We're all fine here. I've been sitting in the yard reading (overcast,
slightly sultry nice day, w good temps and breezes) and also doing some
unpacking and curtain work. Cindy and her husband Chris are out for
some time alone together. Their son is working on location, not near
here.

Tues I take the dogs to the vet for their checkups. Cleo Ferret is
fine, and so are the cats.

Still quite tired, but doing well. I'm still marveling at where I am,
and yet still find myself grinding my teeth over some of the Ethiopia
happenings. It's because I haven't let go of the fact that Abrahame is
stealing all my biz and personal assets there rather than selling them
and taking his %. I must drop that, and then all the obsessing over
all the other things will probably fall away too. At first all I could
think of was that no one can bother or affect me from that old life,
and then found myself scheming over how to get A to do the right thing.
Pah.

Had some bad nightmares at first about not being able to get out of
Ethiopia, was generally jumpy, etc. But now I am approaching normal.
Of course it is an adjustment to be integrating myself into the family
here, but they are making it easy, and all seems well. Cindy is glad
to have a companion and someone to share the various responsibilities
here. She says she thinks of me as a sort of aunt, and that was a
surprise at first. She's almost 12 years younger than I am -- it is
so easy for the older person to forget the age gap!

When Chris (her husband) and Ronnie (their 18-yr-old son) are away, we
have no functioning car. We're going to split the cost of repairing one
of the non-running ones and then we'll have one. Cindy fears my Calif
Crown Vic is in trouble, since it hasn't been started in three+ years,
the tires are flat, and the car wont start. She says I'll prob have to
buy a new set of tires, but the big thing is that the motor could have
seized up. She says to not try to start it, to put in gasoline cleaner
to absorb water condensation, and then try to start it. Sound
reasonable to you?

It's great to be here. Of course it is a mix of Texas and Americana.
I'm having a great time rediscovering various commercial chains --
Dairy Queen, WalMart, etc., plus the local thrift shops, groceries,
etc, setting up my new house.

Those of you who live in coyote country -- what % of your cats have
you lost to the coyotes?

I'm still pretty worn out and haven't gone through my inbox, the FML,
or CSI, but will respond soon to everyone, plus will post the details
of the last days I spent in Ethiopia. Then I intend to put Ethiopia
pretty much out of my mind. Basically, I'm just delighted to be back!
I hope you are all well too.

[Posted in FML 7964]