My Apologies for Neglecting All of You Too Long
Our lives have changed. My writing goals have also changed.
I wish I could tell you that our temperatures in West Texas have dropped to the point of having to wrap ourselves and our porch kitties in blankets.
But no. We’re really happy to have high temperatures in the bottom half of the 80s, with 70s popping up for a day or two here and there.
We’re opening windows in the sunroom, facing south and west, where I’m writing, in the utility room, facing north, in the living room, facing east, and in the bedroom, facing south.
We’ve actually been getting rain, too! A couple of nights ago, we got an INCH of rain! That’s almost a miracle here! That rain raises our humidity from 5-20% during the summer, to (you won’t believe it!) 86% two days after the rain!
Everything is growing again! Especially the careless weeds, goat heads, grassburrs, and velcro weeds. We HATE those weeds because when they latch onto your shoelaces, socks, pants, or shirts, it’s next to impossible to remove the spines. Sometimes, the item covered in spines has to be tossed.
Chuck moved back to Seminole from Pine Ridge, our little piece of paradise near Cloudcroft, NM, the end of August. He started his first three classes with the Presbyterian Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, on September 5.
There’s been hundreds of pages to be read in three texts, sometimes four. Written assignments about what was read, videos to watch, then comment on, and participation in the group of current seminary students learning online.
He thought he’d have time to sub occasionally at the High School, but so far, it’s taken every minute of the day and often evening to keep up with the reading and assignments!
I’ve been subbing. I made about $1200 in September. I try to grab as many offered subbing jobs as possible. This four-day weekend was “Fall Break.” Teachers need a break before heading into Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
A week off for Thanksgiving. Two weeks off for Christmas. That means I’ll grab as many sub jobs as I can before other subs grab them!
Alex will be going to Albuquerque for a required meeting—in person—to renew something to do with therapeutic massage certification in NM. It won’t be all work, though. Sandy lives in Albuquerque. They found each other through Facebook!
Christy is still at the Alamogordo Home Depot, with a bunch of Associates on her team for Mill Works (doors and windows), appliances, and plumbing, I think. Her team loves working for her because she works with them. Also, when they have problems on her days off, they call her at home and she answers and tells them how to solve the problem.
Our inside kitties, Sophie and sister Freddie, are steady at 12 and 14 pounds. Sophie lost her meow! It turned out to be a sore throat around her back molars. A shot cleared it up, but it didn’t last. Our vet said it might take a second shot to stop it for good.
Sophie still meows in a gruff voice, eats, drinks, purrs, and every else she normally does. She’ll go back to see Dr. Nave as soon as Chuck gets back from dog-sitting Alex’s Husky/Catahoula puppies while he’s in Albuquerque.
I’m going to move some of my “stories” from Medium to this newsletter. Then, my new schedule for Linda’s Heart will take over.
Please hang around! There will be “stories” about whatever I find fascinating coming at least once a week. Maybe twice.
I’m hoping that picture of the pug in a blanket will be replaced by a picture of autumn colors and temperatures! The cold front that’s supposed to move through the country this weekend should get even West Texans into cooler weather!
Hugs!