The Fortress House

The neighbors have moved into their house, although there are still things needing finished. They both waylaid us as we were walking the dogs down to the creek and invited us for a beer and a tour...apparently the elevator isn't installed yet and the railing on the long rambling flight of stairs to the front door is only halfway down. We were directed to enter through the garage and use the stairs up from it because it has a railing all the way up. 

This is the side opposite from the side we see from our house and the big cement box thing is the swimming pool. The railing below it is where the old pool was. Apparently it was part of the foundation so they kept it just not as a pool. We will learn more shortly.

John survived his procedure yesterday which was done with dispatch. He seemed incapable of changing the dressing this morning so I did it (not very graciously, I confess) but then set out for Walgreens to replenish our dwindling supply of bandaids, paper tape and non-stick gauze pads. I hate Walgreens...there is never anybody around to help you (even the lone checker was fruitlessly calling for back-up as the queue lengthened) and they move things around all the time, so much wandering around is required. Nevertheless, I always wind up spending a lot of money there thinking I can stockpile various necessities so I don't have to go there again anytime soon. I don't even feel particularly guilty ordering it all from Amazon as it is hardly a local business in need of support. More like a big corporation that cares more about its bottom line than its customers. The people who do work there all seem like they hate it too....

I did one other errand but forgot the main one, dropping off our winter quilt at the cleaners. It is next to Trail House so I meant to drop it off yesterday , but forgot it then too. One would think we live many miles from the nearest service which is not really the case, but we both tend not to do things unless they are on the way to something else. Then we don't do them because they have added up to a daunting task....

I was walking the dogs last night and spotted what I thought was a leaf on the patio. On closer inspection it turned out to be a frog, and a surprisingly large one, about two or three inches long. It was far from water and seemed a bit disoriented, sticking around for me to try and take its picture. It was dark so the picture wasn't great, but I'm putting it in extras for Munroist who had a similar encounter on her doormat.