There are about a dozen households on our camp road and we are trying to form a road association. Melissa is the road czar; we collect the dues and pay the plow guy and the grader. We live about in the middle, but on the two ends of the road there are major messes. On one end, there is a dispute about the sale of the house; the title company made a mistake, giving more land in the deed than was in the contract. The title company admits the error and wants to fix it, but the new buyers refuse. So we have new unscrupulous neighbors at that end. On the other end are some new weekend people who don't want anyone walking along the road by their house, a road that has always been open. These highly dislikeable people come to our house to plead their case with Melissa. Most of the other people on the road are quite reasonable, but it is still a tricky group for forming a road association.

Some good kick-back songs on the September Mix: Helen Gillet: Atchafalaya, Hot Buttered Rum: Limbs Akimbo, Nina Simone: I Feel Good (from Intouchables), and Lynn Drury: Riptide. This to celebrate the beginning of my retirement process. Onpoint will be posting my position (Java Developer) this week and after they hire someone I will kick back to two days until he/she is comfortable and then ease on out. The company has pretty much moved to Portland and it's depressing to work in the almost empty office in Manchester. I may look for something closer to home for a few hours a week. There will be some belt-tightening, but our house and cars are paid for, I am up to date on techno gadgets, and we already have way too much stuff. I am meeting this week with the HR person and the financial advisor to make sure I have all the little pieces in place. It's fantastic to be able to walk away.

Dinner plate dahlias are my new favorite flower.