The Man under the Bed

It’s the middle of October already and I haven’t written a thing in OD for a month. My weekends are so busy that when I finally get to sit down for a moment, I usually want to read or watch TV instead of write.

Today is a little different, because it’s raining. That’s a rare event in my neck of the woods lately. After a rainy beginning to summer, we’ve been in major drought lately. I don’t think we’ve had significant rain since August. So today’s clouds and fog and dampness and water pelting me on my head is something to celebrate.

If it hadn’t been raining, then I would have tackled leaf mulching part 2. The leaves are beginning to pile up in the front and back yards. We did part 1 last week. I pulverized the leaves in the yard with the lawn mower and Joe raked up the excess leaves from the driveway and sidewalks. Then we hauled the bags to the compost.

I’ll probably do part 2 tomorrow since it’s supposed to be nice and dry. Joe will be attending a funeral. Strange that it will be on Sunday, and it’s for a nun, too, but there it is. She lived in his previous apartment building just two doors down. Plus, the funeral will give him a chance to connect with his neighbors.

I haven’t figured out why people want to live to 100, because our bodies start falling apart, and our family and friends start dying, and there we are, all alone, and everything is a struggle. Joe’s best guy friend died two years ago and I don’t think Joe has recovered from it. Joe and Truman would go out target shooting and talk about their experiences in the armed forces; Joe in the Air Force and Truman in the Marines.

Now he has just me, and that’s OK, but it’s always good to get outside of the relationship and have a few buddies to hang out with. So I’m glad he’s going to the funeral, and while he’s there, I’ll pulverize leaves and enjoy being outside.

The color has been fabulous this year. I was worried that because of the drought, the leaves would just fall off of the trees, but the leaves hung around long enough to turn gorgeous colors and give us an enjoyable collage of oranges, yellows, and reds.

I haven’t been to a haunted house since Asher was in junior high. Well, my younger grandson LOVES haunted houses, so Asher suggested we go to one and we did last night.

It was a perfect night to go, because it was chilly, but not cold. I wore my winter jacket and mittens and was comfortable. This haunted house was put on by the St Paul Police Department. They fixed up the interior of the old Ramsey County Farm barn for the haunted house.

They created a maze of dark and spooky rooms with dark and spooky people dressed up as all sorts of monsters and zombies jumping out to scare us. Well, I don’t get scared too easily, and I play along with them.

A couple of women were in our group and they were SCARED! And that’s funny to me, because they’re haunted house regulars. They go to all the haunted houses around the area. They must like getting scared or something.

But I did get scared when I was walking through a bedroom and I had almost reached the door when a man came slithering out from under the bed and grabbed my ankles. Holy cow, did I ever jump! And that guy kept slithering on the floor like a snake chasing us around and around, because we couldn’t find the trap door to get out of the room.

So I’m going to watch out for a man under my bed!

Since I’m now in the Halloween spirit, I decorated the house before going to the older grandson’s football game this morning. The older grandson didn’t go with us last night, because he does get very scared. He probably wouldn’t have made it out of the first room.

Halloween is becoming the end of an era for me, as this is probably the last year the oldest grandson will go trick or treating. He’s in 8th grade and is 13 years old. And the youngest one just has a couple of years left.

It’s sad as a parent to begin to end the childhood traditions, but then childhood fun comes back through the grandchildren. And now I’m reaching the end of that! I guess I’ll have to wait for great grandchildren to resume trick or treating and other fun stuff. That’ll be a LONG wait, since people get married later and have kids later. I’ll be that 100 year old person fading in body and mind trying to carve a pumpkin with my great grandchildren. And that’s a scary thought.