December 3, 1976 (Letter from Grayce)

The weather here has been so gorgeous -- (knock, knock).  I keep telling myself it can't last another week but keep hoping that it will.  (The ski resorts outside of town are really hurting, though, so I suppose it's awfully selfish of me not to want this to end for the inevitable winter.)  It get awfully cold at night -0- sometimes slightly below zero -- but during the day, glorious sun!  It has not even drizzled for about 2 months.  (I've gotten some really pretty dried weed bouquets.) Some days it's cold, of course -- (20's or below) but some days it goes up to 55 or 60!!!  And it's just perfect.  I've never experienced such an autumn & probably never will again, so I'm trying to keep a clear picture of it.

We got our wood in for the winter this week.  Wood is awfully expensive here.  I suppose because they have to get it from somewhere else -- there being no trees!!!  (Which I miss.)  Brook & 2 of his friends at work were going to go up to a forested area & cut their own down, but the cost of renting a chain saw & trailer was almost the cost of having someone else doing it & delivery it, and they would have had to make 3 trips, so it wasn't really worth it.

People here must have money trees if not the other kind, I think!!  We are the only people in our neighborhood who have only 1 car (regardless of family size, everyone has at least 2-3 cars!)  Also, everyone has -- either a big camper, a boat, a pick-up, a van or all of the above!!!  They clutter up their driveways with all these things I can't imagine why anyone would want all that stuff.  It would drive me crazy, just to have to take care of it.  Also, it's so wasteful.  Every one has their own car. No car pools are even thought of.  When are people going to wise up?  It just sickens me sometime.

Maybe I am too harsh.  I can understand 2 cars -- especially if people work at different times, but very few of the women around here work.  They are much too busy having seven kids each. They're worse than Catholics!!!  And so many men here just assume that i you are a woman, you are just certainly good for nothing else!!!  Maybe I am too sensitive!!!???

Here is an example of the condescending attitude.  I wanted to buy Brook a jigsaw for our anniversary.  So I went (alone, since I wanted to surprise him) to a tool place & was looking at the different types they had.  Immediately, this guy comes up -- all smiles & says (no kidding) "Why would a sweet little girl like you be looking at these saws!"   I told him I was buying a gift.  He just assumed that I'd know nothing about what I wanted & tried to sell me something I didn't want.  I told him I wanted a 2-speed drill, not a variable speed one because I thought the 2-speed one was more stable, although less expensive.  He was surprised that I'd think of that.  But after my getting what I wanted, he did suggest that I bring my husband in & make sure it was the type he'd use before I actually bought it!  Arrgh!!!  Oh well....I'll stop making your beard grow with this subject.

We found the Pocatello Zoo last weekend.  We didn't even know there was one & came upon it by accident.  It's such a neat little place & we had a good time.  I really like the environments that most of hte animals are in.  Some of the cats are in large "cages" and have all these rocks in the background to climb on.  It's a very pretty setting.  I've heard that the Zoo at Idaho Falls is terrible. They have lions in cages that would be for a few birds & they can hardly walk around.

Did you know about Bev's new job at Wyeth Labs?  It's in Westchester & not far from Villanova. As a matter of act, I know the woman who was the librarian there before, but I'm not sure if she's still there or not.  I'll have to ask Bev the name of the person she's succeeding.  Bev will remain in her present apartment til February (or maybe January)& drive the 25 miles. I guess she wants to look around teh area.  Apartments there are very expensive as she will find out soon, so I hope she can get one that fits in with her budget.  Wyeth has a reputation for paying well, though, so maybe it won't be so bad.  The only thing that she's not too pleased with is 2 weeks vacation instead of the 3 she had at Delaware State, but she feels that the fringe benefits will make up for the extra week.  It's so good that she got this job.  I'm sure she'll like it & it seems like it will be more of a challenge for her than the other was.

Well, I suppose that's all for this time.  Have you heard from Barb yet?  I guess you can't wait to see her.  You'll probably have lots to talk about.  How long will she be home?