Cliff is in Central Florida riding his Harley, hanging out in the bars, visiting his favorite breakfast hangout, chatting with a few friends and living la dolce vita!  He didn't know why he went to the bars.  He doesn't even drink.  This is his adventure so I stayed here on the mountain where it's peaceful and serene.  He left early Wednesday morning and I high-tailed it to my rheumatologist in Tennessee. I needed to do this alone.   The thought of the side-effects of the new medication I needed to get on was causing me terrible anxiety but I needed to get the progression under control before winter weather arrives.  My doctor patiently went over everything again with me, talked me through the injection procedure, then watched me as I talked myself through the real thing.  Injecting into the belly was not the problem.  Doing things in the correct order such as swabbing, putting the syringe into the vial, drawing out the correct amount of solution, never taking my eye off the needle, then injecting the first time at a 12 o'clock belly position seemed like a lot on my brain.  At one point I needed a third hand.  Anyway, I did it.  My second injection will be tomorrow, in a 3 o'clock point, because he said many patients prefer Sunday as their day and this will get me onto that schedule. 

Today was mid -sixties.  Nights have still been warm, high fifties to low sixties.  There's not really any color yet.  A few trees turned yellow and orange but nothing to go driving around looking at.  Color will be late this year.

Rumor has it that a bear was spotted last week in our area.  This afternoon six teenagers in shorts, short sleeves, and sandals came trudging up the steep hill in our back yard.  They were lucky they didn't uncover copperheads, yellow jacket nests, or even meet the roaming bear.