Yeah, I know, weird, weird, weird. I kind of like the last one, though.

Afterwards, Laura and Shayna, perhaps to escape the mood, lit a candle and set it next to the large crystal ball we have. They stretched out on the floor, intently staring at it. Although I'm not good at seeing anything special in them, I liked the way the candle flame became two dancing sprites due to the reflection in the ball. The gentle light it generated radiated slowly outwards until there was only darkness. The luminated ball made me think of the 'round and clear' space within, but last night, my inner gaze turned up only odd distortions. So I went to bed.

After signing on and getting the photo id cards, we of course, did some credit damage. There's some bing cherries to tempt me later, as well as a huge tub of vanilla bean ice cream and large tubs of rice pudding. Yum, yum, yum.

Monday, the cat population got smaller by one. We thought 'Gypsy', the latest addition, was a cat that used to belong to Glen and Mother. But when they got a good look at it in broad daylight, it was not pure white, as Gypsy was. It also hadn't been fixed. Two whole toms are in the brood. Laura gently suggested to Shayna we either stretch outselves and get the kitty fixed or take her to the humane society. Shayna bravely did the smart thing and gave her up. She could have been already pregnant, for all we know.

We've been having our share of computer problems. I finally got around to finding a repair place for the black laser jet printer that quit working several months ago. The man thought a simple cleaning would fix it. Alas, not, for some of its gears had been stripped. The complicated procedure would have cost $125 bucks! A new one can be had for under $200! Augh! We'll make do with the two we've got. However we're having an awful time with the Compaq color printer. The black cartridges empty out too quickly and no one carries them. One more knowledgeable salesman said the company that makes them is Lexmark, and they are having difficulties. On the salesman's advice, we tried to jury rig a Lexmark cartridge in it, but it didn't work. So we're down to the ancient pin printer. Laura put it on her computer, which took some porting of corresponding set-up files from its original host, as it's so old.

But it's reliable! Fancy is worthless if it doesn't work.

Air conditioning units are supposed to be placed on the north side of the house or in a shady area near a tree. We had no choice, and the eight feet long industrial strength unit would only fit on the east side. Every morning the sun bore down on it with an intensity that would make the metal surface impossible to touch. We knew this wasn't good for the inner workings. So yesterday Laura and I constructed the shade awning you see over it in the above picture. She hammered and nailed and I sewed. First I divided the 6foot by 25foot piece of shade screen in half and stitched the two halfs together on the sewing machine. I folded the one raw end under and stitched. That would be the side stapled next to the house. I connected the screening to the chain link fence by using metal wire twist ties that come with the trash bags we get. Knotting them would work, for the wire could withstand the constant heat of the sun.

We do think it's making the unit's efforts more effective. It seemer cooler in the living room yesterday afternoon. Being it was a standard blistering day of 111 degrees (44C) even at 4:30pm, this must mean improvement.

I can feel the vitamins in what I ate surging through my system. I'm trying to eat healthier. My water consumption is up and the soda (pop) consumption is down. I'm trying to eat more fruit. This morning I EVEn ate vegetables. I know I'll feel better for it, instead of a nearly all carbohydrate diet. Now I could never go on a low carbohydrate diet. I think my system NEEDS lots of breads, potatoes and rice, etc. But it also needs fruit and vegetables as well. Which I've not been giving it.

Moving from the mundane dog eat dog, human eat hotdog world to the ethereal, this quote jumped out at me this morning:

At the outset of every work of art there is the will to isolate a moment out of the merciless flow of life and make it accessible to others.

----Joseph Conrad