October 28 - john's computer has been down for several days. He now has a new 250 GB hard drive to replace the old 120 GB drive. He was able to have a "ghost image" made of his entire software. As a result, there was nothing to reload, and john could start up where he left off. It seemed appropriate to have a ghost image made at this time of year. :-)

There are no ducks AT ALL coming for breakfast and dinner now. john is guessing that they all have flown south for the winter. john still keeps some cracked corn out for doves and other small creatures.

Tomorrow is suppose to be 76 degrees. john and eddie will plant three new Blue Spruce behind the big waterfall. john will also winterize the filtration system, and switch over to an unfiltered pump for the large waterfall. He has found that he can leave the waterfalls running throughout the winter, and watch them develop beautiful ice formations throughout the winter months.

Tonight jerry and gail are coming over for the first fondue of the season! john is making a four cheese fondue with about 1/4 cup of ground walnuts added. john tried some Emmenthal cheese at "Better Cheddar". It had a nutty favor that was out-of-this-world. john will try to make his own nutty Emmenthal for this fondue. He'll let you know how it turns out.

October 29 - The fondue was a total disaster! Adding the fourth cheese, "Robusto", was the wrong thing to do! Although john had asked if it was okay to use, it did not melt. The resulting "fondue" was a bundle of cheese floating in wine. The cheese would not blend into the wine AT ALL! Adding the ground walnuts did add flavor, but turned the fondue a light purple. Fortunately, john, joyce, jerry, and gail could laugh at it, as they tried to eat it. joyce ended up with a stomach ache from the cheese balled up in her stomach. That part was not so funny! Like Edison, john now knows one more thing that doesn't work! Next time, the fondue will go back to the original recipe: Emmenthal, Guyere, Appell.... in one third portions each.