Captain of the Neighborhood Watch

We had a retired submarine captain who lived across the street from us in San Diego, and upon meeting him for the first time, he said with great confidence, "Hi, I'm Duke F______, Captain of the Neighborhood Watch." Randy and I were quite impressed and have reminded ourselves over and over of our wonderful neighbor and how safe we felt having him directly across the street standing guard over all of us.

All this to let you know that I am officially a block captain here on the farm. It looks as though I am in charge of 13 houses. I am a little disappointed as I just got back from our first BLOCK CAPTAIN meeting and I did not get deputized; nor did I get a badge, a gun, a vest, a hat, or even a tazer. (This word is not in my 1970 collegiate dictionary, so I don't know if it's spelled with an s or a z. It sounds like a z to me.) But, I will do my job with a total commitment to helping our neighborhood be safe for all of us, and I really mean that. I love this place and our neighbors.

The "Word for the blog of the day" was a great hit it seems. (Loved the comments. Bo, thanks for the bruise relief suggestion. I can tell, the older I get, the more I am going to need it. I planted some hot peppers this year...wasn't sure why, once they started growing; therefore threw them whole into a freezer bag and they are being cryogenically preserved until I decide what to do with them. Thank you, Michael, for the word...look at his blog and you can see the whole US lit up with light spots where McDonald's are located, and thank you, La ti ci a. I always love hearing from you. Here is the next q word..."querist (kwir ist) n. A questioner; an inquirer. [From Latin quaerere, to seek; to ask." Sentence: I would like all of us to become querists, so that we may be better informed about ourselves, others and our world. ] This should be much easier to use in Scrabble rather than ubiquitous; it's not near as much fun to say, but we should strive to be querists, don't you agree? Having a label helps us to become more intentional, I think.

Susan and I went out on our quest for the sink again today. Made it over to a local antique/yard art/junk store, only to find it closed on Tuesday's. Who cares! We went to lunch and will venture back out on Thursday afternoon. Can't wait! It was a beautiful overcast fall day with that nip in the air, so I had the hottest bean and chili soup in the world with a half of a grilled cheese sandwich made with real cheddar cheese. Can you believe that? (It's someplace downtown with Mary's name in it.) I wiped the sweat from my brow and from under my eyes with every bite of that soup. Speaking of which...everything in our yard is in bloom: azaleas, bulbs coming up again, impatience, chrysanthemums, coneflower, the biggest yellow somethings I've ever seen in my life. So help me I could win an award for them at the fair, which is in town. In case you're wondering why I put all this together, and why I have repeated myself from a previous blog...it's because it looks like 3 seasons in our yard instead of one. Susan thinks it's due to global warming, but her azaleas are not in bloom, even though her daffodils and irises are peeking through. I think it's due to the fact that our yard was once pastureland and the cow manure protein/microbes are still there. (I know...they hauled most of that away as topsoil, but something must have remained behind.)

Foot update: I'm glad there' s not a water shortage here. I sure enjoyed basking in the shower today. I feel that since I haven't used much water I was due a little extra time to just BASK! I promise it won't become a habit...just maybe one more time. I had a little toe concern in the middle of the night. I haven't been wearing my boot to bed for quite sometime, but if you recall, I transitioned a day early into the next boot, which I did not wear to bed. Therein lies the problem. My toe, thinking it was protected, as in the past, fell off the pillow I have been propping it on, and hit head first into the mattress. I woke myself up crying out in astonishment. It took me a little while to go back to sleep, but all was well in the long run and the sheets were not covered in blood, as I imagined they could have been in the middle of the night. Thanks for reading and in the meantime, BE SAFE, and may we all be on guard for each other. UPDATE: Leah told me it is taser with an s.