October arrived with a golden rush, carrying harvest, Samhain, bonfire smoke, and the whisper of ghosts

We didn't get to go get chicks today, we ended up at the walk‑in clinic.
Cowboy said yesterday he felt like something was moving around in his eye.
All the way to Badger's doctor appointment and all the way home, he kept squinting and rubbing his eye.
He told me when he got home from work he flushed it out with water and ran a Q‑tip around it, but it still hurt and felt like something moving around in it.

A year or so ago they opened up a walk‑in clinic in the post office building. 
It was an old bank way back before I moved here.
The clinic and the post office share the space. 
You walk in the door and there’s this big empty area, not exactly a hallway: on the left is the clinic, on the right the post office.
It's probably less than a mile from our house, and I figured if his eye was bothering him, I didn't want to drive the twelve miles to the JC clinic.

I felt like they treated Cowboy dismissively. 
Unfortunately, people sometimes make assumptions about him because of how he looks, and this is the South. 
His appearance doesn’t fit the boxes most people expect, and prejudice makes them jump to the wrong conclusions. 
They also talked very loudly, as if he couldn’t hear. 
He can’t, but that wasn’t the point.

They numbed his eye, examined it closely, and put what they called alien drops in that glowed green under a light. 
That showed a lot of irritation in his upper eyelid, and then they flushed it out. 
He has steroid drops to use for a week, and if it still hurts they told him to go to Walmart Vision to see if they could help him better.
He kept telling them it still felt like something moving around, but they just said, well, we can’t see anything, see if the numbing drops help.

It was nearly noon when we got back home, so not a lot of time to do anything. 

Badger had cleaned house, started laundry, mine and hers have to be done separate, and started dinner.
 Oddly enough, she gave poor Fox a bath, and I had one angry wet cat glaring at me.

Cowboy took care of his chickens, then came inside for a nap. 

I went to watch my TV and read a bit.

That’s about all today was, a TV day. 

Badger and I did take a short walk before sunset.
We had planned a longer one, but they had their poodle tied outside. 
They seem to alternate between the pit bull airing out and the poodle, and neither of them likes me and Badger. 
They both will chase us, snarling and growling.|

Raven came home and is actually spending the night.
He said he can’t start moving his things out yet, he’s waiting on the funds to purchase a tiny house. 
His new job pays more, but with fewer hours. 
He’s slept most of the day. 
I can’t remember the last time he was home.

Heron is in the air as we speak. 
He texted he’d made it to Dallas and was on the way to McGhee Tyson. 
I’m not sure which flight he’s on, but one of them is running about twenty minutes late.

Look at that, October has sneaked in on us. 
Right now it’s not very autumn‑like, although my yard is blanketed in fallen leaves. 
October is a bittersweet month for me. 
My mom’s birthday is in October, and we lost my great aunt in October. 
I used to love October, but now it’s more of a love‑hate thing. 
Sometimes, at this time of year, when the veil feels thin, I can almost feel my mom and Aunt GG around me.

Tomorrow is town day, so I’ll be getting off of here and trying to go to bed early for once.