Sundog

I wish I could remember to take my camera when I leave the house. Copied these from the internet.

 

This is similar to what I saw driving home from the grocery today. When I lived in Leeds in the 1980's, I once saw two sundogs, one on each side of the sun.

 

Beautiful and weird.

The Doorbell Rang

I'm beginning to be annoyed.

Last Saturday I went out on the deck to stand in the sunshine, and the neighborhood dogs were barking like crazy. There was a guy on my west-side neighbor's patio, in the shadows under their deck, so I couldn't see him well. Three dogs ran up to him barking, and he disappeared. I haven't seen a human around that house in several years, so I was afraid it was the neighbor himself, so I didn't call the police. That's about to change. If I must be harassed, they can be, too.

Neighbors

My neighbor down the street, a Mrs. Reese, phoned this morning and commiserated with me about the attempted break-in and police visit, the refugee situation, and other knotty problems. She said a neighbor up the street had called and told her about it; that was probably Dine (I forget her last name). So you see, I do know some of my neighbors' names. I had met Mrs. R. before, some five or ten years ago, when the postal person delivered some of my mail to her address, and she brought it to me.

She called me Joan, but that's all right. I answer to anything that starts with a Jo, except Johnson.

*

This is what I'm reading now. I've often said that this is the best novel ever written. I've said the same thing about two or three other books. TOAFK may not be such great literature as The Brothers Karamazov, The Catcher in the Rye, or To Kill a Mockingbird, but it's certainly more entertaining. Longer, too.

*

I cried and screamed (silently) all through The Sword in the Stone.

". . . While greasy Joan doth keel the pot!"

While I'm making soup for dinner, the Glass man is here replacing the broken window panes.

*

It occurs to me that I haven't complained about my ears lately. That doesn't mean they haven't been roaring.

"Ah, for quietus, with a bare bodkin!"

I don't have much ambition to write or blog any more, but I want to remember some details. The police posted a video on Facebook, supposedly in my neighborhood, supposedly showing a guy rather similar to the face/form that was on my porch, trying to break into a house and carrying something away. The police and I speculated that he might be someone who lives over on King's Forest or in that direction, because I didn't hear or see a car.

I didn't want to call Jed, because I knew he would cancel his vacation trip and rush over here. Which is what he did. He got a man to come and measure for the new windows, who called me back yesterday and said he'd install the new panes on Monday. Then Jed went back to Atlanta yesterday.

For so long I've had this half-scared, half-excited feeling that something was going to happen. So I got a burglar, and the world got the Paris disaster. I'm going to try to reverse the trend of waking at night and sleeping in the daytime. But I don't know if I can sleep in my bed by that window again.

I wish I felt as strong and normal as I felt this time last year. I would switch my bedroom and office furniture. Maybe Dave and Jennifer can do it over a period of time. All those books.

***

Oh, a cheerful note: I found this adorable dog on FCDF, his name is "Fluffy Puppy." He's a mix of bulldog and Rottweiler. I emailed the person who advertised him but haven't heard back.

 

He's about a year old, and the ad said he likes to stay inside, which is better than having to buy a fenced yard. If I get him or a similar fluffy little dog, I'm going to buy him a strong harness, and walk him all around the neighborhood, and hang his picture outside all my outside doors, and record his barking to play in case he turns out to be the laziest dog in the world.

Ker-Blam!!!

Well, at least it wasn't a ghost. I'm shaking so that my fingers are typing by themselves, more accurately than I usually type.

I went to sleep on the sofa, then woke up later and thought my back door was open. It wasn't. I just looked around, made sure all the doors were locked and the front and back porch lights on, and lay back down on the sofa. About 4:15 a.m., something went CRASH! and shook the east side of the house. I woke up and thought, now, did I dream that, or--KER-BLAM!

Something definitely hit the house again. I jumped up and grabbed the phone, but couldn't see it well enough to dial. I ran to look out the kitchen window, and a guy was on the deck. He shone a flashlight through the window, and the back porch light went out. I finally got 911 on the phone and told them someone was breaking in.

Well, that's all the excitement except for my little shaky legs trying to hold me up. The police car arrived about five minutes later, and two policemen rang the doorbell. They asked me to describe the man. About all I saw was his face and the flashlight, but I told them he was medium height, 20's or 30's of age, and African American. I wish he had been white, but he wasn't.

They looked all around the house. I told them I thought the banging had been on the garage door. They said the door into the side of the garage was muddy, as if someone had been kicking it. The back porch light wasn't broken, but the bulb was unscrewed.

I'm almost grateful to the guy for being real. All the strange noises I've heard around this house have made me wonder if I was losing my mind.

The policemen left, saying they would cruise around the neighborhood until daylight, and that if I heard anything else to call 911 again. And that I had a very clean house. I said thanks.

