Susan, do I need to send Pete over so he can deliver the "Don't open the door to people you don't know, especially if they look like crazy people!" speech? It's very impressive and stern.

Jilli, can he come give that speech to Joe?

t still shivering over the strange man singing country songs (and talking about how he was raped by the LA County Sheriff) ON MY COUCH when I was 8.5 months pregnant.

No lecture needed, Jilli. Door is shut and locked.

And I'm pretty sure he's gone. Though as soon as I've finished printing out my writing contest entries and feeding Annabel, I was planning to make a Kinko's/post office run. You better believe I'll be on my guard as I leave the house.

This is generally a good neighborhood, but there's a little scrap of empty land belonging to the city electric utility about half a block away where we all kinda suspect nefarious stuff of various kinds, mostly involving drugs, goes on late at night. When some people actually camped there for several days, we called the police, but there's not much you can do when it's just people parked there for a little while at night.

Okay, I'm installing a peephole this weekend. Pinky swear.

Jilli, can he come give that speech to Joe?

Sure! It'll be fun!

Although, I know what you mean, Susan. I feel for people too. Despite wanting to freelance for The Ministry. My stepfather brought home his Criminal Psych Ward roommate. He lived with us for two months. Very sweet guy, came in the lock-up on*crazy* Thompsonesque cocktail of drugs.

Definitely good about the closed door, Susan. We live in a decent neighborhood and my next door neighbor is a cop. But we're wedged between two bad neighborhoods and get a lot of cross traffic. I've got to get better about not opening my door to strange men I don't know when I'm home alone with the baby.

But that still leaves us with prayerful defining prayerful

That's what I meant. It just sounded like a completely awkward use of the word--not to mention opportunistic with all the prayer. As if this were a religious issue. It's not. It's a legal issue.

I feel equally horrible about the idea of her starving to death

What's upsetting about that to me is, clearly, there are kinder ways for her life to end, probably many of which are easily available in her nursing home.

No, it's actually a very peaceful, painless way to go when you're that far gone already. My mother had no food (or feeding tube) for about her last three weeks, and no IV fluids her last week of life once she came home. The body gradually just shuts down, but it's not at all the kind of tortuous experience that it would be for a healthy person.

Drill: $20

Drill bits: $5

Peephole door viewer: $10 to $40+, depending.

Peace of mind: Priceless

I have small windows on each side of the door. Which means I have an excellent view of whomever is knocking. But that also means they know I'm there, too. It's kind of a pain in the ass.

I still don't get that, unless I recognize your T-shirt. Signed: Peepholes only Show Me Torsos, of Phoenix.