Um, okay...

If someone has powers of reasoning profound enough to be considered for the most important and long-term judicial appointments in our government, shouldn't they have been smart enough all along not to make blatantly racist statements? Should the POTUS who nominated said bench candidate have to put words in her mouth that he's sure she'd re-word what she said previously? If the candidate was a valid choice to begin with, wouldn't she be capable of speaking for herself?

A judge who has had 4 of 5 of their rulings reversed by higher courts is a terrifying choice for Supreme Court. More terrifying even than the horrors of who is in office for a 4-year term.

Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

Ah, country living. *inhale deeply*

My goodness.

Driving home from seeing a moowie (Wolverine. See it!) in nearby city Saturday night, LouLou pulled into town behind a white Corolla. Saw them swerve ahead too late to miss the black plastic garbage sack --oddly weighted, that-- and it rolled along their undercarriage in a clunky fashion and too late for LouLou to miss also straddling the black sack when OMG! it has a white stripe. That's not a black plastic bag.

I fear LouLou will be mighty skunky for the next little bit or so. Must find a carwash with undercarriage action.

The Beelzepups...

...took a minute from their busy Snortal Combat schedule Friday night to pose for a pretty picture. So far we've had no fleas out here in the country, but I do find some frightfully large ticks on them.

Ew.

Have learned country pups have dirtier ears inside than citypups. Goes with the territory, I suppose.

I'm more accomplished than I realized...

From Gunblogger Conspiracy:

NinjaViking http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Belgie/article/detail/865224/2009/05/26/Hevigste-onweer-in-jaren-met-15-000-blikseminslagen-en-hagelstenen-als-tennisballen.dhtml ouch
NinjaViking weather isn’t supposed to be like that
Salamander That one hail ball in the upper right looks like cookie monster lost an eye or something.
pdb “Ook het Waasland kreeg de volle laag. Vooral in Stekene en Sint-Gillis-Waas is er veel schade.”
pdb that’s not a real language!
pdb who are they kidding?
TNProgrammer bork bork bork bork!
NinjaViking Heh heh.
NinjaViking that’s flemish
xyankeeworkshop friggin Klingons
NinjaViking and no, it’s not a real language
TNProgrammer phlegmish?
David phlegmfatale has her own language?
NinjaViking it’s a bastard of english, danish, german and bewilderment



OOK!

Wow!

Happy first birthday to my sweet, nutty little Praline.

And many more.

Remember Jack Horkheimer?

I'm having a great time watching the evenings light up with stars. I saw the first firefly of the year tonight, and I think he was a scout. I hope he'll be followed by millions of others.

The skies are amazing and I'm thrilled to be here every single morning and sunset and night.

I wish Jack Horkheimer was still doing updates on the night sky-- I could use his Cliff Notes version of what I'm looking at. Heck, maybe I'll learn something in spite of myself.

[OldGuy informed me Jack Horkheimer is still about-- there's hope for me, yet! YAYS! Check him out here.]

Shooty Goodness!

Saturday brought some spectacular clouds, as you can see. In the first photo, Matt G is mowing a huge swathe of grass out at the ranch where we were about to shoot. Matt borrowed Holly B's hat which was too small for him, so it sat atop his head. Holly had some nice grackle paper targets and everyone made mince of the little devils. I gave one a couple brutal foot injuries. JPG and LawDog displayed some mad shooty skills, and everyone had a lovely time. Even though I wasn't feeling well and didn't have the stamina for much shooting, it was a beautiful day to be out on the range...

Went into a store on Monday on an errand and ran into a lady who has worked with my mom in Dallas for about 15 or so years. What are the odds?

Chuy is fine and coming along nicely, recovering. Praline has had a huge attitude lately, and I don't know what's up with that. She's thinking Chuy is still a little chump pup and she's the bossy big sissy. We're working on that. Chuy, though shorter, is actually slightly larger, and he's not thrilled with the idea of playing second fiddle. They're learning they neither one are the big dog around the house. *sigh* Can't we all just get along?

Hang Dog

I pulled my flash card out of the camera and it seems I've lost a whole raft of photos. I don't know how I did that, but I'm dismayed. Grrr.

This'll have to do. I had some photos of Praline hanging from her ball when it was stuck up about 5' in chainlink fence. THIS is why I should have named her mandible. When she's being thus held aloft, she begins to corkscrew her body in attempt to wrest free the ball from the offending hand. Trust me when I say she can hold onto the ball longer than you can hold her up in the air.

