Day Spent in my Pajamas

Had a nice sleep. Threw laundry in the washer.

I don't get what's going on with Zara. At night, she's subdued and picking at her food. In the morning, she's lively and chowing down on her food.

Small thunderstorms in the area. Well now, they're larger thunderstorms. I'm not going to get soda because of it. However, I had a bottle of soda that I couldn't get open. I even tried a wrench on it. Just tried it now with my bare hands and opened it. So I have a little more of a stash. Aaaaand down comes the rain.

I'm going to look for my Hiking Illinois book. If I can't find it, I might replace it. Yeah, I don't see it. Found some deals on eBay for the Hiking Indiana and Hiking Missouri books. My dad was encouraging me to hike downstate Illinois, eastern Missouri, and western Indiana.

I bought a new litter box, but haven't put it in the TV room yet. Well, Zara went, "Ooh, a plastic box!" and is now hanging out in it. It's probably nice and cool in there.

I'm thinking about adding an extra day to my Tennessee future trip to pick up the Georgia highpoint, which is close to Chattanooga.

I'm mulling over taking a trip to the Illinois high point, Charles Mound, without going to Galena. It's a four-hour drive one way, so it would be a long day.

Had a second nap.

Had a long conversation with Mom. We talked about trips. I told her that I'm thinking about coming out to see her, but that I need to see how things go, plus I'm concerned about Zara. She also sees me retiring in Tennessee "because it's south, but not far south". I do like the idea of having a fall and spring.

Zara is chowing down on her food tonight. Way to go.

Stuffed with food. I'm feeling grateful for having food to eat because I know that there are people out of work who don't have any.

I'm going to work on the kitchen for a while, and then go to bed.

Ugh. People are shooting off fireworks. At midnight.

floatingleaf mentioned the MeetMindful dating site, which sounded interesting. Of course, you have to create a profile before looking at others' profiles, and, not surprisingly given the name, if requires some thought. So I printed it off so work on it over a while. I'm too tired to write anything coherent tonight. Actually, I did throw up a profile. All I saw were guys, though, and no women.

Garden of the Gods?

I didn't sleep as late as I usually do, so I guess that I'm catching up on my sleep.

I'm out of MeetMindful matches. Oh well. Do I want to do Match.com? I'm playing around with the Her app, but there aren't a lot of women on the app in the area. I need to get to a city to start dating.

Asked Dad about hiking at Garden of the Gods in Illinois. They had a lengthy list of things that can go wrong, such as falling off cliffs and getting bitten by poisonous snakes, which had me spooked. He said that it was good hiking, and he didn't see any cliffs, and that snakes usually will leave you alone if you leave them alone.

I'm also looking at Ferne Clyffe State Park, which is pretty. Note to self: stay at the EconoLodge Marion.

Got us fed, and it's nap time. Had a nice nap. Ate. Threw myself together. Bought soda, Ramen, iced tea bags, yogurt, dried apricots, and almonds. Now I'm cooling down. I'll make the iced tea later.

One of my zucchini plants is coming up!

Note to self: Knoxville has a Trader Joe's. That would be nice. Chattanooga does not. Chattanooga has an airport shuttle to Atlanta. You have to fly out of the Knoxville airport to get anywhere (or drive to Nashville). Flying out of Atlanta is more expensive than flying out of Chicago.

Need to add the South Carolina highpoint to my Chattanooga jaunt. Only 4 hours.

If I wind up in Tennessee, I want to learn to kayak.

Got the garbage out for pickup. Had pierogies for dinner.

I think that I'm going to sleep early. I need to get up earlish for my teleconference call.