Can’t believe that James and I, with a strong assist from Ron, cleaned up the back and front yards at Edgewater in about 2 1/2 hours.

We didn’t come close to yesterday’s pile, so Ron was able to put both of our machines on the truck for the ride home.

What a great feeling to have that wrapped up. At least for now.

The bad thing is that I lost my beloved sheers. We tried sorting through our pile at the compost yard, but it didn’t seem like they were there. I looked all over the place. Can’t imagine what I did with them, but it breaks my heart to lose them.

Ron and I dug in today starting a little after an early (11) lunch for me and ending around 4:20.

We cut the grass and got the pine needles and leaves off both the front and back yards, plus the town grass along the street.

Ron also cut down the Montauks and a bunch of other gone-bys along the fence with his Stihl trimmer. Everything is pretty much tidied up. We will certainly have more leaves and maybe some odds and ends to do, but we are much further ahead than I figured we’d be after only one afternoon of work.

Got some pix of Bakers’ gorgeous Japanese maple.

Felt pretty good when I woke up this morning. Swelling has gone down to the point that the sutures are visible.

Applied for work online at a local landscaping company.

Ron and I enjoyed the Wepecket concert at the Wamsutta Club. Learned some new urban slang: “bad motherfoyer”. Bought a CD and a couple of bumper stickers.

Had a tough night, as much due to reaction to painkillers as to the surgery itself.

I was up every 3 hours or so. Had difficulty passing urine. Face has been swollen all day.

Finally got back to sleep and felt better, but still lightheaded and nauseous. Had hot sweats when I walked from the bedroom to the bathroom, what, four feet?

Ron was a good attendant, brought ice packs and water, made coffee. Later on he gave me a bowl of oatmeal to help settle my stomach.

This afternoon, I was well enough to walk outside and get the mail and a couple of Halloween decorations.

Ron did laundry. I was able to fold and put away mine.

Warm outside today, rained a little last night and this morning.

Halloween was disappointing, only 52 kids, probably because of the rain.

Oral surgery went well this morning. Ron and I stopped at Town Hall so he could drop off the checks for Q2 taxes, then Stop & Shop to give the pharmacy the script for pain med.

Good thing, too. By the time we got home, I was in pretty bad shape.

The pain eventually lessened to the point that I could make myself some pumpkin/squash soup. Went to sleep after that, woke up around 5. Ron had set everything up for trick or treaters.

Back from the oral surgeon’s office. Feel like death warmed over. Ron is on his way to pick up painkillers which (haha) we were told I wouldn’t need.

The gum around my loose tooth was irritated almost to the sinus, so the doc had to do a fair amount of cutting. He refused to describe how much, which I thought was pretty wimpy of him.

Glad I did some raking yesterday. Can’t do much of anything today but moan – how appropriate for Halloween!

We are thrilled that the Sox won – first World Series won on home turf since 1918. What an amazing turnaround. Shows the effect of good management versus bad, at least in the doc’s opinion.

We had a good errand run this morning. Picked up and dropped off a restaurant gift cert for P&B’s 20th, talked with James about mowing, gassed up the truck, dropped a check off at the DPW for the new sign, saw Emma B. At her suggestion, we brought the load of branches and leaves to her sheep instead of the transfer station, which delighted Ron. Played with a sweet dog that was in her back yard. The sheep loved our offering.

On the way home, we stopped to read the monument at Emma Oakley Mills Way, which was named for Emma’s grandmother. Both her grandparents were very active in civic and political life.

Unfortunately, Ron was nicked by a neighbor dog that was a bit too enthused about our treats.

We got our acts together for all the big bills this week: property taxes, my corporation stuff, the check to DPW, my co-pay for tomorrow’s surgery. Got things squared away with the dissolution of CapeCoder.com. I needed to file a final annual report. Looking back, I’ve been thinking about this for over three years.

I did a little raking in the back yard to clean up the piles of pine needles. Watered the little rhodie. Made meatloaf for supper.

Big news this week; the Quincy police have a suspect in the Puppy Doe case in custody. Looks like a slam-dunk.

We have the ball game on.

I was up at six and thought about going back to bed around 7:30, but the stench in the bedroom was so bad that I gave up.

Ron hasn’t paid his fair share of household expenses for the past two months, leaving us about $1,000 in the hole, and now his farts are so bad that I can’t even sleep in my own bed!