An Anniversary

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I haven't been any where or done anything since I talked to you about it last. I did get moved from the dining table to the side board or whatever that is that's also in the dining room. Not a long trip nor a very different vantage point. Have you all been thinking about what I said?

This month, according to Missy Linda, is the fifteenth anniversary of living in this house. She says that it will be the last because we are going to have to move, as you've heard before. She seems to be unhappy about this. She says there is going to be so much downsizing that we will probably be down to less than half as much stuff as we have now. She says that we'll be very fortunate if we can afford a house that is even half as big as this one. I think that she is trying to tell me that MY stuff is going to go.

I have a vision that wherever we land, I will not only not get any new dresses and things that I need, I will be losing many of my precious belongings. I don't think Missy Linda will get a storage facility for me.

Friends of Juana Tortilla out there, please consider the proposals I have been mentioning lately that pertain to my personal well-being. OK?

Snap Out of It

Hello most humans and many others,

I just want to let all of you out there know that I am officially tired of Missy Linda's whining and moping around, and I am putting her on notice. I will find a better place to live if she doesn't snap out of it and start taking me places and doing entertaining things with me.

Remember back when I had a party for every holiday - - - some of them weren't even important holidays? Remember when I had an outfit for every occasion and every holiday? I want to go back to those days.

If Missy Linda wants to have my brillant personality and lovely countenance around, she had better get on the stick and make my life more pleasant. I think I might be growing roots down into the dining table. Do you suppose that's possible?

If any of you out there would like to take on the responsibilities of making my life great, just let me know. OK? I think I could be rich and/or famous if I just had the right person helping me. Is that you?

To Go or Not To Go

Hello most humans and many others,

Wow! Missy Linda is about to drive us all crazy today! By 6:00 am tomorrow morning, she must be enrolled in school if she is going to go. She doesn't know what to do, she says. She doesn't have a job, and she isn't scheduled for any great interviews or anything. That means that she has no money, and she doesn't have a clue about when she will have some.

She says that it might be a good time to rack up some hours in school, but somehow the tuition must get paid. Or, on the other hand, she posits, she could take a class or two in the evening like she has been doing the last few semesters, in case she should get a day job. (Like that's going to happen.) She keeps hoping, though.

Here's the thing: I don't really care what she does about her little problems - - - as long as she shuts up about that stuff! She drives herself and everyone else bonkers by going back and forth and around and around about what to do. I think it's more than enough that I have to listen to her whine about how she's going to have to move. After all, I have to move, too!

Not Everyone Loves Olympics

Hello most humans and many others,

From listening to the television and Missy Linda and Tio Kane talking, it seems that all the world is interested in only the Olympics. But I know differently. I happen to know that at least a couple of people are not happy about the Olympics because I've been nosing around in Missy Linda's computer.

I know for sure that her friends, Merja Karhu and Clement Lee, who live in London, are not happy about the Olympics. Clement is a graduate student who is originally from Hong Kong. He is just annoyed that it is harder to get where he needs to go, and the city is just over run with too many people.

Merja's problems are similar to Clement's except hers are closer to her daily life. On one side of her apartment building, there is one of those giant screens where people can watch the athletic events. On the other side of her building is a carnival, which turned out to be a big bust. She has a young son so she thought at least he might have a good time there, but they couldn't even get all the rides up and running. She is not happy with all the noise and the greasy food smells, and her son is disappointed that he has not had any of the fun he had hoped he would.

Merja is awakened some mornings around 6:00 am by the soldiers and security guards patrolling outside her building. They talk loudly on their walkie-talkies. One morning she stepped out onto her balcony, and she heard one say, "Woman on second floor balcony."

I suppose she can at least feel safe, right?

Still Bad

Hello most humans and many others,

As I have been sitting here on the dining table, as usual, I have come to the conclusion that change is bad, just like I said before. I don't know what you humans are thinking, but you seem to be causing bad changes that will not be possible to make right - - - ever. Just this week, I saw on the news that there is no ice on Greenland right now. This has never happened before, and it is a really bad thing.

