Of all the cartoons I enjoyed growing up, Charlie Brown (and his crew) endure as one of my favorites.  I love how he keeps trying and always thinks the best of people.  And they were honest and wholesome (it floored me when I heard Peppermint Patty say she would "give him a tumble" (referring to a foreign exchange student) in one of the later shows).  They didn't have violence or ugly language, just people being people and friends who came out to help each other in the end.

I'm not sure why I was thinking of Charlie Brown this morning.  I was actually thinking that I don't understand people very well.  You know that Pk and I ride a commuter train across the bridge into Philadelphia every morning.  It's reliable and fairly inexpensive compared to driving and parking. 

Today, like most days, we were watching the people around us as they get on the train and I realized there are things I just don't get.

I don't get why everyone looks so miserable so early in the morning. 
I don't get why people stand when there are seats available.
I don't get why people sit on the outside seat thus making it harder for other folks to sit down.
I really don't get why people who choose to stand STAND IN THE DOORWAYS!  so that no one can get on/off the train.

I don't get why train conductors wait until the last moment to put on the breaks so that we stop so abruptly that my head snaps back (every stop? is that necessary?)

That's what I'm wondering this morning.  Nothing deep and profound.  Just musings.  I also wonder why a young man would give himself a Reverse Mohawk so that he has a short patch of hair in the middle of his head and all this straggly stuff hanging down.  It's a strange look.

We are in the middle of pulling off a leaky old roof and replacing it with a new nonleaky one.  Pk has decided to hire our neighbor to do the contracting and we are providing some of the labor to offset the cost.  This weekend  we (I say WE but I will probably be relegated to picking up things and putting them into the dumpster.  Pk doesn't seem to like the idea of giving me a nail gun to use) will be trying out this relationship while tearing down the Florida room in the back of the house.  It's really a porch but the listing for the house called it a Florida room and we have always just called it that.  When Pk started to tear down some of the roof, he found that it was constructed in an odd, unsafe manner using pipes.  The whole thing is coming down and for the moment, a roof is going back up on posts.  We'll figure out what kind of walls/windows we want next spring. 

If Pk and the neighbor guy get along and work well together, they'll tear off the flat part of our roof and put a slightly peaked one on, thus hopefully, making it less likely to leak than a flat roof.  That could be important if we get lots of snow this winter. 

I will be boxing up living/dining room things and moving them to other parts of the house to get them out of the way.  Some of the furniture has to be moved and some will just be pushed out of the way and put under tarps for the time being.  It's a project but the house will be snug and warm when it's done and that's worth a bit of work.  I'm hopeful the hard part will be done in time for the holidays.  Decorating can wait until the winter when we can't get outdoors anyway. 

Emily is hosting Thanksgiving this year.  All I have to do is make niblets.  I'm going to stuff some vegetables with savory cheese and put some of the cheese out for crackers with maybe some pepperoni.  I'll make a small turkey on Sunday so we have leftovers.  Gotta have leftovers.  What else will I make sandwiches out of for the next week?

Things at work are settling into the New Normal.  The people who were laid off are missed.  (at least by me)  The CEO of the health system sent a "belt tightening" memo around so no one feels really secure but I don't think we're facing more layoffs until maybe budget time next year.  We are moving onward since we really don't have a choice.  There are a lot of people who depend on us being here and being able to offer the services we have always offered. 

I have finished all of the doctor visits/tests for this year.  In the last three months I have seen the dentist, the gyn (and gotten the mammogram), the eye doctor, the kidney doctor and my pcp.  It seems the cholesterol meds are working and my numbers (and my bp) are good.  No more visits until February.  I am grateful for my insurance so we can get these appointments and keep up with our well-visits. 

Otherwise, things in my life are good.  I am making progress on my sweater.  I have 10 inches of the body done and have 4 more to do until I join the sleeves and then figure out what I'm doing with the yoke.  I worked on it for a good bit over the weekend but the sudden cold weather made it hard on my hands and I had to put it up for a few days.  I have tendonitis in my thumbs and arthritis in some finger joints so cold makes it difficult sometimes.  I think I want to invest in some of those craft gloves that are supposed to reflect back body heat and keep joints warm.  Anyone ever use them?

The pharmacy informs me my medications are ready to be picked up so I'm on my way over to the hospital to get them (my prescription plan insists I use the hospital pharmacy).  Have a wonderful Wednesday all.