Maniac.

The weekend was great, despite feeling puny. I haven't been feeling terrific, but I haven't felt dramatically diminished in stamina generally. It took a shooting expedition Saturday to bring home the fact that I'm actually quite weak at the moment. I'm taking my meds religiously, and looking forward to being utterly rid of the crud. Being sick is no fun.

OTOH, for being sick, I sure am having a grand time. The sunsets here are spectacular, and I got some fabulous photos in the yard on Sunday of new lobes of cactus with their soft spines doing a turn as sundials. Also, I got a nice photo of a rose which was planted here by someone a few decades back. Quite lovely. Then there was the wasp nest I spotted in the middle of a large stand of cactus. This camera is amazing.

The pups are hale and hardy, tearing about like little racehorses. They love it here. Every day is an adventure for them and they love the yard and seem happy all the time. Life is sweet.

Memorial Day

We are indebted to the men and women who have died keeping us free. May they all be eternally blessed.

I'm not superstitious or easily creeped out, but...

Driving in a rural area Saturday night, I noticed many of the graves in a backwoods cemetery were festooned with those solar-powered lights. You know the ones that give of a pale, anemic glow? Well, I thought the scattershot illuminated gravestones looked kind of eerie, actually. I wonder what people are thinking these days?

Weird? I think so.
Icky? Definitely.

All at once the clouds are parted

light streams down in bright unbroken beams...

Sorry I didn't throw a post up earlier Friday. I've sort of chalked up the rundown feeling to the stressors of the move and the rattlesnake bite and all that lovely magic. Really, though, moving is just stressful whether it's across the street or across the country. It takes a while to get settled, and for all my running around and goings-on, I'm a home-body at heart. I need a peaceful and (believe it or not) somewhat tidy place to hang my hat. I've been sleeping very well, but I've had a persisitent cough. Fortunately for me, someone who cares for my wellbeing has been just as persistent in urging me to see a doctor for the last month.

Today I finally went to a clinic after work, 9 days of Levaquin having not had much effect on this evil, chest-deep cough. Xrays show I have a lot of lung congestion (they wouldn't say pneumonia because they were not radiologists, but I expect a call).

I had a rocephrin shot and they gave me 4 scrips to boot. In truth, before the shot, I sat in the exam room and sort of boo-hooed a bit. I'm so happy here and most things are going so well, but it seems I've had to juggle some very difficult issues lately. So I had my little cry and I pulled it together. I'm told my lip was quivering when I emerged to settle up at the desk, but I saw no such thing. Anyway. I've got my meds and some dear, wonderful people here supporting me, and life is good.

I walked out of the clinic knowing I was on the path to a healthier me, and I looked up to see a double-rainbow.

It's all fine and it's so good now. :)

Have a great holiday weekend, folks!

be your dog's best fiend.

Yeah. Fiend.

From the land of Monsieur Guillotine comes this pet-warshing wossname. 30 minutes in this pet-spa contraption, and your pooch will be traumatized for life. Their fur will be sweet and clean, but they may lay a wet, sloppy trail of timber tearing out of this thing, and rightly so.

About a minute and a half into the video, they pop a cat in the warsh, and it looks plenty steamed, alright. I'm not so sure about this thingie. I'd probably feel guilty about the clothes tumbling in the dryer if I knew they were looking out at me, blaming me. Plotting.

Looks like I'll be sticking with the old-fashioned method-- pups jumping in the bathtub with me. *shrug*

h/t to Blowfuzzy von Saucy

Like school in the summer: no class!

That's my favorite Fat Albert quote, in case you were wondering.

I don't know if I've mentioned lately but I don't watch tv and only just recently acquired a small one which I might actually plug in one of these days, except it's not HD and, oh, heck. Whatever.
I've been pretty busy of late and on the odd moments I do stop to sit down, well, I'll be honest-- I do my blog update just before bed every night and set it up to post at one minute after midnight. I'm usually arrayed pretty comfortably in cotton pajama pants and a camisole top. I know-- not sexy, but there it is. Anyhoo, yeah, it's a casual affair by the time I'm sitting at the computer. This casual habit has lived to bite your humble narrator on the butt.

I'm in my third of about a dozen weeks of training at the new job. If I should stay with this company, I'd like to promote quickly, and to that end, I dress nicely on a daily basis and am meticulous about communications, punctuality, and all that sort of thing. Yes, I'm dressed nicely whereas a lot of folks there are barely out of their own pajamas. This prim and proper thing is all very well, but one hates to go overboard.

