One of those days

Since retiring I've fallen into the habit of sleeping until abut eight o'clock--I wake about seven and doze as long as the dog, cat, and my bladder will let me. It's a delicious time, and my thoughts wander all over the good things in my life and what plans I have for the day. But this morning, at 7:45, I was blasted out of bed--literally--by the boom of marching drums. They were coming from the schoolyard across the street, and I finally got myself together enough to go out, get the paper, and see what was going on. Crowds of people were gathering on the lawn, then a sheriff's car pulled up with lights flashing, and pretty soon an inflatable arch went up over the side street. I finally figured out it was a walkathon, fund-raiser for the school (probably when first awakened I'd have donated money to get them to stop the drums but once I was up and about, I sort of liked them). Of course, the dog and cat went crazy--the dog demanding to go out, the cat demanding to be fed, and me deciding going to the bathroom was my first priority. I finally got everyone settled down, fed, and where they belonged. When I left for the grocery store, there was a police car almost but not quite blocking my driveway. The woman driving it moved it a bit, but it was still tricky getting out of the driveway without scraping a police car--now that would have been a nightmare.
The day went that way--I got tangled in a bunch of e-mails, a long conversation with Jordan about Kindle--she was relaying everything I said to a colleague until I finally said I felt like I was talking to a parrot. Had a delightful lunch at Nonna Tata (country Italian) with Susan and Melinda, then back to the computer. I spent a lot of time creating an author page on Kindle, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon before I read the morning paper, usually the first thing I do in the morning.
The rest of the day went okay--a nap, a bike ride, feeding animals (again! with the cat it's a constant process!), dinner making salad out of leftover salmon from last night with an added bit of gravlax I had on hand (made an interesting salad). Tonight I posted my short story collection on Smashwords which puts things on all kinds of e-platforms. I know I did both that and Kindle without following format instructions, so they are in less than ideal shape, but they're up and running--my usual impatience with tech instructions.
Tonight I've had it. I'm doing something I never do--watching TV: Dateline, to be followed by a Food Network show featuring a local restaurant. Sometimes it's good to chill.