09:44 – Colin has had his hands full, with extra people to keep track of, check on frequently, and herd. On the other hand, extra people around means he’s getting more human food than usual, so I’m sure he figures the extra work is worth it.
We’d already met our next-door neighbor on one side, or at least the wife. Vickie is about our age. We haven’t yet met her husband, Gill, because he’s always working. She stopped over one day to introduce herself. Barbara was down in Winston that day, so Vickie stopped over again on Thursday with her two oldest grandchildren, both girls. They’re in sixth and fourth grade, and both attend a Christian school nearby. Barbara and I were both struck by how polite and well-behaved both girls are.
Yesterday, Barbara and I walked up the road to visit our other next-door neighbor, Bonnie Tedder. She’s 88 years old, still mentally sharp, and has lived there on her own since her husband died in 1971. She has both our cell phone numbers, and we told her to call us any time she needed anything at all. Vickie drops by frequently but we figure the more people she can call on the better. Bonnie was immensely relieved that we turned out to be an ordinary middle-aged, middle-class couple. She was afraid she’d end up with a motorcycle club running a meth lab next door.
We’re taking the holiday weekend off from work, both around the house and on science kit stuff.