7:15 am. H. couldn’t wait for the alarm clock to go off. He started meowing to go out an hour early. Ignored him. Don’t want him to get in the habit. He eventually gave up and we both went back to sleep.
8:45 am Along with the alarm clock ringing, I heard a motor in the back yard. It was the landscapers doing the fall cleanup.
8:45 – 9:15 Did my morning exercises, got dressed and went out to talk with the landscapers.
They cut back the perennials, pull weeds and haul away the yard waste. It makes me sad to see the last signs of summer go away. I’m watching the weather reports closely. I’ll be moving my indoor plants from the deck to inside the house when it gets down to the frost temperature.
9:45 Breakfast is oatmeal, apple, milk and a fiber bar. Seems appropriate for a fall morning. Read the StarPress.
10 am Checking and responding to email. Texted my tech savvy son-in-law to schedule a phone call for tomorrow to clear up some questions about my new iPhone and wiping clean the old one so I can send it back to get a really nice discount on the new one.
12:30 pm Heading out to the credit union to get cash for my trip to Oaxaca, Mexico next Friday. A friend and I will be there for a week for the festivals of Dia de los Muertos and All Souls Day. L. has been there before but I’m a first timer.
Paired my car Bluetooth with my new iPhone. I like to listen to audiobooks while I’m driving. Right now I’m listening to Dolly Parton, Songteller. She tells about her life and the songs she’s written and sung over the years, also plays and sings parts of the songs. Quite a contrast from the audiobook I finished last week: Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. I needed a lighter read after that one.
Landscapers have left. I walked around the yard and garden to see what they’d done. All looks good except they cut down the sugar snap peas growing on my fence. About six weeks ago I planted them, buttercrunch lettuce, and green beans hoping to get a late harvest from them. The workers must not have recognized the peas as a vegetable because they wiped them out. They left the lettuce and green beans. The lettuce is big enough to eat and the green beans have blossoms. I hope they’ll have beans before the frost kills the plants. While I was surveying the garden, I picked a bunch of bell and poblano peppers.
1 pm. I met with the spokesperson of the League of Women Voters about election ideas they’d like for someone to introduce next session. One is to change the poll closing time from 6 pm to 7 pm, two others deal with voting by mail, and a third would do away with straight party voting. I love these ideas but their prospects, considering the makeup of the Indiana General Assembly, aren’t very hopeful. We also talked about environmental issues – the series of US Steel spills into Lake Michigan, the recently passed wetlands law that threatens Indiana’s isolated wetlands and the EPA ruling that would mitigate some of danger, and a pollinator protection bill I’m working on. We also talked about ways to address suicide by gunfire.
3 pm Back at the computer to read more emails and research info for my pollinator protection bill.
5 pm Changed clothes.
5:15-9 pm. Attended the Ball State Foundation’s Alumni and Benefactors Recognition Dinner and awards ceremony, held at the Scheumann Family Indoor Practice Facility. It is part of the Ball State Homecoming weekend. Saw many friends, enjoyed a delicious dinner (horseradish yellow smashed potatoes were especially good) and the music of the senior and junior musical theater students. Two of the students were at my table. Among the people who received awards was my good friend M.
9 pm. Back home. Changed clothes. Played with the cats and read more emails and researched more information on pollinator protection.
11 pm Finished the last 1500 steps to reach my goal of 10,000 steps a day. Did the 7 min. standing workout with Chris Jordan, then did my stretching exercises while watching Stephen Colbert. By midnight my total steps today were 11019. Played FreeCell.
Midnight: paid some bills and entered data into Quicken. Time to get ready for bed. Raining so am not going to the hot tub.