Ed had to appear in court this morning with regard to the estate of his deceased client and he wore one of his expensive suits recently gotten from Saks. Then he called to tell me he’d had a tragedy and my heart stopped. Turns out he had burned a cigarette hole in it (he didn’t say where). He asked me to research a reweave.

Well, good luck with that in Florida. We’ll have to ship the suit to Chicago or California. I got a sort of estimate by phone from the Chicago outfit.

Using the computer was a real pain, too, because my keyboard was hanging up. I had changed the batteries too days ago. So I opened the battery case again and cleaned the contact points with alcohol and it’s working again.

Speaking of batteries, we hand to change the battery in one of our relatively new Panasonic cordless phones. It was going dead in the middle of conversations. I did that two weeks ago and the same thing is happening. Moreover, in order to be sure we know the battery is low, it beeps every ten minutes. It's amazing how annoying that beep is.

Meanwhile, I printed a label the fabric repair outfit provided on line to facilitate the shipping. While the printer was coming on (it burps, gulps, foomfs, gurgles forever until its ready and then voila!! It’s a printer). I got up to get something while it was doing its number, and noticed a vomit spot on the den rug. I located the pet stain remover – I keep losing it because I use it all over the house and leave it in place until I am totally done with that particular spot. I found a full Woollite rug cleaner in the closet, but I can’t use it because the spray thingy has broken off. I’ve had it for years and I hate that I can’t use it but won’t throw it out. I guess I’ll throw it out. I’m sick of stuff I can’t use cluttering up the storage spaces.

While I was on the floor cleaning the stain, I noticed a new cache of pet hair wrapped around the CD caddy. I gave that a desultory wipe and a promise and realized that in order to pick up everything, I’d have to move it and dig into the rug underneath. But not right now.

I looked up a childhood friend, several years older than me, a family coumbari ... my father was godfather to his little sister who did not survive. But once that connection is made, you are family. I found his son … pretty sure it’s him, right small town in Illinois, unusual name. So I wrote him. Let’s see if that goes anywhere.

Susan-tailor-lady who now lives in Wisconsin promises she will visit this month – hey, it’s almost March, I wrote her. She’s waiting for a check, she said, and then she will buy a ticket.

We are experiencing a real cold snap and I wore my down parka with the hood up when I biked yesterday afternoon. And the previous day, the wind was so strong, I thought I’d have to walk the bike home. But I huffed and I puffed and made it. I cut the route short, but it was such an effort that I think I still got the work-out. I hope it warms up soon, not for my sake, but the wildlife around here really suffers and two years ago during a lengthy cold spell, dolphins and manatees and schools of fish were dead in the water, having no where to go to warm up.

My b.i.l.’s sister and husband are visiting them. I’ve know Ruby since she was 14 and I was 17, and I like her a lot. I have asked her to take at least a short walk with me, but the thought sends her back to bed. I feel like the energizer bunny.

xx, Teal