Also hate? When I answer the phone "Placeofbusiness, this is Daisy?" and get "Yeah, hi. How are you doing?"

You could say, "Still disposing the body...."

Happy Birthday Brenda!

I found out this morning that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will be the grand marshal at a racing event in Memphis this weekend. Yes people, the end is truly nigh, as NASCAR has discovered a promotion that is seriously tempting me to spend $50 to watch auto racing.

Happy Birthday, Brenda!!!!

I found out this morning that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will be the grand marshal at a racing event in Memphis this weekend. Yes people, the end is truly nigh, as NASCAR has discovered a promotion that is seriously tempting me to spend $50 to watch auto racing.

Be careful, Matt. The NASCAR crowd is an entirely different world.

Oooo. Cass, I just noticed on the entry list for the event that Montoya will be racing. Almost, makes me wanna go too. I'll have to see if I can manage special passes.

The Dog Who Loved to Suck on Toads

A dog may be man's best friend. But one dog, Lady, decided she needed more friends -- and she found plenty in the knot of toads living at the local pond. A suburban family's secret struggle with an uncommon addiction comes to light in this personal essay by NPR's Laura Mirsch.

Lady "was really perky, and happy, and generally excited to see you when you came in the door every day," recalls Andrew Mirsch.

But that was before the Mirsch family moved into a new house.

"We noticed Lady spending an awful lot of time down by the pond in our backyard," Laura Mirsch recalls.

Lady would wander the area, disoriented and withdrawn, soporific and glassy-eyed.

"Then, late one night after I'd put the dogs out, Lady wouldn't come in," Laura Mirsch says. "She finally staggered over to me from the cattails. She looked up at me, leaned her head over and opened her mouth like she was going to throw up, and out plopped this disgusting toad."

It turned out the toads were toxic -- and, if licked, the fluids on their skin provided a hallucinogenic effect.

What followed was the Mirsch family's quest to stop their cocker spaniel from indulging herself. But it wasn't easy. Lady was persistent, and resourceful.

The situation seemed to resolve itself when the toads went into hibernation for the winter.

But when they returned, so did Lady -- and with a vengeance.

"We couldn't keep our dog's addiction a secret any longer," Laura Mirsch says. "The neighbors all knew that Lady was a drug addict, and soon the other dogs weren't allowed to play with her."

In the end, Lady seems to have found a way to manage her problem.

"She seems to have outgrown the wild toad-obsessed years of her youth," Mirsch says, "and now only sucks on weekends."

"and now only sucks on weekends."

I've had weeks like that.

I listened to that yesterday. Loved where the woman's friends were over and the dog completely ignored them and laid in a corner the whole time, stoned out of her skull.

What's everyone doing for lunch? I need inspiration.

signed,
Not Inane Conversation If There Exists The Possibility of Bacon

What's everyone doing for lunch? I need inspiration.

Um, taking a run? And then eating cold chicken?

I have some instant Pad Thai noodles that I'm going to try out....