People! Don't soak them in vodka! Soak them in RUM!

Sheesh. We had Rummy Bears at our friend Ed's housewarming party. They were AWESOME. And Rummy.

Oh my gosh, y'all, I just had the most profound experience. I stepped out on my back porch to put the Biscuit on his tie-out for a moment for our evening routine. He took one step out the door and froze, sniffing. I saw motion in the bushes, and heard a whine, and thought, oh, it's the coyotes.

But no, it was about a half a dozen elk. IN MY BACKYARD. They were right behind my (overturned) woodshed. I put the dog back in the house, but he had caught their scent already and they his, so he was barking at them, and they started bugling back and forth. You could hear the lead elk round them all up and move them on.

She came from the back, in the trees to the east of the house, and moved them all down the path (empty road, no houses) and on toward the lake. But they let me stand there on the porch watching them for a good five, ten minutes.

I got video, but it's actually only audio. It's a full moon, so I could see them, but the camera can't. Actually the video looks like a UFO video because a car moves up the mountain on the other side of the highway, but I'm walking while it does it, so it's just this weird jerky motion. But anyway, the audio is astounding.

But I can't post it because at the end I whisper, "Oh my god." As one does.

SIX COW ELK. IN MY YARD. UNDER THE FULL MOON. BUGLING.

That is amazing, Liese! Wow.

Too cool! I've seen elk in the Ozarks, and when I worked at the teen shelter, it was on the border of a riverside conservation area, kind of tucked onto a hill, so many, many times, walking up to the front door, there'd be three or four deer casually munching the the trees or the front yard. Which was SO COOL.

I was like "Hi, deer. Have a good day!" A couple of times, there were fawns! DED from cute.

Liese, that is so cool!

I just woke from a dream in which both my kids drowned in the bath tub. I am so tired when I close my eyes, I see them.

I found The Great Influenza to be not very good at all. YTGIMV. I wanted less about the early life of the founder of Johns Hopkins and more about the influenza.

Oh ugh, Stephanie.

Liese, that is crazy cool.

Good morning all. Weird to be on the east coast brigade. Well esconced in Jamaica. Visited Mum first thing last night on the way home from the airport. She's a fierce woman, never doubt that.

Nurses were nice and let us stay past visiting hours' end. So we hung out for about half an hour. It was great to see her. She seems better than I expected, and worse. But most importantly, better. She's on pain meds, and a bit loopy, but not that bad. Conversation was clear. Two other people came by while we were there, and about three called. It's good to know people are rallying.

I wish I could hug her properly, but with my portacath and her in bed it's more than awkward. Still, she deserves it.

Turns out Google voice works here. So as long as I'm on wifi, I can call and text with my LA number. I also suspect that T-Mobile over wifi works too, so my normal number is also in operation. Technology confuses me.

Glad you got to see her first thing.

Glad you're there, and got to hang out some. I've been thinking about you a lot this week.