Dog Pen Built, Stuff Stored, Then...

On Saturday Phil, Wendy and Jackie built the "puppy pen" (I have to call it a puppy pen because Jackie's full-grown mutts are a mere sixth the size of my normal-sized cats), so her dogs have "acres and acres" (to their small minds) of running room (actually, about 300 square feet of running room). Part of the pen is beneath the roof of our wood shed, so they can be dry, warm and safe, or cold, wet and nuts should they prefer that during inclement Pacific NW weather. You just never know with doggies.

Jackie got the old garage cleaned out (tools and other stuff) so all that remains at her old place is some stuff in a shed -- Christmas and other holiday decorations, mostly. She'll finish that off next weekend.

Comcast came and did just about half of what we needed them to do, so we'll have to put in a call for the rest of it. The regular installer just works from outside walls, and we need cabling to two inside walls, so a special installer has to come out and charge us a fortune for the job. We're putting it off for now until we see what the rest of the projects are going to cost to make our new home right. We have some dry rot issues in a 4'x10' section of my half, which will require the gutting of my bathroom and kitchen area and the replacing of all the fixtures therein, while Jackie has a couple of dry rot spots beneath her kitchen sink and bathtub, so the contractor needs to get in there, too. She has decided that since he does, she may as well have her bathroom updated at the same time. "Leetle by leetle," we'll get it done.

Jackie has configured her living room in a way that makes her oak entertainment center obsolete, so she asked if I wanted it. At first I said no, but then agreed. My entertainment center looks fine but is made of particle board, I think; moving it twice caused one bottom edge to crumble. So last night I emptied mine and made way for it to be moved out next weekend (to a garage sale), so I can roll Jackie's in to take its place. Mine will find a new home. It cost $350 new; the crumbled spot is in the rear and doesn't show, and so it is far from "a piece of junk". Someone will love having it for a song...

My original reason for refusing Jackie's oak piece is that it has a humongous space in it to accommodate a large TV, and I have a much-smaller set. Then Jackie said I could have her 29" as well (which better fits the entertainment center), making it possible for me to put my set in the bedroom. (Not that I watch TV much at all, but I sometimes catch LARRY KING LIVE at 6 or at 9, so having a TV set in the bedroom will make it easier to watch it at 9 if I miss it at 6...)

I have a writing gig at Elance that may blossom into 30 hours a week at about $25/hour, so I'm hoping it pans out. It would be the perfect "foundation piece" for a real home-based copywriting business. Being able to forgo gasoline prices (no daily work commute) would be fabulous in this crazy economy.

Someone sent me a quasi-quote of Obama's: "We live in the greatest country in the world. Vote for me so I can change it," or something of the sort. It made me laugh, but it also ticked me off.

Barack does want to change some things, but he also believes in America -- to its core. Combining statements he has made and quoting them out of context makes him sound like a jerk.

I responded to the gentleman who sent it, "Please -- do your homework. This is a made-up construct by Obama-bashers. Please don't send me anything like it again until you first check it out at snopes.com. And don't send it to anyone else, either, unless you just enjoy being cruel and unfair."

He has sent me similar, erroneous Obama-related things before, and I have always referred him to snopes.com, since he won't even consider going to BarackObama.com, considering it "biased." But in my humble opinion, only a biased person won't go to BarackObama.com or JohnMcCain.com to elicit illuminating information "from the horse's mouth." That's what the websites are set up for -- so people can visit them and get the true stances of the candidates in black and white...

Don't know what else to say to folks who will take anything sent to them and forward it on as though it's been vetted and deemed accurate/true/verified. In this election season, everything said or written about a candidate is suspect. Everyone has a bone to pick -- and they don't even pick the bones they should -- they invent crap to confuse the matter!

It's a wonder democracy and America "work" at all, the way spin-meisters and other miscreants behave with facts, innuendo, gossip and churlish opinions. It's up to us, the voters, to be sure it continues to work... so PLEASE take your responsibility as an American voter seriously. Study the candidates and the issues.

There are very real differences and emphases between the two candidates this time. A choice must be made. Do your level best to discern which of the two candidates will best address the national and international climate facing us in the years ahead.

We won't all agree on WHO our next President should be but, at the very least, we should be able to agree that we did all we could, individually, to determine who we want to see standing there as a leader of the free world, influencing policy, carrying on conversations with allies and foes, and bringing us closer to the day when we can feel better about the world we live in...