After the turmoil of last week, this week has been pretty tame. Nothing broke or went wrong and no problems with family or medicines.

Our youth day kind of fizzled at church. The young lady who was going to lead the singing and sing a special with her mom was under the weather. So, the pastor led the song service and I ended up doing the special. The youth did sing in the choir and they sang Happy Birthday to the pastor as it was his birthday.

We've been plagued by a pack of feral dogs in the neighborhood. I think I've written about them before. It has gone from 1 to 4 to 6. They are pretty people shy right now, but our friend Ron has been attacked when he was walking Buddy. We are so glad we didn't run into them when we were Buddy sitting! But, they are now getting pretty bold and travelling in pairs, and they are hanging around the bus stop. We're usually up early enough to be watching, and I have a big stick by the front door in case they start bothering the kids. I remember getting bit by a stray dog as a child. Do you remember that, Mom? Luckily the dog was caught and didn't have rabies. All the dogcatcher here does is show up about 10 and sets a trap and then picks the trap back up at 3. She says it can't be left overnight because it could get stolen. Even when she's been told it could be chained to a fence, by the owner, she says a dog can't be kept in it all night (and she can't be called at night) because the dog would be bitten by mosquitoes. We've watched her and the cops sit and watch the dogs. One woman in the neighborhood has called our councilman and we've been told that the police chief is over animal control so I guess the next step is to call him. As Bill and I were walking yesterday evening, one of the dogs tried to approach us. That's when I was able to pick up the big stick. It's one of the newer dogs to the pack so it may not have been aggressive, but I wasn't taking any chances!

Our weather has been lovely, into the low 60s at night and low to mid 80s in the day. It seems like, since fall officially arrived, the weather changed immediately! We've been trying to walk in the evenings before it gets dark since it has been so pleasant.

We did make a quick trip to Jonesboro to pick up my other ring. I'm very pleased with the stone. It looks almost identical to the one that was in it! I noticed on the drive over that the cotton has opened. I couldn't tell if it was going to be a good crop or not since they are just not starting to defoliate. I've been able to tell the last couple of days, by my body. Today was especially bad. I woke up with a sore throat, headache and sinuses pouring, so I know it's harvest time. I'll be lucky to have a voice tomorrow!

Bill's "symptoms" have all disappeared, except for a cough that comes and goes. I think it's being back in this area too for him, but I'm going to mention it to Stephanie when we see her. He and I have had several conversations about his inactivity lately and how Mayo is not going to be happy, so he's trying to do more and move a little faster. He's also going to start wearing pullover shirts instead of button downs. I've noticed that he's not using his left arm at all when dressing and he says it hurts when he tries to use it. That is all from not using it and I think he finally understood it today. So we're going to try the polo shirts. I did catch him using his hand exerciser this week when he thought I was out of the room!

That's about it. I'm going to meet a couple of girls from the office for lunch Tuesday after their class. I think they're still hoping I'll go back to work as they've activated me in the system again and they are trying to take some tests in my name for certification. But, that's still not going to happen.

I've made all of our hotel reservations but one for our next trip. To get the hospital rate at the hotel I have to call them directly and I didn't want to do it during prime check in time. So, it can wait another couple of days.

All for this time...I've written a book. Hope everyone has a good week!