Time to go

It's funny how things happen.

Nora and I are packing and getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning. Like dawn patrol early. She has her talent bit worked out (it's a pip) and is putting together multiple wardrobes. The girl is jittery beyond belief, and stunned that this whole escapade has gone this far. Right now she's still in first place with a lead of 129 votes. Words fail me in my attempt to express my gratitude to all of you for being such a swell bunch of cheerleaders for our little gorehound. I'd especially like to give a shout out to Dr. Zaius for providing us with the most recent pictures you see displayed on the right.

Tomorrow is the birthday of our youngest daughter Hannah. She's a beautiful and complex girl with an old soul. I offered to bring her with, but she couldn't allow herself the time away from school. That's her cake you see. My mom came over and we had an early birthday celebration tonight.

Yesterday Amanda got word from her cousin that her grandmother was not doing well, and was getting rapidly weaker. Amanda spent the better part of today getting ready for a quick drive to Iowa to see her grandmother. Tonight, as I was dropping my mom off after dinner, Amanda got the call that her grandmother had died in her sleep. She was 98 years old, and died surrounded by her three sons and a bunch of extended family. Now, while we're in Los Angeles, she'll be waiting to find out what arrangements are being made for a memorial service.

Amanda (MizBubs') grandparents were cool people. If I recall correctly, they were Republicans and switched to the Democratic party somewhere between civil rights and Vietnam. They counseled conscientious objectors at Drake University in Des Moines during the war. Gladys stayed active with her church and was a voracious reader, and I didn't really see her slow down until a couple years ago. Frank, who died in 1991, was a lifelong newspaper man, and author of "The Country Parson" one panel cartoons that were featured in more than 200 newspapers. I feel lucky that I was able to know them.

So. Life goes on, doesn't it? It's impressive to consider the amount of change, loss and upheaval that we, all of us, are able to absorb, adapt to and overcome in the course of our daily lives.

And now it's time to finish packing, get to bed and prepare for the next adventure.

Can I just live here by the distillery?

I've been bedeviled by a slowww connection here at the mobile command center, and it's made it tough to post. I gots some things to tell you.

No, I did not buy the farm, and we're quite a while from doing that. I do know that if I could live on the grounds of the Woodford Reserve distillery, I'd gladly do so:



I've had a swell couple of days driving around and sampling the local hospitality. I managed to eat pulled pork and fried chicken in the same day. I'm going to have to run the Las Vegas Half Marathon as a fat Elvis this year. More details when I get home.

OH...one more thing. I have a little something fun to announce Friday.

Later, alligators.

We're on our way home

I managed to push myself away from the beignets this morning and I am now speeding northward. If my Segway holds up after stopping in Memphis, I'll be home Sunday afternoon.

The Days Inn at Graceland, recommended by Splotchy, has an excellent internet connection. If I can tear myself away from the 24/7 Elvis movie channels I may post something else before we leave in the morning.

Counting down

Ok, so we didn't solve the murder we were working on yet...but we're going to. These things take time. Damn you, videotaped statements. I had hoped to be celebrating clearing that case before I headed for Las Vegas, but real life lately has frequently refused to adjust to my timetable. But that will not stop me from having a good time. No sir. Today is the first of 11 days away from work, and I aim to enjoy them all.

Middle age male vanity is a powerful and ridiculous force. Part of tonight was spent dying my hair in order to achieve the proper Elvis color for Sunday's run. MizBubs, girl dynamo, altered my gold lame jacket and got the sleeves to the proper length. I picked up some extra Body Glide at the running store this afternoon, and solved the pants problem. Pants problem? Yeah, it turns out that the gold lame pants that came with the jacket really aren't suited to running. MizBubs, girl genius, suggested that I hit the thrift shops and find some black pants to run in--turns out Elvis only wore the full lame suit a couple of times before ripping the pants, and most of the times he performed in the gold lame jacket he wore black pants as a result. I hit the jackpot--I found two pairs of black pants at the Wings resale shop! One is a comfortable loose-fitting old pair of shiny black dress pants, high-wasted and pleated, and the other is actually a pair of Nike black running pants. I have all day tomorrow to decide.

I went to the library and got some Elvis material for inspiration. While my hair turned color and MizBubs sewed her pretty fingers to the bone we watched the first two disks of Elvis--The Great Performances, which was chock-full of very cool early footage of the King.

And now it's time for bed.

TCB!

Clown O' The Week: Spring Break Edition

This magazine has valuable "tips for travelers abroad."

I imagine the first tip is, don't leave your daughter unattended.