So James was up early to go to his training class. I didn't sleep much later, as there was something I have been dying to do and I could only do it before 10 a.m.

You see, we're on "drought level 4" water restrictions. You can only hand water 25 minutes a day between the hours of midnight and 10 a.m., and then even-numbered addresses only on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, and odd on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Well, I'm not concerned with watering the lawn and we don't have flowers, only bushes that seem to be doing fine. As far as I'm concerned, if God wants my lawn to grow, He will send the water to do so.

But the front porch was grubby, despite my sweeping out there. There was leftover pine pollen in the cracks, dust everywhere, and a big raggy cobweb sagging from the upper corner, out of reach. I'd been intending to pop out of bed early on a Thursday or interrupt chat some Saturday night and wield the hose for ten or fifteen minutes, but it hadn't happened. And I wanted to finish putting the fall decorations out on the porch, but not while it was so dusty. So this morning I was out there at nine, blocking up the front door and hosing it all down, top to bottom, whisking away the dust and web, and leaving it a shade brighter.

From there it was get dressed and off to WallyWorld. We were low on low-carb wheat tortillas again, and James was running low on Calorie Countdown chocolate milk. I found the former, but alas, now WalMart has quit carrying the latter, too (Kroger has the white milk, but not the chocolate). The man stocking the dairy case said he was going to see if he could talk them into getting it again, as I was not the first person who had asked for it.

WalMart is clearly trying to gentrify. I was looking for an inexpensive seat cushion and couldn't find one of the thickness I wanted for less than $20. It's Martha Stewart this and Better Homes that, and they have fewer items for a higher price. I mostly restocked the larder with staples, but did find two nice shirts in colors you usually don't see, a sage green and a light purple.

It was not yet noon and I was racing the sun, so I put everything away except the newspaper, then briefly ran to Food Depot to pick up some Blue Bunny sugar-free ice-cream bars and get a money order to buy James an anniversary gift. And then finally I was home in time (which means before the sun hit the front porch and turned it into a brick oven) to place the scarecrow and pumpkin and foliage outside.

I'd also stopped at Lowes to see if I could find something to mount the metal leaf sculpture I bought at the Yellow Daisy Festival on the bricks outside. The sculptor told me there was an easy adhesive, but all Lowes could recommend were masonry screws or permanent adhesive. I settled for some outdoor mounting foam, which I hope will work. The sculpture is feather light and small, and since rain doesn't hit that part of the porch, I am hoping the adhesive will hold up. I had some of it holding up two wooden buttons which held a leaf garland and that has lasted a year.

James was right; it's small and does look a bit lost out there. Oh, well, it's all I could afford. Maybe next year I will buy it a "friend." LOL.

Oh, and you can tell fall is here. There are little spiderwebs dotting the ground everywhere, and this morning I stared out the kitchen window to see a big spider almost an inch long sitting comfortably in a web built inches away from the screen! Hopefully I won't find one making itself at home in the back seat of my car as happened a few years ago. I wish I had a photo of that; it was so funny.

Finally it was time to relax. Read and dismembered the paper, made the bed, and now I am watching Alistair Cooke's America.

Labels: decorating, errands, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 3:05:00 PM

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