Pumpkin removes her collar to play with it.

My human gave me this wonderful toy to play with, and I can carry it around with me! Now if I only had an opposable thumb so I could put it back on so I didn't have to carry it.

I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, vacuumed the living room, and replaced the litter in the three litterboxes...that's enough, right? I really don't want to grade on my birthday weekend. Granted, my bday isn't until tomorrow and I have a ton to do, but still.

My birthday is Monday! Happy birthday, Pix!

Happy almost to you too! We can save the happy wishes until tomorrow, though. I like to celebrate with my sorella Maria since we share the day.

They're grading the road before the melt?

They'll grade again after the melt. Like I said, they do a really good job. I wouldn't normally expect it to be done now, but it definitely will help get us through to spring.

I went out to feed the birds and waved at the road grader guy, and he went around my street (it's a cul de sac) three times. They normally only do it twice, I think. I wasn't trying to suck up, I swear! But the road is all so nice and smooth now.

Back in the 80s, Hubby was running a projector at a SF con. He announced to the crowd in the film room, "OK, our feature film today, Graders in the Park, the gripping story of the men who run the big machines that keeps the roads passable in our national parks."

Several people make noises and get up to leave.

"Oh, sorry, wait, I misread that. This is something called Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't know, it might be interesting."

(No, it wasn't a pre-release thing, he was just bored. He only got pelted with a little popcorn.)

I grew up in BFE. We lived in a valley on a gravel road, and one winter, the snow was so bad, no one could get any kind of vehicle around.

So my dad and the neighbor rode horses the 10 miles to the grocery store. Daddy rode my horse, Bittersweet, who was a gentle, huge Clydesdale/quarter mix; Gerald rode a little paint.

It took them 8 hours.

I'm actually going to shop around for a Sodastream refill. Hmmph.

ME, TOO! WTF? I went to to stores that carry the Steam unit and syrup (Target and Kohls) and neither of them carry the CO2 canisters. Major fail. I think I'm going to call a local gas supplier and see if they can't refill my tank.

The Sodastream website lists carbonator retailers, or at least it used to.

I know in my area, the Bartells chain of drug stores carries them. But the Sodastream site should list retailers.