At Home in Chariton

Hello,

I flew into Des Moines Sunday night, saw Leroy briefly, shared a meal with friends, was driven home, and went to bed. Settling back into the house was easier when I was by myself, but the house seemed very quiet with Leroy at a meeting until Tuesday.
Later I will give you trip details, but in chronological order.
This weekend is homecoming in Chariton. The school close to our house often gets tepeed, or however you spell that word when toilet paper is decorating your trees in the morning.

Last night the bedroom light was just turned out when people could be heard coming past the house. After a bit voices seemed to be right outside the window, but it took too much energy to get up and see what was happening.

The morning revealed the truth as the bare front walnut tree now had a draping of toilet paper. The tree in the back had much more as did the linden. There were even some paper towels in the mix. We are not sure if this is a negative or a positive thing, but we are going to treat it as a mark of distinction. In the past we have had this happen, but only when we had kids living in the house. Seemed to me it was the popular kids that got it. Makes for a happier outlook to think it is positive since we may never really know.

It is rainy and cold. I thought that I could wait until October to turn on the heat, but 62 degrees became too cold. But it was only two days ahead so it is a small matter.

The highest two track train trestle in North America opened yesterday in Boone, IA. I would like to go see this new Kate Shelly Bridge. The old Kate Shelly Bridge was built in 1900 and only had one track with a maximum train speed of 25 mph. Now two trains can use the new bridge at the same time and at a speed of 70 mph.

Paula