Elcie, Princess, and Max (temporary we hope)

The orange kitty (Max) turned up early this morning with a little help from Elcie. He must have a home but we haven't been able to find it. He's tame, trained, and came with a collar. We'll keep looking. And yes, that's tuna.

I haven't caught up with all the new visitors yet but my friend Heather who sent me the information about Chili's, has started her own blog.

She lives in the Sacramento area and has a lovely little girl named Faith who looks just like her.

She'd probably appreciate a welcome and some encouragement. So far I'm her only commenter.

I was feeling well enough today to attend a birthday luncheon for my friend David with other members of the writing class and his visiting son. Good food and a piano recital by kids ranging from their very first lessons through older kids who had been studying for around 3 years. It's always fun to watch them.

Now I'm dragging a little again but I've been away from here much too long. It seems to be a combination of tired and maybe the bug making the rounds. The girls' colds have cleared up if that's what they were. It could have been the air quality - symptoms the same. I'm a little sniffly and achy yet but much better than I was.

Elcie's ankle problem turned out to be a cyst which the pediatrician thinks will go away on its own. She said they're fairly common and harmless. Ibuprophen will take care of any pain. She twisted her knee on the day of her followup appointment. Perfect timing. The knee was improving by the time she saw the doctor. She probably just stood up a little too fast without realizing it.

She starts her Depo patch tomorrow. We will watch her very closely for side effects and if she has any problems, we'll stop it. I'm hoping it will work for her. She has enough challenges without dealing with one more.

Other than that, I've been taking it as easy as possible. We had another BB gun incident today (different kid, different circumstances) and this time I did call the police when his mother said she couldn't deal with him and to go ahead. It turns out the guns shoot plastic pellets, not metal and are legal. This boy is a young thug who actually shot Rochelle a couple of times, then Elcie, of all people, when she yelled at him, then Rochelle again when she tried to get Elcie back across the street and home.

The police couldn't do much except threaten (the kid is only nine and on his way to juvenile hall or worse eventually). His mother seems helpless to control him. The police officer offered to take the gun and dispose of it but the mother told him she'd keep it away from him. Yeah, right.

I think his mother was wishing the police would do more. She seems to have washed her hands of a nine year old. Sad; he may still be salvagable but someone needs to take an interest quickly. He's missed a lot of school; perhaps something will be done from that end.

I can hardly wait to see what happens next. I'm sure the kid thought he got away with something. Meantime we know who he is and where he lives and all the neighbors are watching for any trouble. Hitting Elcie (who didn't even have her crutches to help balance) was the final straw for everybody. Those pellets don't break the skin but they hurt and they could put out an eye as easily as the metal pellets (which are illegal in the city limits).

There was a bright side. The little boy who was responsible for the first BB gun incident saw this one and ran for help which allowed the girls to get back acros the street. He came over while we were waiting for the police and apologized to me. Said what he did was wrong. He had to see it happen to realize what he'd done. He's basically a pretty good kid and he was almost in tears.

Tim and I watched "Rent" together Thursday afternoon at his house. I loved it; I'm a sucker for tearjerkers; the more Kleenex the better. And then tonight I finally watched Narnia with Elcie and Rochelle (Rebecca came in for part of it). They'd seen it on big screen with Tim. He or Carol are usually the ones that take the girls to the movies. They're old enough to be dropped and picked up but Tim likes the same blockbuster type films (Narnia, Harry Potter, etc.) so it works out nicely. I'm happy to wait for the dvd and the "pause" button.

I had a couple of quibbles with the film but overall it was fun and I may have been a little oversensitive. These movies portray the bad guys as ugly or misshapen and the good guys as handsome heroes. So it has always been of course. The good guys wear the white hats. I don't want the girls to think of that as reality. A handsome exterior often conceals evil and a person considered unattractive or even deformed by some may have the proverbial "heart of gold" and be the true hero. The girls need to know that.

Don't know what got me started on that. End of rant.

I'm thinking about clam chowder tomorrow. It's been on the request list for a week and the weather has cooled off enough for soup to taste pretty good. I'd better make it before the girls eat all the raw potatoes again. It's easy enough; especially when I leave most of the peel on the potatoes.

And, speaking of food, you all know about packaged fresh spinach and e coli, don't you? If you have some, don't use it (USA only so far as I know) and don't buy any until they can track down the source and issue an "all clear". Right now they have it traced to some farm in San Juan Bautista about 70 miles from here toward the coast.

Thanks to all for the good wishes. If I'm not back here daily, don't be concerned. I'm catching up on all the things I let go last week so I may have a little less computer time.

Have a good weekend and take care.