Perspective

Last Friday night we went to the annual business meeting of our electric co-op, mainly to hang out and listen to our friends play (fiddle/guitars/mandolin) but also to see if we'd win the car they were giving away as a door prize. We didn't win the car, but I did win $100! I put the bill carefully in my wallet, thinking I might deposit it in the bank (to help with bills) but leaving my options open in case I decided to let myself splurge a bit.

Wednesday morning, as I was hanging out laundry, I heard the dogs wimpering -- they never wimper; they always bark happily when they see me -- and looked over to see two very pained prickly faces. Apparently they'd tangled with a porcupine the night before and came out on the sore end of things. They also smelled of skunk -- talk about a bad night. So I called the vet and said I couldn't pull many of the quills out because they were in pretty deep. She said to bring them the dogs in to have the quills removed under anesthesia. We went, the dogs are fine now, and it cost me $97.11.

So... I still came out $2.89 ahead of where I was last week. Heh.

And now for the entertainment news. We have (nearly) live footage of more monkey-boy eating adventures:



He's so proud of himself. He managed to cram a whole handful of cat food in his mouth without dropping one piece. *Sigh.* How do you like the haircut? It's a real one (professional) -- we all went into town for haircuts on Tuesday, and I joked with Karolyn that we were like wild people coming down out of the hills for our yearly haircut. Considering I haven't had a real cut and style since last July, that's not too far off. Lazarus howled and fought the whole time, but Karolyn persevered and did a good job. She also paused while cutting my hair to let me bring Maggie up under the cape for some nursing. Now that's my kind of place.

Maggie smiled big at me this morning, and I am enchanted. Haven't managed to capture it on camera yet, but I will soon. Here she is, a few days ago, lounging around like babies do:



I'm still on dial-up, and will remain so for at least another month. And perhaps beyond that -- I'm seriously considering not renewing the Starband contract in May. Turns out the modem wasn't bad; the satellite dish got kicked out of alignment, probably during the recent winds. To get it back, I'd have to call the installer and have him come out to realign it, to the tune of $200 or so. I'd have to call him again to set the whole thing up when we move in June, for another $200. And I'd have to keep the dial-up account because I can't work with the seemingly constant service disruptions. So... I think I'll bail out when my year is up. It's too pricey and too unreliable -- definitely not ready for prime time.

We start moving a month from today. I'm getting impatient, especially since the flower and vegetable seeds I ordered arrived today... but we can hang on for a while longer.

Dial-up is faster than satellite Internet

... especially when the dang satellite modem goes bad. Again. I wish I'd just gone with the local dial-up in the first place, because it's not that bad... well, it's 28K on a good day, but I've had so many headaches with the Starband system (at $100 a month, plus $500 start-up) that that seems just dandy now. Reliable is good.

Anyhoo. Here's a recent self-feeding experiment gone awry (that's Lazarus in the picture, not me, though I've had similar adventures in my grown-up life):





Maggie will be seven weeks old on Monday, and she's getting bigger and more interested in the world every day. She also looks a lot like Lazarus did at that age -- though she's much more serious, I think. Here's my littlest sweetie-pie:





We all got out for a walk this morning, before the winds got too fierce, and now we're camping out in the house because I don't want the babes to get taken away on a gust of wind. Ah, spring in New Mexico.

The babies are fine -- Maggie is healthy and alert and almost smiling for real, and Lazarus is starting to really talk. I haven't updated lately because my digital camera batteries are dead and I can't manage to go get more (and I'm not willing to pay $7.50 for four batteries at the new local convenience store). Lame excuse, I know. Maybe I'll steal some from the remote controls... then Antonio will be compelled to go get new batteries himself. Or, I could just ask him directly to go get me some. Naahh, the sneaky underhanded approach is more fun. Heh. Besides, I need to take pictures now, while the babes are still cute. Heh, again.

Assuming I finish my editing job today, we might get outside for a walk -- I think the rain/snow/hail/sleet have moved on, finally, and we're due for a warm-up over the next few days. People here say it's been a bizarre spring so far -- all the rain and snow is unusual, apparently (though welcome), and we haven't had the wretched winds that usually start in March and go through May. I'll take this any year. Things are starting to green up, and as much as I love New Mexico, I do miss the abundant green springtime I grew up with.

One more note: I have a few final details to take care of, then we meet with the sellers of our house-to-be and sign papers and get everything ready to go for escrow. They told Antonio last night that they're leaving by June 1 -- so in two months I'll finally be in "my" house again! I'm itching to have my own space again, and of course to start gardening -- I realized yesterday that I'll only be a few weeks late with planting, since our last frost date is May 15, so I might just go ahead and put in that veggie garden! In fact... when we meet with the sellers (Kurt and Lisa) on Tuesday, I think I'll ask if I could go over there for a day in May and start getting a few garden beds ready. They're very cool people (and I'm sorry they're leaving town), so I'm sure they'll be fine with that.

Now I know what to get Lazarus for his birthday: a little wheelbarrow, spade, rake, and garden bib. I need a garden helper.