I had an horrifyingly embarrassing incident on Wednesday which actually wrapped plumb back around to stunned bewilderment. In my defense, I still have been feeling sicky, and I think perhaps I am a little too comfortable sitting at a computer for professional purposes. In the afternoon, I and the other 6 folks in the room were sitting at computers, each working silently on various tasks. In one of the most surreal moments of my life, I found myself sitting at my computer and suddenly realizing I had belched quite loudly. (I know! Who knew I could belch? I certainly didn't! ;) It probably will never happen again.)

This was a 4.0 magnitude belch, my dears. This belch had its own zip code. This belch could run a paper route. I sat amazed as I heard the echoes report around the room. I thought to myself "did I just do that? No. Surely not." Just in case though, I quietly said "excuse me."

That's when the room erupted. The instructor yelled out "good LORD, Rita! Was that you? Do you need some rolaids or sumpin?" Oh, the humanity. I'm never going to hear the end of this.

You can dress me up, but you can't take me anywhere. I'm classy that way.

Rattlesnake Vaccine for dogs - fyi

Since my experience with Chuy last week, I've not had a lot of time to research, but I have found this bit of information on rattlesnake vaccination for dogs. The slideshow is tedious, but the transcripts were informative and full of useful information.

Until Chuy was bitten, I had no idea vaccination to help prepare your pet for rattler venom even existed. Praline has had her first injection Saturday and will get another in about a month. The local vet is charging $20 each for those, and I'll have to administer the second myself. Chuy will get his first injection around that time.

I've no intention of seeming a one-note symphony these days, but this subject is in the fore for me now. Just the anti-venom shot for Chuy was $450, with several hundred more in care due for all the tests, IVs, etc. I'm given to understand that the anti-venom shot is not even available in some clinics because it has a short shelf-life and may spoil unused, the expense of which would have to be passed along to a clinic's patients for other treatments. Other clinics are charging $800 or more per dose. This makes me think that-- heaven forbid-- should one of my dogs get bitten by a rattler on a Sunday afternoon, I may not even be able to find a vet who has anti-venom and will show up for emergencies. My hope is simply to lessen the severity of any future snakebites.

Anyhoo, the whole point of this is for my friends who live in or near rattler country who have semi-outdoor dogs, you really need to look into getting this vaccine for your pet. Just my humble opinion and probably worth what you paid for it. I just wish I'd known when I moved here that such a thing existed. I'm staying on my toes on this one.

Puppies. Puppies.

Monday was a wondrously lovely day, and the time was right (as usual) for lots of outdoor puppy romping action. Wait'll you see the hangdog pics of Praline, but that'll be for Sunday, most likely.

Here they are together, eyes shining and bright, noses cold.

You can see some of the damage from the snake on the back of Chuycabra's back pad. Poor poppet.

Praline is currently besotted with this ball. She always knows where it is and has an uncanny ability to focus on it. She lurves this ball. Forever and ever. Or until she finally figures out how to dismantle it utterly, which will probably be any minute now.

Ever the jauny little gentleman, Chuy is in fine fettle, as you can see here. He's having a grand time and seems happy and healthy. I'm so thankful to have him.

Well isn't that special?

The lady who had a baby at the age of 63 says 63 is really the latest you should wait to have a child - that the pregnant 66 year old is clearly too old.

Rosanna says: “I heard about this case and obviously this woman has her reasons but I think 66 is too old – 63 is as late as you should leave it.

Um, at the age of 63, Rosanna was already older than most of her child's contemporaries' grandparents, so I really think she has no room to criticize. Of course, it's a person's private business what they do, and in age of Octomom (please don't litter?), we're all in the business of saying what other people ought to do. I'm just saying if you're 63 new mum and criticizing someone for embarking upon motherhood at 66, well, you really need to STFU.

sick.

and not in the fun way, this time.
*moan*

Will try to brew up a fresh puppy Sunday post later, but for now, I'm hoping to be sleeping late.
*ugh*
phlegmmy, indeed. Pass the tissues, please.

Ready to go.

Miss Praline got her snake vaccine today, and the dashing hound will get his in about a week. Enjoy this footage of the Royal Artillery to the dulcet tones of Republica.

it's hard to tell

...but his whole left leg is swollen. He's been on fluids into the other leg since last night, and you can see he was not happy for me to leave him there. I wasn't either, but they most likely will let me take him home around 5 today.

