Haircuts

Today I got a haircut.  For years, I cut my own hair because I never found anyone who cut it to my satisfaction.  It was a matter of a snip here, a snip there. My hair is naturally wavy and I understood it. It was time consuming, and the back of my hair was always tricky.  I usually tried to find a friend to do the final bit on the back of my neck. The result was OK and free is always good.  (Angela Lansbury cuts her own hair, too.)

Then for some reason, probably a performance, I got a haircut at Hair Graphics from Melissa.  She is a true artist who seemed to intuitively understand the problems of semi-curly hair. She cut it short enough when I explained I wanted a swimmer's cut. When I get out of the pool, especially in the winter, I want hair that I can dry fast. But she also could work with thinning hair. She cut a lot of hair off yet it looked thicker when it was done. She even trimmed my eyebrows. Gary noted that she seemed to trim out most of my white hair.

We've become friendly. Today we talked about her husband's hunting trip, drying apples, and travel.  

She works part time at the hair salon and part time at the grocery store. When I go through the checkout at Don's Quality Market, she tells me when I need a haircut. That's the kind of service you get in a small town.

It's worth it paying for one of Melissa's haircuts.  

Signs of Winter

This morning Atom and I made tracks through the hoarfrost at Nagel Park. The last leaves fell from the trees the Seymour Greenway committee planted along the Newton Blackmour Trail three years ago.  It was so cold Atom's defecation hit the ground steaming.

When I came home, I checked the garden and sure enough, I am finally done with tomatoes.  About two dozen are still ripening on the kitchen windowsill, but once they are in the soup pot tomorrow, I am done with that business until next August.

The percale sheets are packed away until spring.  It's flannel for us until January's deep cold when we change to the fleece sheets which are so thick we sink into them.

I've changed my dresser drawers around so winter clothes are handy.  There's an entire drawer for long underwear.

Gary went grocery shopping this morning and came home with a frozen turkey as well as sage pork sausage for his father's meat loaf recipe.  It's time to think about winter cooking.

He bought suet and more bird seed for our winter avian visitors.  The squirrels will be delighted to see the feeders full again. It's Gary vs. the squirrels.  I don't think he's ever won that battle but he keeps trying.

So winter begins.  Five months from now, I'll be watching for signs of spring.  

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Wade's story, "Felonies and Misdemeanors" is now at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

It's a writer's tale, one that I can certainly relate to.

Getting it All Together

With Dan the handyman out hunting something, I was left to walk Atom and generally care for him all day.  He is the sweetest dog, but boy, this is time consuming!  Today, a new behavior.  He wants to chase cars, which is impossible with me holding his leash, but it meant a lot of jerking on my poor old arms.

After the morning walk, I went to see Atom's mistress and see how she's doing. She is still weak, so it looks like Atom will be my concern until Sunday at the soonest.

Then I took Atom for his second walk of the day.

I met Wade to discuss our short story blog. (http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com) He is on tap for the next story, one of my favorites because it is about writing -- and it is so, so funny!  We agreed on ways to publicize our stories.

Then Gary and I went to see about energy assistance. I told him that he really had no idea what social services were like. He found out that the federal government wants exact documents, even if they logically don't mean much. I would rather do without even if I qualify but he had to have the experience to understand that.

And then I came home to walk Atom.  Afterwards, I worked on the third draft of my novel. Everything I write is a draft -- until suddenly it's not a draft but a real book.  But it's not there yet.

A quick bite to eat and back to walk Atom and give him a pill.

My feet hurt, my arms ache and I am so, so tired.

Rainy Day Walkies

For the past two and a half days, Dan, the city janitor and I have been taking care of  a friends dog. Atom is staying in the old fire station in one of the kennels kept for strays. The police keep their vehicles there so they are always coming and going...and stopping to pet Atom.  A three-legged stray dog showed up and was kept in the adjacent kennel so Atom even had a roomie, someone to sniff at.  It was company.

Dan walked him four times a day.  The two of them have enjoyed crisp autumn weather. They were great buddies. My job was to feed him and give him his medication twice a day.  Everything was as it should be.

This afternoon Dan left on a hunting trip. Could I take over walkies?  No problem, I thought.  Then it started to rain and it has been raining ever since.  I've taken Atom out twice today, getting soaked both times.  Atom shakes off the rain and stares at me as if to say, where it that other guy?  The one with the good weather.
Once he has done his business, we hurry back to the fire station.  There he can tear around and around the cars in the fire station until he wears himself out.

By Friday, Atom will be home, but I expect Dan and I will still have to walk him for a couple of weeks.  For the time being, we have a dog. It works for us.

NaNoWriMo

Today is the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, fondly known as NaNoWriMo. This is the 13th anniversary of this writing marathon.  The idea is to write 50,000 words by November 30, or 1,667 words a day. Each year around 200,000 participants enter the official site ( http://www.nanowrimo.org/ ) to have their words officially counted.  Only around 35,000 will complete their books, which are usually only rough drafts to be worked on later.

I've done NaNoWriMo three times, without actually signing up.  I have three rough drafts, none completed so  I'm not starting a new book this year.  Instead, I've set myself the goal of finishing a third draft of Going Down to Gairloch, my story of a writer touring through the United Kingdom.  

