OK, so maybe this will have to become “Afternoon Seditionists,” at least until it either starts getting light out earlier, or I can trust the little monsters to go out on their own and not become coyote breakfast. Last night was a bit of a bummer, as I was awakened at 10:30 or so, and never did really get back to sleep (though I did have one interesting waking dream that involved my office being in kind of a hospital ward where my long-dead godmother was a patient, and I had my dogs there, my sister’s dogs there, and one fuzzy little brown kitty). So today is dragging pretty slowly here.

Arrived home to find my HW Heat circ pump not working. This kind of sucks, though it’s not too terrible, given the fact I have 2 pellet stoves and it’s not super-duper cold out. I could pull it apart and determine if it’s the motor or the bearing assembly, but I figured I’d order the whole set, and then look at rebuilding whatever’s wrong with it so I have a spare on the shelf. Buying one locally was gonna cost me $337.50, so I ordered one for $256 (plus $18 shipping). Good thing I’m made of money.

The place I’m getting it from is on Long Island, and they said they ship the same day, so hopefully UPS will get it here Friday. If not, I guess we’ll just have to deal with it.

Oh well, back to work.

Today, I stayed in bed until 6:00. Not asleep. I was awake for at least an hour. But it was very quiet, and I was reluctant to start up the puppy machine. Plus, the closer it gets to daylight, the better, when it comes to letting the monsters out and trying to keep track of them. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of extra time for the normal morning routine. Not that things are normal these days. Just getting from one side of the house to the other is a challenge not unlike a steeplechase. Except in this steeplechase two of the little horses are trying to tackle you and lick your face (before chomping on your nose). I think maybe I’ll put a cot in my office and just start sleeping here.

While he’s in town, John Cusack took the opportunity to visit with Jerry and Carol Berrigan. His father was friends with the Berrigan brothers, which explains why he turned into a good lefty. By the way, if you haven’t seen War Inc., you should check it out.

This is one of those rare days that are holidays, but not for me. So that’s a bummer. In fact, we both have to work five days this week (I realize I shouldn’t lament that fact, what with so many people out of work, but still).

Congratulations to the oil companies, as gas prices are the highest ever for a Washington’s Birthday (or whatever this is) holiday. They say $4.25 by April (some of you are probably already close to that). I think the only solution is tax cuts for rich people.

For those of you who don’t follow John Cusack on Twitter, you may have missed his cusetweet:

John Cusack @johncusack
Snowy day in the cuse – really nice people around these parts

He’s here filming an indie movie with Emma Roberts and others. Not that we think it’s a big deal or anything.

Oh well, time for me and my entourage to get the day started.

I stayed in bed longer this morning than I have in a long, long time. Not actually asleep, mind you. But none of the creatures were stirring, and I wasn’t about to get things going until I had to. It’s amazing how much you appreciate peace and quiet when it’s a rare commodity. The cats came around a little bit last night and this morning. Not that they’re ready to be BFFs with the puppies, but it was nice to see them at least thinking about tolerating them.

Yesterday was an interesting day. It snowed a fair amount, but it was also warm enough for me to patch fence holes and put in extra posts here and there. In between trying to wrangle the puppies and prevent them from making a break for it, since I didn’t have anybody to help me out. I finally locked them in their containment facility. It’s amazing how they’ve learned to teleport themselves instantaneously. One minute they’re there, and then – poof. All gone. I wish I could do that. I also wish I could jump in five different directions at the same time, the way they can.

I think I’ll be needing to replace the rather ancient wooden snow fence with goat fencing, though. Which means a pretty major investment in posts. And fencing. Puppy = $ Lots and lots of money. And shit. Lots of that, too.

Oh well, I’m down to my emergency backup underwear (the ones where the elastic band crinkles like cellophane when you stretch them; I think they’re older than my stepkids – and they’re pretty damn old these days), so I better do my laundry.

So, today I picked up Siggy’s ashes, which really hit me like a ton of bricks. Kind of like getting hit in the face with a shovel (I imagine). They made a little ceramic disk with his name and paw print. So, that’s that, I guess. Now it’s time to mend some fences.

Not much time today. Had to thwart a puppy jail break. Looks like I’ll be doing some fence repairs this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s sad that Whitney Houston passed out in the bathtub and drowned. I guess Kevin Costner let her down, big time. But from all the news coverage, you’d think she was Gandhi or something. She certainly had a nice voice, but she never should have gotten hooked up with Bobby Brown (general rule of thumb: don’t get involved with somebody who is the subject of a Zappa song). Nothing to do now but eagerly await the toxicology reports, and then wait for the movie.

Today’s Wednesday, right? I’ve kind of lost track, here. I would be quite happy to learn that it’s actually Thursday, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t. Granny will be home refereeing between the extremely unhappy Fritz and the puppies. Unfortunately, it’s the only day she has off this week. Hopefully everybody will survive.

I might say that it sucks to have to go back to work today and leave the puppies. But I actually need the rest, so I’m kind of looking forward to it. Between trying to take everybody outside to play (and poop and pee) and trying to keep Fritz from killing one of them (things are still a little tense when we’re all inside, and the cats, well, they are definitely not happy with the new situation. I’m just hoping that the puppy containment area will hold them. Otherwise, I shudder to think what I’ll come home to tonight.

We had wanted to get Fritz a puppy of his own to play with, but we didn’t want to subject Siggy to the trauma of a puppy, so we held off. Until yesterday, that is. No one dog could replace Siggy. So we got two (they don’t replace him either, of course). I feel kind of disloyal to the memory of Siggy, but these guys (well, one guy, one gal) are awfully cute. Sadly, Fritz doesn’t seem to like them one bit.

But, anyway, I hate to subject you to puppy pictures, but here are Peggy and Bud.

Winter has come back to these parts a little bit. It’s only about 15°, and there’s a light, but steady snow. In fact, we may get a foot by tomorrow morning. That’s really not much of a big deal, and it makes everything look very pretty. I’ll probably even get to plow the driveway. Or take a nap. Could go either way.