As promised I'm adding some photos from my stay to the page. I've taken (as always) a fair amount of photos - there have been some lovely sunsets across the snowy hills and streets - and I've got at least one of the two main articles I have to do out of the way, so most of the neccesities are done.

The weather here hasn't been too bad. But the odd day has been so cold that even the Iowa locals have been thinking it's a tad bracing! The temperature drops dramatically after sunset, but apart from the odd flake in the breeze, it's generally been cold but comfortable. However there's more snow forecast over the new year so we'll see how that goes. I don't think there's much planned, but it's all very low-key, which is just fine with me. After the chaos at this time last year and an unusually stressful year, it's nice to step off the conveyor belt and not have the deadline of Damoclese hanging over my every move.

Chilling-out (see what I did there?) time has included finishing off Halo 2 on the X-Box which I started last time was here and rememebred about only a week or so before I came back and helping with the general chores which Jill just hasn't had time for with her schedule. In fact, I'm something of a Domestic God - go figure.

Needless to say, Jill's pets are keeping me on my toes while she's working up at Dollar General(she had more time planned off, but has been forced to cover some evenings at short notice when people failed to show up). Big Gay Winston - the bulldog (okay he's not gay, but the pale blue winter t-shirt he's prone to wear just gives him that air) - has all the attitude, Katie ( a collie-ish breed) is pretty sedate and the cats just want you to worship them. My holiday is Noah's Ark meets Fargo - in a good way.