It really, really is. Sunny. Snow is melting. Temps edging into the 40s. Good ol' Mother Nature, softening us up for the Winter Storm Watch on tap for Monday afternoon and evening.

( weather )

( things done )

( dogs on hunger strike--film at 10 )

As stated above, I baked today. Best oatmeal cookies I've ever had, courtesy of the Trib Food section.

Oatmeal cookies with 'fat' raisins

( Cookies!!" )

In closing, checked Amazon numbers today and was treated to a 1-star review for Endgame. Reader couldn't make heads or tails of story, realized it was the end of a series, and railed against the publishers for not putting that info on the cover. He's right--that info is not on the cover. It's on the inside flap.

Someday I'll learn not to read...

First, wash the sinkful of dishes. Then, time for taxes!

Finished self-assigned project for editor. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was in that it now incorporates things editor and I discussed. I had wanted to vacuum, dye my hair, and run. Instead I did this. But now it's done and I can get started writing an actual book. Yea. No more free time for the foreseeable future.

No, I'm kidding, sorta. I will have some free time. I will *make* free time. Hell, I've had altogether too much free time over the last few years, and I can have all the free time I want if I simply say 'never mind--not gonna write this book. Sorry.'

But I'm not going to do that, so I may as well shut up and eat my snowshoes. Speaking of which, it's snowing again. 1-3" by the time it's all over. Rain tomorrow, followed maybe by a little more snow, or maybe even ice. And as we all know, Ice is Nice.

I am feeling a little punchy, yes. And I have the Sunday night "don't wanna go to work tomorrow" whingies, especially since there will be more snow on the roads to make driving a sheer pleasure.

Sick of winter. Can we have Spring, please? Post-mud season, with a side order of sunshine.

In other news, I noticed that King limps for a few steps when he gets up from the floor--it doesn't happen when he rises from one of the dog beds, or maybe it just isn't as obvious. He shakes it off after a few strides, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain. He's only been doing it over the last week, week and a half, which makes me think it could be some sort of injury, a strain or something. Or maybe it just took this long for the hardwood floors to aggravate any developing arthritis. Poor guy. He still runs without a hitch, and trots just fine. It's just those first few steps after he gets up.

Awoke to find that the 1-2" of snow they had predicted for my area had turned into 5-6". Actually, I knew that last night, but I was hoping that the predicted roaring winds would blow some of it away.

I look out the window, and see that the tree branches don't seem to be moving much. Maybe it's because they're weighted down with So Much Unpredicted Snow.

I know what I'll be doing this morning. Shovel, here I come. After coffee and hot cereal.

In other news, awoke to find Mickey licking his leg. He has a strange little growth just under his left rear hock that consists of pad tissue. Well, for some reason, he decided to lick that raw. It's now bandaged. At least it's not his foot this time, but still.

Today is my last day of vacation. I want so much to take the rest of the week off, but after distributing days around Ninc Conference, Wiscon, and Worldcon, I found that I didn't have all that many left. So I need to nurse them, drat it. It was nice to be home. Got a few repair things done--installed a light under one of the kitchen cabinets, and a couple of door stops behind a couple of doors. Stripped wallpaper and hung up decorative molds (cooking vessels, not, like, *mold*). Made things look a little better around here. Still haven't attacked the filing/paper shoveling, but I did buy a nice file folder for 2008 stuff.

I also spent altogether too much time shoveling snow. The weatherguy on last night's news said that after this cold snap, we may be in for a warming trend for the rest of the winter, with less precip in the form of snow. Live in hope.

Must make coffee.

I had reason to go home during lunchtime today. On the way, Kuro started making noises. A clicky-flappy sound that speeds up/slows down as he speeds up/slows down. A bit of a whine when I backed into the driveway.

A quick Google unearthed a few things, none of them good:

SOUND:Ticktickticktick
WHERE: Under the center of the car, toward the rear.
WHEN: While in motion and varying with road speed.
WHAT: U-joint (rwd or 4wd only). A U-joint in your driveshaft has finally run out of grease, is getting loose and is about to fail.
URGENCY: That's really just an urban legend about cars polevaulting over broken driveshafts when U-joints fail at speed, right?
FIX: Replace all the U-joints and keep the new ones greased regularly.


The soonest I can get into the garage is Monday morning. Looks like I'll be driving Harrison until then. Every time I think that I should sell my Blue Boy, something happens that makes me so grateful that I have another functioning vehicle.

Oh, and King killed a squirrel today. I let him out in the back--he spotted the Hapless Creature and gave chase. Hapless Creature couldn't maintain sure footing/pick up speed in the snow. Thus came the end of Hapless Creature. King stood over it for a couple of minutes, sniffing it. I don't think he realized what happened, couldn't figure out why it stopped running. He came when I called, looking a little puzzled. After he was safely shut up inside, I got a shovel. Scooped up the little body and disposed of it where he and Mickey can't get to it.