Missy Linda watched a show on TV about some people who live on an island in the Pacific were going to another island to beg the people on the second island to give them some of their land. The first island was fast becoming a death trap for its inhabitants because of the rising water levels. If the people from the first island can't find a place to move, they will starve to death a while before their island is completely under water. It is a really sad story. When this show ended, the people had not been able to find a new home yet. It didn't show if they ever got to move or not - - - maybe because they didn't know what would happen.

It seems that since I have lived here in Oklahoma, it has had terribly hot weather in the summers. It is supposed to be 108 degrees here every day this week! This is dangerous heat for me as well as for you humans and animals. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I got left in a hot car for a while in heat like that? I can't stand to even think about it!

Maybe I should try to think of some ways that change can be good. I'll have to see.

Change is Bad

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, things are going downhill fast around here, according to Missy Linda. I don't notice anything different except Missy Linda is complaining about some new things this week. She seems to be distressed because her headache medication is no longer being manufactured. She says it's the only thing that helps her migraines. I can only hope, for my sake, that she finds something that can take its place.

She is driving us all crazy about the fact that she doesn't want to move. We've all been hearing that for awhile so those of us who have to live with her are about ready to pound her. Maybe we should move  to a different place than she does. Don't give her my address if I do that!

Missy Linda and Tio Kane are still mad that the grocery stores in this area have stopped carrying MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Almond Spread. It's available on line, but it is $10 a jar. I guess they don't want it that bad. Just for your own safety, do not suggest to either of them that Nutella is a decent substitute.

You should hear Missy Linda's hissy fit about how she can't find any more of those bamboo socks that she got at Target. She always looks for them when she goes there, and she looks other places, too. She was so happy with them because they were so soft, and they kept her feet much cooler than regular socks. She has one of those tirades every once in a while. It is quite the sight when she really goes off the road about it.

Well, I suppose that's enough about how Missy Linda's life has deteriorated because of how things have changed. When Missy Linda's life gets worse, she makes my life worse. I don't like that at all!

Normalcy

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I have to admit that I will be glad when it gets to be 10:00 pm this evening. The Daily Show, followed by The Colbert Report, will be back on after a two week vacation. I am hoping that Missy Linda will start acting more normal after she gets her fix again.

It seems that she hadn't realized the shows were going to be on a two-week vacation. When she got back from visiting in Colorado, she was ready for some Jon and Stephen because the Harkeys, whom she was visiting, watch hardly any TV. Also, they don't have Comedy Central. She was kind of in comedy withdrawal in addition to being forced back into her crappy life after a nice trip. She almost freaked, but she kind of held it together when she realized it would be another week without seeing her shows.

I think that today, I see a tiny glimmer of hope in those dead eyes of hers. I can only hope that Jon and Stephen come through for me with some great shows tonight so my life will get better for a short time by making Missy Linda a little bit happy. If Missy Linda is less miserable, she makes me less miserable.

Real World

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, Missy Linda has been back from vacation for over a week now, and she doesn't seem refreshed or energized or whatever you humans are supposed to feel after a vacation. She seems kind of down to me. Of course, there's nothing new about that for her, but why do you humans go on trips if you feel worse when you get back? That's probably one of those human things that I will never understand.

Missy Linda has always said (since I've known her) that she wants a little house by some kind of water. She would really love a clear stream like the one that flows through Turner Falls Park to go by her home. Evidently, where she visited up by Rocky Mountain National Park, there are lots of little houses right by clear mountain rivers. It made her all mopey to come back to reality, I suppose. Or maybe she just realized again that she will never have that little house. I say to her, "Snap out of it!"

Home From Her Trip

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, Missy Linda got home from her trip to Fort Collins, Co, on Friday evening. She must have had a good time. I wouldn't know for sure because I wasn't allowed to go. She said that there wasn't room in her suitcase for me, and she said I wouldn't fit under the seat in the airplane. That meant that I would not be allowed to go with her. I wouldn't really have expected to be allowed to go anyway since I never get to do anything any more.

