What happened with Jessie was that she wrote a letter about a customer that she accidentally sent to the customer. I was cracking up over that one as it must’ve been some letter! Although her husband David doesn’t make much money as a machinist, she may try to seek out a part-time job that pays better so she can afford to be home with her daughter more often. Daycare costs almost as much as our rent! I’m so glad that’s one financial hardship we’ve never had to face on top of all the others.

Yesterday evening as the sun was setting, I was crossing the living room when all of a sudden I heard this crackling sound. I first thought of firecrackers till it registered in my brain as all wrong. Like what would Jesse be doing up the hill setting off firecrackers, right? So I stepped outside but didn’t see anything at first. I heard sounds of something slipping and sliding and thought animals were on the roof. After all, this isn’t the city where people are the number one ruler. This is the country where animals rule. Animals live with people in the city, but here in the woods, we live with them. But then I saw that a tree went down at the base of the driveway, so I texted Tom at work and let him know. Fortunately, he was able to get around it. I left Maryann a message since Jesse never answers his phone, but haven’t heard from them. Jesse might be out of town on a construction job cuz we haven’t heard him drive in or out at all today. Tom said he went to pull it out since the trunk was only about 5” around, but then all kinds of trees started firecracking around him, which then explained why so many people are out chainsawing trees lately. Some trees grow too fast for the branches to support the new growth. It’s a good thing the trailer and shed are set back far enough so they can’t be attacked by any trees! It was one of the palmish ones that went down.

Since no one’s been down to deal with it and all’s been quiet up the hill, I wonder if Jesse’s finally working again. I hope so! With him working that should mean fewer motors, less barking and more privacy. When I was outside a couple of days ago in the late afternoon I heard him call out to some guy, “What time are you going to be here tomorrow in the morning?” He definitely loves to work on things. I just hope he’s not prepping the place to sell it anytime soon! He’s mentioned doing projects at his place, too.

Today’s the third day out of all the days we’ve been here so far that I haven’t heard the dogs at all.

I’m very happy for the gays of California! The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny gay marriages. While they had civil unions, they now allow gay marriage like Massachusetts, giving them a full range of benefits. Of course the bigoted religious conservatives are going to fight for an amendment come November.

Jessie said friends of her father are getting married on the Massachusetts side of his land (I didn’t know there was a Massachusetts side) that are the nicest guys.

These rats have turned out to be no fun, I’m sorry to say. They’re quick to run up to us when we get near the cage and they’ll take food from us, but they’re so damn skittish that they won’t let us pick them up, nor will they stand still and allow themselves to be patted. I’d say we’re definitely going to get rid of them soon. We just don’t know if we’re going to turn them loose in the woods here or bring them back to the store. I miss rats who want to socialize with us! I miss my Tinkerbell and other rats we’ve had like Blondie and Little Buddy who would run to me, follow me around, sit on my lap and let me scratch their backs. I hate rats that I have to scare into going back into their cages, and that run from me the moment I try to handle them. But the sucky thing about it is that you just can never know what you’re bringing home till after you get it home.

I started taking Claritin D again to drain my inner ear congestion and just like before, it’s causing me to wake up a lot during my sleep, and to lose my appetite as well. Maybe there will be an ‘after’ picture after all. I was starting to doubt it for a while there, though I’m still older and not expecting to get down to the 110 pounds I should be. But I might lose 10 pounds or so.

Later…

Maryann did leave a message after all. She said Jesse would be down in the morning (no doubt after I’ve fallen asleep) to take care of the tree. She said he heard it fall too, but didn’t know where it was.