NOW WHY WOULD?
Now why would a sales rep "drop by" at 2:45 on a Friday afternoon, "just to introduce" himself? I spoke to him with my arms full of the books I was using to fill requests, not letting him beyond the vestibule, not quite tapping my toes, but being (I thought) visibly eager to get back to my tasks. This is just not the way to endear yourself to me. Make a call BEFORE you stop by and I'll let you know when it's convenient for me to interrupt myself to speak to you. Plus he had no idea how we function here, thought we did all the purchasing and processing for our 35 member libraries, and we had a subscription to Grolier Online. NOT. Give me a break. He kept trying to correct me when I said none of the above were true. "Why would they say that?" he asked 3 times. Go fuck yourself, I said not outloud.

What a gorgeous fall day it is, though. Huge flock of turkeys ambling across the road on my way to work this morning. You have to laugh when you get that close to them. They don't call 'em turkeys for nothing. They really are something to see. Mondo ugly from the neck up, and not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but clever in their own way. The colors of the trees are really getting pretty. Lots of rusts and reds coming along.

I can't figure out what's going on with the dogs. No puke yesterday but Chances loves to pee in the same spot on the rug and really stink up the house. I don't know if it's a psychological thing or if there's really something wrong with her. Anyway, Tess didn't puke yesterday during the day so I thought we were all set, but she woke me during the night with 2 huge piles on the floor. Swell. I think they ate massive quantities of rotten apples in the woods this week. I followed them last night and they went right down to the apple trees, shuffling along the forest floor in the sweetest (most puke-worthy) way. I didn't let them eat much, so I thought they'd be ok. Let's see what greets me tonight. I have to look for an inexpensive rug cleaning machine at Walmart on my way home tonight. And buy Chances a new collar, since Tess woke me this morning to the sound of >crunch, crunch, crunch< as she chewed the plastic parts the nice purple collar C. has had for 2 years. Somehow she tore if off and started chewing it. She loves to chew that webbing stuff. This dog has cost a small fortune in stuff she's chewed up. Oh, but she's so cute and I love her so much.

I listened to Sgt. Pepper on the way to work this morning. I didn't realize that it had been exactly 6 months since Henry began to die, but I got very emotional hearing the music. I remember when the album first came out, how much he loved it and how much he wanted Molly and me to love it too. He sat me down in his room at Winthrop Lane and had me listen to it from start to finish. I have to admit I wasn't as enamored as he was (but then I wasn't doing the same drugs he was at that point) but boy I sure came to love that album. What a masterpiece. Each song is just so perfect. I love "indicate precisely what you mean to say" as a phrase. And Rita, and Lucy, and Billy Shears. But it made me sad before it made me happy. I miss my brother, have been thinking of him all week, more than usual. Of course I think of him every day, but this week I just start crying. This is ok, I can stop more easily now. Anyway, I've always heard that John and Paul wanted to make an album that was at least as good as Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds," and that's what inspired them to do Sgt. Pepper. I always wondered about that, because who knew that Brian Wilson was a musical genius? But now I listen to the harmonies in the Beach Boys' songs and realize how beautiful and complex they are. But I always have to laugh because my favorite, my all-time favorite was Dennis, the drummer, who turned out to be a raging alcoholic who destroyed his life and ultimately drowned in an alcoholic haze. Soon Brian will be releasing "Smile," the unfinished album, which will hopefully be the masterpiece everyone has been expecting it to be for decades.

So what's up for this weekend? Not much. Stack firewood, for sure. Yeah, she always says that. No, really, this time I really mean it. I have to, it's nearly October and I have this huge pile of wood to get drying. I was thinking I should mow at least part of my lawn--not to get it mowed, but to use up the gas in the mower before I store it for winter. Not supposed to store them with gas in them. Every fall I dump out the gas & make a mess. Other than that, nothing going on. Feeling pretty laid back, is that good? Wrote my articles for the shoreowners' newsletter, after putting that off for 6 weeks. Nothing very inspiring or creative. Meant to write something fascinating about Daddy longlegses, but never got around to doing the research so that will have to wait. They're all over the place these days, fall must be their busy time. Someone told me their venom is deadly, which I've heard before, but they never bite so they're harmless. Whatever that means.