I heard her say that she went to a lot of good restaurants. She went up into the mountains without being scared like she says she used to be. She says her knees are sore, but, other than that, she's all right. She used to be scared to death of heights, but she's a lot more mellow now, she says. She wonders if it is because she has bigger problems now so heights aren't so daunting. I say, "Who cares?"

High Pressure Dome

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I'm not sure why, but when Missy Linda has her headaches, I don't get to use the computer. It seems that would be the time that I could use it all I want because she doesn't use it as much. I think sometimes she is kind of in some other universe. I have learned what kind of look she has on her face and how her eyes are kind of glazed over when she's in that fugue state, but I can't make it work for me. I'll get it figured out to my advantage sooner or later.

High Pressure Dome in summer weather talk is  hot, hot, hot clear weather that is hammered down onto people's heads. That's how Missy Linda describes it. I think she has an excuse for any kind of weather to bother her, except that one day in spring and one day in fall when it is all right. So I get two days a year when Missy Linda has a little chance of being pleasant. Not good odds!

Cats Get Asthma?

Hello most humans and many others,

Mr. Mushu was really sick last week. He had a really runny nose and was sneezing and sounded like a truck without a muffler when he breathed. (Missy Linda said that about the truck. I don't even know what a muffler is.) Anyway, he was sick enough to go to the vet.

It turns out that Mr. Mushu has asthma. Missy Linda said that she thought that cats just caused asthma. She had never heard of that before. I think there are probably more than a few things that Missy Linda has never heard of. Anyway, he also has an infection right now which has to be treated with pills.

Oh, my. You cannot even imagine the carrying on and the hollering sometimes when it's pill time---and that's just Missy Linda. I think, though, that they are finally getting the routine worked out better. I haven't seen as many scratches on Missy Linda the last day or two.

Missy Linda is hoping that Mr. Mushu will not require more medicine after this batch of pills. She said that she is not going to learn to use an inhaler on a cat!

Forest Fire

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, that big fire in Colorado is near where Missy Elise and her family live. They aren't worried about their house because it is on the other side of town from the foothills so the fire would have to go all the way across there to get to them. Also, if it should go toward town, there is not much fuel for it to advance so rapidly. In the mountains, it is burning dead and dry pine trees, and there isn't as much fuel toward town. Also, it would have to cross highways and lots of other barriers.

Missy Elise says sometimes they can smell it a lot, but not all the time. Missy Linda hopes it is out in the next couple of weeks before she goes up there to visit.

Thunder Up!

Vivid Dreams

Hello most humans and many others,

Missy Linda says she feels a little discombobulated today. She had one of her "vivid dreams" last night. These are those dreams that when you wake up, you have trouble figuring out if the dream was something that really happened. She hates it when these dreams have that Mr. who used to live here in them. Sadly for her, they usually do.

She says that the dream she had last night had lots of her dead relatives in it, along with that Mr. In it, the Mr. was doing many of the things to annoy her that he did when he lived here, but she was glad to see some of the people she can't see in real life any more. She saw her mother and her Aunt Zedna. In the dream, her daddy reads my blog about Missy Linda, and she finds that truly fantastic, in all the ways that word can be construed. She likes to feel that one of her parents would approve of her life, but she is sure that in reality, neither would. She says she grabs onto whatever she can get. I just think she is  at least as crazy as I think she is. She's just not ever going to be normal, so I should just accept that, I suppose.

Can People Get Cat Diseases?

Hello most humans and many others,

I was just wondering if humans can get diseases from their cats. Mr. Mushu started sneezing yesterday. He hasn't really done that before, and he doesn't go anywhere to catch anything. He literally goes no further than the garage since Mr. Nelson came to live here because they HATE each other. One time they ran into each other on the driveway, and Mr. Mushu wants none of that business.

Anyway, Mr. Mushu sneezed all night long, a lot of which was spent on Missy Linda's bed. When Mr. Mushu wants a late night snack, he gets right in Missy Linda's face and meows. If that doesn't work, he starts poking her with his paw. He uses a combination of these until she gets him a snack. (Perhaps that's why he weighs at least 25 pounds.)

