SmartAleq

When I wrote my goodbye letter to Pratchett a bit over a month ago I had no idea I'd be here again so soon on the same sad mission--this time to lay to rest my Elder Cat, Stiggs. I'm in shock and reeling from the one-two punch of losing the two animals I've had the longest. I hope beyond hope that this is the last eulogy I'll need to write for at least a decade.

Stiggs and I were constant companions for over fifteen years. He came to me after I had made the final decision to move...

On Monday, September 19, Pratchett finally lost his battle with the paralysis. I was in Utah at the time when I got a text that he'd stopped eating and was feeling punky--after some discussion, BFF and Son took him to the vet and it was discovered that he had pretty much lost all ability to void his bladder and he could no longer be manually expressed due to damage done to his genitals by the leaking urine. The verdict was that he could be eked along by heroic measures for maybe a month, but I had...

I've mentioned a few times that I recently purchased a new car--well, it's an old car, but new to me. It's a 1995 Toyota Camry, dark green with a beige interior, has a lot of miles on it (223K, which is just getting broken in for a Toyota!) but it's been well maintained and is in pretty good shape. Anyway, I don't know about anyone else but I always go through a mental process when I buy a car--first I assess the car according to price and how much major work it's going to need to bring it up to...