Deluge

That would be today.  It has rained since I took this photo at about 9 o'clock this morning, off and on, sometimes misty, sometimes with a lot of enthusiasm, but it has rained this entire blessed day.  And it's been so dim that the automatic night light in the bathroom never shut off.  Yuk.

I happened to watch another rat catcher YouTube video and recognized the Snap Trap as one I'd seen at Ace Hardware so I went over and bought one, got Nutella (well, Kroger store brand anyway), and pecan halves because the lady had caught a rat so that's how I'm baiting mine.





Before supper I got the new trap baited and some weenies stuffed with pellets and got it all put out.  See how I moved everything away from the back wall of the house?  A few minutes ago I thought that the trap had snapped.  No such luck.  Turns out the wind blew over the plastic trash can that I keep bamboo stakes, rakes, and garden toys in.  Since it's raining hard again I decided that I'll stand it up tomorrow when it has hopefully stopped pouring.

This afternoon I did laundry and went to the second art lecture.  Today was about Monet, whose first name is Oscar. (His middle name is Claude.  Who knew?)  I'll miss the second half of Monet because I'll be at The Clearing next week but that's okay.  I'm so looking forward to going.  After supper I worked on Two Hour Bag number 2.  Got the handle stitches bound off and cast on, now it's just knit around and around until I'm nearly out of yarn.  I can't decide if I'll increase stitches so that the base is a bit bigger.  I have time to decide.

1 October--Barbara Malcolm, Horizon. 

            After a minute that seemed to stretch for an hour, Sam’s eyes shifted, he picked up the rental car keys from the table, went outside, and drove off.

            My eyes followed him.  I felt sick to my stomach.  I always hated arguing and I especially hated arguing with those I love.

            Matt’s voice came from behind me.  “Good job, Mom.  You won the stare-down.”

            I started to cry.   “Oh, Matt,” my knees gave way and I sat down hard on a kitchen chair, “I didn’t want you boys to find out about Abel and me this way.  I wanted you all to get to know him slowly, wanted you to like Abel first, before I told you about us.”

            He and Aaron had the grace to look ashamed.  “It wasn’t our idea to confront you like that.”

            Aaron chimed in, “Yeah, Mom, we tried to talk Sam out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”

            I looked at my sons.  “You let him boss you around just like you used to do when you were kids?  I thought you were all too grownup for that.”  I could tell by the looks on their faces that they had too.  “I wondered why everyone shut up all morning when I walked into the room.  This explains it; you were all discussing my sex life.”

            “Well, not just your sex life, Mom,” Aaron said, “we were more worried about him talking you out of your money and the farm.  Have you noticed that some developer has bought all the land along Westline Road?  Sam heard they’re going to build a raft of those mini-mansions on that side of the township.  There are a lot of new companies, insurance companies and such, moving to the north side of Simpson.”

He turned to Matt.  “Didn’t you say you bid on machinery repair for one of those contractors?”  Matt nodded, once, but kept his mouth shut.

          Aaron continued talking, trying to work his way out of a jam with his mouth, like he had since he was a kid.   “It’ll be easy to sell those junior executive-type homes out this way to all the little office rats they’ll be hiring; they love to pretend they’re country people.  How do you know Abel’s not a part of that?  How do you know he’s not just being nice to you to get you to sell out for cheap?”

            Reluctant to fall into the trap of defending an innocent man, but seeing no other way, I said, “Because Abel has been passing around petitions and trying to drum up local support to make the zoning rules so strict the developer will sell out and move on.  The guy has a terrible reputation; he’s the one who defaulted on that subdivision outside of Edgerton last summer.  So, I know Abel’s not in cahoots with the guy because he’s trying to derail the project.  And before you ask, I don’t think Abel’s a good enough actor to pretend to be against the deal when he’s really for it.  Every one of his emotions is plain on his face.”

            Aaron looked at Matt and shrugged as if to say, well, I tried, now it’s your turn.

            Matt straightened up and said, “Mom…”

            But I had heard enough.  “Don’t say another word, either of you.”  I stood up and walked out onto the porch.  “I’m going for a long walk.  I need some fresh air.”  I put on my old barn jacket.  “Don’t wait supper.”  I left.

            I walked down the driveway and turned past the mailbox to head into the woods.  “Grandma, can we come?”  I heard a chorus of grandsons shout at me.  Then I heard their mothers call them back.  I knew they had heard the argument.  Good, I thought, at least they have the grace to leave me alone now, even if they aren’t mature enough to keep their noses out of my business.

Tomorrow I have lots of fun stuff to do.  I get to spend a little time with DS, then get a haircut, and finally get my new partial at the dentist.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot of fun but, trust me, I'm looking forward to a new dental appliance.  Fun is different when you're my age.  I called the doc this morning and asked him to up my antidepressant booster dosage again.  Trying to find the lowest effective dose has left me in the dumps too much and I'm tired of myself.  Hopefully a new me will emerge in a couple days.  Fingers crossed.
--Barbara