I am reading one of a series of books and in the last two, the main character has exhibited symptoms, such as dizziness. I CAN’T STAND IT. I am going to do an internet search to see if I can find out what is plaguing him.

That is the mood I am in.

I woke up and thought I had heard Shane indicating that he wanted to go out, but he was not around and so I wondered if I should check this out. I found him upside down in the living room chair – going paws up has an entirely different meaning for Shane. He woke enough to stare at me.

So, okay, I settle back down, only sleep eludes me and I find myself thinking that I’m glad Shane didn’t want out because a couple of nights ago, I think a neighbor animal encountered a skunk near out fence. Ah, but then, he did want out. He’s out there now, with I don’t know what else.

I imagine if I go over and look he will be lying in one of his favorite spots watching over the sheep of the night. It’s comparably warm this night and probably quite comfortable for the furball. However . . . I think it would be a good idea to bring him in, for I am either smelling skunk or imagining it.

Yes, AmeliaJake, do it NOW.

Yesterday I listed a link to Hooked on Houses, and after I did so, I scanned through some of the other posts on that site, including the Worst MLS listings category. And that got me thinking. When I look through magazines featuring nice homes and decorating ideas, I need to have a computer app that will overlay the picture with AmeliaJake clutter and let me see what would happen if I lived there – sort of the opposite of The World Without People, but, in a way, having the same effect. Within a short time, I am certain, everything thing would be covered over with AmeliaJake undergrowth.

I know this because every time I walk into a model home or one of those Showcase Homes, I think. “Where are their things???” It is not funny, but shocking, how much I just don’t see as I walk through the rooms; then I will take a digital picture of something and, believe me, digital pictures highlight everything in the background – unless you do that bokeh thing. I find myself reeling at the . . . ok, I’ll own up and call it “mess” in the background. Gosh, I’ve got a lot of stuff.

So, yesterday, I decided to stream everything down. This could take time if done correctly, so I opted to not do it that way and just went around sweeping things into boxes and, at least, labeling what area of a room the box contained . . . so when I go madly looking for something, I will only have to look in the box where it was last seen. I’m being fairly brutal, sparing only the most necessary catch-all tins until I get my sea legs.

I know, I know. This will give the effect I am a living in a house from which I am boxing up in preparation for a move. But then, that might not be such a bad idea; another option would be to put a movie in the machine, start a fire downstairs and “sort” through the boxes. Of course, there is always the estate sale . . . kill me now.

I’ll have to be supervised while considering some of these options . . .

I came upon a site in which a church policy was to use creative contextualization to enable all people to understand the Bible. A couple of groups were cited: explaining some message to young children as opposed to senior citizens. Now I am wondering exactly what is so difficult about the stealing and false witnessing (lying) part? It’s simple, straight-forward. Also referenced were different eras. Frankly, I cannot understand why it has to be discussed in more relevant terms because we are now in a modern culture.

I mean, lying is wrong. Stealing is wrong.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Am I terribly dense or is does that say just what it means. Just basic Christian values; you know, doing the right thing even though you’d like to have all the chocolate pie for yourself.

I don’t know, but I am considering the idea that anyone who thinks such things need to be explained or made relevant may not be far from justifying doing the wrong thing because times/circumstance/situations are different now.

This has nothing to do with any recent discussions about Christianity I may or may not have had; it has everything to do with my coming across a church website in which core values were outlined. When you use jargon such as creative contextualization, it seems so ironic you’re talking about making things clear. Heavens to Betsey, saying Splitting the Atom is pretty darn clear and that’s talking about nuclear physics. Creative Contextualization seems like the type of phrase you find in the infamous fine print.

Look HERE. It’s the Hooked on Houses website and it is about an Idaho lodge for sale, complete with guest cabins and natural hot springs that heat the house.

I’m not posting a picture that stares me in the face because that would just turn my hazel eyes green every time I logged in here.

I was rummaging through my purse yesterday and found a card for a doctor’s appointment on October 8th. Ack! Ack! Rats! and Drat! That’s this coming Wednesday. Oh, like I really want to go. I didn’t kick the table leg, but I felt like it. A nice little mini-tantrum.

