Stack them high, read them all 📖

On the way to the store, Cowboy told me he’d been talking to Van Gogh last weekend-Saturday, I think.
Turns out Van Gogh was just pet-sitting Barky for his uncle.
Thank goodness for that. 
That dog never stopped barking.
I'm glad he wasn't a permanent resident.

Van Gogh just bought the house at auction from the estate of Side Deck Neighbor.
He’s put so much work into it-it looks stripped to the studs.
But he hinted he might not stay long.
He says the place may be too small soon.
If it were me, I’d want to enjoy all that effort before making any big changes.

We’re still getting used to Van Gogh.
His side deck faces my she shed, the carport, and the side driveway-and there’s no fence between us.
Our chicken coop backs right up to his backyard, so when he’s outside, he’s practically in our lap.
I still half expect to see Side Deck Neighbor out there.
After 27 years side by side, it’s hard enough getting used to Van Gogh instead of her.
And now that we’ve finally started adjusting, I’m not ready to meet another new neighbor if he turns around and sells.

So we did get to town.
All the sore-headed bears were less sore-headed today.
Badger and I did a bit of thrift shopping-we brought more books home.
We're running out of space.
But I never say no to another book.

The Dam thrift store was elbow to elbow today-two checkout registers.
We were getting ready to just put up what we had and walk on out the door.
They were slow as molasses.
Badger looks over to a rack, does a double take, and shimmied through the crowd. 
She found two hats with her dad's company logo on them-the old company, not the one that’s taken over.
She’d already looked in that bin once, and those hats were not in it.
We said to heck with it and switched to the back door line.
Big mistake. 
We were standing right in front of a book rack and ended up with ten more books while the line crawled.

Then we stopped at the Goodwill, and you guessed it-more books.
My opinion is that one can never have too many books.
Although right now, Badger has about three bookcases and books stacked haphazardly all over the place.
And we ain't gonna talk about where my books are. 
I don't even have bookcases.
Some people have dressers cluttered with makeup and jewelry-I've got mine stacked with books.

It's been raining on and off since we got home, so we haven't been able to do anything.
The rain started about an hour after we came in.
Thunder’s rumbled off and on, but as usual, our dome holds.
Most of the bad weather seems to go around us.

Raven came home-he hasn’t been here since Friday, maybe Thursday.
I can’t keep up with his coming and going.
He asked us to go shopping with him, and I know I hurt his feelings, but I’m wore out.
I’m not as young as he and his brothers remember.
He went to Sevierville but didn’t stay long.
When he came back, it sounded like he was putting everything back in his room.
 I knew better, but I asked anyway.
I wanted to know about the house.
“Oh, they’ve got more paperwork.”
I’m starting to suspect no house is going to appear, but I’m willing to admit if I’m wrong.
For Raven’s sake, I hope they do get into a house soon.

Raven moved back in with me because his former partner said his name wasn’t on her lease.
Where she lives, they’ve got strict rules and frequent inspections.
With him staying and not on the lease, she could’ve been asked to move out for violating the agreement.
Now, she’s reversed course and is letting him stay so he can get to the new job.
I don’t understand the reversal in decisions-nothing’s changed.
But I’ve learned to keep my opinions to myself.

I think I may have actually jabbered myself out.
I can't think of anything else.
As I said, the air has cleared, and Badger watched TV with me this evening.
With the weather unsettled, that's been all we've done today.
Well, OK-we may have taken one or two quick walks, sticking close to the house just in case of random lightning strikes.
But mostly, it's been an easy kind of day.

 I expect the weekend will be the same: a lot of TV, and very boring.

We don’t know when-or if-we’ll get to see Raven’s littles again.
And Peacock rarely needs a sitter for Gealach anymore.

I’ve spent the last few years griping about having Raven’s kids here every weekend.
They’re neurodiverse, and it wasn’t easy-lots of adjustments, lots of noise, and not much rest.

I don’t want to live with them full-time.
But I do love them.
I’d still like to visit, spoil them a little, and send them home.

With Raven’s new work schedule, it’s looking like we might not get that chance.
Or I could be wrong, and next weekend we’ll be right back in the middle of it-noise, mess, and all.

Divorced grandparenting isn’t easy.
Trying to explain why you don’t want to live with your grandkids-but still want to be part of their lives-makes you sound almost hypocritical.
I’m not trying to be one.
I’m just trying to process very difficult emotions.
And that might be the hardest part of all.