Today was the last day of my first physical therapy prescription, but now I go for once-a-week maintenance visits. I am VERY happy about this. Not only is my leg ten times better (we walked over eight miles on Sunday) but I have a great time when I go there.

The old washer was beyond saving, so we bought a new washer/drier pair last night. Very nifty-neato, with 'churning action' and fancy buttons and sensors and other doo-dads. If ya gotta do laundry, you might as well feel like you're doing it on the Enterprise, right?

Now the X died.

Xxxxxxxxxxx.

Between the new Jeep (still not arrived from the factory) and the bathroom remodel, we're not in the mood for any extra expenses right now. Which is why the washing machine killed itself yesterday. And which is also why the 'h' key just broke on my laptop.

It's like something out of the book Misery, actually. Remember how the main character had to write on an ancient typewriter, and the keys kept breaking, one after another? Well, first my 'M' key went. I have to type 'mmmmm' in order for it to write 'm' once. Now the 'H' key. Hhhhhhhh. I tried taking the keys off and blowing out the cat hair, but have only partial success.

Figures.

A very BAD and EVIL crow has eaten one of our Dum Dums. The other three remain in the nest and are as chirpy as ever. Mom Dum Dum, though, seems to think that I was involved in the attack (since I went screaming out the front door clapping and waving my arms when I saw the crow) and will no longer tolerate me anywhere near the nest. Even if she sees me looking through the window, she will divebomb in my direction until I close the shutters again.

Sigh.

In other news, we're still thrilled about the Publisher's Weekly review, even though Certain Other People (yes you, sister) seem to think it was a little strange. Granted, I'm not used to being called 'Van', but everything else was awesome. It's also a big deal for a little nonfiction book like mine to get any PW attention at all, let alone such a cool review. So we're happy.

:-)

My book is shipping from the warehouse today!

The odd part of this news is that it will still be about two weeks (!!!) until it appears in bookstores, at least on this coast. I just called Barnes & Noble and they're not expecting arrival until May 10. The day AFTER Mother's Day. Arrgh.

(And I must admit, I'm feeling a little sulky becase I still haven't *seen* it yet. I don't know the inside color, I haven't seen most of the illustrations, and I'm just hoping that the author photo and bio aren't holding any nasty surprises. Chances are, you folks on the east coast are going to get to see the book a good week before I am. Hmmph.)

Check it out! I got a Publisher's Weekly review! It appeared on Amazon this morning, so just use the link on the left <---

I saw the Most Horrible Thing Ever at the cafe in Fry's yesterday.

A teenage boy was having a bagel sandwich for lunch. He lifted off the top half of the bagel, SPAT ON IT, then SPAT ON THE SANDWICH, then closed the sandwich again and started EATING IT.

When he got to the second half of the sandwich, he took off the top bagel slice and SPAT ON IT AGAIN. Then put it back on the sandwich and FINISHED EATING.

I'm not kidding. I had to throw my own lunch away. Why would someone do that???

Went to the Giants game on Friday night, which was uninspiring until the very last inning, when Bonds hit his 662nd homer, giving the Giants two runs. Not enough to win, but enough to avoid a shutout. Good enough.

On Saturday night we went to hear Jane Goodall talk. She's my idol. She needs a Nobel Prize. She was speaking about the preservation of indigenous cultures, which is awesome, and also about her Roots & Shoots educational program. We had a marvellous time and she signed two of my books. I even got to shake her hand, and Tony told her what a huge inspiration she's been to me, which earned me a big smile. Unreal.

Today, though, was Crash Day. We're pooped.

Happy GOZ DAY!

(Translation: the goslings made their first seasonal appearance down the street today. We traditionally celebrate by driving around with the convertable top down and eating hot dogs at the drive through, but it's drizzling out and Tony is still airbound anyway, so we'll have to postpone for a bit.)

And now for a game of Choose Your Fate. You may pick either A or B:

A. You fly from San Francisco to Vancouver to Seattle to Spokane to Seattle to San Francisco in a 38-hour period. No books or magazines on the plane.

B. You spend 3 hours in the dentist's chair while he hacks, saws, and hammers at your lower jaw. The nitrous machine is broken. Afterward you require massive amounts of Tylenol with Codeine for the pain, even though it makes you yak.

The first is Tony. I'm the second. The single redeeming tidbit of the day is that a cable channel (no details allowed) is interested in interviewing me about the book. I just have to send video of myself first so they can see that I'm acceptable -- ie. I don't have pinkeye or gangrene or anything else horrid that would frighten the viewers.

What a day. Eight mile walk, big dinner with friends, and we bought a car. Not a Land Rover, after all -- an absolutely adorable khaki Jeep Sahara soft-top that is being put together for us in the factory as I type. (Okay, that's an exaggeration. They're not making it today because it's Sunday and Easter as well. But they'll be making it tomorrow.)

We went to Land Rover to buy the Freelander, and at the very last minute decided it just wasn't perfect for us. Then just a quick hop to the Jeep dealership to check things out, a test drive, and WHAMMO, we became Jeep people.

Cold is back. No physical therapy today.

Remember the dum-dums from last year? A little brown bird stupidly made her nest directly above the light over our front door (or, maybe not so stupidly -- maybe the light is warm, or maybe it discourages predators, who knows?) so we dubbed her babies the dum-dums. Anyway, she's back, and a new little flock of dum-dums is hatching today. She's hopping around and flapping her wings and standing on the edge of the nest peering inside in a very excited manner. I'm glad she's back -- it broke my heart last year when the dum-dums grew up and flew away.

Went out last night to see Hellboy (starring my uncle Ron) with a big group of friends. Dinner, talk, movie, candy, "Have a Starburst," and WHAM, one of my new crowns from last summer fell right out of my mouth. OUCH. Had to deal with a huge hole in my jaw until this morning, when the dentist slapped the crown back into place with a little cement.

So no big Passover dinner for me. I'm just supposed to eat mush until tomorrow.

Happy Passover anyway!

Sneeze snort cough hack snort ugh drip drip snort sneeze drip yuck cough hack snort

We're home from LA, done shooting the CSI:Miami sets. It was harder than when we shot the CSI:Vegas sets, because they were filming at the same time we were taking pictures and we had to try not to get in the way. This basically meant that every time someone yelled "ACTION!" and the big set bell went off, we would literally have to freeze in our tracks until the bell rang again.

Also... take a good look at those sets next time you watch the show. Yikes. Everything is either glass, stainless steel, or shiny (reflective) black tile. Not a photographer's dream, especially with poor lighting.

Still it was a great time, and we got to hang out there all day and chow down on a decadent catered lunch on the lot, and we think (hope) the pictures turned out nearly perfect. Haven't actually looked at them yet -- too scared!