"Saturday night and I ain't got nobody . . ."

Where does the expression "digging a hole to china" come from? The internet has yielded few clues, but some anonymous person out there claims that in the UK they say "digging a hole to Australia." Guess that makes sense. And where do the citizens of China dig holes to? Texas? These are the things I think about when I am trying to fall asleep.

I also sometimes think about the horrible realization that my childhood home in Olney -- the one that my parents lived in for 20 years -- now belongs to another family. Have they completely changed the interior? Will they find the wood beam in the basement that has a growth chart for my brother and I? Do they know that my cat is buried in the back yard? Sometimes when I am starting to fall asleep, I'll jerk awake and forget where I am. For a moment, eyes surveying the dark, I could have sworn that I was in my old bedroom in Maryland.