Stasis

 Dear John,

I keep wanting to schedule more vacations, even though I know I will not be taking any more vacations this year.  Well, we might go back to my oldest sister's house, as my 2nd oldest sister will be visiting.  But that's just a weekend trip.

Right now, I'm just...bored.  Some of it has to do with Covid.  I've been in the house too much, because I don't want to go and spread germs.  All of my symptoms (which never got too bad) are gone now, so I will be venturing out tomorrow to go to the bank and the grocery store and to get one more estimate on the car.  I hate to spend the money to get it fixed, but since it scrapes the ground leaving the driveway, that 1/4" less clearance makes it worth fixing.  I guess I'll put it through the insurance - that's what we pay them for anyway.  $500 for a deductible is better than $1300-$2000 for a new bumper (and possibly a grill).  But if you could please stop trying to discourage S from driving, that would be great.  I don't have the time or the energy to shuttle her places.  And making her sit at home all the time is cruel.  She has already figured out that she needs to equalize the driving or ask for gas money, so that's good news.  

Not much else is going on.  See: boredom.  We had a dog convention in the middle of the street yesterday.  Cooper and the Wright Brothers were out.  Cooper is a generally friendly dog, who does not enjoy the company of our two, but was a good distraction that allowed my aunt to catch them when they decided to take off on her.  His owner said they were nipping at him. The young dog stood behind me and growled at him the whole time.  He's such a chicken.  The Wright Brothers are the chihuahua mixes who belong to the lady who will not wave or say hi to you...unless you want to talk about the dogs.  She is a strange duck, but everyone has their quirks.  I also enjoy the very suspicious looks her husband gives you when he's got the garage doors open and you're walking by and can see all 3 of his very expensive sports cars.  Seems like they're a good match.

I did finally go out and burn some yard waste yesterday.  It hadn't rained for pretty much all of June (the lawn is a burned mess), so I couldn't get rid of all the branches and pine needles and stuff I'd collected.  My aunt was going to take care of it while we were gone but it was still too dry.  It finally rained every day for almost a week last week.  The ground was still wet, so I was able to burn the stuff.  I had to use your rinse solution to get it going - I probably should not have poured the entire container on it.  Got a good flame though!  The mosquitos and sweat bees were crazy out there - I should have been wearing pants.  Fortunately, I just get the short term welts from mosquitos now; the bites last for an hour instead of days.  Sometimes I wonder if the allergic reaction is going to cause a problem, but so far, my skin just gets really hot for a short time.  

The other part of my boredom is that I don't have you to talk to.  Or rather, I don't have you talking to me about all your nonsense.  I miss that a lot.  So many times I would zone out, because you were ranting about something.  I knew I didn't want you to stop talking to me, but I never realized how much I would miss it.  I can call all kinds of people if I want someone to talk to, but they're not you, so I can't be bothered.  

I did text one of my work friends last weekend - the a-holes next door were running a chainsaw at 9:30 pm on a Saturday.  I think you know that my first thought was that they were obviously cutting up a body.  But I've seen both of them this week, so it wasn't a domestic situation that went terribly wrong.  They're probably doing something dodgy with their funeral home business.

Looks like the dogs are ready to go for a walk, so I guess I will take them out.  It's almost 7 pm and I am still wearing my pajamas.  I guess I'll get dressed tomorrow, since I'm planning on going out.  Young dog just licked my foot, so I should get moving...

Miss you.

Love,

A