Two, well three events to post about this week.

1) It's been a rough week for ol' Asher. In the first place, the poor guy somehow cracked a nail right at the paw. We first noticed that something was wrong when he would randomly yelp out in pain when he would sit, scratch, or play with Margaret's kids while they were here. He's lost his nail now, and so it seems he feels a little better, but he's licked it so much, one side of his toe is now hairless, and he's spent a few restless nights trying to get comfortable in his bed without disturbing his toe. Besides his toe, though, he had a little adventure with some cocoa covered almonds, which ended up being a two-edged sword: his tummy was very upset for a couple of days, and he ate a lot of grass, which made him (stop reading here o ye who are weak of stomach) vomit up five or six large puddles of cocoa-colored drool on our carpet and on the linoleum, upsetting the unsteady peace between himself and Sheri. I think, a week later, the ceasefire has been restored. We are happy, though, that he lived through the trauma, as we have been told that many dogs who cross cocoa's path don't.

2) We spent the weekend (Friday, Saturday & Sunday afternoon) warming up our parenting skills babysitting our friends' two kids. I only have two comments: a) those two maniacs are the perfect combination of kid craziness and tenderheartedness. b) I'm glad we're doing this one kid at a time.

3) A sad farewell to Kurt Vonnegut, Don Ho, and Phish. What will be the future of American Fiction, Hawaiian Tourism, or Post-2000 Hippiedom?