My baby's going to make it.

Let me start by saying Chuy is probably going to be okay...

The prairie rattler wot bit him, otoh, had a rather abrupt encounter with a crescent wrench. [Thanks, Tole. I owe ya.]




No, Praline didn't get to play with the carcass. I wanted him skint so I could freeze the meat to feed to Chuy later, but he was too small to properly hide. Oh well.


Chuy loves chewing on sticks. This stick bit back. Caught him on the back of his right front leg just above that big thumby pad. During the drive to the vet, he was in discomfort and his leg swelled, but not as much as I expected. A gallant local fellow went with and held Chuy as I drove. Hopefully the pup didn't get a very big dose. Thankfully, I had new tires on LouLou and I hauled ass into town, a local good Samaritan having called ahead to the emergency vet clinic. (Thank you so much, Elsewhere PhD.)



Got him to the semi-big-city within 40 minutes, and the vet presented me with three options. I could do an antibiotic thingie and take him home and wait it out, see what happened. Or I could spend a bit of a chunk on a treatment with a fair success rate. Then there was the (ghastly expensive) anti-venom and hospitalization route. The anti-venom shot alone is $500, payable up front with the promise of more evil to vent spleen on my bottom line.


I figure as long as I have stuff to hawk, I'm not going to spare a penny if it may mean saving my furboy. I'm anxious and worried, and I'm having the same symptoms as before I came down with pneumonia. Goody. Anyway, at least I got myself on antibiotics, too. This weekend, though, I need some rest.

First thing tomorrow, peasants have promised to arrive with torches and pitchforks, and there will be a rattlesnake reckoning about this place.

Will get a post up tomorrow as soon as I can to let you know the pup is okay. Saturday, Miss Praline is getting the rattlesnake vaccine, though, let me tell you.

Damned snakes.

Will post again as soon as I have news. I appreciate all of you keeping your paws crossed for my little Chuy.

Zee closet, she is freshly painted!

The closet is painted. By the weekend, I'll have two more shelves above this one, and hopefully at least half my shoe collection will be neatly stowed thereon. At least I'll have shelf space for ALL the Fluevogs.

Pink, fluffy clouds...

Tuesday night brought storms in the distance. Low, billowy clouds blossomed back-lit pink as crooked fingers of lightning arced from cloud to cloud. All this at great enough remove that I didn't hear thunder, but the mere sight of such roseate firmament seemed a resounding endorsement of my having moved to this remote locale.

I love violent weather. Good thing, that. Now I'm free to enjoy rainstorms again without worrying about leaks in the buildings I manage. I don't miss the way my enjoyment of stormy weather was always dampened by the dread of whatever roof or wall might obligingly give water entry into someone's apartment. Yes, I'm free to enjoy bad weather again. I just hope I don't get blowed away.

Squat That Rabbit - Taj Mahal

Loved seeing Taj in Dallas last year, but was bummed he didn't play this song- my favorite of his.





Busy day Monday. Early to bed. No time for bloggies. I've been seeing lots of bunnies around the countryside. All cottontails, no jacks. A little music, then, I think, and the inexplicable but delightfully pulpy text from the YouTube entry for this video:

I held the little automatic by the barrel end, and held it out to her, butt first, like a gentleman. I didn't think she'd notice the lighter weight and shift in balance of a gun with no bullets, but, you never know, psychotics have strange obsessions. She might be more of an expert on firearms than I was.

She carefully took the automatic with her little pink hand, smiled her childish idiot smile, and showed me her unnaturally white little teeth. She looked me up and down a couple of time, and then looked me in the eye, still smiling. She was clever, the cleverest person in the world, proud of herself. She had outsmarted the big dumb detective. She slowly backed away from me with a little sashay in her hips

To Dallas and back...

I had some errands in Dallas Sunday so I drove back for a few hours. Navigating the rude and bustling midday Sunday traffic, I fairly howled "I DON'T MISS THIS!"

