376...

...in miles sounds kinda wussy after some recent reports. But that's the best I can do for the past forty-eight. I left Columbus on Wed. afternoon, and drove to Valdosta to visit my auntie. I know she gets lonesome, and does not seem to have a lot to keep herself busy and time occupied. In addition to a variety of health issues that have been troubling in recent months, she is just having a hard time lately. I'd called to ask about ingredients for a fruit salad I remember my grandma making, and eating at holidays, so I could buy the makings and we could put it together together. 

I'd called a friend about meeting for dinner, so we went out and enjoyed good eats, at a new Mex. restaurant. There was some recipe confusion,  when we got ready to put the fruit salad together, but it all worked out. I left Valdosta shortly before noon on Thursday morning, to drive back to Columbus.

Uneventful trip.

Except for stopping in Quitman, going in the house just to look around, turn some lights on and other off - and finding that it was at least 80 degrees in there. Holy Cow. I called my friend who keeps an eye on stuff for me, opened the front and back doors and had to go stand outside until he could get there and resolve the problem. I bet you didn't know your thermostat has a little double AA battery in it? Me neither! So - you better check, and be prepared to replace it once a year, when you replace the ones in the smoke detector when the time changes, as you flip your mattress.

When I called him today, to say I was thinking about those cartoons you see, where the characters, usually some creature who perpetually plays the fool is driving along. And the accelerator gets stuck to the floor, so you see this silly animal, in the driver's seat, with the steering wheel tightly gripped, going faster and faster and faster. Naturally there is a curving mountainous road involved, and switchbacks, and steep downhill turns. And finally this little character with eyes big as dinner plates, and ears flapping behind him, holding on to the steering wheel with a death grip, even though it has separated from the vehicle - goes over the edge, off the cliff, into oblivion, a la "Thelma and Louise".  So I had to wonder what would have happened if I had not randomly gone into the house when I did - and found the place getting hotter and hotter and hotter: would we have had spontaneous combustion?

And do I have fire coverage?

I am incrementally finding that being a homeowner is not fun. And a huge financial drain. I've always been of the opinion that investing is better than pouring rent down a hole every month, but ....I'm not so totally convinced. There has been a great sucking sound, like a sinkhole opening, right there at 1209 for several years now...constantly draining funds from my check book: if it ain't something, it's something else.