So last night, when Mr. Mushu wanted a snack, he would sneeze right in Missy Linda's face. That woke her instantly, but she was not in a very good mood. According to her, even when he wasn't in her face, he was someplace else on the bed, sneezing. She is convinced she is going to catch some horrible cat virus.

If Missy Linda should die of some disease that she caught from a cat, do you know how humiliating that would be for me? It would probably be at least on the local news, depending on the weirdness of the virus or disease. How embarrassing would that be?

Not a Good Start

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, today is not off to a good start at our house. The phone rang before Missy Linda was up this morning. She was awake, but was just lolling in bed. It was the Mr. who used to live here. All he said was, "Sorry, wrong number." That was more than enough for Missy Linda who hadn't seen him in person or heard his voice in a long time, probably five years.

That doesn't really seem like a big deal to me, but Missy Linda and the Mr. who used to live here have been arguing through email about some stuff. I think Missy Linda is about stretched to her breaking point. I have thought that before, though, and she always keeps plodding along. She just says, "What else is there to do?"

Trash Day

Hello most humans and many others,

Monday is trash day at our house. That means that Mr. Nelson is a bundle of energy all day. He loves that he gets to run in and out of the front door to "help" take out all the trash and recycling. Missy Linda makes a lot of trips to the curb with all kinds of things after the trash can and recycling bins are put out because she is very disorganized or something.

Mr. Nelson also barks a lot on trash day. He barks at the various trucks and workers. Today is actually "big trash" day which happens every first Monday of the month. That means that there are all kinds of extra trucks, depending on what people have put out. He loves it.

Mr. Nelson is as pumped all day on trash day as he was that day he ate some coffee grounds that Missy Linda dropped on the floor! 

What is it With Birds?

Hello most humans and many others,

I was just trying to figure out why Missy Linda and so many of you humans are so entertained by birds. This morning, Missy Linda was mesmerized by a downy woodpecker hopping up the metal pole of the bird feeder while he seems to be trying to determine what the hell the pole was made of. Woodpeckers always have trouble trying to eat from her bird feeder because they eat in a different way than other birds. Downy woodpeckers are much smaller than our usual woodpeckers that live here so they can eat the seeds in the feeder more easily than those huge woodpeckers. I think that they don't really like sunflower seeds so much though.

I have to admit that feeding birds is an inexpensive hobby compared to many of the things that you humans do. Also, I suppose that it helps the birds who are to lazy to find their own food. Every once in a while some bird not usually seen in this area will show up at the cafe, and Missy Linda goes bonkers. She tries to take pictures, and sometimes, she calls people. Sadly, not one of her pictures has ever turned out well. Poor Missy Linda.

No Excitement, No Accidents

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, Missy Linda and Tio Kane got the tree chopped up pretty well with no excitement and no accidents. I don't really want bad things to happen, but since I never get to go anywhere any more, a little break from the boredom would be nice once in a while. What if you had to just sit on the dining room table or a dining chair or the kitchen counter all the time, and what's right there is all you could see? You would know what I mean then.

After they chopped up the tree in the front yard, they started cutting down some dead shrubs in the back yard that were so big Missy Linda couldn't cut them by hand. When they got about one and three-quarters of three chopped away, Missy Linda bent the chain on the chainsaw. They were too hot and tired to go back to Home Depot and get a new chain, so they just quit. I didn't mention that they had already been back once to get a new chain , did I? Missy Linda says she has trouble remembering to keep it straight and to not try to saw at weird angles. She loved the stupid saw though. She wore this stupid helmet with ear protectors and a big face shield of mesh. She thought she looked quite cute in the whole get-up.

It's when she's acting like that when I am kind of glad she doesn't take me places. I try to look on the bright side, see?

Good Day to Chop Firewood

Hello most humans and many others,

I'll swear, I don't think I'll ever figure out you humans. Today, Missy Linda and Tio Kane are sawing up the top of one of the big maple trees in the front yard. Don't worry. They won't be up on ladders or anything so I don't expect any entertainment value from the whole thing at all. That would be way too much fun for me!

