About a month ago, before it got so blooming hot, I was enjoying my back porch with BFF Lucy. By the time it got good dark and we had polished off our bottle of wine, I began to get a little emotional, maudlin even; we'd been talking about our mothers, and I began to cry. "I don't want to get old and senile like my mother did!" I wailed. "Shut that up right now!" she barked. "Besides, I heard if you work a crossword puzzle every day, you will stay mentally alert."

I'm not sure Lucy's remedy works for everybody. I do know that playing Scrabble every day and beating the computer makes me feel smarter. Coming up with something to say on this blog everyday is a challenge that exercises a couple of the old brain cells, too. Maybe that's why I was worried about slipping into senility.... blogging was proving to be too difficult. With my feeble mind, I just couldn't think of anything worthwhile to say. I still can't, but today that isn't stopping me.

It's been a fairly productive day for me. The depressing funk comes and goes, but the latest one is beginning to clear. I've suffered some dark bouts of blue devils since the December accident. The antidepressant helps, but drinking the occasional glass of wine cuts its effectiveness, my pharmacist tells me. Guess that's why I don't do it very often.

Mike's condition slowly improves, especially since he started counseling, but I'm really tired of having to drive him everywhere. I'm not sure he will ever drive again, the brain damage was too severe, plus his eyesight was affected. He's controlling his temper better, and is making a conscientious effort to empathize. And he stays in his room most of the time, which I really appreciate. It's not an ideal set-up, but it could be a lot worse.

We are blessed and today I feel thankful.

One of the home-improvement projects I've almost completed is the building of a screened-in back porch on our back deck. The courtyard between our garage and condo has been completely covered with decking since we moved here in '97, and there was a hot tub that we lost interest in after the first year or two. The hot tub has been removed and some of the decking, which gave me a couple of spaces for small flower gardens. It's not exactly like I visualized, but it's getting there.

Right after the work started on this project, I was awakened around 4:30 one morning by my dogs barking at some dogs outside, who were also barking. When I went to investigate, I found 2 dark brown Dachshunds on my front patio, along with their "pup tent" carrier, their food, their bed, and their toys. Who thought I needed two more dogs?

Niko Baron and Riko Aaron spent that day with me, and Gus and Jay-Jay got over their jealousy after a while. Even though their names were on their collars, there were no tags. I really wished I had the resources to accommodate them permanently, two of the cutest, smartest, sweetest dogs ever, but I didn't.

During the course of the day, I met two people who were interested in adopting them. The lady from the dentist office wanted only one of them, but I hated to split them up. They had already been separated from their people, I hated to separate them from each other. It was easy to see they had been playmates for a long time. The man who came to look at them said he would take them both. We had mutual friends who recommended him as an honorable dog lover, so I sent them home with him. And they were at his house for about a week when, I learned, he gave them to a friend. The Dachshunds did some damage to the man's house one day when they were left alone with his Golden Retriever. His wife said they had to go.

I'm still not sure what happened to Niko and Riko. I'm haunted by the thought that they may have not yet found a permanent home. I know people are struggling these days to keep their homes, and pay their bills, so I assumed they came from some unfortunate circumstances. I figured that someone knew I am a sucker for homeless animals. (The two dogs I have were adopted from the street and the two cats were adopted from shelters.)

If anyone out there knows where those adorable Dachshunds came from or where they are now, please tell me "the rest of the story." I've wondered and worried about them for almost a month now.

It's been a lazy day for me, lazier than usual. Probably the most productive thing I did was to go grocery shopping, prepare a couple of meals, and pay a couple of bills. I've been in one of those nostalgic moods listening to music from the 60's and hanging loose. I know...it's a hard life.

We're in the process of selling Mother's house in Plantersville. Due to lots of unfinished business that I never got around to finishing, it's taking a lot longer to get this done than it should have, but we're getting there. Maybe letting go of our last tangible tie to my hometown has influenced some of the sadness I've felt today.

I did learn that my friend Gloria was re-elected as mayor by a fairly large margin. Congratulations to her! Glad to know P'ville is still in good hands.

My cousin Skip was here yesterday and today. Somehow I always manage to have more fun than usual when he's here, and this time was no exception. We acted much younger than we are by staying up last night until almost 1:30 and drinking way too much wine. BFF Lucy came over when she got off work at 7, so we had some serious conversation, but also lots of silly, silly stuff. This morning we were painfully aware of our real age. For lunch, the three of us met George and Benji at Primo's and continued to enjoy good food and lively conversation. Benji shot this picture with his cell phone. From L to R: George, Lucy, Skip and me. Thanks, Son!

While Mike was in therapy at St. Dominic's this morning, Skip and I went to Lemuria Book Store. It's such a cool place to hang out, to browse, to buy. Loving books as much as he does, I was surprised to get Skip out after just an hour, and with only one book. He and George are both avid readers, and when you put them together with Benji, I feel almost illiterate compared to them, but two are English professors and the other taught history, so it's no wonder. Maybe I soaked up some smarts over lunch.

I've got Z's to catch up on tonight. Sweet dreams!