Chester is absolutely, positively, 110% wanting to go outside.

There is a skunk outside.

Chester will not be permitted outside tonight.

My house is haunted, in case you didn’t know. My ceiling fan will sometimes turn by itself. I thought it was doing it only when the heat or air was blowing, but it’s not turning now, and the heat is blowing. Last night it wasn’t turning, but the chain pulls were moving. Tonight, all is still. I can watch, as I am ensconced in my library chair and have an unobstructed view. It’s weird. And no, I haven’t had windows open to change the air movement one way or another. The only other fan is in my bedroom. There is no explanation, apart from ghosts. So ghosts it is.

People like it when I write about them. People like attention. I do, too. I’ve thought all day that I would write one sentence each about ten people and let y’all guess what was written about whom. And then in coming weeks I would elaborate as the mood hit me.

#1. A strong redhead who rides a proud red horse, prefers Sauvignon Blanc (but not Kim Crawford), who can mingle with any crowd, anywhere, anytime.

#2. A quilter, a baker, but not a candlestick maker, at least not so far as I know.

#3. A halfback Yankee who has a penchant for Christmas lights, Halloween decorations, and is an advocate for firemen, dispatchers, my writing, and the Kodak Branch Library.

#4. She sleeps a lot but she’d help me hide a body.

#5. This one will melt down if the phone rings but doesn’t shy away from page long texts, she loves cozy mysteries and Steven Tyler, and has a sweet tooth as big as her heart.

#6. Once upon a time, he told the funniest deer hunting stories, caught the biggest fish, and could whistle for a dog using the gap between his teeth.

#7. He drives the prettiest dump truck in the county, is a little backward and shy, is methodical and conservative, appreciates longevity of products and common sense in people, likes John Deere tractors and horned Hereford cattle, but above all else, is supremely humble and kind.

#8. Drinks bourbon and Diet Dr. Pepper, hits Signature Status at Chickalay mid-year, lives in the most droll city this side of the Mississippi but his cooking can’t be beat and his porch alone is worth the drive.

#9. Rode a buckskin horse, loves fancy things, can talk for three hours about absolutely nothing at all with someone he just met, and never backs down from a selfie with strangers.

#10. He loves taking pictures of vast mountains and tiny fungi, reading Stephen King, eating anything that won’t eat him, writing short hair-raising stories, and was the most famous dispatcher of 2016.

I don’t think anybody can name all ten, but it was fun thinking up some key traits of some of my favorite people.

I’ve got a busy day tomorrow so I will end this one here.

Love from Appalachia with the skunks and the haints ,

~Amy