I'm working the early vote and have found out that a lot of people don't realize that mail in ballots are real live ballots.

People, you only get to cast one vote. If you receive a mail in ballot, that is a ballot and that is yours. You can mail it in or drop it off at an early polling place (or where ever the instructions tell you to).

If you change your mind about voting by mail and want the thrill and excitement of voting at a polling place, you will be given a provisional ballot. That ballot has to be hand checked to ensure that you didn't cast the mail in ballot you requested. So don't be mad or disappointed - your vote will still be counted.

I'm curious to see how all the provisional ballots will affect the timing of the election results in this remarkable election year.

I stayed up into the middle of the night reading an old friend's book,Family Bible. I'm amazed at times to be reminded of the fact that there were interesting people in my home town. If I had stayed, I would have been one of the local eccentrics, probably, but I had to leave in search of something that I've actually been finding along my way. It was quite a trip to read about places where I grew up and find out what my friend's life was actually like.

We had our first frost last night and it may freeze tonight so I pulled in some flowers to enjoy.






Those zinnias are so brash and bold but the roses were delicate enough that I didn't know if they would last.

We had a bumper crop of apples in Boulder this year.  These are the few that the squirrels didn't sample.

Working with groups is really an adventure in itself. Since we have our own business and homeschooled, our groups have pretty much been hand-picked and really enjoyable.

I've been volunteering with new groups this year and have found lots of variation.
One pretty much conveyed that my help wasn't worth keeping after I offended one member while following one of the group rules.
Another group ran its course when the people we were supposed to help conveyed that they didn't want the help because of liability issues.
Another group has some funky communication established with a whole political hierarchy even among the volunteers. My mentor went so far as to tell me not to speak to others when I had questions.

Help is a funny thing.

Someone just sent notice of a article that says Mental Health Parity is being snuck through with the bailout.
It's just one line:
"The revised bailout bill also includes a "Mental Health Parity" provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness at parity with physical illness."
This is an enormous issue that needs to be debate out in the open on its own! If this is passed, all our insurance rates will go up and mental health screening is certain to increase.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!