Word of the Day

Shup - A contraction of "shut up". To cease writing or speaking or to cause (a person) to stop talking.

You know that you're getting old when you're thinking about heading to bed but won't because...it's only 7 PM....and...you're still young enough to maintain an inch of denial. I'm still young enough so I can wait two more hours before heading to bed. Yes, well...9 PM is a bit more acceptable than 7 PM. At least...that's what I'm going with.

We had a dust storm yesterday. Normally, Gypsy and I walk the block and a half to get the mail from our mailbox. She looks forward to this daily walk...ever in hope of meeting someone who won't mind if she piddles on their shoes. However, there was no way that I was going to risk black lung or Valley Fever to get the mail yesterday. I was at the point where I was debating with myself whether or not getting the mail was worth the effort or not but...I finally decided to hop into the car to get the mail. Visibility was less than a block.

And the result of a dust storm? I spend most of this morning vacuuming my patio with a heavy duty shop vac. The dust kept clogging up the air-filter on the shop vac, not to mention the leaves and flower pedals, but I persisted. Of course, I also had to beat the dust out of my patio furniture cushions. The patio was semi-dust free by the time I'd finished...and after I'd cleaned the filter of the shop vac...four times. I used a broom to take care of the sand dunes that had accumulated by our front door. After lunch, HTP took over and completed the task of cleaning up after a dust storm by washing the patio off with our hose. I now have a nice clean patio...until the next dust storm rolls in.

I still need to remove sand dunes from my entry way (indoors) and our windowsills. Since I've already done this once since we've been back to Arizona, I'm not too keen to repeat myself. Maybe tomorrow.

Random Thought of the Day

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.

- Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 - 1973)