I guess it doesn't happen when Jed's here, because his car would be parked in the driveway.

 

***

I just went into my bedroom, and one of the windows is broken. Glass all over the floor. And you tell me to quit smoking?

*

The policemen came back and wrote up a report of the incident, which they said would cost $15 if I requested a copy of it from the Department.

I'm glad I wasn't sleeping in my bed when that window broke. It's right by the head of my bed, and I would have passed out probably. The policeman found two rocks under the night stand.

I think I definitely will get a dog. One of those great big ones with huge jaws.

Tintinnabulation

Jed came over yesterday. He's going to NYC Thursday to visit friends, so he went home early this afternoon.

My sweet baby sister brought me chicken and vegetables for my dinner, and a brownie for dessert. I went to bed early, about 10:15 p.m., so I could get up and be at the dentist's office at 9:00.

The doorbell rang and woke me up. I punched the light on the back of my clock and it was 12:30 a.m., but I didn't get up. It rang again at 12:50, so I got up, turned on the porch light, and Nobody was there, of course.

Why can't this ever happen when Jed is here? The second ring sounded twice, like an impatient ring. I don't think I've mentioned this lately, but it happens occasionally.

So I made a cup of coffee, and here I am at 1:15 in the morning, wondering if I'm being haunted or just being crazy.

There are double outside lights on each corner of my house, plus motion-sensitive lights on the deck. They just need new bulbs to shine all night, or all the time if not turned off. I guess I need to get the bulbs replaced.

Now I'm hungry.

Entertainment

I just watched a little movie of "The Bowery Boys," Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall and them. Made back when comedy (slapstick) was sort of funny. This one featured a giant mobster named Patsy, who threw the guys around somewhat but finally got nabbed.

I guess that was the best thing I've seen on TV this week, that I hadn't already seen. And I may have seen it back in 1946. Now, TCM is showing silent films, and Hallmark has quit showing "Murder She Wrote" and "Diagnosis Murder," in favor of an endless flow of new insipid little romances with a Christmas theme.

On Thursday, I did watch the finale of "Project Runway," but the B.B.'s were better.

***

Yesterday, after one unsuccessful day of trying to get Walmart to take my money, I finally succeeded in paying $326 for three prescriptions. On Thursday their computer wouldn't take my check or my credit card, so I had to go to the bank next day and explain to the handsome manager that my checks wouldn't go through, get the money, and trek back to Walmart. The first four Rx's cost $50, which I had paid with the credit card after two or three attempts.

The $300 ones were for 90-day supplies, so they'll last until February. But they did cost the grocery money for this month. Luckily, I've got the pantry and freezer full of comestibles. And some Halloween candy.

***

This morning, the cat I was dreaming that was curled up on the bed against me, jumped off the bed and woke me up.

September, October, November, December

The best time of the year, according to me.

 

***

 

Halloween was really lots of fun yesterday. Rain notwithstanding, I had more trick-or-treaters than I've ever had before. They got almost all of the Snickers, Three Musketeers, and gold (chocolate) coins. I would have given them the bat, the skeleton, and the lighted pumpkin, but everything was dripping wet. I'm thinking about throwing all of that stuff in the trash instead of drying it out and hiding it.

Last night I watched one of the most disappointing horror movies in cinematic history, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." If Hurd Hatfield and Spencer Tracy ever competed for the title of sleepwalker, I think Hatfield would win. Tracy could at least grin occasionally. The only good thing about this movie, and the reason I keep watching it every once in a while, is Angela Lansbury singing about the little yellow bird. She was, still is, the most amazing actress. Married a gay man and had a passel of kids. Acted in some of the best and worst movies ever made, and helped save the latter from oblivion.

But I watched "Firestarter" during the past week, so I've had a bait of Halloween movies. No hatchet murders or poor old zombies for me this year.

***

Thursday night I attended the LAC reception for Birmingham Arts Journal staff, and it was good to see all the folks. But it really wore me out, what with carrying all that heavy chips and dips and stuff and going up and down stairs. No, I don't know what was wrong, but I was pretty much wiped out, and decided not to go to Calera for the ASPS meeting on Saturday. If I had done that, I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing all those cute kids in their wet costumes.

Anyway--People are so good to me. It was all over Facebook this morning, that they missed me in Calera, and that three of the four poems I entered won prizes.  Those were: "W.H. and W.H.," third prize. "Amadeus," honorable mention. And "The Ghost Who Walks" won first place in that contest.

Same-Old Me

Well, I must be back to normal. I've spent a couple of hours this morning hunting for Halloween stuff, with very little luck. I guess I'll be forced to go to the basement.

 Valentine is looking pretty spiffy in his costume. So's Jerry.

