Hey all!

Wow! Multiple postings in one day! This is Jim here, to add my two-penneth-worth-eth. Amy forgot to mention a couple things. Firstly, it was HOT TODAY - the very definition of an Indian summer. Here is a snapshot from weather.com of the temperature at 5:00pm this evening:

Waughh! 92 degrees! In October! Yeeearggh! As you can see, Amy came up with a plan for keeping cool:

The crosswind created by the two opposing fans is refreshing, and vicious. In fact, on the left of the picture, just out of shot, is a small hole that Sammy made as he passed through the wall at 112mph. It was this event that led us to believe that maybe the 'medium' setting would be more comfortable for us. Sammy's fine btw, with the exception of his whiskers which, judging by his persistent cough, he appears to have swallowed.

Our walk was really lovely btw - we went to what we call "The Trail" between Pekin and Tremont. We walked through the woods, lay down in a clearing, and speculated on the types of various trees. We took Maddie too, and let her run free. She had a great time sniffing and rolling about in the dust and didn't even think about pulling her old prison-break routine. :)

Also, we got something in the mail today that was a sad, but also kind of lovely surprise. Here it is:

As you can see, it's Brian's social security number, and card. We're going to put it in his memory book. The only bit that got me was the signature line, never to be signed. But it was also a really nice reminder of Brian's real-ness, his existence in somewhere other than our hearts and memories.

Anyway, dinner is cooking. Hope everyone is very well indeed both here in IL, over in England, and anywhere else this might be being read from. Take care!

P.S. - oops! I forgot to mention a couple things too. First, the nature walk was Amy's idea. I've been going on for ages about how we should go back there for a walk, and she drove me there as a surprise. Don't worry, she got some Jim-smooching in return. Secondly, I was supposed to be making dinner tonight, but I took so long here blogging that Amy went ahead and has made it herself. She'll get another Jim-smooch for that too. :)