I started with Chapter 1 today and immediately got stuck.  Though I like most of the book, especially the last chapter, Chapter 1 has too many problems. I read through the chapter and did my usual writing exercise --  I took a walk.  I came home with several ideas, the most promising of which is taking that last dynamite chapter and moving it to the front of the book. Or I could kill off the dreary heroine by Chapter 2.   Or I could throw the whole thing into a fire and start an entirely different novel.  Starting something new is always easier than re-writing.  

So I guess I will go get Atom and take yet another walk, do some more thinking and bounce ideas off him.  Dogs are good listeners.

Plans for the Day

Every morning, one of us says to the other, "What are your plans for the day?"

Which is silly, because plans never work out.  

Today, I figured on meeting Wade in Appleton to discuss our short story blog. I would buy candy for Halloween munchkins. (I always wait until the last minute so I am not tempted to sample.) I would go to the Methodist church to decorate it for the annual Halloween party then come home to hand out treats. 

It didn't work out that way.  Almost as soon as I was out of bed, I got a call from a friend's father.  She was in the hospital for emergency surgery.  Could I take care of her dog?  

Atom is in fact, our god dog.  Gary and I have helped out a bit in the past with dog food and walks, though I've been so busy lately, I hadn't seen much of him.  Atom has seizures and therein was the problem.  He couldn't be left alone in the apartment.  He couldn't stay here.  Rascal would not stand for it.   No one else could be found to take him home either.  

After trying a few blind avenues, I talked to our city's handyman extraordinaire. He's the kindest man who can fix anything, including other people's problems.  Dan said he would talk to the chief of police about putting Atom up at the city's kennel which is located in the old fire station attached to city hall.  It was an emergency after all.   

First I went to my friend's apartment to take Atom for a much needed walk.  I put on his leash and off we went, for five minutes.  Then he slipped his leash.  There was nothing to do but follow the dog around.  He took me on an interesting walk through people's back yards, along the Little Henry Creek, and down Main Street.  He finally tired out and sat down for a rest.  I got his leash on him and off we went to see the chief of police. 

We settled Atom into his new temporary home.  A previous resident, a golden retriever, had torn the kennel apart, but some repairs had been done.  I went to the apartment, got Atom's dog food and returned to the kennel. He had already escaped and was running around the fire station, examining everything.  I got him back into the crate, wove a couple of leashes through the new opening, and went looking for Dan.  

Dan said he would fix the chain link fencing and take Atom for a couple of walks that afternoon. 

I went home and found an e-mail from Wade telling me he wasn't feeling well and that he couldn't make our meeting.   Gary took me out for a McRib (I have to have one every time they are offered) then we did the final winter clearing out of the camper.  

At this point, trick or treating was approaching and I still had no candy.  We decided to hide out from the little thieves.

I packed up all our Halloween decorations and took them over to the church.two hours later than I intended. I put out jacko'lanterns and strung lights on shrubs and trees.  By the time I was done, the volunteers arrived to make the post trick-or-treating meal of hot dogs, potato chips and other treats but they needed help.   I checked with Dan who had already taken Atom for two walks. Then I started cooking hot dogs.   

Two and a half hours later, all the hot dogs had been eaten by over a hundred party goers and I went home.  

There had been a call from the friend's father.  Had anyone given Atom his pill?  No, but it was the next thing on my list of things to do.

I contacted Dan who could get me into the old fire station.  I collected Atom's pills and dog food at the apartment, met Dan and went to see how Atom was doing.  He was doing fine, because a stray was in the adjoining cage.  They were amusing each other.  I put the pill down Atom's throat, closed his muzzle and stroked his throat. He swallowed it just fine. I will have to give him the next dose at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

So Atom was in for the night.  

I came home again to another phone call, this one from my son to report on Evan's evening of trick or treating. I missed Skyping  to see his costume, but photos were taken and will be sent eventually. 

So ends my day.  I wonder what Gary's plans are for tomorrow? 

The Choir Returns

Sometimes a good temper tantrum does a world of good.

Last Sunday, I thought the Seymour United Methodist choir had come to an end.  I did not want to be the choir director that ended a generations old tradition.  We draped our robes over the benches in the choir loft and I gave the speech before services began asking for new members. I was angry.  If the congregation wanted a choir on Christmas Eve or Easter morning, something had to happen, I said.

This Sunday, happen it did.  Almost all the choir members showed up at practice and we got two new members, a couple of senior citizens. Neither can read music and harmony is new to them, but we worked with them and suddenly we had a choir again.  Last week, we had only one bass.  This Sunday, we had six men, so many there wasn't room for all of them in the men's section.  We moved Stan next to Mary, his wife.

I started with an easy anthem, to get our new members started. Then we started working on Christmas music, and the magic began again.

Even better, two girls want to join their father and grandfather in the choir. They'll start next Sunday.  We'll see how it goes.

We are going ahead with plans for our Christmas concert on December 11. The Cicero United Methodist Church singers will join us, and we're going to ask some other friends, too.

And yes, we sang this morning.

I am proud to announce:  We're back!!!


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My short story, "A Candle in the Window" is at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com
Wade, on vacation out West with his family, couldn't find a wi fi connection, so his next story will be posted next Friday.