[Today’s run: 3.5 miles]
I ran my regular route over on Watson Road just after noon today. There was a man by the fence and he looked sort of like our neighbor Mr. E. But I couldn’t tell so I just waved and continued on.
Later there was a small dirt mover, one that looks like a mini-excavator shovel. A guy was working on the ditch in front of the “new house”. He had a trailer and a truck that he had used to haul in the shovel thing. I went on down to the end of the road.
On the way back I saw the man again. Turned out it was Mr. E, our neighbor down the street. He was wearing nicer clothes than I usually see him in, a nice new jacket. But it was him. And I spoke to him and shook his hand. I asked how he was doing and he said fine.
I don’t see Mr. E very much. When we moved into this neighborhood in 2009 he was the first neighbor to talk to me. He was driving by when he stopped and waved and said that we should call him if we needed anything. He is a nice man. I’ve spoken to him a few times since then. He is kind of quiet and shy but friendly.
I left Mr. E, passed the mini-scoop shovel guy still working on the ditch and ran on. It was hard running today and I slowed down a bit on the way back but I made it all the way home.
About an hour later the dog was barking. A woman came to the door and I pushed the dog aside and went out to talk to her. It was Mr. E’s daughter (I’ve seen her a handful of times). She was looking for her father and wondered if I had seen him. She was upset. She said that Mr. E has been suffering from dementia and had wandered off. I told her I had seen him over on Watson Road. She called on her cell phone to her husband who was out driving looking for him. I went back in the house.
After awhile the dog barked again. Mr. E’s daughter was there again and she said they found him and all was well. She said thanks. I was very glad they found him OK.
We went on about our business. Later we went to a social function over at the airport. They had food and we talked to quite a few people that we know. It was fun.
On the way home, on the highway there were a lot of blue and red emergency lights. No traffic was coming northbound. Our side, southbound, was completely clear so we kept going. We passed the jam-up. It looked like a truck was in the ditch in the median. There was also a trailer involved and a mini-scoop thing like I had seen. It was dark and we couldn’t tell exactly what happened. We continued on home. Maybe we will find out tomorrow what happened if it makes the newspaper. It made the local TV station’s website.