Grandma Snark is in the House Blogosphere

New blog Extra-ordinary Monkey Business gets snarky with ... what else ... liturgical abuse. I found this entry particularly diverting. Your milage may vary. Sadly, there is obviously no shortage of grist for Grandma's mill. Drop by and say hi to Grandma.

Here's my favorite.

Xenu's body thetans invade Catholic church

Children were reported to have run from the church, screaming in fear.

And Still More Book Reports

Finishing catching up on the most interesting things I've read lately.

• Better Than Homemade by Carolyn Wyman: Extremely enjoyable little essays about the origins of such American staples as Instant Breakfast, Minute Maid, Wonder Bread, Velveeta. A quick read that takes us down memory lane to a time when we weren't guilt-wracked over what we ate ... well, except to want it to be more nutritious or technologically modern. Oh, those were the days.
  
  
• The Trials of Rumpole by John Mortimer: I haven't picked these up for years but vastly enjoyed revisiting John Mortimer's turn of phrase which so eloquently draws a portrait of Rumpole and his trials both in court and in personal life. I had forgotten until rereading these that there are always two to three plots in each story, no small feat. The main trail, office politics, and home life all have a linked theme and yet each can stand on its own, often in a humorous way. If you haven't ever read one of the Rumpole books, then do give them a try. You needn't read them in order, although there is character development from book to book of friends and coworkers (and even of villains defended, like the Timson family). Hannah is reading the Rumpole books for the first time and working her way through the entire series, so we know they hold up well no matter your age.
  
  
• Hamlet - Arkangel audio performance: Inspired by Chop Bard podcast, I checked this out of the library and was blown away listening to this excellent audio version of the play. Between the two resources of the podcast and audio performance I was on the edge of my seat and truly loved this play. (Read Thomas L. MacDonald's review of Arkangel Shakespeare.)
  
  
• Roots of the Faith: From the Church Fathers to You by Mike Aquilina: I would do a full blown review of this but, thanks to David Scott, I actually sold it to Pittsburgh Catholic. It will not appear online so go buy one of their papers! Here's the quick version. Roots of the Faith takes a "time travel" look at some very familiar Catholic concepts like the Mass, confession, and teachings against abortion and then goes back to see what the early Christians actually practiced and believed. How does he know? The Church Fathers, of course, wrote a lot of it down and if there's something we can count on Mike for, it is knowing what the Church Fathers said about things. This is highly practical and something we can use when coming up against those folks who think the Catholic Church has changed everything around from the way it was in the early days of the Church. An excellent book - highly recommended.
  
  
• Through the Wall by Cleveland Moffett: A noted detective is getting ready to go to Brazil for an important job. He drops by Notre Dame where a young woman he never met says a few sentences to him that leave him pale and canceling his trip. A young woman, deeply in love, spurns her lover's marriage proposal because she loves him too much. A international celebrity is found mysteriously killed in a variation of the locked room mystery. All these events are connected and are set in 1909 Paris, where the atmosphere is romantic and mysterious and the art of detective investigation is very much to the fore in the story. This was on a list from Michael Grost's list for Mystery Scene magazine of classic mysteries that you should read but probably haven't. Here is a piece about this book which I believe was written in 1907. It is a locked room mystery, which I normally do not like, but the way the author slowly uncovers layers truth behind the mysterious situations is already very apparent. It has the effect of a book of one cliff-hanger after another and I am hooked. Final word: what a splendid plot and story telling. Truly this is the story of a master detective pitted against a master criminal, all wound around a tale of love and friendship. I got this from the library but I'd bet it is available free at Project Gutenberg. I plan on  reading this on Forgotten Classics.
  
  
• Carnacki: The Ghost Finder by William Hope Hodgson: Whenever Carnacki finishes a tough case of tracking down the supernatural he calls together his three friends to have dinner at their London club and tells them the story. Sometimes he discovers the supernatural, sometimes a hoax, and occasionally an intriguing mix of the two. Thus we get seven fine ghost tales from William Hope Hodgson who is better known for The House on the Border Land, which I have never read, but surely shall someday. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I picked up from Amazon for free and read on the Kindle. I would look at Project Gutenberg for it as a free public-domain book if you can't find it anywhere.

Better Privacy: Find Those Cookies and Delete Them

BetterPrivacy is a Firefox addon that is able to delete a special kind of cookies: Local Shared Objects in short LSO's which are placed on your computer by a Flash plugin.

