I really do need to get a job. This lifestyle is reaching the point of ridiculous. For instance, this morning I got up about 7:00, emptied the dishwasher, drank a Coke, and went back to bed and slept till 2 p.m. And it's only Wednesday.

What have I accomplished in 15 years of "free time" in retirement? I've published little chapbooks for me and Ramey, and a longer book of my poems. Written a lot of poems, but not as good as the ones I wrote when I was working and "didn't have time." Wrote another novel (#3) and figuratively put it in a drawer. Realized my life-long ambition to own a piano--this gives me a lot of satisfaction, although I can't play it.

I haven't become any better housekeeper than I ever was. I made one quilt, a wall-hanging that Susan had machine-quilted for me. Went to a couple of Oxford-Shakespeare conferences in Atlanta and DC. I've got a loose-leaf binder at least 3 inches thick, full of research notes for a book about Shakespeare, most of which I did before I retired.

Maybe they'd let me be a door-greeter at Walmart.

This morning I dreamed about beautiful Jenny, standing up in the saddle, trick-riding horses.