The big chunk of the tree is not up high anymore at all. It's lying across the yard since it mysteriously blew down, was struck by lightening, or otherwise became unattached from the rest of its trunk. It didn't hit the roof or break the window so Missy Linda says that's about all she can ask with the kind of luck she has. There's probably not really any danger that there will be any chainsaw injuries because Home Depot rents these electric saws that look like giant electric knives for people like Tio Kane and Missy Linda.

Missy Linda likes to tell this story about how she knows someone who bled to death after accidentally hitting himself in the thigh with a chainsaw. I think she does that to make everyone think she is doing something perilous. Nice try, Missy Linda. Maybe next time we'll be concerned. Now take your antihistamines and get crackin'!

Not the Best of Times

Hello most humans and many others,

I have probably lost a lot of you guys already because I haven't been keeping you up on my life. I know I have dropped the ball for awhile now. Missy Linda doesn't remember to let me have a turn at the computer when she has other things on her mind. Also, I got moved to a chair in the dining room, and then a jacket or something got thrown over me. You know what you humans say, "Out of sight, out of mind."

I've been hearing Missy Linda and Tio Kane talk, and it sounds as if we are going to be moving. I think that they do not want to move at all, but I don't know why. Missy Linda says things about having lived in this house longer than she's lived in any house her whole life. They talk about how they will have to get rid of so many of their things, and they don't know where to start.

I don't really understand their problems. I'm pretty sure that I'll be thrown into a shopping bag and taken to wherever it is we are going. I just hope that someone remembers to take me out when we get there

What's in a Name?

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, school is finally out for Missy Linda and Tio Kane. Missy Linda had told me that she was going
 to take me to her class this semester. She said that she would take my picture with her classmates. After hearing about them for all that time, I wanted to meet them. Actually, some of them had been in other classes with her so I had heard about them for a long time.

Her friend Marnie sounds like she is really cool even though she likes a lot of the same things Missy Linda does. "Hoodie Guy" is a super nice young man with a little daughter. He is the same age as Mr. Nick. Missy Linda thinks he has so much talent for writing that she wants him to get busy and publish some books. She says she will spend her grocery money to buy his work. There are two other young men that Missy Linda really likes who were in the class. She says that at first the guys are always a little shy around her because they probably think of her as a mother-type person. She says she tries to nip that idea in the bud. Before long everyone acts like she's just any other classmate.

"Pirate Woman" is someone whom Missy Linda just never could click with. Missy Linda started calling her that because in another class, all that woman wrote about was pirates. The two of them just like totally different types of stories and totally different types of everything.

Missy Linda would get mad at me if I didn't explain that these nicknames are not derogatory in any way. They are just descriptive terms to identify people when she doesn't know their real names. Then by the time she finds out their names, the nicknames are imbedded into her brain. She is so weird.

For two semesters she had a classmate whom she called "Smoky Laptop." That was his nickname because he always used a huge laptop in class, and he was a heavy smoker. I wonder what other people call her, don't you?

I Vote NO

Hello most humans and many others,

I have decided that my vote about climate change is, "NO! Stop it! I don't like it at all!"

We had tornadoes about 3:00 this morning. Yes, thanks for asking. I am fine. But our tornadoes used to be in the early evening or late afternoon. About 10:00 pm was the latest here. We are supposed to have some again tonight. I need my beauty sleep!

Don't get me wrong. It's not like anyone grabs me and takes me to the bathroom where they hide from the weather. There's room for only people and Mr. Nelson in there. Mr. Mushu has to be in his carrier in a closet under the stairs. Not because there's not room, but Mr. Mushu and Mr. Nelson cannot be together.

I hope Missy Linda gets her beauty sleep tonight. Believe me, she needs hers more than I need mine.

Well, It Is Monday!

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, what have you guys been doing lately? I have been in my usual shopping bag, head down, of course, for I don't know how long. The last thing I remember is that I was supposed to be going someplace, and I was in my bag, ready to go - - - and then my world went dark and stuffy.