This has been a topic of interest to me ever since I heard Dan Carlin's podcast about the 4th amendment and the way we live today.

What I especially liked was that his comments about the way to control tracking of our personal info (just ask them to let us edit it the way that Amazon does with our preferences) showed a high degree of common sense. His commentary was sparked by the article The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves.  At the time he pointed out that no political leaders were speaking up on this ruling ... although it looks as if that is not the case now.

The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects' vehicles to track their every move.

Read more at Wired

Gee. I'd rather have them not speaking up than going for the Big Brother option.

Anyway, that is what made me interested in the BetterPrivacy addon. I can keep the cookies I want, and dump those I don't. Most importantly, I can find them.

Book Reports

A bit more about what I've been reading in the last month or two. Just highlighting the good stuff. (You can find all the books I've read this year ... and more ... at Goodreads which I like quite a bit for keeping track of such things).

• Jane Eyre: Looking for some fiction, my eyes fell on Jane Eyre and I realized just how long it had been since I read it. You tend to remember the big events of a favorite book but rereading has reminded me of just how many small things get lost in memory. This book is truly delightfully and subtly written, for all the over-the-top elements it contains. And just how could I have forgotten the old gypsy? It was even more wonderful than I remembered. This has everything ... true love, sacrifice, redemption, steadfastness ... and that crazy cousin who Jane may have understood and admired but I certainly couldn't. Talk about giving me someone to hate. Oy veh! If you haven't read Jane Eyre for a while (or ever), just go get it.
  
  
• One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz: UFOs, aliens, an empathetic dog, a crippled girl, and a host of supporting characters overcoming past traumas to reach out to others all are combined by Dean Koontz in a book that is the most compelling statement I have ever seen made about the right to life, no matter what one's condition. As always with his novels, few things are what they seem.Two basic plots run parallel before their heroes find themselves coming together to fight off a very evil villain. "What is one door away from heaven," is a question that one character has asked another since her childhood. The answer, along with the overall theme of the book, is enough to make us all examine our lives more carefully ... and be thankful that Koontz's writing reflects his beliefs so honestly. A favorite for rereading and that's what I'm did ... reread it and it held up beautifully.
  
  
• The Case of the Missing Servant (Vish Puri #1) by Tarquin Hall: I learned about this series from Mystery Scene magazine. A judiciously quirky Indian detective (meaning realistic) and his operatives are highlighted, as well as his Mummy who sets out to solve a  mystery that her son does not take seriously. This was an enjoyable "cozy" sort of mystery, like a trip to India, and also somewhat frustrating as I have to look up many of the native words in the glossary in the back of the book. I understand if a word requires complex descriptions, as do some of the common terms. For example could not the author simply have used the native word for gardener and then put "gardener" in parentheses? Yes, I am just that lazy, or possibly there are just that many native words used in this book. Ultimately, this was a classic mystery in many ways and yet it still managed to fool me. Extremely well done and gave a bird's-eye view of India without needing tons of info-dumps. Highly recommended. (P.S. I am a big fan of his Mummy.)
  
  
• The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (Vish Puri, #2) by Tarquin Hall: I enjoyed the first in this series so much that I was delighted to find the second book had just come out. A few chapters in, there is the main mystery in which a professional skeptic who exposes fraudulent, famous gurus is apparently murdered by a manifestation of Kali, in full view of a group of friends. Then there is the sub-mystery which Vish Puri's Mummy is investigating and taking Vish's wife, Rumpi, along for the ride. I love the Punjabi characters and see that the author says that one could say Punjabis are the Texans of India. No wonder I like them! All the characterizations were very enjoyable as were the insights into Indian life. However, if the author is going to continually use native terms then they should all be included in the glossary. I don't have the first book available for comparison, but I feel that the glossary was much more complete than in this second book, where sometimes there would be a sentence with no translation following and which was not in the glossary either. Now, the argument can be made that there was context, and so there was, but one could make that argument for many of the terms that were in the glossary. I felt the main mystery was unnecessarily complicated. I understand that Vish Puri explores the big mysteries but this felt rushed and with too much crammed into it ... still recommended, I just didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book. I will still look for the third book when it comes out though.
  
