Howdy, folks!  Frank Hammer writing!  Hope this finds y'all well and happy!

I am glad to say that a.)  Katrina, my wife, is all over her flu, and b.) Hallowe'en is over.  The costumed kids (and adults) scared the bejesus out of little Frankie, and Katrina was absolutely miserable when she was down with the flu.  She looks so pitiful when she's sick; it breaks my heart, each and every time!

Frankie never did get the flu, which was a miracle in itself.  I had a piece of it, but didn't get nowhere near as sick as Kat did. 

I go to work in a little under seven hours from now (three in the morning here in Alaska-Town).  Hope it's an easy day!  (You know that's not going to happen!)

Thanksgiving (and eventually Christmas) will be upon us, as will Veteran's Day.  The holidays are coming up fast and "furrious", as my wife would say! 

Speaking of "fast and furrious",  does anyone want a (slightly used) Ragdoll cat? 

I was ready to murderlize Obie last week:  he got his claws hung in our brand new chenille curtains.  Just shredded the fire out of them!  I was NOT happy with Obie!!

Ever since, he's been banished from the livingroom.  Now why can't he be more like his big sister, Aurora Borealis of the Far North?  She's such a genteel cat; I swear she has southern bloodlines somewhere in her genetic makeup because she's never been no lick of trouble while Obie is trouble with a capital "T"!!

In any event, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Veteran's Day are coming up, which means getting the appropriate foods/drinks for entertaining guests.  Gifts for the family as well as for friends.  Christmas cards.  Getting the house in order for when company does come calling.  Getting out the decorations and picking out a nice, fat Christmas tree for our livingroom.  Trying to keep busy little babies from the packages and telling him the story of the Christ Child and why Christmas is so important for us Christians who believe. 

We will also be helping out with feeding the Veterans and the homeless come Thanksgiving morning; we've done this now since we've been here in Alaska, and it gives us a feeling of warm satisfaction, to know we are helping people who have it so much worse than we do.

It's hard to believe, but Junior is now one year old!!  He turned a year old on the first, just two days ago.  We are still recovering from the party.  What a mess!  Cake all over the table, all over the walls, all over the kid ...  I think he got more cake on things than in HIM!  He had bright blue frosting from the top of his head to his toes; there was not much room for cleanliness!  LOL  He looked like a miniature Cookie Monster!  LOL

We had some friends come over to celebrate our son's first birthday; he got a lot of nice presents.  He was hopped-up on sugar and sweets; he was out of control!!  LOL

Seems like only yesterday when he just came into the world:  now he's walking and talking, turning into a miniature version of yours truly!  He's getting to be so cute!

I am still determined to make a new baby for us, so Frankie can have a baby brother (or sister).  Katrina keeps telling me to wait a little bit, especially since she's not quite over the flu!  (She feels a lot better than she did, but Kat still has the leftover cough, plus some congestion; other than that, she feels much more like herself!)  Kat keeps telling me to wait at least six months, when Frankie's a little bit older!

The weather here is cold:  temps in the 30's for highs.  Brr!!  Kat's more than ready to move back to N'Awlins!!  (I know, I know:  never satisfied!  Yes, that's sweet little wife all over!  LOL)

Northern lights season is upon us in full swing:  amazing displays just about every night (as long as it's clear; sometimes when it's partly cloudy out, you can see the lights dancing amongst and behind the clouds).  I will have to take some videos and post them on YouTube one day; I think people'd like to see that.

Well, the New Orleans Saints handily beat the Atlanta Falcons last night for "Monday Night Football".  Kat was extremely amused, as I was; that's our team!  A few years ago, the Saints were dubbed as the "'Aints" becuase they were so bad; not this year!  This year they are doing great!  Go, black-and-gold!  Who dat??  It's the SAINTS!!  WooHOOOOOOO!!!!!  :)

I am going to go back to bed while the getting's good:  sleep several hours, or else I won't be worth a *wahhhh* when I get up to go to work!  I will write in here again soon; if not, Katrina will.  Either way,  you'll hear from us again soon.  Til then, this is Frank Hammer saying so long!  God bless!

~Frank.  :)