll be finishing Judgment Prey this morning, which leaves me with just two more books in the series—waiting on that familiar Amazon delivery truck today or tomorrow.

It’s a beautiful Sunday across much of the country. Hope you all get outside and enjoy it.

Love you. ❤️