• Sweet and Low by Emma Lathen: John Putnam Thatcher, Wall Street senior vice president at The Sloan (one of the largest banks in the world), has been named as a trustee on the Dreyer's Chocolate charitable board. Think "Hershey's" and you'll get a good idea of Dreyer's power and money. Early in the series of meetings, a cocoa buyer is found murdered in the hotel pool. Luckily Thatcher's long experience on Wall Street means he has a deep experience of that always-present commodity, human nature. Only Emma Lathen could make Wall Street riveting as happened in every one of her mysteries (yes, I know the author's name was a pseudonym for two cowriters ... don't care). Written with understated humor, these books are a joy to read and reread, which is what I did, being a big fan of the Lathen mysteries. It is too bad that so few people seem to have heard of Emma Lathen these days.

Cheating The Habit of Being

Is that a great title or what?

And, it works in so many ways in Elizabeth Scalia's (The Anchoress) latest at First Things. Here's a taste and then you can go enjoy it all.

This sister gave an example: “When we were in our habits, a fellow with an Italian ice barrow would always insist on giving us free ices, but why should he? Why shouldn’t we pay like anyone else? Why should we deprive him of his living because we were in a costume?”

[...]

Sister was operating under a willful delusion; she justified forsaking the habit with appeals to solidarity, compassion, and humility, but her story illustrated egoism and presumption. She bemoaned a possibility of cheating a man out of his wages. In fact, she wascheating that man, but not in the way she imagined.

The ice-barrow man was not giving sister a free ice because she wore a habit, but because a man who revered (or at least respected) God saw an opportunity to demonstrate his regard in a little way that St. Therese might have applauded.

Reviewing "Let the Right One In": A Study of Evil

Oskar is a lonely and bullied 12-year-old. Eli is the 12-year-old girl who moves into the apartment next door. They form a friendship over puzzles and Morse code. Except that, as Eli tells Oskar, she is not a girl. He must discover for himself that those puzzling words mean she is a vampire. Naturally, one cannot have a vampire in the neighborhood without missing people and murders, which leads to an interesting and telling sideplot about someone who is attacked but lives through it.

This is a Swedish vampire movie and, as such, is somehow completely Swedish with contemplative photography, neutral colors, and the square, Ikea-ish buildings. It is also somehow completely a vampire movie in the truest sense of the word with evil dominating everything once Eli shows up. That evil is expressed through gore that is also somehow completely in line with a Swedish movie because we are as distanced as it is possible to be from it. Much more immediate is the bullying that Oskar must endure, which is an interesting contrast to the unworldly vampirish sort.

At one point we had to pause the movie for some reason and I told Tom that this was not the "great movie" I had seen praised by so many. He said, "Well you can look forward to the American remake. They'll probably have an explosion or two to liven it up." I had to laugh ruefully. How true.

However, our appreciation of this film grew greatly through reflection and conversation as we put together the puzzle pieces more completely. In fact, I am now going to be curious to see the American remake because we all wonder if the Americans will not somehow find it irresistible to muddy the moral message.

It is definitely worth seeing for the artistry and for the unflinching examination of evil, our attraction to it, our own muddling of what we know to be right and wrong in order to grasp what we find attractive, and the fact that we have the power to turn evil away or invite it into our lives. Oh, and for the cats scene in the apartment. Definitely for the cats scene. Never have cats been so ennobled in the fight against evil.

Caution for viewers: Rated R. There is, of course, vampire induced gore and violence. As well, there is a one second flash of nudity (Eli's genitals). Scott Nehring at Good News Film Reviews rightly points out that this is child porn. However, and this is a big however, the moment when this happens is well telegraphed. We know Oskar is going to look ... and with that warning ... we can not look. I avoided plenty of this movie's vampire violence in that way and wish I had done so for that moment of nudity. Having read Scott's comment, however, I was curious though wary about exactly what he meant. He's right. It adds nothing except some disgust. Do what I say, not what I do. Don't look.

Further reflections upon the message ... with POSSIBLE SPOILERS
(I have tried to do this without spoilers, but for those who want absolutely no clue about the story then this is something to skip.)

Unbelievably, I have seen this called a tender and pure love story. That is far from the case, if we are seeing it clearly and sorting out all the evidence that we are given right up to the very end of the film.

It can be difficult to sort out the evil and our feelings because we see that 12-year-old girl and want to find some redemptive value in the friendship she has with Oskar. Again and again we are shown her monsterish habits and yet somehow still shake them off because they come in the sympathetic guise of a pretty young girl. This leaves us turning against what our brains tell us to be true as we watch victims lured to their end and instead relating to Oskar, who is at best emotionally stunted since he wants not just relief from the bullies but the ultimate revenge which he is too weak and afraid to exact.

