Beautiful clear day. Tidied house a bit (a lot, actually) before my brother arrived. Gary went back to Neal's to work on his computer again. Still not usable. They've restored it five times, and something went wrong each time (different each time) mostly due to the really poor quality backup software Gary had been using. It seems quite erratic.

They think they have it solved now, I guess. But each iteration takes hours to run.

Brother Larry arrived. We went over to the Wild West place in Union because he wanted steak. Much entertaining conversation about his doctoral program, which he has completed now and received his degree. It was good to see him.

I actually got some spinning done today. Gary has classes tomorrow afternoon, so I hope to get some work done then. I also got some reading done, halfway through Phil Geusz's First Book of Lapism and loving it. A religion whose followers have themselves transformed into bunnies? Why not? It's delightful and, as always for Phil, very well written with excellent characters.

Must go to sleep now, it's been a long day.

Tags: books, family, farm, spinning
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: tired

Long and draggy but no really bad problems this time. Wayne's surgery went without incident, I guess, so it's a matter of waiting to see if it actually helps. He had a heart attack last winter and they tried stents but it wasn't enough so they ended up doing triple bypass surgery. (He's younger than either of us, eeek.) This time they gave him an electronic implanted defibrillator if I understand it correctly. I hope he's got good insurance.

So Gary's mom is here for the night. He went and brought her to the hospital from Chicago, and will take her back tomorrow. No problem with that, we get along fine.

Several boxes of new books arrived at work, so I had plenty to do. About half of it is leftover for tomorrow and probably Friday since tomorrow is only a half day for me.

Oh, and the lace scarf from the colored poonies is now started. Soon there will be enough to photograph.

Typing with a cat on my lap, which isn't easy because she won't sit still. She was asleep on my chair and I made her move so I could sit down, but it didn't work. She just got right back up here.

Tags: family, pets, spinning, work
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: calm

The holidays (and 2006) are finally winding down. Busy decluttering and dusting because my mate's mom is coming for New Year's weekend, as she has done every year since Y2K when he was sure the lights would go out and leave her alone in her house in Chicago. Not that I mind, she's an easy guest to have. I do feel some obligation to make the house look a little less "bachelor-like", even though she's not nearly as bad about that as my own mother would have been. My Mom wouldn't have said a word about dust or clutter, but would have insisted on grabbing the vacuum and duster and doing it FOR us. That I couldn't tolerate and we'd have had a "discussion." Gary's Mom isn't as particular about housekeeping, and she loves the animals so she takes the rest of it in stride even when she sits down and two dogs and a cat immediately try to climb into her lap. She carries a photo of our dogs around and shows it to people, telling them that they are her "grand-dogs" which, I guess, gets her a few weird looks.

Anyway, Gary is going to make his famous spaghetti and meatballs on Saturday. I'll probably roast the turkey the city gave me for Christmas on Monday. We'll send home leftovers with his mom so she isn't living on frozen dinners for the next few days at least.

Hopefully tomorrow will be quiet at work, and then another four days off. I could get to like this too much, but alas, no more holidays now for quite a while.

Tags: family, holidays
Mood: sleepy