Sunday, September 23 - Settling Down

It's odd. School has been in session here for 6 or 7 weeks, and back in Maine for 4, yet it doesn't seem like that should be the case. I guess, psychologically, I'm not ready for school until I hear the first frost warning on the Weather Channel -- and around here, that's not likely for at least another month, maybe six weeks. So I should psychologically be ready to miss teaching by about November 1.

Temperatures this week have hovered in the mid to upper 80's, and predicted highs for Monday are 93-94 depending on what station one listens to. Our lows here are the highs in Maine, though I hear you all have had some hot ones. Bear in mind, "hot" in Maine means 85 for 2 hours; "hot" here means low 100's for two weeks.

We're settling into a routine here, which is why I haven't written much lately. I don't want to bore people with, "got up, ate breakfast, ate lunch, ate dinner, fed the fish, watched tv, went to bed". But in reality, outside of a few trips to Danville or Liberty for errands, we haven't done too much exciting here. That will change over the next two weeks though...

Paducah - The Barbecue is coming up next weekend. We're going over to Paducah to attend with Rick and Laura and anyone else who wants 12.5 TONS of good ribs within a stone's throw of the Ohio River.

Perryville - The Re-enactment is coming up October 6 and 7. Rick and Laura will be joining us from Paducah for two days of historical fun and excitement.

This past week, we drove down to Liberty (our county seat) twice. First, on Thursday, the 20th, we witnessed Pizza Hut cooking a 10 foot pizza, and enjoyed the county fair atmosphere. We also bought a quilt -- well, it's not a REAL quilt, just a large piece of fabric printed with a quilt pattern, then stitched to look like a quilt -- but nonetheless, it was made locally (not in China or Bangladesh) and it's just the right color combination and style for our house.

Then Friday the 21st, we drove west over to Lebanon (next county over, and I think in the next time zone, too), then south into Liberty, to witness the 10 foot apple pie being prepared. Disappointment! By the time we got there, about 4PM, it was already in the oven (we though it was going in at 9PM or so), and quite frankly, it wasn't much to look at. We didn't actually go back on Saturday to taste it, because we couldn't see how that one pie, big as it was, could actually feed the estimated 20,000 people who were going to show up! So Barry went to Wal-Mart, bought a frozen apple pie (very good I might add), and had our OWN Apple Festival!

Monday and Tuesday, Barry's going back to school. He's taking two computer courses (MS Word and MS Excel) a great way, and a great time to hone his computer skills, which should help in the job hunt. I'll be here mowing the edges of the lawn and driveway that I don't dare to get with the lawn tractor (that thing should have roll bars and a seat belt -- I feel I'm going to fall off most of the time). I'll also work on my online book business -- just this week I shall have added 100 or so titles, AND I've got Barry working with Adobe Acrobat making the files "searchable". His computer is MUCH faster than mine, I really appreciate the help, and he's enjoying it.

I'l post some pictures as soon as I get the chance to get them off the camera and cam-corder. The computer's been busy with business, but Monday I REALLY need to work on the pictures.

It's 10PM and the temperature is still 75 out -- we have 2 fans on, rather than turn on the A/C after the electric bill came! Everyone we've talked to says that this recent bill is the highest they've EVER had here. Well, when temps are over 100 for days on end, what do we expect? Interesting though -- back in Maine a bill for the same amount of electricity we've used would be about about $450. The next couple of months should be a lot less as we'll use neither A/C nor heat to any great extent.

That's about it for now. If I remember anything else I want to tell you, I'll just put it in another blog entry.