Humans notice patterns, and counting and comparing is how we keep track of loved ones. In three weeks one of my big patterns kicks in; my father's last email to his friend Jean was on what we believe is the night he died, in the evening after taking his shower (pulmonary embolism "he didn't know what hit him") but the neighbor was accustomed to Dad being away for days at a time so didn't go looking for him in the house until a week later. So we have two dates - the public one of later in November (coroner) and the family one based upon email and missed appointments (early in November). And that was more than 2 decades ago.

We are having what amounts to "weather" here today, occasional rumblings as a narrow band of storms passed over. No precipitation here, and it has moved past, but there is still one worried dog in her Thundershirt. When Pepper is so distracted she stops eating her breakfast, we know it's weathering out. The high today is supposed to be wonderful - only 86 - after 103 yesterday.