Version 2.116

Today was mostly cloudy and, late afternoon, we received rainfall from the outer bands of Laura. If we get more rain, it will likely be during the night. We are under a tornado watch until 11 PM, but I don't think that is very likely. Flash floods make sense, I suppose. The storm moved very quickly inland, but its massive size means that Louisiana is still getting rainfall as it rotates.

I spent my day as usual, walking Julian and working. On our morning walk I was pleasantly surprised to see my favorite trash man. He is always in such a great mood, greets me, and always finds the time to have a short conversation. He and I both have French bulldogs, so we always talk about that. The last time we spoke, I recommended the limited ingredient diet food that Julian eats and, today, he let me know that he was very pleased with how his Frenchie had responded to the food.

The last time I had seen the trash guys out, he had not been working, so I had assumed the worse, that maybe he was ill or had been laid off. I was very happy to see him out today. The funny thing is that we always talk like we're old friends, but we don't even know each other's name. I never remember to introduce myself or ask his name, maybe because that is not something one would do to a friend. I need to make a mental note to do it.

Maybe I need to get out more and make some friends, although this is not the most appropriate time to do it, but our trash man is the one black person with whom I speak more regularly, as in having a conversation about a common interest, in this case our dogs. I have quite a few black neighbors and Memphis itself if two-thirds black, but I don't have any real black friends here outside of work. The neighbors keep a lot to themselves. Of course, now with the pandemic and working from home, I don't speak with as many coworkers as I did when I worked in the office.

Truthfully, I must say that I am probably at that stage in life where I try to avoid making new friends, just because I know so many people already and it's hard to keep up with everyone. Plus, now with social media, one gets to spend more time with friends online and hardly feels the need to go out and find new real flesh and blood friends.