It is absolutely gorgeous out now. I can’t believe it’s cool and it’s only October 2nd! It doesn’t usually start cooling down till mid-October to early November. We really lucked out this year. Especially with a car that’s AC is broken. I can see how right Tom is when he says it’s chilly late at night. It’s getting down into the 50s. By 10 PM last night, we could shut the AC off for the night and it hasn’t been on yet today and I doubt it will be. We’ll save a lot of money this way. It was 77° inside the house when I got up at 10:00 and it’s cooler outside. I opened the windows and put the fans on and it’s cooled down a couple of degrees in here. The breeze is perfect, too. There’s not a sound and not a trace of horseshit in the air whatsoever. Today’s one of those days you wouldn’t know you were in a farming community.

Tom’s still not in yet. I know I’m blowing my chance to say no to Scot with the place wide open like this, but it’s a worthy sacrifice. You just don’t get too many chances to open your windows in Arizona. It’s usually too cold or too hot and in the city, it’s definitely too noisy. Sometimes it’s too smelly out here. I’ll probably keep things open till sundown unless it does get smelly or it rains. It’s pretty cloudy out there.

Now I have potentially bad news, and I said this would happen, too. I saw it. Well, the renters are gone. They may have been an eyesore and I didn’t like having to always see them hanging outside, but what if what we get next is worse? What if I have to hear and see them? What if they’re freeloaders? I still say it’s only a matter of time before we get some lazy-assed off-brands, sitting at home 24/7 on Section 8, hanging outside working on old junkers and blasting music while they’re at it.

Later…

Maybe not. I just looked out back and the white van’s there. But why aren’t they all hanging outside? It’s been good weather for that lately, but I haven’t seen them. And why is most of their shit gone?

Who knows for sure what’s going on yet? After all, they have their front light on all night.

I don’t miss seeing them as much. It gives me more of a feeling of isolation and privacy.

Later…

Still cloudy, breezy and beautiful out. Still have the windows open too, and the inside temp is holding steady at 75°. To think that we only had to wait till October 2nd to turn our AC off is like, wow, though we may have a couple of warm spells before it cools down for good. I’ll definitely have to close up the place come sundown.

If Scot doesn’t make it this week, I’ll begin to wonder if we just might beat that 16-week, 4-day record where he didn’t come between September 13th – January 7th, but I won’t quite hold my breath on that one just yet. We’re on week 8; only halfway there.

Finally heard from Mary. She sent a quick note asking me to scan the 5 pictures she sent, so I did. I sent them back since she didn’t tell me to hang onto them.

She asks that I keep sending her book drafts as I type them as they’re motivational to her. No prob. I’ll just stick to text.

She surprised me by asking about the dollmaking cuz she should’ve gotten the letter by now where I told her about skipping classes, getting a kiln (one of these years), and striking out on our own. Maybe she meant – had we gotten the kiln yet?

Tom’s getting me black ink tomorrow. None of my colors will print, even though I’m not on empty. The cartridges are just too damn old, but it’s cheaper just to refill my black cartridge than to go out and get all-new cartridges. He’s gonna grab me some white paper too, as I’m a little low on it.

Today he got fish supplies, but no algae-eater yet. They recommended we wait and let a little algae build up so the fish will have something to eat, which makes sense. Another thing he didn’t get was a cover with a light cuz they were a ridiculous $35. We can either make our own, get a cheaper one somewhere else, or do without. I can pour water in as it evaporates.

He got really cool neon-colored gravel that’s really pretty. He got two bags of hot pink, then a mixed bag with pink, green, yellow, orange and blue. No decorations yet, since I’m going to be picking them out myself, probably on Friday.

We got a temperature strip that sticks on the outside of the tank. It’s a digital one, too. Then, we got a really cool bubble bar that breathes little air bubbles into the tank to put oxygen into the water and a really cool waterfall filter. It pumps water up then it spills down over the top. It pours out, actually. It’s quite a soothing sound too, that’s soft enough so you can still hear the TV. Lastly, we got fish food.

It’ll be hard not sending Mary pictures of the whole setup once all the fish are living in it and Amelia if she could ever get here. I have a feeling that damn doll’s not going to be here by Friday.

Later…

It’s actually starting to get a bit chilly at the front of the house. Heard a few sonic booms, and was like, no! Please don’t tell me they’re going to start up with that shit.

I’ve opened the den’s shades halfway and taken the grille out of the skylight.

The white van left shortly after I noticed its arrival, then that lime green pickup was there for a while. I haven’t seen any people. I’m still not sure if they moved or if they’re temporarily staying elsewhere while they’re fixing something. There’s been a ladder leaning against the front, and the screen door’s been propped open.