Saturday in Elsewhere I met some interesting females at the laundromat. They were very sweet, but dim, and homely on toast. Both well under 5' tall, the younger [fifty-something] one looked like Anthony Hopkins, and AH is not a pretty lady. When they spoke to each other, they stood almost with their noses touching, and their bellies quite touching. Odd, that-- very up-in-your-personal space. They invited me to their home to make crafts sometime, and though that was sweet, I decided I'd postpone that pleasure until I shuffle off this mortal coil and am assigned the proper Hadean ring in which to do penance. I did manage to avoid Eskimo nose-kisses whilst keeping my belly to my ownself. Is it wicked that I actually toyed with the idea of saying "isn't Obama wonderful?" just to see what they'd say?

The truth of the matter is that half the people you meet are below average intelligence. They'll tell you who they are if you keep your ears peeled. Please don't think I look down on those women because they are rustic country folk-- they were from California. The truth is there are countless savvy-but-stupid people in the world, too. Dallas is chock-full of people who drive the right car and wear the right clothes and are seen in the right places but couldn't count change from a 99 cent purchase.

The Little Old Laundry Ladies were at least genuinely friendly and inviting, so in a way, they really have more to recommend them than the big-city twit with the $350 neckties and solid gold money-clip.

I wish them all the very best, really I do.
The washer and dryer at the house were repaired Saturday afternoon...

Sunday, Puppy Sunday

Hellpups from Hell.

How did that sofa get torn up, you ask?

This was the day the sofa got ruint for good.

I can't stop laughing at this photo.

It looks like they have Bubba teeth in.

They scare me.

flow sweetly, hang heavy...

New treasure: the new cd from Yeah Yeah Yeahs is fan-bloody-tastic. I'm digging it highly. Hysteric is my favorite track, and in a couple glorious instants, the vocals are evocative of thrilling turns from early Cocteau Twins. Good cleaning and unpacking music. Good driving to work on uncrowded roads music. Just plain good.



Shake it like a ladder to the sun...

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

I can has intarw3bz! WOOHOO!

More later after I've updated MyTwitterBook.

rule 34?

When I hosted that blogger wingding in late January, someone kindly splained me that rule 34 was that if a thing exists, someone somewhere has erected a pornographic website dedicated to same.

Anyhoo, I haven't looked it up or anything, but I was just thinking surely there's a whole raft of rule 34 sites dedicated to waterboarding.

Dateline: Kinko's

Yep - I'm at Kinko's on me lunch break, updating the blog.

Here's the oddity that greeted me as I stepped out the door this morning. No salt was handy and I don't like squishing squishy things under my Fluevogs, so this guy lived to slime another day. I don't know if those white spots are paint or bird poo, but in either case, don't blame me.

Progress on the house is slow but steady. I've had some most kind and gracious help, so that makes all the difference. I'm going to rearrange my bedroom tonight so I expect that will reduce chaos dramatically. Tragically*wink*, the local Grande Dame has discovered my susceptibility to be lured away from tedious tasks by the invocation of pie. The local cafe has home made pies with glorious crusts. Pineapple pie-- who knew? Om nom nom. Have only had two slices thus far, but I've no doubt this will turn into a regular habit. Plus the company is better than anyone has a right to hope for, so I'm loving the neighbors.

The pups are having a grand time - they are giddy from the minute they awaken until they drop off asleep. Getting up early has been easier than I feared it would be, but I secretly long to stay up until 2AM every night. Oh well, needs must.

I have some modest plans for adding to the flower beds, though there are lots of fabulous xeric plants already in place there, so not much is needed.

Out walking last night, I heard a baby fox chittering for its mama. *thrills* The stars at night are big and bright out here. On the way home from work yesterday, I saw a roadrunner in the middle of the road, and I keep singing the song from the cartoon and going "meep! meep!"

So glad I came... :)

I hopefully will be online Saturday, fingers crossed. Will try to get a post up then. Thanks for all the well-wishes and encouragin' words you folks have been leaving in comments. I have a lot more to say, but it'll have to wait for a time when I can blog from the comfort of my jammies.

First week...

The first couple days at the job have been nice, actually. In truth, I have seen a couple shell-shocked looking folk, but that may just be personal problems. The other several hundred folk seem ecstatic to be there.

My home internet connection may be up and running Saturday. Fingers crossed. I'm loving the rustic setting, and I'll just have to be patient that things don't run on the get-it-done-yesterday schedule of Dallas utilities. That's a good thing, actually.

The drive in to work is amazingly un-stressful. The photo I posted yesterday was at what would have been some of the very worst time of Dallas traffic of a morning, and yet you'd have to go near another car out here.

The pups go hog-wild tearing around the big back yard. I'll try and post some pics soon.

Dearie Me!