At the end of the movie, we are left with the contrast between the actions of the attack victim who could tell what she was becoming, the fate of Eli's original companion, and the deliberate luring (some might say wooing) of Oskar. In considering the fate of Eli's original companion, we see what Oskar's fate is. That fate is not any semblance of love. It is the result of cooperating with pure evil.

So An Existentialist, Two Atheists, and a Catholic Walk Into a Podcast ...

... to talk about Mindswap at SFFaudio. Which I still think should have been called "Bodyswap." AND which I did not pick up on as being existentialist. No wonder the last third of the book made no sense whatsoever.

Hey, I call it like I see it. But it did lead to some interesting conversation. Especially when we began discussing whether the universe has meaning and what is truth.

Oh yes. Interesting as in "may you live in interesting times."

And yet we could all have a drink together later. If we lived close enough to each other to do that, that is.

So Very Quotable

I like Mike  Flynn's books ... just as much as I enjoy reading his blog, which is not at all about his books (most of the time anyway). Here's a sample of why.

Quote of the Day:

"Isn't it great to live in a society where the penalty for lying to a congressman can be up to 30 years in jail, but the penalty for a congressman lying to you is another two years in office."

-- Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun sports writer, concerning the indictment of Roger Clemens

Bonus Quote of the Day:

“Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul.”

— Guy Consolmagno, one of the Vatican’s astronomers, on whether he would baptize an alien.

 
It's a Good Thing He Ain't Bush:

The Obama administration has urged a federal appeals court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects' vehicles to track their every move.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/public-privacy/

Quick Updates

Not Always Happy ... Again: well, this is going to have to be chalked up in the "lose one" column. Durn it. In a kind of funny way, that is possibly how those I have been dealing with may halfway view it also. Although I understand that in this issue I am under their authority (like St. Francis or St. Teresa with the Church ... now if I only had their saintly qualities also) and so must obey, I also am powered by the force of my convictions (yes, stubborn like them too) and undoubtedly am causing cringing every time my email is popping into various inboxes. I'm not wanting to be a pest. I just believe that everyone doesn't really understand all sides of this issue. Ahem... So moving on ...

In Non-Kindle Related News: about Zapp, Hannah's foundling mostly German Shepherd puppy who was so hostile to other dogs. In an astounding display of adaptability and exhibition that pack behavior is, indeed, the norm, this little guy is now out from behind the dog gate and happily mingling with everyone. He and Zoe especially delight in each other's company and run and play with abandon. All three of us marvel that just three weeks ago, he wouldn't look at a human being and tried to tear the face off of any dog nearby. Seriously. Just three weeks ago.

Not Always Happy ... Again

The Crescat notes about herself, "the more I aggressively take charge of a situation the more out of control it becomes."

This is not always my experience, but her solution does echo something I am glad that I have recourse to.


In a current "no matter what the problem is, it's always a people problem" portion of my life ... you know, the one where people discover that Happy Catholic is much nicer on the blog than in real life ... I must say that everything goes better with prayer.

No miracle has happened. No angels are singing (that I can hear, anyway). But it has been of great comfort to me that I am able to turn to God in prayer. To pray for those pesky people who do not agree with me. To hope that they are likewise praying for me in turn. To also hope that all of us may be turning to God to ask what He wants in this situation. To ask what resolution would serve His plan best.

Yes, that's a comfort.

As I say, it hasn't solved the problem. That is what we are here to do. To listen to each other, to hammer out a solution, and maybe to grow personally while doing so.

It doesn't mean I won't have to give up my passionately held position. I may have to do so. That's life. And a little piece of me will die when I do, if that's how it works out. That's also life.

You win some. You lose some.

You try to be gracious, whichever happens.

And you remember that these everyday moments, the ones that turn us to God, are blessed no matter how we feel about them. Because anything that pulls us one step closer to God, during which we try to align ourselves to His will instead of our own ... well, that is a blessing.

Making one more reason that I'm always so happy to be Catholic.

In which a young woman on a night drive is faced with a life-or-death choice.

A break and a short story, Night Drive, at Forgotten Classics.

Star Trek? Zombies? There's a Book for That.

Night of the Living Trekkies

Book? I want that movie! (Rightly rated QB for Quasi-Silly But Awesome.)

Via SFFaudio, where so many good things turn up first.

