And more ends

I got the rest of my packing done this morning, and printed out one last pattern I MIGHT want to make while up there.

I managed to buttonhole the teenaged kid at church (a newly-licensed driver, so doubtless he needs money) and more importantly, his mom (who will remind him) and get his agreement that he'll mow my lawn once or twice. I offered $25 per mowing, which I have no idea whether that's fair or not, but my lawn is small (less than an eighth acre, considering the encroaching brush I' trying to get rid of) but it's worth it to me not to come home to grass too high for my reel mower to manage (he will bring his own gas powered mower to do it, which also avoids the "how do I get into your garage" issue.)

(I think I paid a pro $25 a mowing a couple years ago. And I think back 35 years, to mowing my parents' nearly 1-acre lot: I got paid $2.50. Yes, it was a simpler time but also my parents were kind of cheap, I think. Nowadays, I wouldn't mow an acre for less than $20.)

I still have to eat lunch and change clothes and put a lamp on a timer and make sure the trash is out and unplug a few things, but I'm pretty much ready to go.

I have a stack of books to take with me - I plan to finish the second Mordecai Tremaine mystery ("Murder has a Motive") and I am dragging along a book of short mystery stories set on trains, and I have my Moundbuilders book and also a copy of "I Contain Multitudes," which is about gut flora. And an Elizabeth Bowen novel ("The Heat of the Day") because it's probably been too long since I read a "serious" work of fiction.

I have my knitting projects to take along (and remembered to grab the buttons for Augusta, in case I finish it), but I do also want to make a couple t-shirt dresses and some pajama shorts for summer wear. And I would like to find a replacement pair of capri-style or long-shorts jeans: the pair I wore for years is about shot (thanks to my thunder thighs; that's where pants USUALLY wear out).

My train is currently *slightly* late (like: fifteen minutes) but that hopefully won't get worse. (I don't want to have to try to figure out dinner, on a Sunday evening, in a small town where most things will be closed). My bus is supposedly leaving at 7:55 tomorrow morning so HOPEFULLY I will be able to get breakfast on the train, but I have a couple of small snacky items just in case.

I dunno. I have NEVER depended on the kindness of strangers, and I confess at times it gets a little exhausting. I sometimes wish I were the kind of person who could just assume others would take care of her in minor emergencies....but stuff in my life has taught me I can't expect that. So instead I do the multi-dimensional chess of "what could go wrong" and "what can I do in advance that could mitigate stuff going wrong"

At any rate: hopefully nothing goes at all wrong.

And I should be back around June 6 or so. As I said: there are a *few* embargoed posts between now and then.