Halloween. Things on fire.

Last day of October today.  What does that mean?  A lot of things.  Its my Dad's birthday, for one.  It's also a holiday.  You may have heard of it...Halloween.

In the United States at least, Halloween means Jack-O-Lantern carving.  Cookies, roasted pumpkin seeds (from that Jack-O-Lantern), candy and costumes, Trick-or-treaters.

November is also the start of the cold part of the year, to me anyway.  November and December are really dark months, especially considering here in the Northwest it's cloudy most of the fall and winter months (though, oddly enough I am looking out my skylight at blue skies with puffs of clouds right now.  Don't be jealous, it won't last).  This stove came with the house.  What is it?

It's a wood pellet stove.  Not a wood-burning stove that uses logs, because I would have enjoyed that.  No, this stove gets filled with what is essentially feline pine.  It makes an annoying noise.  But it is warm and the cats LOVE it.  I'm not sure if it's because cats like the destructive power of fire.  Or warmth.  Or maybe the stove, which has four legs and makes a similar sound to a purring cat, seems like one of them.  They love to sit in front of it and watch the flames dance.  One night, we left it on very late, with the door to our room open. That night, Furball slept on top of me all night, purring loudly, just to tell me how happy he was that the stove was on.  Supposedly, however, it is very efficient, the pellets take up no space, and the stove is smokeless, which is good for your lungs.  I'll get used to the thing, I'm sure.

On another note, I've had a visitor lately:

Rrreeerrrrnnnt. 

This is my dear, sweet Priscilla.  Well not mine.  She belongs, according to her tag, to the Sailer residence at 8515 8th.  Her meow is really strange; she sounds like a creaky door.  At least once a day, usually in the morning or just after dark, she shows up to get treats and curl up on my porch furniture.  Yesterday she got a third of a can of cat tuna.  I'm sure this means she'll never leave.  Sometimes she finds her way inside, but Balloon and Furball chase her off.  I wonder what her family will think when she gets really fat from all the treats she's been eating here.

Next time:  The virtues of No-knead bread.  I'll leave you with this year's Jack-o-lantern.  I'm sure you recognize the fluffy shape.