No school

We had no school today. I think the teachers are having a work day. Tomorrow is election day, so the kids are off then, too.

We were supposed to meet some friends at the zoo this morning, but they canceled because J's coughing with a cold so much, and N and I have it, too. It turned out to be good since K has come down with the cold, too. She started a barky cough after waking up from her nap this afternoon. They were smart to avoid our germs.

I went to the gym this morning instead, as I usually do on Mondays. Then we went to the zoo by ourselves.

I've put up some animal pictures in this post. I've got a prairie dog, American alligators, an emu, a bactrian camel, and a pair of zebras "kissing.

When we got home, we found a set of keys and a note from Mr. K. The keys belonged to our neighbor (the one with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other). Around noon, he had called an ambulance for him because he was afraid he was having a heart attack.

He called Mr. K at dinner time to get picked back up. He wasn't having a heart attack, but he had a bit of a blood sugar problem and a low temperature (95 °F). He told me on the phone he thought they were getting rid of him before they had to feed him dinner; I told him he was probably right. I sent over a plate of our dinner (not very tasty but adequate--meatloaf, roasted squash, and plain pasta) so he'd have something for dinner when he got home.

Our neighbor has no money, no income, and no health insurance. If you looked at him, you'd probably think he was a homeless person. He only has a place to live because his friend is kind to him. I'm sure the hospital merely made sure he wasn't in an emergency situation and then released them. Regardless of ability to pay, they have to treat all emergencies until the person is stable for release.

I'm sure Mr. K will drop in and check on him tomorrow if not tonight. I would, but he doesn't need our cough (although we may have caught it from him originally).

Tomorrow we were going to go to Club Mom at the mall and get free breakfasts at Chik-fil-a (can't spell it). If K's cold/cough is too bad, I may keep her home. Now with the recall of cold/cough medicines for kids under 2 years old, if she's not well tomorrow, we may have to take K to the doctor to see what we can give her since the over-the-counter stuff isn't supposed to be used on babies any more.

Also, we didn't get any rent from our the tenant who didn't put the gas/water/trash bill in her name, so I need to go to the post office and send her a priority mail, delivery confirmation "pay or quit" notice. If she fails to pay within five days, we can begin eviction proceedings.

We also didn't get any rent from the tenant whose house we purchased mid-October, but Mr. K was there fixing stuff this weekend, and she said, "the check is in the mail." If it doesn't arrive in tomorrow's mail, we need to do a "pay or quit" for her, too.