I just accidentally ran my phone through the washing machine.

I did it to some CDs.

I'm glad your sister's okay, Shir, and all good thoughts to those who were affected.

BT, courage and strength to your nephew, his family and yours, and to the medical team treating him.

Oatmeal and chai.

Daniel, in answer to an earlier question, no, neither the state nor the city have recovery programs for roadkill deer. The state has a fairly good habitat zoo that exhibits large carnivores. It would seem logical to quarter and freeze roadkill deer to provide them occasional prey-equivalent to gnaw and worry as they would in the wild, but zoo dieticians are more concerned with calorie content and fiber-roughage-fat-protein balance, now with added vitamins, and preservatives to keep it fresh. Seems a sad waste.

When I drive past a deer corpse at the side of the road, I feel the same. I feel sad that the deer has died, and also that if it is not fresh, it's death will be a complete waste, and do no good to any one. And then I get to worrying about scavenger animals who might be on the other side of the roadway from the corpse, who will put themselves at risk in order to get to it. It's a whole bundle of not good.

Safety-ma for Shir's sister. And BT, so much health and coping-ma for your family. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this.

~ma for Shir & Tea families.

Leftovers are being eaten. Dominoes are being played, and I am doing my best to not explode with the anti-Obama talk. Aside from that, things are good.

I'm having another family day today. My cousin is in town with her husband and little girl, and everyone is getting together tonight to see them. I'm going because I want to see them, but four days in a row with my family is really way too much.

happy to hear your sister is ok, Shir.

We ended up going to into SF yesterday. Some time in Union square, some in the Mission district. Did a bit of shopping, and the only real problem was people that would stop dead in the middle of the sidewalk or were just not looking at everything going on around them -- and try to get run over , or run over other people.

We had our Niles small town festival of lights parade. complete with tractors, old cars, corvettes, begles pulling wagons, imperial stormtroopers ( and darth vadar), highlanders, and tap dancing xmas tress ( they are either at our parade or the macy's day parade). I sat next to a little girl -- and she talked my ear off once she realized she had a receptive audience.

Then there was music, music, music. a good night. Actually, pretty much a perfect day. Even though I seem to have a bruised heel now.

I am in Vermont only steps away from Teppy's brother's brewpub (The Alchemist)! We will be making our way over there shortly to grab a seat and settle in for the duration.

The Old Stagecoach Inn is super cute AND has free wireless. It's a beautiful day outside and soon we will be drinking many delicious beers. (inside)

Billytea, all my ~ma for your family.

I have the first set of holiday lights up, and I'll be putting the tree up later today. The outdoor lights can wait until I'm back from my work trip. But it's surprising how much that one string of lights cheers up the apartment.