And, if that wasn’t enough drama yesterday, I slipped leaning over the open trunk and smacked my healing ribs into the car’s upper bumper. It wasn’t too bad, but it was a reminder. Maybe I should have just passed that major Stouffer sale up . . . Well, at least it doesn’t take much lifting to put a Salmon and Basil Stouffer entrée into the microwave.

I just looked at the fine print at the bottom of my draft post and now realize my posts are being dated one hour earlier – because, apparently, the Internet thinks I am in an Indiana county that keeps Chicago time. In the past, this would have triggered at Daylight Savings Time in the far western Eastern Time Zone. Today, you get a sigh.

Oddly interestedly is that one of those old posts – Fast Time/Slow Time – attracts weird commentors and periodically I have to trash them. The English used is not natural and the comment usually invites me to view some website, which I do not do.

Rose says I’m boring her, so, okay, see ya later.

Every year the town hosts a two-day festival and I live not far from where it it held – walking distance, easy. There are all sorts of food booths, including apple burgers and apple fritters and the famous pork tenderloins that look like those hats with ear flaps. A lot of people just take the tenderloin meat and double it over in the bun. (This year there are 40 food vendors.)

I have been there when it has been cold enough to snow and so hot that the apple fritter people could only work in 10-minute shifts over the kettles. It’s raining today and 68 degrees right now. Tomorrow and Sunday – the festival days – the temperature is going to be in  the forties and fifties, but no rain predicted.

Attendance has grown over the years tremendously and a lot of the times the pathways at the fairgrounds are packed with half the people going one way and half the other. It is a good idea for kids and short people to hang onto the sleeve of whomever they are with.

Because the crowds are so large, the temperatures in the forties and fifties are sometimes a boon because all the people around you are insulation. Heavy rain is the worse. Soaking wet with squishy shoes and huddled in one of the covered areas is no way to really enjoy a cheese-covered pretzel.

I usually like to go to listen to the groups that play music  or dance – such as The Inclognito Cloggers – and to meander around the craft barn (100 craft stalls).  Rose and I are also curious about a group called Wild Rose Moon. But the trick is to decide when to go – to find that time when the crowds are not so big I am totally engulfed. And to find that time that if I want to break my diet, the lines won’t be so long.

Oh, I almost forgot, the Merchant’s Building is full of antiques and I am not going to joke about being one of them if I go in. Also, and maybe I don’t need to mention this, but in the Primitive Area, you can buy all sorts of stuff. Last year – or maybe it was the year before – I took it into my head to buy a beaver pelt and came home and wore it, yes, on my head.

If you are curious about details, the Apple Festival Website is HERE and you then need to click on a downloadable brochure that lists everything and provides a map. Maybe Rose and I will put X’s at the places we visit – or maybe we just better stay inclognito. Now, see, that pun has taken my fancy and I am going to have to watch myself or it will come out at the wrong time.

Why? Okay, if the roof leaks, that’s called fixing, not updating. If you need a new furnace you need a new furnace. But, decor? Why? Are people so stressed for things to worry about that it is important they keep their fingers on the pulse of lighting fixtures, wallpaper and garden gnomes. Yes, I added garden gnomes to be sarcastic; did I succeed?

I drive past a lot on which people are building a House for Humanity; good thing they didn’t model it after a 50’s ranch. Someone would have to buy it and flip it.

Of course, it’s one of those arbitrary “status” things. I do not have wallpaper that was all the rage 20* years ago; but if I did, I think I’d still be able to be comfortable in the room – doing the things I have to do and the things I enjoy. Actually, in some houses that are always being “updated”, I go in and don’t think about living; existing without marring or outright breaking something is on my mind.

*A couple of my rooms have wallpaper way older than 20 years.

I took the day and I spent it reading – not a complex book, just a story. The whole thing – sort of like my brain went to the spa. It was much better than the last three I have read, but then they were free to read thanks to KindleUnlimited and at least served the purpose of reminding me that it most always comes down to the writing, not the plot.  That seems to contradict the adage that actions speak louder than words, but I suppose they are two different things. Words are communication and actions are convictions.

I am tired and wandering down the road here, coming close to crossing the double yellow line and not at all certain if I am headed anywhere. It’s time to stop and make camp.