Would you believe two vet emergencies in one day? I'd only been home about an hour from taking Darwin the lizard to the vet when Isabel, the Pit Bull, came in from a romp out in the backyard with a bloodly gash on her back. We spent the rest of the evening at the emergency vet clinic getting her $350 worth of stitches. (Thankfully, my husband ( Read more... )

The vet bill for Darwin the uromastyx (lizard) is only going to be around $250, barring unforeseen problems with his surgery. Not too bad; I was fearing worse. He is having his penis amputated, one of them, anyway. Fortunately, only one hemipenes was everted, so I'm hoping the other is unaffected. He was not happy about the vet trip. I predict we ( Read more... )

My deliriously happy Husky and her sister (who just sneaked a cup of coffee and is also wired):

( Frolick )

Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of my newest baby. She didn't get to go to the range today because I haven't had a chance to clean the cosmoline out of her yet.

( Russian m91/30 )

I suppose it should have occurred to me that with Halloween falling on a Sunday, trick-or-treaters might show up on Saturday. But noooo.......By some amazing stroke of luck, the number of kids who showed up were the exact same number as the pieces of Halloween candy I had left over in the cabinet from last year. Minutes later I was in line at CVS ( Read more... )

Well, day two in Bolivia is going well. Today I shopped, and it was lovely. I visited the beautiful old Cathedral of San Francisco [I so miss being Catholic sometimes] with its ornate stonework reflecting both indigenous and European influences [panthers and saints...nice]. Then I discovered the artisans' market and the witches' market [which is ( Read more... )

Read the last line on the page.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/news/article/0,19912,696240-4,00.html

Um...let's see: Feinstein has a carrying permit, and Kerry owns an assault rifle. What's wrong with this picture, kiddies?

Curses! I'm getting a cold! I knew this would happen. This past week one of my students, after I had been sitting next to her for about 15 minutes, said,"You probably don't want to get anywhere near me. I have a terrible head cold starting." Then she asked me another 15 minutes' worth of questions about what she was hearing through her headset and ( Read more... )

I'm finally starting to get my act together for my Bolivian trip (about time, considering I leave in 4 days!). Everyone is trying to talk me out of going alone, and I know there's good reason. All the tourist info says women shouldn't travel alone, even in groups, without men, so I am kind of nervous. The last time I was in South America, the hotel ( Read more... )

The Million Moms and Brady Campaign are launching a call-in and fax campaign to the White House on Sept. 9 (tomorrow!), urging the President to extend the Assault Weapons Ban ( Read more... )