Started October 7, 2021, published 11-19-2025

it's been a challenging 2 months since a long term relationship of about 30 years ended. (2 months and 1 day now that the clock has gone past midnight.) The previous months were challenging as well, but the last 2 months were mostly me figuring things out myself... making things work.  

Some highlights:

August 17th: I let the dogs out into the yard in the morning as I usually did... and found that the neighbor's cattle got into my yard: 4 of them: 2 big ones and 2 little ones...low to medium level panic was the initial reaction.. mainly because I was not in any way presentable to go running to the neighbors, and I wasn't sure if the dogs could hurt them or if they could hurt the dogs. I also didn't have my CI or glasses on, nor was I dressed presentably for public purposes. On hindsight, I find this hilarious! It was not funny then.

First thing I did was to round up the dogs and bring them inside... then I got dressed (I may have even showered, wooo!) and walked over to neighbors' houses to ask which neighbor owned the cattle. While I was knocking on doors, one of the little dogs was going totally crazy and snapping at me... the little turd didn't even appreciate the treat I brought along in the hope of avoiding that. I found someone home at the 2nd house I went to... got the info I needed (the owner works at the local electric company)... went home & contacted the company. I used their website chat feature & the person I spoke to told me she would email the owner. 

Around noon, the owner of the cows knocked on my door, apologized, and told me that he would be moving the cattle to another pasture and would fix the section of fence that they knocked down. That was nice! The neighbor that I spoke to seems nice, and I'd LIKE to go over & thank him (and the owner of the cattle), except for that little dog. I suppose I could drive over?

I've been mowing.. the last time I mowed was a few days before my ex came to pick up his stuff. 

The last time it rained, it didn't seem to affect the grass, but I still think I need to go over the front yard & the driveway island again... I also need to work on the back yard, especially the paddock. It would be nice to get some of that knocked down before the septic installation. I'm not sure when that will be, but that's another crisis situation we've been dealing with here. About 4 or 5 weeks ago, I realized that we needed to find out what we needed to do to get the septic situation sorted. It would have been great if all it needed was to be pumped, but it needs a new system because the lateral lines are full, and apparently not repairable.  The soil here is very compact, almost like clay. When I dug to bury Bartleby, it was hard to break the ground (but I managed to). I spoke to 3 or 4 different companies and picked one from Valley View.. we're currently waiting on a permit from the county.

I also spoke to someone from the county & they told me that they didn't have any complaints about the companies that I was considering hiring.

I found a doctor that I like... I like his approach, and I'll be meeting his Nurse Practitioner, who is vegan, but need to go over and get some bloodwork done... my feeling is: avoid medicine unless it's necessary and find other ways to deal with health issues.

The last couple of weeks, I did some fun stuff: 1-1/2 weeks ago, I met some folks through a Meetup group to go kayaking and hiking. I may go camping with them next weekend. Everything is dependent on when the septic installation happens.

This weekend, I'm meeting with the group's leader to buy her folding Tucktec kayak.

Today (yesterday? Wednesday) I went to an Equine Therapy place for an orientation for volunteers. Next Monday (again, depends on septic installation), I'll go over for some training. 

We also need to figure out what to do about the tree in front of the house.. at least a lot of it has already been trimmed, but it needs to come down. One of my sons suggested cutting it down in sections.

SO I've got a few things going... new medical clinic, septic will be installed, women's adventure group, equine therapy volunteering, and also I'll be trying a Tai Chi class via Zoom with the same person I'm buying the kayak from. I think the living room would be a good place to set that up... maybe set the laptop facing the table &

11-19-25: publishing this today. Since I wrote this, I moved to Southern Illinois, which is much nicer than anyplace in Texas that i lived. I liked living on Valley View best, 1998 through 2005, and wish we could have assured to stay there. The house in krum, and duplex in Arlington weren't bad.

I'll try to start blogging again, here and in my art blog.