What a weekend. What weekend? Waiting for the weekend. Working for the weekend. Fuck it, the weekend’s here. It’s all a blur, the last few days, years, decades really. But it’s Friday now, so no worries. I feel disgusted with myself for the shape I’m in (rounded at the edges), so I must be alive. Fortunately, I am not at the point where I feel nervous around harpoons.

We have a new horse, of course, to go with the new pups. She’s white, or maybe gray. It is hard to tell at this time of year. Being a rescue horse (horse that was rescued, not one that goes out and rescues others), she is underweight, which makes her look kind of funny. Ha-ha.

It’s a swim meet weekend, so I won’t be doing all of the fun stuff I had originally planned: Change the oil on the truck, mulch the shrubbery, fix up the swamp cooler for summer and clean out the sprinkler system. To be honest, I think I’d rather be at the swim meet.

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Hey, how about another reason to hate the war: We’ve gotten so desperate for soldiers we’re letting complete sacks of shit serve. Or is our military goal now to convince average Americans that we need to keep the soldiers over there so we don’t have to deal with them here? While I respect the troops that are attempting to do the best job possible in a rather fucked up situation, I have a hard time hoping the jackasses in these videos make it home alive.

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Honestly, do we really need more snow? It is snowing again today, big fat flakes falling fast. White wet and, um, crap, whining? No, winging down to the ground in a flurried hurry. Yes, more snow. This weekend we spent our yet-to-arrive stimulus package on support for our daughter’s school. No, it is not a private school, but rather a charter school. This means that po’ people like us (we?) can get our kids in and that the school will be perpetually underfunded compared to the rest of the public schools around here, which are underfunded as well. Yay, Education President! My government went to Iraq and all I got was this lousy national debt. When will Bush realize that the “intelligence gap” is between his big-ol’ Curious George monkey ears?

And because everyone* likes cute puppies, here’s Hiro, mid-snore:

*Well, everyone but a certain Presidential ex-candidate with a pathological inability to be honest and a love for strapping his dog to the roof of the family car for a happy trip down the highway.

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No retreat. No surrender. Just Pete’s Wicked Wanderlust Cream Ale, a shot of agave tequila and Triscuits. It is 6:06pm and I am having the breakfast of champions! Yum.

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Thank you, TSG, for spoiling my breakfast. This really should be an anti-drug poster.

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The great thing about pets is that I’ve already spent my rebate check (or, if you want to be honest and use the Republican phrase for this sort of thing, my tax and spend check). Yay, me! What a brilliant idea. Bush has managed to destroy a once-thriving economy with a combination of pointless wars against non-aggressors and a series of tax cuts precisely for those who don’t need it. Now he is trying to revive things by giving us all token amounts of money, money borrowed from other countries, which means that ultimately it will cost us a lot more than it helps. Yay, acting-President Bush!

Anyway, the wife went out to look at a rescue horse yesterday and came home with a schnoodle puppy. What is a schnoodle? A schnauzer/poodle mix, of course. Sure, he’s cute, but he’s also just a puppy, which means more peeing, pooping and chewing in my house. Yay, house! I don’t know that five acres is big enough for all of our pets. And yes, I’ll put up a picture of the schnoodle and his green eyes eventually.

Right now I’ve got to pack, though. And confirm that my primary vote does not count, as it appears Idaho determines who gets all of the Democratic party delegates in its caucus, rendering my vote irrelevant. Yay, voting!

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The Democratic Caucus here in Idaho is being held tomorrow night, and I can’t go. Crap. The thought of another four years of pro pre-emptive war leadership does not make me happy. Hopefully there are a few other Democrats in my state, a few of which will consider the possibility that funding education, infrastructure and the American people is more important than funding deaths in Iraq and the defense industry. So, my caucus hopes are flaccid for now.

Looking on the bright side, I do get to spend a few days away from the snow and in sunny foggy San Francisco. Yay. I wonder if I have any rainwear anywhere . . .

So would this be considered a success story for our President’s glorious war for oil?- our county solid waste centers have quit accepting glass, as it is now too expensive to ship it out to be recycled. Hooray to the President for a wise war that paid for itself as he promised and has left us swimming in cheap oil! Why yes, I am in a pissy Monday morning mood today, thank you very much.

