No Spoilers Here

Yep, finished it.

No, I won't tell you anything about it.

Busy busy busy

Reading Harry Potter.

'nuff said?

Computers

Can't live with them; can't live without them.

You don't really want to get me started about computers.

It was bad enough that I was using Jeanie's cast-off laptop (screen no longer worked) with my monitor, mouse, and keyboard attached. Then the mouse quit, so I went back to using the laptop keyboard (which I HATE). Then the power supply to the laptop broke, and unless I can get the battery recharged, it's dead, Jim.

So now Stuart and I are sharing a computer. Not only is it a logistics nightmare, I'm having to deal with his choice of virus protection and browser (for some reason Internet Explorer won't work on this computer). Also, though it has a clock speed of something over a gigahertz, programs load like it was an old 386 running DOS 5.1 and Doublespace (been there; done that).

So... what else could go wrong? Now the screen on this computer has lapsed into a coma (though it occasionally wakes up) so we're back to plugging in my monitor.

Fun? Not.

But we deal with it... we couldn't get along without a computer and internet access...

So if I seem lax in posting, or updating my websites, there's my excuse.

If it ain't Barroque...

We had a wonderful weekend in Rogers with my sister and her family, and my older son. We bar-be-qued on Saturday, and on Sunday attended a concert of my brother-in-law Ken's group, the LakeWood Trio at a church in Bella Vista (this group usually performs in churches since the third member of the trio is an organist). This was Ken's last performance with the group, and it was wonderful. He's retiring as of this week, and he and Laurie are headed for California, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

Keziah, my niece, was home from her summer internship in Washington DC with the Budget Office (she's a graduate student in Economics), and Willis, my older (married) son, was able to visit with us, too. We missed seeing Leia (my daughter-in-law).

Laurie & Ken live on the shore of Beaver Lake outside Rogers, and it's beautiful this time of year. It was nice to get away for a couple of days, but now it's home to laundry and getting James ready for Boy Scout camp next week.

I've only got 2 weeks now until the deadline to submit stories for the White County Creative Writers Conference. So far I've got nothing appropriate.... I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Sad times

Early this morning my cat, Spooky, died. He'd not been eating for a few days, and Sunday afternoon would not drink water either. He spent the evening curled up on my lap, getting weaker and weaker. About 2:30 he had a seizure and stopped breathing.

We adopted Spooky just over a year ago, and the shelter said he was about 3 years old. I suspect that it was something kidney oriented (his last urine was very dark), either failure or cancer. We carefully checked the cat food recall (the toxin caused kidney failure), but his food wasn't listed. He started losing weight a couple weeks ago, and his fur thinned out, but I thought that was because of the hotter weather. Last week I started thinking I should take him to the vet. I doubt anything could have been done for him.

We'll bury him in the backyard.