The wife's benefactor of tasty homemade Indian food invited us to a Maha Navami (the 9th day of Navarathri) celebration at her house. There were about 14-15 families there and the food was awesome. It was an interesting experience as we were conspicuously the only non-south Asian family there, but everyone welcomed us and showed us a great time.
That sounds awesome, hj.
I gave up on doing all the maintenance the house needs by myself and hired a crew to pressure wash the siding, one side of the house is in constant shade and has a tendency to grow green stuff. They did a real good job and I may have them back next week to do the roof and clean out the gutters. Then I can focus on raking leaves, trimming out the oak trees when it's cold enough and other winter prep. I need to install rear parking brakes on the Tucson and it's due for a timing belt but I'm having the shop do that. Battery date code puts it at more than five year old so I'll replace that, too. I think I can get by with the tires I have since I don't drive all that much anymore, but they need to be rotated and the wheels aligned. The Santa Fe is in great shape, it just needs a good cleaning, oil change and tire rotation. I started cleaning out the garage last weekend and had to quit when the garbage and recycling bins got full but to finish the job I picked up a Bagster so we can fill that up and get it hauled away. I've got some older furniture to get rid of so we'll donate that to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and I'm going to tune up the old snowblower and give it to our new neighbors across the circle who don't have one. My final consideration is whether to cut down the silver maple in the front yard that I hate and I'm leaning toward yes but it will cost a thousand bucks so we'll see. Crazy how fast you run out of room when one of the children moves back home.
I took a stroll through the back yard yesterday, and since the last time I mowed, it's a mess. I can't tell what's been digging little holes in the turf (if it's squirrels, they're preparing for an apocalyptic winter) or ... deer? There's a bit of a worn trail along the edge of the property. I've had raccoons tear open the sod in the past looking for nightcrawlers, but they tend to make small tears and not holes. Besides seeing a coyote a month ago, all I've personally seen lately are the hairy-tailed tree climbers.