The Quiet Before 2009

After Christmas...what? Currently the scene in the US is everyone has quit buying anything but food and gas to get to work. Christmas sales were a bust according to the newspapers and CNN and the Black Friday of two days ago came and went similarly.
The average American has no where to go but up now, as we live in DOWN. Kelly and I are working on the little house, putting it back to a decent condition in order to rent it again. We were going to move in it but that was nixed by our ever thoughful Audrey who said to us "How will you fit?" She was right of course, it has about 1000 sq, ft maximum and we live almost within the confines here in The Swamphouse of 2500 sq. ft. with furniture to match. What with storage fees for the excess and stuff we won't/can't/shouldn't sell there's no payoff that's positive that she could see and she's right. Thus we are hard at work scraping off layers of paint, patching nail holes and caulking tub and showers and sinks. Next comes painting of the woodwork and the walls to suit her...yes...Audrey wants to live in it! How the heck did this come about?! I dunno but that's the way it looks today. I think she'd really like it too, she'd be surrounded by our friends Jane and Wayne, Bob and Marsha and the denizen's of the Olde Town area such as they are. The date? 1 February, a bit over a month off. Meanwhile...work goes on.
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My bread was a hit wherever it found itself, people really liked the nuttiness and crunch of Lute's Nut and Whole Wheat Bread. I delivered 5 loaves on Christmas Eve and heard nothing but praise afterwards. Amazingly simple this bread for something that tastes so complex. Today I made an Oat Bread for our neighbors across the street and for Jane. The second one is in the bread machine now on dough cycle. It takes a couple of hours to go thruogh 2 rises and the kneading it requires before I can turn it out, shape it and pop it lovingly in a 5X9 tin for baking. It is good bread. I've ordered some high gluten bread flour online and will have that to experiment with someday real-soon-now.