Crowded neighborhood
This is the time of summer when the neighborhood (and hence my social life) is jam-packed full. Linda and Erdvilas are here, which means I have a watering hole to stop at nearly every night. My friends Jim and Judy (he's a glassblower, she's a nurse) were here for the month, my friends Bobbie and Paul are here from California (he's published about 6 books and is working on a manuscript as we speak), my friends Barb and Steve just left (he's a judge, she's retired), the Holts are coming for Labor Day (we all know them--the Congressman and Doctor). And so it goes.

Last week was busy, at work (Robert Louis Stevenson Collection--just how many books are in that collection, anyway?) and even more at home. Weds. I had dinner with Jim and Judy but made the mistake of stopping at Linda's first. I ended up having too much to drink and felt really crummy on Thursday--bad night's sleep and alcohol poisoning (OK, not actually poisoned, but my body objected). Thursday night Linda had her annual campfire gathering blow-out, which involved a whole lot of people. There are these 2 families with young girls who always rent the Holt's camp now, and the girls like to put on a show at this fete. Each year the show seems to get longer and longer. This year they made up their own skit, last year it was scenes from Oliver! complete with songs. One of the highlights of the evening was a pretty female yellow Lab named Sugar. The golden retriever named Athena played "run very, very fast" with Chances. Anyway, once again I drank too much (bourbon is poison to my body) so felt even crummier on Friday. Plus I couldn't stay awake. Nothing worse than working in a library and being sleepy. I was the only one in the building from 4-5 and I fell asleep at my desk at 4:45 and slept until 5:30. If I had any dignity I'd be embarrassed. I have increased the dosage of one of my meds and don't know if this has anything to do with any of this. Of course I'm not supposed to drink much at all.

I've felt slightly ill since Friday but it comes and goes. Haven't had much to drink, pretending to have learned my lesson. Well, actually I DID learn my lesson.

Saturday was Road Clean-Up with the Conservationists (shoreowners' assoc.) but I had to bow out because poor Tess' allergy was so bad she had scratched the fur off of her front legs. I rushed to Westport (50 min. away) to pick up some Prednisone for her, jammed it down her throat in the parking lot at the vets'. They told me that last year I was there on the 18th of August, and the year before on the 27th of August, so I was right on time with her allergies. Nice to have a predictable dog, no?

After the clean-up (to which ONE person showed up, besides Linda, who is President) there was a cookout at Linda's. There were only about 6 of us there, but it was women I really like and we had a nice time. The meeting started at 2 and a handful more people showed up. We met outside, which was nice but the meeting went on a bit too long and I got really, really cold. Since I'm Secretary I have to be polite and stay until the bitter end. I went home right after the meeting and a short visit with Ken. At 5:30 Jim and Judy came over for wine and a tour of the house (why are people so interested in seeing my house?). We had a great time, I really enjoy their company. They left at 8:30, I collapsed and went to bed early. They flushed twice and the well didn't run dry--TRIUMPH!

Sunday was rainy, good for the well. I got up early, had a great conversation with my sister and another good one with my mother. Went to dinner at Linda's, just Ken, L., E. and me. Ken was in a hurry so dinner didn't last long but I hung around until 3, doing our usual communal effort on the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. Home to watch the pre-Emmy show and doze, then back to Linda's at 8 to watch Emmys with them and do my laundry at her house (got to laundromat too late on Friday, it was closed!). We had a good time, all lined up and commenting on gowns, shows, people. Linda said she'd have to get HBO because she'd never heard of lot of the shows. So this is the big reward for my investment in HBO?

Yesterday I felt really punky so I stayed home. Man was that nice. Slept until 11:00, sat on the deck until 2, went to boat house & sat on the porch there, reading & doing crosswords. Quick swim (bath, really) and home. Felt better by the end of the day, lay on the couch watching tv all night. Early to bed and BINGO! today I feel much better. Jim said he'd had a stomach thing too, but his turned into a cold. So far mine was only nausea and seems to have subsided. Tonight I'll see what effect a glass of wine has on my stomach at Paul and Bobbie's.

I printed out some stuff from Wikipedia for Paul for his book and was talking to Rush about Wikipedia. His response was that you really can't trust what's in Wikipedia: the entry for him said that he was having a homosexual affair with another Congressman and they would both be divorcing their wives, announcing the affair later this week. Well, ok, so he has a point. The entry was changed and the person who posted it is banned from posting to W'pedia again. It was someone working for Rush's opponent.

When I went to the boat house I discovered that the furniture on the porch had been rearranged, the door left unlocked, and some of the stuff left in places I know I did not leave it. This means that someone, a cousin probably, used the porch while we were gone. This is not, really not supposed to happen. I stewed over it for a long OCD time and sent an email to the extended family today mentioning it. Probably the offending party(ies) won't get the email. But at least everyone will know that someone crossed over the boundary of "don't use someone's cabin without asking first."

So today I spent most of the day deleting charges for items lost by bookmobile patrons. Overall we've lost $30,000 worth of materials to member libraries and bookmobile patrons so we're clearing all the old stuff out of the data base and implementing our new Lost Items Policy starting August 1. Won't they all be surprised when they systematically receive bills for things they don't return? I expect a huge uprising from bookmobile patrons, who generally feel they are entitled to keep things for as long as they want to, even if it's forever.

Cleaned fish tank last night. No fatalities. Hey! Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this. I scrubbed the gravel, which was a real pain in the neck but made a huge difference. Now all is sparkling and the fish are swimming really fast and are very cheerful.

Water continues to be an issue at my house but I had the pump on for 24 hours straight yesterday and it didn't come on without provocation even once. This is huge, huge progress. I still shut if off this morning, don't want to tempt fate. When will I trust the system? Maybe never, I'll just wear out the breaker switch first.

An on to my next project, which had better last for only 30 minutes. I'm out of here at 4, no exceptions.