I considered going with Tom to his appointment later today, just to get out of the house, but I can still sit in the back and soak up some sunlight. It’s nice to have the house to myself every now and then, even if I end up doing the same things I usually do.

Yesterday, I managed to perk up, but I’m not sure I will today because the congestion has built up again. I decided to give Zyrtec another chance, hoping that since I took it early in my day, it won't cause me to oversleep and wake up groggy tomorrow. I only slept 6.5 hours, whereas I usually need 6-7 hours. Any more than that, and I feel groggy.

I watched a disturbing video from a cop's body cam. A young woman, about to graduate college with her whole life ahead of her, got drunk and killed two people on the road. As she's being given sobriety tests and then brought to the hospital, she's singing and joking, asking about her car and how she'll get to school the next day, completely oblivious or indifferent to the fact that she just killed two people. She ended up getting 14 years in prison. Yeah, like most prisoners, she’ll probably claim she found God, he's her savior, blah blah blah.

Unless it was strictly in self-defense, I can't imagine taking a life and living with the knowledge that someone no longer exists because of me. Every day, I would no doubt wonder what they would be doing if they were still alive.

The white SUV I've seen checking out Ray's place every few weeks showed up again yesterday, and I also met Charlie, one of the maintenance guys. I walked up to the kitchen window and noticed a white pickup truck parked in front of Ray's, but close to our place. I opened the door and heard the engine idling. Then an old, skinny guy came walking up between the houses with one of those pest sprayer jugs. He was actually spraying weeds back by the fence.

Being older and heavier may be out of my control, but that doesn't mean I have to be as lazy as I’ve been. Yes, I work out most days for at least 30 minutes on the glider, but that's such a mild workout that it barely counts. It’s not working my heart enough or exercising my joints the way brisk walking and light jogging do, so I’m really going to make a point of disciplining myself to hit the treadmill, even if it’s only for a few minutes every day. I’ve also incorporated stretching exercises into my routine to hopefully increase my flexibility. I would like to use the Bowflex for my arms, but I don’t know if my shoulder injury has healed enough for that yet. When I’m on the closet floor playing with the rat, I can do my abs.

The story I’m currently working on is over 60K words! My longest story is about 80K words. I doubt I’ll share it, but I might if I manage to finish it.