Well, I'm trying to get myself together for the trip out to San Diego, which involves a lot more than it seems like it would. I mean, I have the trip all confirmed, I have a guidebook, I've looked at web sites, I have come to grips with the idea that we're flying close to September 11 (we leave September 10 - I figure we'll actually be extra secure)

But, I want to leave the booth in good shape, which involved doing a major floor move. As slow as I am, this took most of the day on Thursday. I have almost nothing remotely appropriate for a Halloween display....

which is not surprising because I hate Halloween. Actually, I'm a lot better about it than I used to be, but I think that decorations have gotten a little less gory than they had been pre-9/11. For instance, one of the things that I really could never stand were those "haunted house" decorations they sell in craft stores like Michaels. You'd be walking down an asle, looking for a beaded pumpkin or something, when all of the sudden you'd hear what sounded like somebody being tortured in the next asle - and, no I don't mean some guy whose wife had spent too much time in the place. You could hear individual voices screaming for help, or whatever.

Even before Halloween seemed to become such a gore-fest (or did I just notice it the October Angela died? Did Halloween get mixed up in my mind with her passing, seeing as how she died on the 13th of the month) I could never stand the sound of a man screaming, as in pain. I remember as a child watching some disease-of-the-week movie with my grandmother and having to get up and leave the room to calm down.

Anyway, now I've noticed that the sounds that come out of those things are a lot less distinct. It's more doors slamming and people calling out in surprise. Now they're just annoying, not freaky.

Still Halloween is a BIG holiday in retail, so I've tried to get in the spirit using the fabric I bought for my cape at the Harry Potter party as a table cloth and putting anything remotely spooky/harvesty together for a display (i.e. "Black Cat Stove Polish, a Lefton Owl, the "hand" soap dish I have displaying jewelry. It's lame)

So then, today I decided to hit the yard sales this morning. At the first on a locust landed on me and wouldn't leave. He was this HUGE locust too...everybody kept asking me about it...as if it were my pet.

Then, on my way to the next one, there was a loose dog in the road, trailing a clothes line from his collar so I stopped to try to get him. Several other people also stopped but the dog was too skiddish and ran off, and presently some guy in a cement truck stopped and yelled out the window that we were blocking the road (which we weren't. He just seemed to feel the need to yell) We explained about the dog, at which point he apologised and offered to call the dog officer from his cell phone, which seemed to be the best we could do.

Onward, I encountered an unadvertised yard sale which was sort of a gold mine. I bought a copper coffee pot, all in good working order with the original instructions inside, for a dollar and a Madame Alexander doll for $15...and a bunch of other stuff, including a Sacred Heart of Jesus charm, which the lady said she couldn't sell me, so she gave it to me. Of course, then I backed off my haggling for a tole tray, but it was all good.

I was feeling pretty good about the day until until I went to Sheetz. I hate that gas station. I'm never going there again. It's impossible to get in and out of, it's crowded and people blithely leave their cars at the pumps to go get a sandwhich made to order in the deli. I am not kidding when I say that I pulled up, filled up, and pulled out in the time it took the person ahead of me to come back from her shopping.

When I was pulling out an old man in a PAPA auto parts car was comming in. He had his turn signel on but he was just stopped. So I pulled up onto the sidewalk to give him room - he had a ton of room - but he just sat there giving me adament hand gestures which made no sense. After traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see behind him - on two streets, nonetheless, he turned in and rolled down his window. I should have just ignored him. But I was curious about what the heck all that gesticulating was about.

"Ya kain't make a left hand turn here!" he said.

I hadn't been trying to make a left hand turn. There's a huge barrier in front of you there, painted bright yellow.

"No s***?!" I said causticly and pulled out.

Great. Somebody just gave me Jesus and I still couldn't control my temper.

I think I'm a hopeless case.