Happy to Be ... Part of the Good News Film Reviews Team

Julie ... has strong opinions and freely distributes them for all to hear...

You can see that Scott Nehring knows me well and yet still invited me to be part of Good News Film Reviews as he adds additional Christian voices to his mission of bringing a Christian perspective to film and culture.

Scott likewise has strong opinions which I completely respect, while somehow not completely agreeing with him often. That is not a common experience for me (maintaining respect, not the disagreeing ... we know I do that all too often) ... and shows that Scott is something out of the ordinary in the line of film critics. If you haven't been checking out Good News Film Reviews, then you definitely should.

Read all about the gang who forms the new Good News Film Reviews.

How do you top a review summary like this?

Short Review [for Harry Brown]: He's going down the road to Hell and he's keeping his blinker on the whole trip.

Scott Nehring at Good News Film Reviews ... you may love his reviews or hate them. But they ain't boring. That's for sure.

Surviving Infidelity

It was October 9, 2009 ... almost a year ago ... when we were astounded by this plea from Pansy, one of the Two Sleepy Mommies:

"My 36-year old husband has been cheating on me with a 22-year old girl. He is leaving us for her (we have been married 15 1/2 years and have seven children). If that isn't bad enough, he is home now and is berating me and telling me why it is all my fault. I found conversations between he and this girl where they laugh at me behind my back. I knew it was going on for some time, but I found the evidence and it all came to a head a few hours ago. I have to change my life in the next few hours practically, financially, deal with this emotionally and all the above and I don't know how I can take my next breath."

Almost a year later, we hear from Pansy again with much brighter news and a future full of hope.

As of now, we are surviving, we are building a new marriage and our old marriage is dead and gone. It's is withered and decayed and the new one is bright and filled with hope. As of right now, I love my husband more than I ever have. We are not merely "riding it out". Everything is new again. I place the "blame" on you, Dear People. When this broke, my husband was very lost. He will tell you he was in the darkest place he has ever been. He was evil or surrounded by evil, not sure. He was depressed, he obviously wasn't thinking straight and the more he made bad choices, the worse he felt, and in turn would make more bad choices. He was just piling more "spiritual muck" onto himself. As Mark Shea says "sin makes you stupid". So many men I see who take the route my husband have become literally unreachable under all that muck. When you all reached out and prayed, my husband will tell you it was around that time he started to wake up and come out the fog. This wasn't an immediate process and at first, he fought it, but it was a way for God to grab him and take hold and slowly start clearing that muck away. ...

Read Words Cannot Express My Gratitude where Pansy shares their experiences as well as some very good resources for sticking with a marriage and not giving up. (Via New Advent.)

Cursed: The Book Review

I am not going to make a list ... not going to make a list ... because

1. everyone else has already done it
2. I don't have the way with lists that Jeremy Shipp does
3. I've got tons of list in my own life already

...

D'OH!

...

Nick and Cicely are friends. They also are cursed. Each person's curse is different and each curse is relatively minor, all things considered, yet each affects their lives in deeper ways that bring gloom and foreboding. They go to work to discover who has cursed them so they can try to lift the curse.

I read it in 2 days. I couldn't put it down. Not only was the writing compelling as I tore through it to find out who had set the curse, I also was increasing anxious and worried as I went because I was terrified that one of the characters I knew would be the perpetrator. Terrified? Yes, that is just how fond I became of Nick, Cicely, Gordon, Abby, and the others. Although I will pause here to say that Cicely's quirkiness was relentless and I felt relieved when she became anxious enough to drop it for a little while. The story did horrify me several times but without ever having to completely show me something horrible. He knew just how far to engage my imagination without rubbing my face in something horrific. That is a rare talent and surprisingly considerate of the reader.

Although Shipp has a talent for humorous writing and likable characters, he has a talent for something far deeper ... internal conflict wound around caring for others. We see this in Nick's thoughts and the others' actions. By the end of the books, we have seen people act on levels of sacrifice, redemption, and love that was almost ... I've got to say it, right? ... Catholic. I say "almost" because Shipp isn't Catholic, but he's got a groundedness in caring about the truth, reality, and the human person that is palpable.

Oh, and the lists? Nick thinks in lists and it becomes a habit that any reader soon wants to mimic. The amazing thing is how Shipp carries a lot of the action of the book through those lists.

Well done indeed.

