It's beginning to look a lot like...

What?  Christmas, of course.  We have more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, but there have been displays in the stores and ads on TV since way before Halloween.  This season is going to go on and on.

I know Christmas is coming because I have been playing the occasional holiday tune on my guitar.  Well, that and we got out Christmas lights today to decorate the deck overlooking the canal.  A few days ago, we picked up a couple decorations - the main one is a wreath to hang on the deck.  In years past, we have had a star (that's a Texas star, y'all) or two, even a snowflake... but we decided to have some greenery on there this year...

Blue and white lights on the railings, the wreath hanging in the middle.  Yes, I checked all the lights before we put them up - I'll have to take a little walk this evening to see how they look in the dark.

It was in the upper 70s, sunny, and breezy while getting the lights hung.  Sweating while decorating for Christmas - that's my idea of getting in the holiday spirit.  Plenty warm with that west exposure on the deck.

After lunch, Joan rolled the bikes (bicycles) out of our storage area, and I aired up tires and lubed all the moving parts...

Doing that while standing on the lower part of our dock was almost as good as having a bike work-bench: it put everything at a decent height without having to be on my hands and knees.  The e-bikes, another small folder, and Joan's beach bike...

After finishing them, I took each for a ride, while Joan wiped them down.  Everything is functioning like it should.  My small folder felt really small - it hasn't seen much use since we got the e-bikes.  The beach bike was the last one I rode; I haven't been on a non-geared bike since I was a kid... there are no brake levers on that damn thing!!  I had to really think about how I was going to stop and hop off the seat without breaking something vital.

The only damage was to my thumb, and that occurred after getting off the bikes - pulling the battery out of Joan's e-bike.

A neighbor said to me, "You have a lot of toys!"  Probably because I was riding one bike after another.

"Yeah, and each of them takes some work to keep up."  You can be darn sure I won't be asking for a bike for Christmas.  ;-)

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Early evening, checking the lights...