"Don't be mad," Jess pleaded the second I picked up the phone. "I had to bring one home with me."

I wasn't upset, though selecting a pet was an activity I assumed we were going to do together. When I returned from work that night, I knew within minutes that she had made the right decision.

"I think we should call her Gracie," Jess said. "Because she's gray, see?"

Truth be told, I hated the name at first. "Nova" was the name on her SPCA adoption papers. Why couldn't we just keep the same name? Or call her Luna?

It soon became apparent that Jess had chosen the right name for the right pet. The first night we had her, I reclined on the couch. She climbed up, onto my stomach, her little front paws kneading my chest. She stayed that way until her eyes closed, her purrs intermittently broken by snores, like a motorcycle running on fumes. Gracie. Princess Grace. My little princess.

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Hello, All!

Sometimes, it frightens me how much Jon and I think alike.

Case in point would be last Saturday.
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Hello, my Chicklets!

It's been a while. Quite a while. How have you been? How has your spouse/significant other/pet/best friend/gargoyle been? Did that rash ever heal? Where's the party? Who's that girl? What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Good, good. Glad to know that the rash cleared up. And glad to learn what the frequency is. I never understood the frequency. Woh-oh.

How have I been for the past six months or so, you ask? Great! Thanks for your thoughts/concern/grapefruit.

All sorts of stuff done happened since June.

I'll share one such thing with you.

This past weekend, I finally decided what I want to be when I grow up.

No, not an astronaut. No, not a ballerina. No, not a space ballerina... though that might be neat.

I want to be a construction worker.

I came to that conclusion after building my first house.

And by "house," I mean gingerbread house.

And by "build," I mean... read more (633 words)

Greetings, Kids!

I'm sorry... I haven't written in months. Actually, yes... literal months.

But, I have something to write about tonight.

My blower. read more (211 words)

Howdy, Y'all!

I'm sorry. It's been a while. But, I finally have twenty minutes to myself while waiting for the Folger's Decaf to brew.

I'm sending my hello from a hotel room (smoking, thank God...) in Bethlehem. No, no... not the Judean one. The one near Dorney Park.
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Hey, Y'all!

I hadn't seen my Dad for a while, and I figured I'd drop by his place this afternoon. I was in the area, and he said he'd be home organizing a yard sale. And what a yard sale it was. I could have bought bibs, or....uhm.... a spice rack.... or.... you know..... uh..... all sorts of random crap.

There was one item there that wasn't for sale. It was the Holly-mobile.
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Greetings, Everyone!

This Saturday afternoon, I received a telephone call at 4:30 in the afternoon or so. The person on the other end asked "Jeremy?"

I responded "Yes?"

The guy was named Sam, and he was calling from such-and-such an organization, requesting donations for the Fraternal Order of Police. He asked me for thirty dollars.
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Greetings, Everyone!

Finally. After two weeks, I think my arms have finally returned to normal. For a few days, they looked like pizzas that have been left in the oven a few minutes too long, what with the bubbles and everything. After that phase, it looked as though a thousand tiny snakes had crawled across 'em, shedding their skins as they went. Now, other than a spot or two near the elbows, the peeling's over with. I'm happy about that.

The reason for the burnt arms? I was at the beach. But, I figured SPF 45 lotion would be strong enough. After all, I was only going to be outside for an hour or two.

I've been wrong before.
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Howdy, Y'all!

In the fairly recent past, the handle of the screen door sort of.... fell apart. No worries, thought I. I had a day off of work last Tuesday, so I stopped off at the Home Depot to pick up a replacement handle. Wrong size. I returned the part and went wandering through the doorknob aisle for roughly an hour looking for anything remotely like my recently broken one. Nothing.
So, I searched the online marketplace. Bingo! Some guy in Oregon was trying to get rid of a screen door opener. I placed my bid, and it arrived this morning. Tonight, I set out to repair the door.

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Greetings!

In the Southwestern corner of Micronesia, there's an island called Yap. Though they've recently converted to the American dollar, the island was the only known society in the world to have used money carved from stone. According to this web page -- Frequently asked questions about the Island of Yap (No, seriously, I guess people are asking questions about the Island of Yap all of the time....), the stone "coins" ranged in size from 12 inches to 14 feet in diameter.
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