Tuesday

I forgot to water that patio strip. It needs it. Maybe tomorrow. Since I don't get out of bed until 8:30, it's kind of tricky, because I would need to start watering practically right away, and first thing in the morning, I don't do anything very quickly. Tomorrow is Trash Day too, but that might help, since I will be up and hustling around, provided that I can just remember. I still have not gotten into the habit of checking my memo-ry pad on a regular basis. I need a reminder to check my reminders. ... ... I hate it when I am deep into a good nap and fifteen minutes into it I am wrenched out of it by a huge coughing fit as if I swallowed a gnat. It's not realistic to think that I can just go back for a second nap, but, boy, I sure feel tempted. ... ... Hillary is still struggling to get her mojo going. Trump tweets, "Hillary Clinton is taking the day off again, she needs the rest. Sleep well, Hillary - see you at the debate!" I think the polls are actually fairly even now, but October should be a very big month - if Hillary can stay on her feet. ... ... Cripes, man, just about every night, Jack and Pop talk for hours on the phone. So chummily. I suppose I am a little jealous, but very little, and it's the least of my worries. I am more concerned about Jack's intentions. Does he genuinely feel as though Pop is his best friend now?? I think about how Jack might be in need of a house pretty soon. Is he looking to move in here with his whole family?? I like to think that this is just my paranoiac energy unspooling, that it's a crazy notion. But I don't know. It would be a smart move strictly on the fundamentals, in that it would be a big savings on his income, even if he pays Pop a few hundred dollars a month, and, somewhat more sinister, he might reasonably count on both Pop and I as being non-entities that he can push in the corner - elderly Pop and dependent Monk. If Jack is the same man that he was twenty years ago, then this is not so crazy. But that's a big question: what is Jack's character made of these days? He seems steadier when it comes to employment, in large part, I believe, to avoid looking bad in the eyes of his kids. That's not a lot to go on. Worse, I doubt that a man's character really changes once it is set, anymore than a leopard can change its spots. However, I consider that middle-age is a pretty big change of life, so that I do not dismiss outright the possibility of some real character development, but I wouldn't bet money on it. Worse, I don't think one really feels the weight of middle-age until you hit fifty. Jack is only 47, which is an age that I think one can still feel pretty damn virile, perhaps all the more so because you do see that 50 coming up hard, and you want to do what you can while you can. Notoriously, the mid-forties can readily be more tumultuous - that mid-life crisis.