Well, lessseee...had a quiet weekend. Wayne and I went to see 'The Producers' before it was replaced, and enjoyed the humor. Mel Brooks can always make you laugh. There's alot of movies out we want to see, and usually we go twice a weekend but I was trying to devirus and debug Wayne's computer and that took me hours. I hate working with these machines - all I wanted to do was stop a pop-up from telling me the program had deleted a virus, and I couldn't get it to stop. And calling Symantec tech support was worse than useless. It's all overseas in India now and even though we're both speaking American, there's still a gap. I could not get the idea across of what I wanted to do. I ended up spending literally hours on the phone and the computer, and still didn't get it done. And they wanted to charge for tech support!!!

Anyway, then we took a ride around the area on the way home. It's a large valley and there are alot of small farms. Found an alpaca place, which is nice for when I want to get more fiber. I have the SCA Arts & Sci coming to my place on the 21st for a stitch-and-bitch session. I want to get back into the SCA again, to find like minded people I can talk with. And to fence with, and so forth. They seem to think that plinking on the hammered dulcimer makes me a bard, but right now I wouldn't perform for anyone but Wayne! Maybe someday I'll be good enough to make music for the royals, but that's a good long way off.

I see that Rob is finally on his way home - thank the gods greater and lesser for that! I was holding my breath, seeing all the choppers dropping out of the sky and all. Hope they can get that promised stabilization for a year...and then get orders out here to Ft Lewis! It's still a day away but that's alot closer than now, and I'll be able to help Katie with her studies...well, I can help her now so distance isn't a factor.

And I'm glad that Shanna got another, better job. Wish I could have helped out when she needed that money but we won't be in a position to help anyone until I get a job. I want to send my mother money to help with the rebuilding of her house in Gulfport, but can't even do that. Sure hope to hear from the CofE or Forestry soon! Problem with civil service is that they're so damn slow!

Wayne put out the awning yesterday and today we have wind, and I'm almost sure it has twisted the arms on the awning and we won't be able to retract it. Have to get it replaced again! There were 4 of us out there, trying to get it rolled up, and ended up securing it with rope, one side to a propane cannister and the other to the picnic table.

Well, it's not surprising that we should miss the military. We grew up with it, joined it, cursed it, blessed it, and left it. It is a part of us, having shaped us in our youth and beyond. We had friends in it - not the lukewarm acquaintanceship of civilians that we know now - we had standing, knew our places in it, knew how it works, how to get things done within it...we had camaraderie. Now we search for like experiences and find them few and far between. I don't envy the girls anything but their age - as I am too old to rejoin or reinlist - and I have all this experience with no place to use it. Yes, I'm too old by 2 years for the reserves. Bah!!!

I think the book Shanna is refering to is the one by Carla Emry - putting the clothes in a bucket in the back of a truck and driving over country roads for agitation/cleaning. Sounds like it would work, but gas is too dear compared to labor so I eschew it for the laundry room down the street. I think I'd like to get that laundry ball that cleans via static or something - I've seen it around - and it would probably be environmentally friendly and all that. We filled up the truck and it took $62 !!! I only get 390 miles a tank so that's not great...wish I could get a hybrid. Wayne is brewing a fresh pot of coffee and dinner is almost ready, so this is it for me today. Sleep well, all!