And did she ever return? No, she never returned...

...and her fate is still unlearned.

Looking south.

Looking north.

Looking east.

On the wrong side of the tracks.

Kathy went caching last weekend in Marion and got trapped in a small park on the wrong side of the tracks. Just as she was getting ready to leave the park and go over some steep tracks a train came along. It blocked the tracks for hundreds of yards and there was no way out. She got out of the Pilot several times to walk to the front of the train to ask how long the train would be parked. Each time she thought she saw the engineers get into the engine to leave and each time they didn't. The walk to the engine was over a steep grade and Kathy was concerned about falling. She called Bonnie to let her know her status and took photos and played solitaire on her PDA while waiting. Finally the train began to move and Kathy and the Pilot scooted home.

The park was something out of a 20s movie set and Kathy could picture Zelda and Scott playing tennis on one of the courts. This was a very small area that looked like it had been a private tennis club. There were at least 4 courts (nets still up), what was once a very nice gazebo (electricity had been run), two buildings, one of which looked like it could have been a bunk house/cabin. It was like stepping into another era...or maybe The Twilight Zone. Spooky, yet very intriguing.

News: Bonnie is currently working on the paper for her cultural anthropology class and Kathy hasn't done much of anything (read Possum's cat blog).

Representative coyote

Kathy went to her mother's this past Wednesday and got only a few hundred yards from the cottage when she spied what she thought was a huge fox in a corn field heading toward a wooded area. She stopped the Pilot and the two had a stare-down before it dawned on Kathy that she was looking at a coyote, possibly one that she heard howling many weeks ago. We are keeping a more vigilant eye on our dogs when they go out.

Social Security finally contacted Kathy about her award that will begin in February. It, at last, shows the additional she will receive as a divorced spouse. Glad to have that settled.

We had our first casualty of the loft rail walking this morning as Possum lost his footing with the help of Tacumwah, and tumbled to the dining area. Kathy and Bonnie watched helplessly as the chubby little guy managed to hit every counter and banister on his way to the bamboo flooring below. He got up and walked away from it, but he has been telling Kathy that he hurts, and he has been favoring his right front leg. Bonnie hopes he has learned a lesson and will stay off the railing. Possum tips the scales at 16 pounds while his brother, Marquette, is lighter by 2 pounds.

Kathy has been bringing home items from the villa, visiting it on her lunch hour or before work, and loading up the Pilot. On one trip, while emptying 1-3- and 5-gallon carboys of wine we never quite got around to finishing and bottling, Kathy was greeted by the wonderful aroma of Concord grapes. She found a wine glass for a sample and proclaimed the wine, though no longer primo, still very good to drink. And there are 1 or 2 more jugs of it!

Kathy also went through her closet and took many things to Goodwill. She saved a few shirts for work and wore one of them on Friday. Three people told her that this very old shirt she had on and had purchased at Goodwill was really neat. And here she thought she looked like she was wearing some Harley rider's bandanna!

Kathy hasn't seen much of Denny and nothing of Barbara recently. She misses her visits with Denny. Soon Denny and Barbara will be off on an extended vacation with their new camper to warmer climes.

Speaking of climes, Kathy hasn't decided for certain about taking a class this winter. It doesn't look like Bonnie will be taking a Sat. class with Kathy, and the best time for Kathy to take the Climate and Weather class appears to be Tuesday evenings after work. So taking a class is still up in the air with Kathy though Bonnie will definitely be taking one of several she is interested in.

Christmas plans call for Bonnie to travel to Iowa to visit her son, Scott, and his two daughters. Kathy will spend part of the day in Logansport with her mother.