Another nipply morning up here in the great grey-green north. 29F on the outside, 61F on the inside. It is time to fire up the stove and begin the slow process of heating from the basement up. Next year we are definitely getting a pellet stove for the living room. In the meantime, I’ve tossed on my holy sweats and feel quite toasty! Or should that be hole-y?

Yesterday’s sun has wreaked havoc on my beautiful snow-covered peaks. There are broad swaths of green and brown where yesterday there was white. My yard, while not powdered, does have a nice white(ish) coating of frost. Sigh. By the time I get some good snowfall down here, I am going to be wishing for summer. Urgh. That reminds me – I still have to finish winterizing: The cherry, pear and apple trees all still need to be pruned, the pool, beautiful green thing that it is needs to be drained of leaves and covered, and the storm windows need to be put on (I think – I’ve never dealt with storm windows before, but I am pretty sure they need to do more than just take up space in the garage).

Okay, time to stretch, see if I can get to the point where I can touch my knees with my fingertips today. It is good to have goals.

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It’s been a while. I’ve said that before, haven’t I? I have an excuse this time. Really! The dog ate my homework. No, that’s my daughter’s excuse. Mine? I ended up stuck in Chicago for a few months this summer, then couldn’t get back into the swing of blogging. Words piled up, but I was just too damned lazy to let them out.

So, what’s new since my last post? Quite a bit, actually. We’ve all arrived safely up here in Northern Idaho and really like it, even on burn days. I exercised a few months back and found a baby rabbit by the roadside. He’s now a monster of a rabbit, doing all the manly-rabbitly things that can be done without a girl buns around – pooping like mad, tearing through boxes, licking walnuts. Oh, the life of an auto-shop bunny! Yes, he lives in the shop. When loose, he tends to follow me around, although he’s not overly-fond of the sound of the power tools.

We had our first snow this weekend, nice big flakes drifting down late Friday night. I woke the kids, who immediately raced outside to build snowballs and scream with joy. Shortly thereafter we convinced them to put on some clothes, which relieved a bit of the blue pallor of their limbs and lips. Saturday morning came too early for them, and the disappointment of having all the snow melt was, well, disappointing. Perhaps we’ll take them up to the hills this weekend for some more snow. Clothing will not be optional this time.

That’s it. Maybe next time I’ll question why we need the right to torture prisoners if we don’t support the use of torture. Until then, it’s time to work.

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So, I’ve been gone for a while. It wasn’t sheer laziness this time, honest! I lost my password, reset it, then discovered that my ISP is blocking sendmail from this blog. Fun. This meant I had no way of recovering my password without hacking MT. Well, that’s done now, so what’s new?

1. I’ve moved. I am now a resident of Post Falls, Idaho. 5 acres, 3840 s.f., a swimming pool, hot tub and more!
2. Latl died. That leaves just one axlotl. Sniff!
3. My pool is green. How do I clean the damned thing?
4. I leave for Chantilly, VA tomorrow. Last week was Chicago. Next week is North Carolina. Fun fun fun.

I’m sure there’s more, but I am so happy to be online again that my mind has gone blank. Okay, gotta cut out from work early and go fix a fence.

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It’s official: The boy-child is done with chunderfest. Now it’s the girl-child’s turn. Y’know, I really don’t enjoy watching little people puke. So, my last few days here are pretty exciting — work, clean up puke, work, dream of sleep.

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Day 5 of the pukefest, but it looks like things have finally calmed down. Ugh, too tired to think.

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What a great start to the day! The boy-child woke us at three with a round of projectile vomiting (great game — I recommend everyone play). Since then, he’s puked pretty consistently every fifteen minutes. Not so much fun now that it is only dry heaves, but at least I now get to wash every towel and piece of bedding in the house. What could possibly top this? Oh yeah, the call from my wife fifteen minutes after she left for work asking for help because she’d run out of oil. Hmmmm . . . didn’t I suggest checking the oil every time you fill the gas tank? Oh, that’s right, I did, but checking the oil level is too inconvenient. As opposed to being stranded on the side of the road with the idiot light on and smoke rising from the engine, which is the epitome of convenience. So, new house, new car, what else do we get new this month?

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Thank you, Bill! So if, as Bill Frist states, judges deserve “respect, not retaliation,” no matter how they rule, does that mean we’re not going to hear any more whining from the wrong right about ‘activist’ judges? Damn, guess not: “When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values, we will say so. But we must also be clear that the balance of power among all three branches requires respect — not retaliation. I won’t go along with that,” Frist said. Mainstream American values, from what I gather from our moral leaders, are what permit us to consider Abu Ghraib acceptable, preemptive war acceptable, and corporate fraud, um, what’s the word I am looking for?- oh yeah, acceptable.

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Escrow closed this morning, so I am now officially homeless! Yay. Knowing I will have a new house in two weeks kind of takes the sting out, though.

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Another day, another few hundred trackbacks for cialis, trimspa and online poker. Gotta love the little spamtards for trying. May they all die horribly. So, what else, besides my adamant refusal to keep my site up-to-date, is going on? Not much. Less than three weeks now until I move to Post Falls, Idaho. Living out of cardboard boxes in my parents’ basement is not a lot of fun, but at least it is temporary.

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Last week the President announced that freedom had taken root in Iraq. This is somewhat alarming, as freedom is supposed to be on the march. Does this mean freedom’s not going to be marching all over the rest of the middle east anytime soon? Or is freedom like Kudzu, able to take root and still keep moving, covering up and choking the life out of everything it comes in contact with? Hmmm . . . bad comparison. Perhaps freedom is more like ivy. No, still a lousy simile. Whatever it is, I am concerned that if freedom has taken root, it won’t be able to spread, plague-like, as we intended. Ah hell, as a good American, I’m going to spend the rest of the day sitting back, rooting for freedom, whether it marches, stumbles or passes out in a drunken stupor. Maybe it’s time to include a little freedom in every foreign aid package we send out . . .

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