Feels Good to Be Home

Began the morning with breakfast and the second half of Split Second. Two men joined a woman who won before, but was thought to have lost her second game unfairly. She won decisively this time, beating the pants off the guys in the main round and just getting through the Countdown Round. Barely missed the car, though, and opted to return.

The father and son-in-law finally beat the one guy on Blockbusters, but they couldn't get through half the bonus round. Their next opponent was a  younger woman. They'd finished the first round as the episode ended.

Heard from Craig towards the tail end of Blockbusters. Rose is still in the hospital with that sore esophagus and Finley was at the babysitter's, so he and Khai were going to help me clear out the last of my stuff. It had to go out today to catch trash day on Manor Avenue. I messed around online until they picked me up around 11:30.

There wasn't too much left to do. I gathered the cleaning supplies, curtain, and magnetic rod I'd be taking back to my place while Craig took the bed apart. Gave my Garfield comic books and bag of marbles to Khai to thank him for being a tremendous helper for me and his parents over the past few weeks. There was so much left that went to Goodwill or that he wanted to sell on Facebook, we needed two trips to take it all to their house on Kendall. Craig said he'd turn my Comcast modem into UPS along with one of theirs that they wanted to upgrade.

Along with getting rid of the bed and three bags of stuff I didn't want and couldn't donate, I also ditched the vacuum cleaner and trash can. The vacuum cleaner still works decently, but it's too big and noisy for the new house. It was a cheap Dirt Devil I bought to clean carpets, not bare wood floors and one rug. I'll buy a Swifter and a carpet sweeper for the new apartment instead. The trash can is not only also too big for the new apartment, but it's an old plastic model I've had since I first moved to Wildwood, and it smells nasty. I've been meaning to replace it with a smaller metal can for a long time anyway.

On the second run, while the guys rounded up the remaining bins, I took one last look around the apartment. Everything seemed to be in order. We'd gotten everything out, even the door that no one ever put on one of the wardrobes and the old boards I used to hold up the broken bed springs, and the place was as clean as I could make it. Craig gave me a bag for the keys and the manual to the digital thermostat in the living room, which I dropped in the mailbox next-door. (He also gave me more vegetables, including tomatoes, more potatoes, two peppers, and another eggplant.)

Ended up walking back to Manor after Craig dropped me off and I put the cleaning things away. I realized I never gave the McHughs my new address or cell phone number. Thankfully, I caught Charlie outside with his dogs as I arrived. Handed him the note with my phone number and address and told him about the big hole in the wall in the back room. He said he'd look at it later.

At least it was a decent day for a walk. While it's still at least in the lower 90's, it's not quite as hot or humid as it was earlier in the week. That really nice breeze is lingering, too. Even so, I didn't see a lot of people out and about as I strolled home. There were a few kids on bikes, a guy walking his two small fluffy dogs, and two people working in their gardens.

Worked on writing for a while after I got back in. Charles convinces Fannie to rejoin the fight. They need her and her particular brand of airy magic. She gives her lover a kiss, then tells Charles they'll make use of the element of surprise before they go back in the ballroom...

Broke for dinner at 6. Had leftovers while watching Match Game. Both 1977 episodes tonight were hilarious. The first one ended with a college student who had once been a cheerleader and now taught cheerleaders. The panelists and the audience encouraged her to stand up and show what she could do. In the second, Richard claimed that he and Lynda Day George had a bet going as to whether Gene wore blue or brown socks with his brown suit. Richard actually pulled up Gene's pant leg to get the real answer! (They were dark navy blue.)

Charlie called around the time of the second Match Game episode. First of all, he made the hole in the wall of the back room, not me. According to him, he took apart pieces of the wall to look at the wiring back there years ago. Second, he convinced his mother to let him inspect the apartment and passed it with flying colors, commending how well I did with the cleaning. His mother will send the check from the security deposit within the next month, and more likely within the next week.

And that ends my involvement with the Manor Avenue apartment and the McHughs. Everything that I need or want has been moved to Hillcrest. I think I got out at exactly the right time. Beyond the problems with the rent and landlady, Jodie needs me here. I've been looking for a new apartment for over a year. The one at Manor is a dusty, musty mess in a desperate need of an major remodel. Now I have a place with cheaper rent that closer to family and away from Charlie's potty mouth and weird friends, and he can tear out whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

Was watching the next episode of that "True Romance" theme on Sale of the Century when I heard a knock on the door. I nearly jumped a mile on the futon before I realized it was Jodie, offering margarita pizza in big squares. I gratefully took them. I hadn't had a big dinner.

When I returned the plate, I discovered there were four other women from the neighborhood visiting Jodie in the kitchen of the main house, likely helping to keep up her spirits. I got to show them all my new apartment. While the other women oohed and ahhed over my record collection, Jodie's neighbor Sandy admired my teddy bear collection and offered some curtains for the bedroom and living room she wasn't using.

Finished the night after a shower with more animated offerings on Disney Plus. I've come to enjoy the current version of Muppet Babies almost as much as the original. "Animal Cleans Up" when he's been doing a lot of smelly activities and now reeks so badly, the others won't play with him. They try to play car wash to get him to take a bath. Fozzie and Kermit run "Best Pals Pizza Parlor Palace," but they can't decide if it should be fancy or fun, or what types of pizza to make. They have to figure it out in a hurry in order to please Rizzo the Rat, who is a very picky eater.

TaleSpin was one of my favorite cartoons in the Disney Afternoon line-up in the late 80's and early 90's. I don't know who decided Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book needed to be a slovenly pilot in the mid 1930's with a tough boss named Rebecca who owns his plane and is a single mom, but I hope they got a huge bonus. "Her Chance to Dream" takes overworked Rebecca into Ghost and Mrs. Muir territory. Baloo and Louie insist they've seen a ghost at Louie's club. Rebecca thinks Baloo's trying to get out of work again...until she meets a handsome sea captain there who treats her like a real lady. Baloo and Louie, however, know there's something not quite right about the captain...

Gravity Falls, a series for older kids and pre-teens from The Disney Channel, gets even weirder. Mabel finds herself in "The Deep End" when the hunk she meets at the pool turns out to be a trapped merman. While she figures out how to free him, her twin brother Dipper and his crush Wendy have fun working as lifeguards and getting around the overly strict pool manager.