Today, my wonderful big boy, Chief, turns thirteen. Chief and his sister, Navi (2010-2013) came to live with us on February 20, 203, when they were about thirteen weeks old. Chief has been the much beloved pooch patriarch of all the dogs and cats who have passed through The Haasienda.

It’s still dark at 6:45 AM this Friday morning. The temperature, now 60 degrees, will hover around the upper fifties until dropping to the forties by mid to late afternoon. I am so glad I was able to accomplish a majority of Operation: Leaves2023.

Last night, I got to spend some time with Mama Kay and Laura at dinner before coming home around 6 PM and blowing some leaves in the dark. I wanted my driveway and front walk cleared and knew we’d be facing massive amounts of rain, today.

Tonight will be grinchy as I head downtown for another round of THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS: THE MUSICAL.

On this date in history, in 2008, The first film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s popular Twilight Saga, a vampire-themed series of novels for teenagers, premiered in Los Angeles. In 2003, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born American bodybuilder and film actor, was inaugurated on this day in 2003 as the governor of California following a recall election that ousted the sitting governor. During the Watergate scandal, in 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon held a press conference in which he declared, “I am not a crook.” American filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who was known for his harsh, often violent depictions of American culture, was born in 1942. In 1869, after 10 years of construction, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt. The father of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the Bishop Milton Wright, was born in 1828. The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C. in 1800. In 1558, at the death of Mary I this day, Elizabeth Tudor came to the English throne as Elizabeth I.

Make it a great day!

PHOTOS: Chief at 15 week; Chief and Navi at 13 weeks; Navi & Chief at 3 yrs; Bishop Milton Wright; our rain band moving into the Miami Valley.