Who's the copycat?
Cities in Oregon include Salem, Dallas, Detroit, and Phoenix.

It was 22 degrees when I got up this morning. We did our research before moving and this was described as a "moderate" climate. Ain't nuthin moderate about 22 degrees!
I spent the morning at Starbucks writing, thinking it would be warm enough to work on Fred after lunch. I spent about 30 minutes trying to install one of the windows and gave up. Came back inside. At 32 degrees my fingers hurt too much and won't hang on to the screws.

Some university psych department should do a study on why our culture puts so much effort into making things look like something that everyone knows is fake. I'm not talking products that convincingly imitate the look of something expensive using much cheaper materials, or are more durable - quartz countertops that mimic the look of granite, or silk house plants that don't die in a week. I wonder about the head-scratchers

Houses have faux shutters, faux balconies, or both!

Miniature bridges in the front yard that allow you to get across precisely placed rocks

Tofu turkey. Why??? 

Fake adhesive fender vents. Go ahead, add more. They're only $19.95 a set.

Discretion prevents me from including pictures of certain body enhancements that ain't foolin' nobody.

I called Pony this afternoon and he's out of seasoned dry firewood. Says he has some that's been sitting out in the weather and will need at least a month under cover before it can be used. He's going to bring me a cord of that next week and I'll get it right into the new woodshed. It won't be ready before we run out of what I've got, so the budget's gonna take a hit for a few weeks. In the meantime we're trying to use as little wood as possible and hoping the time we're in Phoenix visiting the kids will make a difference.

Four more sleeps!