I don't think I have ever seen Flame Willow looking so good. The orange trees above, in case you haven't seen previous pictures on this website of this same row of trees, are Flame Willow along the driveway of nursery employee Sharon Fealy. Grandpa selected the tree for its perfect round growth and outstanding winter color. Both are on display here.

The muskrats have been sitting on the ice for the past two weeks, taking frequent dips to find more food, then coming up to nibble it down.



One doesn't expect such elegance from the common cattail.

I have been bemoaning the gray, dismal weather. There really hasn't been much to photograph for a couple of weeks--until today.



As the sun set, the colors of November really came to life.



The cattail reeds caught the sunshine and contrast well with the pewter color of the ice.



The leaves and grass are still visible beneath the ice.

I have been outside most of the day today, probably the most beautiful November day one could ever imagine. It is perfectly still. I can hear the trains 10 miles away. And the birds.

While walking around the swamp, I saw a weasel playing in the reeds. I ran and got my camera.



I was happy to get this posed shot. Weasels don't sit still for long, and this one was jumping back and forth.

He deserved it. I still don't think he was as good this year as he was two years ago. He was only comfortable in about half his games. Some of the others featured more walks than usual and a high pitch count.

Santana's just going to get better. I am already looking forward to watching him pitch next season.

A weblog reader sends in this fun link to a group which stages public pranks of a harmless but fun nature just to see what the reaction will be. For example, they sent 150 people into a Home Depot. At a predetermined time, all of them went into slow motion.

Okay, Borat was a lot of laughs. I had trouble sleeping last night. Just as I was about to fall off, one of the juvenile gags would come back to me and I would start laughing again.

Saw it tonight. It is the funniest movie I have ever seen. I am sore from laughing. And, I recommend that nobody go see it--because I don't want you all to realize how sick my sense of humor is!

The movie is not a scathing criticism of American society, as some reviewers allege. It is just a compilation of some awfully funny gags. In fact, most of the Americans Borat fools come across as tolerant, good-hearted and sweet. I am going to be laughing for days at odd times as scenes come back to me.

An interesting day of teaching. The students who haven't been doing well are starting to panic. I will allow them every chance to turn things around, but some of them are going to struggle. You can't change things 180 degrees all of a sudden.

We discussed slavery. Some interesting points:

--Fewer than 25% of southern whites held slaves when the Civil War started.

--3,700 Freed blacks held slaves of their own.

Quite an interesting, somewhat sad little article about Donald Rumsfeld. I keep thinking of Robert McNamara.