So well done, in fact, that although I read the book in pdf form on my new Kindle (yes, you know, you know), I have put it on my Amazon wish list. I want it for reals ... in my own hands-on edition.

Novena to St. Michael the Archangel

Jason from Catholic Dads invites us to join them in beginning a novena to St. Michael.

September 29 is the feast day of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Raphael, Archangels.

We invite all Catholic Dads to pray the Novena to St. Michael beginning on September 21. The last day of the Novena will then fall on the September 29 feast day.

I'm glad to be reminded of it. I have a special fondness for the archangels and angels in general, though of late I have forgotten when their feast day falls. So this is very timely.

I am posting the prayer below, for my own personal reference, but Catholic Dads will be posting it every day, if you swing by there.

Glorious St. Michael, guardian and defender of the Church of Jesus Christ,
come to the assistance of His followers,
against whom the powers of hell are Unchained.
Guard with special care our Holy Father, the Pope, and our bishops, priests,
all our religious and lay people, and especially the children.

St. Michael, watch over us during life,
defend us against the assaults of the demon,
and assist us especially at the hour of death.
Help us achieve the happiness of beholding God face to face for all eternity. Amen.

St. Michael, intercede for me with God in all my necessities, especially:

(state your specific request or intention here)

Obtain for me a favorable outcome in the matter I recommend to you.
Mighty prince of the heavenly host, and victor over rebellious spirits,
remember me for I am weak and sinful and so prone to pride and ambition.
Be for me, I pray, my powerful aid in temptation and difficulty,
and above all do not forsake me in my last struggle with the powers of evil.
Amen.

In Non-Kindle Related News ...

... Hannah, falling prey to that impulse which sooner or later evidently grabs every Vet Tech and forces them to adopt a stray, brought home a little German Shepherd mix puppy.

He's about 3-1/2 months old, very sweet, and evidently has lived a life without any socialization whatsoever out in the countryside. A week ago, when he was first brought in, he would just try to dig his way out through the corner of whatever room he was in when a person came by. By the time that Hannah brought him home (after first asking permission with her own puppy-dog eyes working overtime), he had adjusted enough so that he actually was enjoying petting. The second day she brought him home, he endearingly raced around the house with his tale wagging and head high, a doggy grin on his face. You could imagine him saying, "Back again! This heavenly place does exist!"

The only problem is that he is extremely aggressive to other dogs. I don't mean that he growls or shows his teeth, although he does those things quite well. I mean that he flies at the first dog he sees ready to tear their faces off.

Which quite took the Boxers aback, as you can imagine.

You could see the big question mark over Wash's head as he asked himself, "What is this guy's problem? Why won't he play?"

Zoe was better prepared through her tougher personality but even she flinched before stepping up with a growl and raised hackles. Even then, though, her tail was still wagging.

Gotta love those Boxers.

However, after just two evenings and the weekend with us shuffling dogs from area to area behind a dog gate or in crates, little Zapp (for Zapp Brannigan, don't you know) has made more huge leaps in adjusting.

He now will lie quietly a lot of the time, even sleeping with the other dogs nearby (all are suitably restrained, as I said). In fact, during a Boxers-in-crates session he deliberately went and laid next to Zoe's crate, before dozing off. Twice. She looked suitably nervous, but was amiable enough in simply keeping an eye on this crazy pup.

Yesterday, he went and took a nap next to the dog gate where Wash was lying on the other side.

So, he is giving us hope that he can be rehabilitated soon.

If only these positive signs weren't later punctuated by hostile outbursts we would all have calmer nerves. It is positively hilarious to see the much-larger Boxers stop for a second to gather their nerves before clinging to the furthest wall in order to walk by Zapp's crate. Which sometimes garners hostilities and sometimes doesn't.

And so we go ... it will be an interesting week, I am sure!

Who's Got a Nook? And Wants to Tell Us About It?

Or, for that matter, a Sony e-reader?

I'd be curious to hear what people love and hate about them ... as would Mack, whose idea this review request is.

Don't be shy. Speak up!

Ok - The Kindle? It's Freakin' Awesome!

You know, when Thomas L. McDonald was talking about collections I had no idea that you could get 100+ Classic Mystery novels and stories for ... oh ... 3 bucks.

[Ahem ... apologies on that, Thomas ... ]

Not that I'm not going for free stuff.

But. Really. 3 bucks.

Eventually I will even settle down long enough to read something on it!

:-D

Ok, the next question.

Skin? Or case?