How will I ever deal with these brutal traffic jams? This was 7:35 this morning on the way to work.

To work again...

Made more progress on painting and unpacking this weekend.

The pups are having a grand time tearing around the huge back yard, and I'm enjoying watching them. They seem quite happy.

Today I start my new job. Despite some details I learned Wednesday which give me pause, I think I can work well and keep a good attitude about things. I'm looking forward to having things more settled on the home front so I can get my torch work going again and make some more glass beads. I am having some shoulder soreness, though, so I'll be doing all the low painting in the immediate future and may hold off on the ceiling painting for a bit, yet.

You know those paint bombs they put in banker bags to 'splode and coat robbers? They need to invent a paint bomb to paint the inside of a room at one swell foop. That's a million dollar ideer right there. Somebody run with it, already.

I'm going to work a little early, just to see what the traffic is like and see what sort of timeframe I'll have for the drive.

Every day I'm getting a little more of my stuff unpacked and things are feeling a little more settled. There's still a lot to do, but I feel quite contented, indeed.

Hopefully I'll get my internet connection up this week, but until I do, posts may be spotty and along the ilk of this one. Sorry for the drab redundancies, but getting my ducks in a row takes precedence over all else.

Heard some impressive coyote yodeling last night for a couple seconds, and then when I started listening intently, they shut up. Sooner or later, though, I'll get an earful of the stuff, I expect.

Have a great week. :)

Sunday, Puppy Sunday - A new home...

We LURVES our screen door!

The puppehs are so nice to come home to, too. :)

Meet the new neighbors...

Yup. This is the view from the back of the property. Much sexier and faster-moving than Stemmons expressway. Plus they don't wake me up at night.

Chuy started a ruckus in the back yard last night when for no reason he started beating his chest, yowling and snorting, all manly-like. A chorus of neighborhood dogs relayed the message of the new dog in town, and finally word got to a coyote who retorted "you think you're a badass? meh."

Loving it.

Tra la!

Spent my first night in the house last night. Yesterday I got the closet completely painted except for the baseboards and frame. Woke up this morning and painted that trim and scrubbed the hardwood floor by hand with Murphy's Oil floor soap. (anyone have experience with this stuff, or can anyone recommend a good cleaner/reconditioner for hardwoods that need a little love?) The original hardwood floors are in great shape, actually, but the house has basically been used as storage for the past decade or so, so there's a goodly layer of dirt married to the floor surface. The owner very kindly cleaned the floor with orange oil cleaner, but it needed a hands-and-knees scrubbing-- you know how severe I can be. Alas, no minion was handy to do my bidding while I sipped mint juleps and ate bonbons. meh. Thank goodness for latex gloves. Anyway, I scrubbed the path between my bedside and to the bathroom door, so I don't have to put on booties to walk to the bathroom at 3am. Yays. This house is really nice and the pups were tearing around the backyard like little banshees this morning, so it's going to be a grand place for us. I hope the owner will feel it was improved by our presence there. :) I already have a mind for a little bit of supplemental planting I'll be doing (it already has some plants I really like), but I'll get to that after the inside is more up-to-speed.

Anyhoo, this morning, the closet floor is clean and the closet is night-and-day different from what it was yesterday. I should be able to start hanging clothes in it by the end of the day. I chose my white-color, btw, and then I noticed the name-- Swiss Coffee by Behr. I've been using Behr paints for a long time, and I've always had great results. I take the time and effort to do a good job, and I always do a layer of Kilz tinted with the Behr color so it makes a nicer finished effect. Anyhoo, I saw the name of this paint-- Swiss Coffee-- and nearly changed my mind about it-- are they so out of names that they have to use ones that suggest colors not remotely like the one they are selling? meh.

I'm back at Tole's place using a computer (and I forgot one particular bag when I left here last night). I may have internet set up right away, but I may not, so posting may be a bit spotty for the next handful of days. I need to snap some before and after photos.

I didn't get the job I interviewed for this week, but they said I'll be top of the heap for the job when it comes available again in a few months, so they are going to call me. I'm disappointed, but at least I have the temp job.

Will try to remember to snap some before and after photos. It's already looking so dramatically different that you won't quite get the full effect, but you'll definitely get an idea, anyhoo.

Will def. try to get a Puppy Sunday post up this week. The pups are besotted with the screen door-- the outside world is like television for dogs. WOOHOO! No doubt, they'll turn into porch potaters.