Since I am so concerned about the environment and oil and all that crap, I should probably quit driving my gas-guzzling B.A.T.*. Unfortunately, it’s the only vehicle that can clear the driveway at this point. So until I start shoveling snow and breaking ice, I am stuck destroying the world with my truck.

*Big-Ass Truck

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The good news is that it is finally warming up here. It was 8f when I woke up, which is a fan-friggin’-tastic change from 2f. The not so good news is that the puppy is turning into a money-pit. As with most puppies, he chews a lot. Sticks, shoes, socks, chairs, concrete steps; you name it, he chews it. His favorite chew toys lately?- a large ceramic dog food bowl and a metal dog water bowl. So the point here is that he chews. When he came for breakfast yesterday, he looked more like a Shar-pei than a Labrador, which is somewhat disturbing since he is in no way a Shar-pei. Hoping it would be something cheap, like an allergic reaction, we gave him Benadryl and waited. The swelling didn’t go down, so we finally pinned him down and tortured him by opening his mouth, and yes, he had broken a tooth. Not only was it broken, but it was black and surrounded by swollen gums. Joy. Thank you, leetle poopie, for helping invigorate the local economy! He’s still at the vet today; we figured if he’s going to try bankrupting us with broken teeth, we’re going to have his nuts whacked off. I bet more people would have better oral hygiene if they had the threat of castration looming over them as well . . .

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Yay! Warm toes! Not only am I wearing socks, but I finally put the outlet cover and insulator on the outlet under my desk. Sure, I had to install new sockets in the outlet because I misplaced the insulators of the old type, but it is done now and I only stabbed myself in the palm with a screwdriver once. And in spite of my not cleaning the wound, it doesn’t look like I have blood poisoning. Yet.

Speaking of infected, the puppy’s face is swollen today. Poor little guy either needs some Benadryl or an abscess drained. I am not sure which yet. And for you horse nuts out there, here’s another Rein picture. Okay, same one, just slightly more colorful.

And if anyone wants to meet me in S.F. on February 5th, 6th or 7th, leave a message. Sure, I will probably ignore it, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

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Sooooo, there’s a cold draft across my toeses. Considering that it was 2f when I woke up this morning (somewhere around -12f once you factor in all that wind-chill mumbo-jumbo), I should be grateful that the pellet stove finally got installed. That, and I’ve got a roaring fire going in the basement. In the fireplace insert, not on the pool table. That would be stupid, even by my standards. Bastards, the whole lot of you! Damn, someone’s had too many grumpy pills this morning, hasn’t he? Anyway, cold draft, cold toes, roaring fires. Everybody all caught up now? Good.

Not much has happened in the past, um, month?- since I last posted. Well, we did get a second gerbil. I did mention that we got a first one, right? Someday I should read some of the crap I write. And I made new baseboard for the downstairs landing. That’s all painted and installed. I still need to finish a stair nose there. What else? I put in new flooring in the downstairs bathroom and had some fun redoing the copper pipe that provides water to the toilet in that bathroom. It was too short by the time I removed the old connectors, and our water shutoff valve doesn’t actually shut off all the way, so I had great fun trying to solder the new pipe on while flooding the bathroom. Little hint for anyone else who wants to try this technique: Soldering (or “sweating” if you speak plumberese) does not work when you have a steady supply of cold water cooling your pipes. Thankfully I eventually turned on my brain (I try to do so at least once a month, so now I am set until February, thanks) and shoved a wadded up slice of bread in the pipe and finished up quickly. Once Jennie seals the new flooring I installed, I will toss in the toilet and vanity, which should be a blast. I actually installed the toilet earlier, but it turned out to require a smaller toilet. Once again, thank you previous owner who shall not be named, for not following the basic homebuilding guidelines that everyone else follows. I’m sure the kids will love having a toilet sized for a mobile home in their bathroom. Assuming I ever finish up.

My toes are still cold. Maybe it is time to put insulation behind the outlet covers in my office. Or maybe put the outlet covers back on in my office. It’s only been two years since we painted in here, and I really don’t want to rush things.

The horse, it turns out, does not like us. He tolerates me, but has decided that Jennie must die. Makes for an exciting time when we go out there. Hopefully he will settle down once we pick up a pasture-mate for him. Or threaten to sell him to the French.

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