The only thing that I can figure is that Missy Linda forgot to pick me up in my shopping bag because something like a coat got thrown over me accidentally. You know her - - - if she can't see me as she is going out the door, she forgets me. I have been head down, under whatever was hiding me all this time.

Did any of you guys miss me? Did you look for me? Did you call the police? I didn't think so.

I think some of you owe me apologies.

It's Oscar Weekend

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I"ve gotta tell you that I am pumped about the Oscars. I don't get to go to any movies, but I love the beautiful dresses and all the pagentry of the Oscars. I remember that when I first lived with Missy Linda, she let me have parties for the Oscars. I was thinking that if I play my cards right, there's a chance that I could do that again.

If nothing else happens in my favor, I may have to resort to questionable methods to get what I want. That's more exciting anyway, right? Missy Linda is right in the middle of one of her headaches. She doesn't notice much of what goes on around her at that time. She usually has her head covered with an ice bag.

I was considering the possibility of just pretending she is not here, and I could easily plan the party without her. She would be surprised on Sunday, but she couldn't do much to me in front of guests, right?

Getting Better

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I'm hoping that Tio Kane and Missy Linda are about over their colds. Even Mr. Nelson has been coughing and sneezing! Tio Kane says that Missy Linda gave Mr. Nelson her cold when she was hacking and sneezing germs all over the place. He was complaining that he was just getting better, and then Mr. Nelson kept him awake with his noises trying to breathe and with his sneezing. I don't know. That took place upstairs, and I don't go up there. I know that Tio Kane was the first one here who had it.

They are all about to drive me bananas. You humans make a lot of really strange noises when you're trying to clear out your heads. Aren't you all afraid that you'll expel some pieces of your brains? I think that may have happened to Missy Linda.

Mr. Nelson Wants Real Thing

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I have to give Mr.Nelson credit, he does a good job of remaining his usual polite self even when he must convey his distaste for the treats Missy Linda is attempting to push onto him. The other day, she ran out of the brand name treats that Mr. Nelson gets when he goes into the front yard and doesn't bark and doesn't go past the driveway. She ran into the Dollar Tree on her way to class and grabbed a box of treats to get by.

By the end of the next day, Mr. Nelson had had enough of the inferior product. He didn't pout (too much) and he didn't throw a fit. He merely took each treat, with a withering look at Missy Linda, and then he promptly carried each treat out to the back yard. I don't know where he took the objectionable treats. He would just be gone awhile and come back without them.

Missy Linda went to the real store to get the real treats, and Mr. Nelson was very relieved. And now he is living hapily ever after.

Missed the Show

Hello most humans and many others,

Wow! I don't get to write very often these days, do I? It's Missy Linda's fault, of course. Since I don't have legs, I am dependent on her to let me use the computer, as you know. Well, she has been working on her "homework" she says. Since she has been in these writing classes, she spends most of her time on the computer. At least it seems like that to me.

This week, she has been pouting. It seems that she would have liked to see Lewis Black when he was in town last week. She whines all the time about not having any money, but I don't see her doing anything about that. She's always saying that she is applying for jobs, but I don't know.

She has this "thing" for comedians or funny social commentators like some people have for rock stars. She says the tickets to see them cost a lot less than the tickets for a music show. Still, I think she should just learn to live with the fact that she will never see Lewis Black in person. She gets all huffy and tells me how when she was married to that man who used to live here, they had had tickets to see Lewis Black in small, intimate setting. It was a club rather than an auditorium. Well, the mister who used to live here got really angry with Missy Linda and he refused to go. He didn't say that until almost time to leave for the show, though, so Missy Linda didn't go either. She didn't feel like going after bawling all afternoon, she said.

Let me just say this, "Keep your stupid problems to yourself, Missy Linda. And let me use the computer!"

Holidays!

