What the HECK happened to July?  I can't believe it's been since the 10th that I posted-- what a freakin' blur!  For crying out loud, we haven't even had time to give the dogs a second bath yet, and the generally accepted months of summer are almost gone!  And we've only gotten out the kiddie pool for the dogs once so far!  (Yes, we bought them a kiddie pool; no, they won't go in that, either.  Don't get me started.)

Let's see: Necon was a blast, and I am bit by bit getting picture links and pictures on the Necon site.  Look for more actual photos there by the end of the week, thanks to a few great people who've donated and/or agreed to let me swipe their images.  It's a good thing that old American Indian legend about having your soul stolen by the camera's image isn't true, because the Necon folk would, indeed, be zombies by now.  There's likely some question about that being true in and of itself, but I won't go there.  Nope, I won't.

What else?  I am unsupervised as once again The Husband (westonochse) is bouncing all over the country on business.  So little me, so many Chippendales.  Okay, just kidding.  Really.

Work is... well, work.  The Super Secret Squirrel Project is not progressing very well, being pushed back in favor of other stuff.  But as always, I have great plans for it.  My in-laws came and went, having found and bought their own, exceptionally beautiful (covetcovetcovet) home not very far from us.  We all went to Kartchner Caverns last Sunday, and it was quiet spectacular.

Kudos to faustfatale, who won an IAMTW Award (the first year they've been given out), for her book, Snakes on a Plane.  Excellent!

And finally, at the end of this month, I will return to the world of martial arts, at least for a long weekend.  I have missed it, a lot, since moving away from Chicago and the Degerberg in September of 2002.  The one place I tried here was too heavy on throwing, and my back made it quickly and loudly known it was unhappy about throwing in such quantity.  I've tried to at least keep in shape, and about a week or so ago, I saw a flyer for a Martial Arts Instructors Training Camp in Grand Junction, Colorado, headed by an instructor under whom I was lucky enough to study numerous times.  This is my chance to refresh my memory (and break my body, ha ha) on all the good stuff I haven't had in five years.  With this coming up, I'm trying to cram in as many workouts as I can.  Ow...

And, of course, we must have images.  As always, click for close-ups.  So:


Okay, it's way toooooo late.  Must sleeeeeep....

So at approximately 8:30 a.m., give or take, I drop off my Tracker at the car repair place after waiting about three weeks so that the billing date on my Visa will pass and the charges will be on the next bill. During this time, the Tracker has been parked in the same spot at work; occasionally I've started it to make sure the battery doesn't die. "There's a horrible grinding noise," I tell the person (Ryan) in charge, "but I'm not really sure where it's coming from because it's a noisy little car." "It sounds like it's under the front left side," The Husband westonochse adds helpfully. "My Dad thinks it might be a wheel bearing," I put in, "although he hasn't actually listened to it." So after dutifully writing Check suspension, Check brakes, Check bearings, Ryan releases us and promises to call as soon as they know what's wrong.

At approximately 9:15 a.m., the following telephone call takes place:

"Mrs. Ochse, this is Ryan from Western Tire. Your Tracker is ready."

"Already? Wow, that was fast."

"Yes, ma'am."

"What was wrong with it?"

::pause::

"Do you really want to know?"

"Uh...

::me in small voice, suspecting something is NOT RIGHT::

...yeah."

"You had a tree branch stuck above your axel. We took it out and all the nasty noises went away."


gaaaaahhhhh.....