The mournful horn. I do not know how interesting you find this "Dear Diary" stuff. It will be good background for a book and is somewhat comforting, but I know you probably could use something with a little more meat to it.

I have now gone over twenty four hours without the Claritin and I notice no major change. My nose clears and clogs at will.

I did not sleep very well last night. I had a really vivid nightmare. I pictured myself asleep in a cell and felt someone about to attack me! I am talking about a bone chilling, real feeling.

I woke up and it took a few seconds to realize that I was truly alone. God bless the power of a really freaked out mind. And all this without the benefit of any pharmaceuticals!

So now at 8:30 PM I am off to read and try to unwind just a little. I have a feeling that I will be writing some more tonight.

See, I knew I would write some more tonight! It is now sometime between 9:00 PM (quiet time) and 11:00 PM (shift change). My window is open and the train whistles are moaning in the distance.

I can also hear the road noise of the cars and trucks whizzing by on the interstate several hundred yards away. I can see the headlights of the cars going southish and the red taillights of those going northish. I say "ish" because I think it is actually an east/west Interstate, but the sun comes up over the hill that seems to cast its rays perpendicular to the highway.

Anyhow, I just finished reading "The Thin Man" by Dashiell Hammett. I do not know if I mentioned earlier that this is one of those series that Karen turned me on to. They are great period pieces if you ever come across them. BTW Dashiell Hammett also wrote The Maltese Falcon. Maybe I should read that too.

Hammett's bio states that he was born in 1894, left school at 14 years of age, held a bunch of jobs, and eventually worked as an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. He served in both World Wars, and died in 1961. Although the book says the original copyright of 1933 by Alfred Knopf, Inc. was renewed in 1961 and 1962 by Dashiell Hammett, that’s tough to do if you were six feet under at the time!

So, now I will finish reading the bio of his lover and partner, Lillian Hellman, which is mostly about the 1940’s and 1950’s and the McCarthy hearings. Talk about eclectic book collections that actually connect, not only to each other, but in this case to me the reader and my former life as a free person. (Who'da thunk it?)

I will certainly try and do some blog post writing later this week on this interesting connection of The Thin Man and also to provide a list of what I learned about better way to rob banks from the In Bad Company book (the one about the Oklahoma City bombing).

That’s all for now folks. I am off to lie down some more and read and then to sleep I hope. It is still not 11:00 PM since the shift has not changed yet.

The mournful horn wails on!
  ¶ 8:33 PM