I was just about ready to leave for a doctor appointment when I heard some squeaks from the den.

By the time I'd gotten there the rat was dead. Once again, I praised Lady, then disposed of the prize. Plastic newpaper wrappers are good for that job.

I was in and out of the doctor's fairly quickly--it was just a six-month checkup. My BP is where it should be, I showed him a cholesterol reading from a blood donation, the scale registered ten pounds less than six months ago, I didn't need any lab work.

I hadn't eaten breakfast because I was running a bit late, so I stopped at McDonald's on the way home. I couldn't help but think about when a person could get a hamburger, fries, and drink for 99 cents. And when the stores boasted that the chain had sold "more than 300,000 hamburgers." My breakfast of a sausage and cheese thing between two small pancakes, plus a senior coffee, came to over three dollars. But it was tasty.

My project for this afternoon was to burn the increasing large pile of leaves etc. in the driveway. A lot of the stuff was damp, but enough was not that--aided by charcoal lighter fluid--I got a good burn going.

I watched it burn for a while and in the quiet realized that there was a LOT of bird noise. I looked up and there were birds all over the place. One was a robin.

But birds are heading south and we are either a destination or a stopover on the trip. The robins pass by again in the early spring. When we lived in Florida they (the robins) were usually drunk from eating fermented wild cherries or some similar berry.

So much for today. I'll go in to work Monday and finish some things up, then not again till after the New Year. I'm going to have to work to think up good excuses reasons for not catching up on yard work.