It was storming when I left for school today. It was hard to see, and I came upon what looked like a box in the road before I could even swerve. I thought I would hit it out of the way with Joe Toyota, but I ran over it–it was one heavy mother of a box. I was worried that I might have broken something, but I kept on going without further incident. Then later Mombo called me and told me that Glenda found Greg Brown almost all the way to Rte. 906. He hates storms. I guess he freaked and went to look for me. I’m glad Glenda found him. The time before that when it stormed, I was at Deb’s, and she had to bring him in from the deck at 4 a.m. because he was whining and jumping at the door. She took him to my room, and I thought he would lie down at the foot of the bed as he usually does. With the next thunderclap, he jumped on top of me on the bed. He is heavy, and he has big, sharp toenails.

Last night I had to go through all the mail that Janet had collected for me over the week I was on fall break. It took forever. Some of it was junk, but a lot was business, and many magazines that I wish I had time to read. It seems that my attention span is so short lately that I can’t keep my attention on a novel–magazines appeal more. I have finished one “fun” novel since I started working, but I really need to be reading the new “kid-lit” stuff that is coming into my libraries. In the mail purge I noticed that I somehow missed paying the mortgage on 4th St. last month. I don’t know how that happened because I usually get the bill in the mail. I guess it might have gotten lost with the address change. So this morning I left at 6:30 to go to the Community Trust Bank here in Campbellsville, thinking that I could put a double payment in the night deposit. There was night deposit, but there were no envelopes, so I walked around the building hoping that there might be another walk-up where there would be deposit envelopes. As I turned the corner a lady was coming out of a bank door with a trash bag. Thinking that she was the cleaning lady, I just turned around to go back to the truck, but right about then she looked up and saw me. I’m sure I scared her enough to make her wet her pants. I apologized profusely and explained what I was looking for whereupon she explained to me why she doesn’t leave deposit envelopes in the night deposit envelope container (when it rains they get wet and are ruined), but that she could deposit the payment for me and would make sure that the bank in Pikeville understood that I had just moved and that was why the payment was late. She was really nice considering I frightened the bejeezus out of her so I gave her the check–I guess she could have been a robber, but then so could I. Anyway the check was made out to Community Trust–small towns in the early morning. . .

Okay, so I was just minding my own business this morning. I guess it was about 6, 6:30 a.m. It wasn’t light yet, but I like to wake up early and see the sun coming up. It was a little chilly–nice morning for the beginning of fall. I don’t move around much any more. You know how that is. I feel like I’m not worthless yet–they climb on me to get the blackerries, and so at least I get visited now and then. Anyway, I’m just sitting there enjoying the morning air when I see that the young buck Toyota Joe has started up. He’s only got one rear tail light, so he looks like he’s giving me a wink, like he’s smirking at me, and then all of the sudden I hear something let go–and here he comes, rolling right toward me! Okay, now if he goes to the left he hits the tractor. If he goes to the right, he hits the shed. If I move out of the way, he’s in the creek! Well, I figure, I may be old, but I still got something left, so I say to him, “Come on, ya young fox, give me whatever you’ve got,” and he rolls right into me. Hardly felt it. He broke up his other tail light, but he ought to consider himself lucky. I could have done worse, and he stayed out of the creek. The old lady ran out, pulled him up, checked his rear end, and drove away. She didn’t even say thanks.

Well, 4th Street is rented. It’s not like it’s the first time, since Alyx lived there, but renting it to strangers is different. Luke and Maggie seem like a nice young couple, and they really love the apartment. I could tell when she was walking around today, looking, and said, “I’m dreaming of how pretty it will be.” They also brought his parents over to see it, and they were impressed by the “character” of the place. It’s hard to leave, but I have good memories. I probably should have taken more pictures. Oh, well, I always say that.

Last night the Camry would not start. This morning I awoke and went out to see if Icould jump it. It started right up, so I drove to the gas station to get coffee. It would not start. Frank McBrayer was out walking and saw me and tried to jump it. I guess I thought all men knew how to put battery cables on, but when he got BIG SPARKS twice, I suggested he might have them switched. Anyway, it still wouldn’t start. I just kept trying it, and finally it started–so I went directly to Millers’, my favorite mechanic place. Then there I was, stuck with Greg in the car, so we walked back to 4th St. I did several errands using KK’s car and ended up back at Miller’s because it was noon and I knew that they closed then. Turns out that there was some debris in the gearshift which was in the way of my being fully in PARK (at least that’s what my starter thought), so it was starting intermittently. They didn’t charge me. They knew Joe and feel sorry for the poor widow, and that’s fine with me. Then I had two cars at Millers’. So I drove one home, put Greg on his leash, and walked back to get the other car. We had some good walking, and it was a beautiful day for it. This was one of the things I liked about living at 4th St.

