The day is not at all inviting. Clouds are still with us. During the night, it rained, but I didn’t hear it. The sides of the road are still wet. The air is damp. The high today will be 44˚.

I have a couple of pictures I need to hang. Yesterday I walked around carrying them and trying to find the perfect spot. It took a while, but I found the spot. I just need a couple of nails.

Yesterday I was busy. I emptied the litter boxes, watered plants, brought my laundry downstairs and put the bags and boxes for the dump run into the trunk. I baked potatoes. That doesn’t sound like much, but one sweet potato was so big it was the size of an infant’s head. I had to cut that potato into pieces, also big. A white potato too needed cutting. The smallest potatoes went as is. They will be perfect for home fries. I’m thinking dinner might be home fries, bacon and eggs. I do love dinner when it’s breakfast. Maybe, when eaten at night, that meal needs a neutral name like breakner or dinnfast. Okay, I admit that’s a bit much but give me points for creativity.

I couldn’t get to sleep last night so I watched television. I watched Kolchak: the Night Stalker, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. It felt as if I were in some strange time loop, a fun loop but nonetheless a strange one. By the time Land of the Giants came on on, it was 3 o’clock. The Time Tunnel was after that. I went to bed so I recorded both programs. Today I get to loll in front of the TV and watch favorite science fiction programs from way back. I have plenty of corn to pop. I also have a keen suspension of disbelief.

The high today will be 46˚, but the warmth will be lost when the heavy rains start later today. Already we have rain, small small as they say in Ghana. The weatherman has predicted rain all day and into the next two days. Earlier, Henry wasn’t happy waiting for me to let him inside the house. I told him he could come in on his own, but he ignored me and waited in the rain whacking over and over at the dog door cover. He is now upstairs on my bed brooding.

Saturday TV when I was a kid was filled with programs aimed at me, well, not me specifically but me as a kid. I watched cereal commercials, some with cartoon spokesmen, and endless toy commercials. I remember Slinky going down the stairs, and I remember wanting an Easy Bake Oven. Tony the Tiger and Snap, Crackle and Pop were my favorite cereal cartoons.

I used to like westerns back then like Rin, Tin, Tin and, my favorite, The Lone Ranger riding Silver, “A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty Hi-Yo Silver….The Lone Ranger.” I thought the theme was written just for the Lone Ranger. I was disappointed when I found out it wasn’t. Sgt. Preston in his red Canadian Mountie uniform patrolled the Yukon with his horse Rex and his faithful dog Yukon King. I think the program opened with a map of the Yukon. I remember how great his uniform looked with leather black gloves against the red, a lanyard around his neck and a wide brim hat.

Captain Midnight was my first taste of TV science fiction. I remember, for some strange reason, that Ovaltine was its sponsor. Gene Autry combined westerns and science fiction. He had his Phantom Empire, a serial moved from the movies to TV. It was so frustrating having to wait another week for the next installment, and patience was not my strong point. I remember the elevator taking Gene down to the underground city of Murania. It was the same sort of elevator you’d see moving up and down on the outside of a building. In hindsight, it looks fake, but I thought it was amazing back then. I thought all of it was amazing.

I have no plans today. Yesterday I swept and mopped the kitchen floor. It was covered from the door to the hall with dog prints. I wish I knew it was going to rain today. That would have saved me from toiling in the kitchen.