 

***

 I didn't find what I was looking for. But guess how many corkscrews and nail clippers I did find.

 

 

Pep Rally

Tomorrow's the day we host the Birmingham Arts Journal. I've been sitting here trying not to think of all the stuff I've got to do, till all of a sudden I think I can cope. I can put a lot of it off until the last minute, meanwhile doing all the little stuff that I can do at home.

My favorite season of the year, and I haven't been out of the house since Saturday. I hope my car will start. "I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."

Sometimes I Walk Backwards

It saves a lot of twisting and turning.

 

I reckon (Heaven help me!) I'm going to have to get a cat. I keep dreaming about stumbling over a cat in the kitchen: a black cat, a tabby cat, a poor little mangey white kitten.

I reckon (Heaven help me!) I'm going to have to get a cat. And a litter box, and a collar, and a veterinarian.

Progress

Jennifer cleaned up the house yesterday, and I got Dave to fix a couple of things that I'm too "feeble" to handle. I gave him a handful of quarters and sent him to the laundromat with my velvet bedspread, dry weight nine pounds avoirdupois. He also repositioned my shower rod and hung my new shower curtain.

 

Tuesday

I dreamed Mama was sitting on the sofa, thumbing through my HGTV Magazine. She looked young but mighty skinny.

Also had a sort of nightmare--a college math exam where I aced all but the last two of ten problems. They were identical, and involved square roots of letters. When the exam was over, I asked the instructor to show me how to solve those two, and she couldn't.

***

Once a year, our "Open Circle" Leeds poetry group hosts the Birmingham Arts Journal group. I was thinking it was to be this Thursday, October 22, but it's not until the Thursday of next week. I've volunteered to furnish chips, dip, and soft drinks. The Saturday after that meeting, the Alabama State Poetry Society meets in Calera, Alabama, and Jed and I plan to go to the awards luncheon.

Muddling Through

Sometimes, when you've got something tiresome or difficult to do, you tell yourself, "I've dealt with worse than this before." Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

***

It was the car's battery again. It wouldn't start, although Murray's had put in a new battery back in the summer. One of their guys came over and started it, and said there's a short somewhere that's draining the battery if it sits a day or two without running. They were closing the shop this afternoon, so I said I would bring it in one day next week and let them look for the problem.

I did go by the grocery and stocked up on tomatoes and cucumbers.

More Rocks

We couldn't get on the bridge. And one thing our cameras didn't really show off: As well as "undergrowth," there were big trees growing on the bridge, and a couple had fallen off the edge and hung by their roots upside down. This one shows a smaller tree hanging down.

This is a gigantic formation--about 180 degrees of rock over your head, under your feet, almost all around you. The whole mountain seems to be one big rock, with broken or eroded pieces of it lying around. Here's a view of the Indian profile:

 

and I don't know why it won't sit upright.



Some of the big rocks, including parts of the cliff face, were full of thousands of little holes, which probably account for breakage and erosion over time.

Natural Bridge Photos 10-13-2015

 

 

The Natural Bridge(s)

 

Me and the Indian Rock

We walked and climbed, and finally decided to save the Bankhead National Forest for another time.

My Kind of Weather

This morning was sunny with temp. in the high 60's. With the heat/AC turned off, the house was as cool as outside. On mornings like this, instead of taking a shower, I like to fill the bathtub with very warm water and soak until the water starts cooling. That's what I did this morning. Of course, I couldn't wash my hair in the tub, but I expect it'll still be dirty next time I get in the shower.

Jed plans to come over tomorrow, and on Tuesday we'll explore the Bankhead national forest up in (I believe) Winston County. This is where our great-great grandmother Mullins, or maybe Gaddy, owned beaucoup acres and sold them for 50 cents per. Alabama's natural stone bridge is located somewhere up there, and maybe we can see it, too.

The media doesn't report much about it, and most of the reports are slanted against Israel. But the situation over there gets worse every day. I don't like to brag about praying, but I do pray for the people and the state of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.

With a little help from my Sis.

Yesterday I was having a bout of the old Father Williams--not knowing which way was up. That is, needing to hold onto the walls and furniture to walk around. So on her daily trip to Walmart, my beautiful sister Ramey picked up my prescriptions and brought them to me.

I'm feeling important today, because I wrote a couple of pages this morning.

***

An email from NaNoWriMo made me start thinking about accepting that challenge in November 2015. I could either try to finish the novel I've got half-started, or a new idea: See how many ghost stories I could write in a month. The second option sounds like more fun. Either way, I intend to turn out some kind of effort.

Monday kind of chores

I've done several of them today: laundry, grocery shopping, calling in Rx refill requests, paying a few stray bills before the new ones start coming in.

That's all, folks!