I love my piano. It was my big present when Wayne and I moved into TwoTrees. He said I should have the piano, and then he could have his FoosBall table. But I think he was as excited about the piano as I was. I’m glad we had it for all three of the kids to take lessons on. Today I had it moved from 4th Street to Kelley Ridge. Mike at Brightside Moving is really nice, and he agreed to move most of the rest of the furniture as well. It makes me so nervous when they take the piano apart and take it down the stairs. But they know what they’re doing, that’s for sure. They moved it to TwoTrees, then into storage, then to 4th Street, and now to Kelley Ridge. I told him that if I have him move it again, it will be to Casey County and that will be the last time. Now I will start playing every night I’m at Kelley Ridge. That was Joe’s wish. I hope he can hear me.

It is Thursday already! This week is progressing way too quickly I talked to Caitlan on SKYPE today. I love high speed internet access. Thank goodness for Chapel and SKYPE. She is trying to get her return flight in January set up already, and I’m trying to decide whether I want to go see her in England during my spring break in April. Does anyone want to go with me? She is finding round trip flights now for less than $600. That is so awesomely cheap. At least compared to what I am used to. She is also getting her bank account, etc. set up. In the meantime, I have to get back to work on mundane KY responsibilities like houses and cars and trucks and things that go. It poured down this morning and lightninged a lot and Greg was freaked out so I got a late start.

Today I mostly worked at 4th Street trying to move stuff either downstairs or to the van to take to Kelley Ridge. The morning was spent trying to clear up errors in my credit reports. I only found out about these because I tried for a parent PLUS loan in case Caitlan needed and got refused. If you have not requested your free credit report (entitled to this once a year by law), you should do so. And you should get it from all three agencies because they might be different and people getting reports on you don’t necessarily check all three. I found at that my record was completely clean with one agency and had errors on the other two!

I went to dinner with Sharon at Thai Smiles and had a nice ketch-up visit. She is helping me set up an EBay account, so maybe I can sell some of the STUFF I am buried in. It was great to spend some time with her. I tried to watch THE NINE, but got very confused. It is one of those shows that gives you teasers during the entire first episode so that you have to watch for the entire season to even make sense of anything and then you have to order the DVD set from Netflix and rewatch it after the first season is over so you can say, “Oh, now I see what that meant!” a whole bunch of times. Deb was my hostess again. It is a gift to sip sherry with your friend.

Tonight I called Ian to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. I had been thinking about it all day, but I have to go to a special place to call from Kelley Ridge, and that’s makes it difficult. So I called after I got back into town. I’m glad I did because he said he had been waiting all day to hear from me. Funny how things I think I’m doing just to make me feel better actually mean something to someone else. Happy Birthday, my wonderful son. I love you with all my heart.

Happy, happy birthday to Monica and to Holly, too. The first week in October is a very significant time.

Today I spent most of my day at Kelley Ridge. I had spent the night at Deb’s and slept in until I was awakened by KK’s phone call. At first I thought it was my alarm, so I’m glad I looked at the phone and answered it instead of pushing the hang up key! Caitlan is fine, except for an airplane cold, and is keeping busy and that’s good. For those of you who want to read her blog, it is at xorph.com/kk. I left Deb’s and loaded the van with stuff from the apartment–mainly emptying the freezer and refrigerator. I have way too much food. I very infrequently eat here, and when I do, I don’t cook. Now I have all of KK’s food plus what was left from when I used to cook. If any of you out there want any of this food, let me know. Otherwise I think a food bank donation might be in order. The van was already loaded with other stuff from when Alice, Michele, and Caitlan did a downstairs cleanout at 4th St. for the coming of the loan officer who decided that the unfinished downstairs was not worthy of a loan. So I took the loaded van and headed to Garrard County. I spent most of the day unloading and sorting. I also did laundry and packed packages to be mailed to KK and Ian (he needs winter stuff, and she needs office stuff and meds). I also moved everything out of the living room and cleaned the floor in anticipation of the piano move on Thursday. I had totally dulled my new floor in the living room by putting the wrong finish over top of the prefinish (I thought it was urethane but it was latex). I tried Murphy’s oil soap, alcohol, and white vinegar to take it off. It’s still dull. To match my brain.