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I must admit that Mr. Nelson is annoying even me this morning- - -and I don't even have to let him in and out five hundred times a day! He knows that Monday is trash day, and the neighbors have put out their cans and recycling. Unfortunately, since it is a holiday, the trash will not be picked up today. He is in "go mode" in anticipation of the trucks' arrivals. He has already been out in the front yard about five times. He is primed for action on Mondays, and he doesn't want to hear about holidays.

Did you watch the Golden Globes last night? Mr. Nelson was very excited that the little dog from that movie The Artist got to go up and help accept an award. He was even on the Today show this morning. Mr. Nelson is worried that the humans are making him work too hard though. I don't know, but he did look very sleepy on the Today show.

All Her Plants Are Dead!

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, Missy Linda made a sad discovery yesterday afternoon. I think it was inevitable, but she seemed really upset. It so happens that she found out for sure that her little magnolia tree has definitely passed away. I have heard her say that giving her a plant is handing the poor plant a death sentence. I wonder what that poor little tree did to deserve that!

The weirdest thing is that she has been watering it all this time. I guess she didn't water it quite enough back in July when it was 120 degrees, and it didn't rain at all. I can attest to the fact that she did try, but obviously not hard enough. (It probably didn't help that she had moved the poor little tree twice since she got it.)

In addition to the demise of the magnolia, it appears that her Bonsai is dead. I think the name of that kind is "money tree." It originally had three entertwined plants. It was lovely. Now, there is one little green piece of wood left at the end of one stalk, but there are no leaves at all. That kind of mirrors what happened with the magnolia. I think that it's only a matter of time.

Smart Dog

Hey there most humans and many others,

Today is trash day in our neighborhood. It is Mr. Nelson's favorite day because he likes to go out to take the big cans down to the curb and to go out to put more bags of trash into the cans and to take the recycling down to the curb. He gets to go into the front yard lots of times, and then he gets to bark at the big trash trucks when they come.

It is Tio Kane's job to take out the trash, and Missy Linda takes care of the recycling. Sometimes when Tio Kane has already taken the trash out, Missy Linda will come out of nowhere with a whole other bag. She sets it sort of by the front door (inside) for Tio Kane to take out when he comes by. Sometimes these bags are fairly heavy.

Anyway, Mr. Nelson has recently been guilty of getting into these bags to get at any morsels or treasures he sniffs in there. The thing is that he doesn't tear the bags, though. He only opens them at the top by untying them. If he can't open the top, he leaves them alone!

Missy Linda, as she was cleaning up the mess one time, was surprised to discover how he had gotten into the bag. She says that she has to give him credit for not tearing into the bags, but she wants to know how he unties them! She says that makes him smarter than some of the adults she knows! You humans are a pretty sad bunch.

Long Day

Hello most humans and many others,

Well, I am thinking that today might be a long day for me. Missy Linda will be hogging the computer soon, I am sure. She has until 6:00 am tomorrow to decide whether or not she will be taking classes this semester. I know she wants to go to school, but she is thinking she needs to concentrate on finding a decent job. She certainly doesn't want to have to resort to some type of unseemly activity to earn money like I hear when she and Tio Kane joking around. At least I pray that they are joking!

Sadly, when she whines about having no marketable skills, she is right on target. She has no special training of any kind, and most of her jobs, except the fabric store, were businesses she had at home. Prospective employers do not count that as any kind of experience these days. She can sew letters and numbers on sports uniforms, but the absolute most she can make is seventy cents a letter if they are the largest size and are what are termed "double letters." That's fine for extra money maybe, but she can't make a lot doing that.

Something tells me I am going to be hearing a lot of moaning and groaning and complaining in the near future. I think I had better go and start getting myself steeled up for the onslaught.

Partying Without Me?

Hello most humans and many others,

I know that you humans were having all kinds of parties and celebrations without me for New Year's Eve. I actually heard fireworks going off two different nights! I would have gone to any of your parties if you had only invited me. I kind of feel that I deserved a little fun after another episode of being left in the car, head down in a shopping bag!

I have finally realized that Missy Linda isn't going to take me places or throw parties for me. I was hoping that my friends out there would take up the slack. You humans aren't as nice as I originally thought.