Rainy day this morning. White dingy T-shirt colored sky with Mother Nature spitting rain out. Tried to sit outside this morning and eat breakfast but it was just too cool and damp. On the way to the porch one of my bagel halves slid off the plate and landed cream cheese side up on the carpet. I was so sad. Then later I went to wash the crock pot from last night, that had been soaking, and I turned on the faucet and sprayed my self with the sprayer. Had to change my shirt. Happily made pimento cheese for lunch and our bread was molded. Then I was really sad but not sad enough to go to the store. I can be happy eating pimento cheese on crackers.

Lots of birds on the feeders today. They love rainy days. They just chow down while the rain pours down. The sun is trying to peek out but can’t push enough clouds apart to get her whole face out. She’s got a few rays looking down at the bamboo in the back yard.

Oldest brother and his friend came over this afternoon. Really enjoyed their visit. Oldest brother has a job at a large farm and was off today. He can’t do much with the machinery when its wet and rainy. He left his phone here when they left so he’ll be back over for another visit later. He’s got a pesky squirrel on his bird feeders. Sounds a lot like my squirrel, Fatty.

Well, remember the possum story yesterday? Where I said I hope the possum didn’t bring any siblings with it. Well, the first sibling showed up last night. I heard a noise in the breakfast room but didn’t know what it was. Stew came down the stairs and went into the kitchen and said the dreaded words, “There’s another one.” Got the broom and just swept the pesky thing outside and off the deck to the back yard. Don’t know if it was playing dead or dead after Penelope gave it a good shake but it’s gone to possum heaven now. I know they are good for getting rid of ticks and rodents but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Guess it’s time to call the handyman to put some wire over the living room fireplace chimney. That’s the only way I think they can get in. The dining room chimney has a bricked up opening and the flue is shut in the kitchen so that leaves the living room gas log fireplace. Tonight might be a nice night for a little fire in the living room! One of Chief’s mother’s double first cousins had possum for her wedding supper. We’d always laugh when she’d tell us about it.

I like dreary days like today. They’re good days to do chores or nap or clean up some corners. Course I’ve not done any of those things. I have washed and folded up and actually put up away some baskets of clothes. Penelope hates the washer and dryer so she’s spent the afternoon upstairs with Stew. She came down long enough to bark at oldest brother when he came to get his phone then promptly ran back up the stairs.

Anybody noticed how lately we’re seeing misspelled words and grammar mistakes in publications. In the letter from the Alabama department of revenue they had a misspelled word — department. They claim to not have received my 2020 income tax return but they promptly cashed my check in May of that year. That letter has to accompany my 2020 return when another copy is mailed and I’m circling the misspelled word and correcting it! That’s really sad to have a misspelled word in a letter from a state department.

Also saw the wrong verb in a quote when I was researching. Every page of quotes, that had that same quote on it, used the verb is instead of are. My first job was proofreading and typesetting at The Roanoke Leader. The first batch of copy I proofread was purposely crazy to see if I would correct the copy. To make a long story short, I knew a wedding cake would not be iced in turnip greens. The editor and I had a good laugh when I asked him about that wedding. They were just testing me and thank goodness I passed the test. I can’t even post on Facebook without reading my post ten times and countless times I’ve edited what I wrote after I pushed post.

Chief and I both have college degrees in English. We always prided ourselves in not having misspelled words or grammar mistakes in our publications at Russell. We did have “employees on the third shit” once but I made the Print Shop correct that and reprint those pages before Chief saw them. Wish I had kept one of those pages before they threw them away.

“Grammar is to a writer what anatomy is to a sculpture, or the scales to the musician. You may loathe it, it might bore you, but nothing will replace it, and once mastered it will support you like a rock.”—BJ Chute