Labor Day is over...

It was bittersweet going to the pool for the last time this weekend. I made myself get into the frigid water one last time so I could be reminded why the pool was closing. (OK, maybe it wasn't frigid, but it was very cold for a Florida girl who waited until after the 4th of July to get into the pool back in the pre-NC days.) There's something sad about a beautiful pool sitting there unoccupied for 9 months once the doors are locked for the season. During the summer I knew I could go when I wanted...now I have no choice. I wish they would freeze it in the winter so we could all go ice skating, but even our ponds have not frozen here since we have relocated. The one near the pool froze near the shore this past winter, and I pictured myself ice-skating around the edge of the pond, but I stepped onto it with one foot and it dipped, so my next thought was of my dying of hypothermia because no one thought to look for me there in my time of need. I would hope the ice skates still tied to my feet would paint the picture needed to explain how I had met my demise and everyone would say, "She went doing something she wanted to do."

On the otherhand, it is quite enjoyable to watch the geese fly in and go skittering across the top of the ice on their bottoms. Speaking of the geese, we have another loner out in the yard. It must have been very serious, because there is not another goose on the pond. (Remember, they are very respectful of each other during their mourning times.) I even broke my rule and fed this one bread. Randy loves to feed the fish in the evening, so we go out and they all just swim up as close as they can get. The goose came right up to us, so how could we not feed it? I don't cry anymore when I see them. I hope I have not become calloused.

I'm off to write. I have to stay home all day as I await mattresses being delivered. It was a sad mistake for the McCann family that all this bed bug hysteria came out all over the news while Leah was visiting last week. Needless to say, she was UP on all her mattress trivia since she had worked at a hotel at one point in her career, and proceeded to check all the dates on the two oldest mattresses. She reminded us that after a specific period of time, the mattress doubles in size due to human sweat and dust mites. She painted a pretty gruesome picture and it worked. We both began to itch and scratch. Lucky for us, anyplace that sells mattresses has a Labor Day Mattress sale. I guess they think that if we are celebrating working, we may as well make sure we get a good night's sleep so we can get up day after day and head out to labor some more.

We hit every mattress establishment we could find. They all had their spiels ready and we listened to them all. Of course, I tried each one, but Leah wouldn't do anything but sit on the side, which they told us served no purpose. One has to lie down to get the full effect. She finally did try one out prostrate on the bed, and that was because it had the most potential, and that's all it took. We got home, delayed getting into the shower so as not to foster our paranoia, and I finally decided I couldn't go to bed wondering if I had picked up lice or worse. I would never forgive myself if we had to get rid of our Sterns and Foster just because I didn't take a shower. The final straw was seeing the men in their bed bug preventative suits spraying heat of 130 degrees and higher on the mattresses and carpets to kill the bed bugs on TV. I came out with wet hair and that's all Leah needed to be affirmed that it's better to be safe than sorry.

Yes, I did say mattresses. She checked the date on the guest room bed, and sadly it was over the required time to keep a mattress. Oh, well, they were on sale, AND it will be a long time (we hope) before we have to do mattress shopping again, which I acquaint to buying a car. You never know how good the product is until you get it home...and then it's too late to do anything about it if you don't like it. (The mattress people will take them back after a few days, but it's just too much trouble in our opinion.) So, for those of you have been here or are coming, you've got something to look forward to...a better night's sleep. In the meantime, keep laboring so that you will be worn out by bedtime and can wake up the next day to do it all again with a good attitude.