I just went through the last couple hundred posts on natter, and JZ clearly knows so it is, so I'm just going to email her.

RE restaurants and Halloween, my neighborhood is bonkers for Halloween. Some years ago I was talking to the then-owner of my then-favorite pizza place, and he said Halloween is the busiest time of year for them, everybody has Halloween parties and everybody serves pizza. The next biggest day of the year is the Super Bowl.

Katie I'm sorry to hear about your kitty. She was lucky to have you and Dave, as are all your cats, past, present, and future.

Someone from my hometown had a birthday yesterday, and I clicked his thank you this morning, and veered off onto the page of someone I knew a little bit from the hometown. She and her husband now own this: [link] this, [link] and possibly something in Malibu, too, I couldn't figure that out. This too. [link] They are architecture fans, into renovations.

Which just goes to show that everything is relative. I am so happy with my little house thus morning, being able to turn on my heater and take the chill off, and having hot running water. I know one of my friends from my hometown feels a little sorry for me, or maybe disappointed that I'm not more ambitious. My life is certainly different from the person above. I was going to say she would feel sorry for me, but actually she was a nice person, and so were her parents and siblings, and I doubt that would be part of her vernacular.

Great idea. [link]

Excellent plan they have there.

Thanks Java. We really miss our little friend Ellie. Nobody could ever patrol around the house first thing in the morning the way she did it.

I knew she was mortal when I adopted her and that I would have to say Goodbye too soon, but it is awfully hard every time. You'd think I'd get used to it, but noooooo. I suppose it's good to see that my crusty, indifferent heart still has so much emotion hiding in it.

"Did your organizer come yet? I guess not."

What an asshole.

"Did your organizer come yet? I guess not."

What an asshole.

What she said.

Hey y'all. Life at Chez Suzi continues to be interesting. Crowley is healing from last week's stitches and will get them out just in time to get neutered. The thumb luck on my patio door broke off in my hand and they didn't give the repair dude the right part, so he just left and hopes to be back next week. Kelly and her family are leaving for Phoenix tomorrow for a funeral. Sunday I finish up the classes for my major and move into 4 classes for my specialization.

CJ took me shooting yesterday. My first shot of his pistol, while on target, unnerved me. I had to put it down and walk away for a while. I didn't grow up around guns. I didn't know anyone who had them (if they did, I didn't know) until I moved to Colorado. With each firearm CJ has purchased, he has gone through all the information on it with me - the safety features, how to load it, unload it, and so on. But I hadn't handled any of them myself until yesterday. He was great about talking me through each step, being patient and checking in on me, gently encouraging me to try again. The rifle felt more controllable, which I completely didn't expect. CJ mainly wanted me to be able to put into practice what he has been showing me so if I HAD to use any of them, I could.

I had a similar experience when a cop friend took me shooting, Suzi. Almost all of the handguns were so heavy and so REAL, they were kind of overwhelming. The only one that didn't bother me was the .22 rifle.

And I also agree with earlier assessments of Hil's landlord.

The most fun I ever had around guns was going to a Black Powder shoot. You want loud? You want clouds of black powder smoke wafting around? You want geeks talking about powder, balls, and wadding? It sounds miserable, right? But you see this guy pick up this hogs leg of a fricken long-barreled pistol and point it at the target, pull the trigger and "ssst-pause-BOOOOM!"

And muskets are the best. Shoot once, peer at the target, pour in the powder, ram the patch and ball down the barrel, do that end-for-end swing thing Daniel Day Lewis did in Mohicans, sight down the mile-long barrel, pull the trigger and "ssst-pause-BOOOM!"

Black smoke everywhere. It's a wonder the west was won, I tell you what, with all the pouring and patching and "sssst-pause-BOOOM!"

ETA: None of which addresses your post, Suzi. Because yes, modern pistols are more chilly intimidating than fun.

Remember when I said I was scheduled to talk with the HR rep of a vendor about one of their guys being inappropriate? I got an email today from the owner of the company telling me that the guy in question would no longer be involved in work at my place of employment or with our staff (which is what I had asked for) and that all full time employees of his company will be going through cultural and gender sensitivity training. So hey, that's positive!

And just to keep things in balance, I realized today that I failed to renew my license plates. It would be an easy fix if I didn't have to get an emissions test before renewing. I doubt I'll be able to get that done before Saturday. I may have to drive to work the next two days to reduce the chances of being ticketed in the meantime.