First 2sday in These titles mean nothing.

Ah here we are in a new month.
I didn’t write much in September. I had a few things to write about but I was lazy.
Summary?
Travel?
Events?
- I went to my class reunion and it was pleasant. I talked mostly with my friend the nun.
- I went to one of my grandson’s football games. It was in Owatanna, and they lost - not a bad game but disappointing since they were state champions last year and managed to lose their first two games this year. Since then they’ve won two so it could be worse. ~~~ I went home with John and Deb after the game and spent the weekend with them. We went to a farmers market and we ate at Katie’s restaurant. ~~~ Oh and we went to a St. Paul Saints baseball game. I watched a Vikings game on TV. A lot of sports for me. I knew who won for a while but I’d have to work pretty hard - and do research to see who won those games. Scores, for heaven’s sake. ~~~ I took the train home to LaCrosse where son Jim met me.
- I went to the Writer’s Group. Only three of us there and I feel guilty for not making reminder phone calls like I volunteered to do. We are getting fewer and fewer, older and sicker and have more obligations. I wrote about the class reunion. I didn’t post it here, but I suppose I could.
- By the way = remember when I got the speeding ticket from the camera enforcement on my way home from a writers group? Well, today’s newspaper said speeding cameras have been limited by state law (enforcement) and the town I got mine will have to give it up. That’s not exactly a triumph but it means I might not have to work so hard not to get another one. I mean I believe in obeying the law, I want to obey the law, you know what I mean. I just don’t want to get another ticket.

General failure and mixed responses to same.
- My batteries are wearing out. The iphone refused to charge. I went to the local phone store and asked if the battery could be replaced. They said no. I said what should I do and they said I should buy a new one. ~~~ I researched the possibilities and found a place in college town - first county seat to the west. I called them and they said they’d do it. Jim took the phone over when I was on my trip to the north. They called and said it also needed a new screen. OK. I thought the screen was ok, but who the F knows? Not me. ~~~ When it was fixed we went to get it, and they charged me a little over $200 for the new battery and the new screen and a new thin glass cover to protect the screen. I suppose that’s why people have cracks on their screens - its the glass that’s cracked. Anyway. I’ve taken a few pictures with the phone but have not used it for any phoning. Right now it tells me ‘no service’. I guess I’m ok. Who the F knows? Not me.
- Also the battery in my cute little radio has died. It’s the $30 Walmart that charges from my USB port and when I bought it, the box said the battery could not be replaced. I guess I neeed to just get a new radio - I might get the same kind - I liked it while it was working.

Farming, real estate, housekeeping.
- Jim has the soy beans combined, hauled to town and he’s been paid for them. The corn seems to be ripening late. Our weather is so different. Not necessarily bad different, but different for sure. The combine seems to be working… which is always a gift of fate. ~~~ John says he can some down to help - I think he liked to do a bit of farming.
- I have a vase of tiny lavender wild asters on the table. They are getting to the end of their beauty. I’m not sure what I’ll replace them with. The deck plants are still outside. I think I’m going to send some up to Joana’s house. I have two pots of the same pinky lavender geranium blooming their heads off. I should have been more generous with the Miracle Gro earlier in the season.
- The windows are lovely.
- The cats are driving me crazy. Especially the one-eyes calico. I am not a cat person. Actually Mr. Vance, not only do I not like cats much, but I did have children - well I still have them I guess. So there.

Politics.
- President Trump visited and spoke one day last week in Prairie du Chien. We did not go to experience being in the same town with him.
- The local Dems have a fund raiser on the 13th in Harpers Ferry… at a place I’ve never been to.
- I think early voting starts in my state on the 14th. I plan to go to the auditor’s office and vote sometime that week. I like to get it done early. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. Well I know who I’m voting for, I just don’t feel awfully optimistic about much of anything.
- Jim apparently has his name on the local ballot. I don’t usually vote for people on the very bottom of the ballot since they are almost always unopposed but I suppose since I’m his mother I should vote for him. It will give him more meetings to attend, more chances to socialize, more chances to perhaps make the world a better place.

Books.
- On my trip to college town to get the phone back, I stopped at their thrift store that has a really nice book room. I got two nice John Cheever books - a bio by Scott Donaldson and a collection of his letters. Cheever was a New Yorker short story writer and he lead an interesting life. I found a bunch of his stories on Youtube and I like listening to them while I do jig saw puzzles. He’s certainly a case study in the ravages of alcoholism - a talented, even lucky man who drank himself to death.

Me, mood, a third M?
- I’m feeling pretty good. Walking a little, not a lot. I tried to get myself into my basement steps routine. I have plastic caps off gallon milk jugs to use as counters. I really like doing that,,, but I am not much good at motivating myself. I don’t like that about me. I am somewhat likely to do the puzzles on the back page of the daily paper. I’ve convinced myself to do the folding necessary to get to the hard(er) crossword in the middle of the page.

Dead people.
- Maggie Smith. I watched “The Prime of Miss Jean Brody” on YouTube last night. I don’t think I’d ever seen it before of read the Muriel Spark book. I didn’t care for it at first but it grew on me. A real ‘teacher’ story. A real growing up at various ages story.
- Kris Kristofferson. I noticed he got a lot of attention for his movies. I saw him on YouTube explaining dating Barbra Streisand to David Letterman. They were in Star is Born before last. I remember The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea with Sarah Miles. The kids kill him. I remember hims mostly, admire him mostly for the lyrics of his songs. They were beyond great.
- Oh and Pete Rose. Deb had a story about someone dating him. Wasn’t Streisand though.
The famed die in threes - I always like to visualize them in the waiting room at the Pearly Gates.

Happy October everyone.