Leaves and ZAGS

A soaking rain had arrived around 4 p.m. yesterday, putting a sudden end to my fast and furious third round of leaf pick-up.

Thankfully in that late afternoon hour's worth of round and round the yard on my orange Husqvarna with its temperamental bag, I was able to clear most of the leaves before the weight of water drops sent yet another layer to the ground.    

After parking the lawnmower, I moved the horses' hay from the middle of the barnyard to their shelter area.  

Towels for couches came out early in the evening for doggies after they spent some time drying off in the garage before coming into the house. 

CB kept shaking his head all the way down the lane because of the wet halter I had left by the gate in the morning rather than thinking to put it under shelter. 

The young guy doesn't like any part of being a wet head. 

Once horses were fed, I came in and watched the Spokane news as darkness set in, and rain continued to fall.  Bill had gone to get coffee filters and dinner supplies from Taco Bell. 

While tuning in to the news, I saw the two women anchors, sitting on their set wearing a red outfit and a green outfit, respectively, AFTER reporting on old Christmas memorabilia discovered somewhere in storage from the once thriving Crescent Dept. Store of downtown Spokane.

Apparently, the crafted items will be appearing in the windows of the Davenport Grand Hotel this holiday season. 

My thoughts upon seeing the Christmas colors and the story about upcoming window decorations:  c'mon, let's get Halloween over first!

Seems like that first major hint of late fall darkness era, where wet weather sets in, immediately drives us inward and almost instantly ignites holiday fever.  

Well, I'm not exactly ready for that yet.  

Heck, I'm not even ready for Halloween and Larisa and Shawn and whatever other smattering of trick or treaters---usually all related to Woods or McNalls---will come to our door for Halloween 2018. 

I still have to purchase my candy.   

So, on this rainy day after the first really wet, dark night in ages, I'll go to the store and pick up a large bag of candy, chocolate varieties, of course.  

After all, even if we don't need two hands to count all our trick or treaters, Bill has to have his goodies for several days after the trick or treater (s) has/have come and gone. 

Funny how dark and gloomy almost immediately affects our moods AND our planning.  

Funny also, how the ZAGS aka Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball teams provide therapy for premature winter doldrums and holiday stress coming much too soon. 

To heck with the dark and dreary days!  

Bring 'em on cuz we have the perfect antidote in the form of a long and exciting season of ZAG basketball, women and men.  

We at the Love house are even more excited for the ZAG women this year cuz we are parents of another head coach of Bulldog women.  

Soon, practice will officially start for Coach William E. Love III in his first season as a varsity head coach.  Coach Love and his dad will probably team up to attend Gonzaga women's games. 

Yesterday, when I went to pick up my ZAGS basketball posters (thank you very much, Mike, Chris and Sonja), and plunked down my donation, Sonja asked where I'd like the donation to go. 

"To the women's basketball program," I responded almost immediately, "in honor of my son who will be coaching his first year AND he's coaching Bulldogs." 

My stay in Spokane lasted all of five minutes.  On my way home, I purposely drove up a road to a hilly area above Interstate 90.  

The slight detour took me to a large and attractive housing development where some residents had outdone themselves decorating for Halloween, and some had yet to outdo themselves picking up their leaves. 

All those leaves on the ground reminded me that I had another large supply of my own to clean up at home, so I didn't waste too much time getting back to the Lovestead, except to drop off a few posters to very happy recipients. 

And, when I think of the expressions on the faces of these ZAGS fans when they see me come walking in with this year's poster, maybe those KREM-2 TV anchors with their red and green outfits last night weren't too far off base. 

With ZAGS season just around the corner, the days of joy and festive gatherings of family and friends really AREN'T that far off. 

Only, we wear red and white and blue to honor our ZAGS AND our Sandpoint Bulldogs. 

Happy Friday.