Quilters Comfort America

I ran across this onTambo's blog today. I'm not a good quilter. I've made quilts, but they're pretty sad. However, I do have a couple of tubs of fabric upstairs, and I haven't done any sewing projects since the mad rush to make costumes for Rendezvous. I think I might have to try this.

Ice kitty

Tess is fascinated with ice cubes. Somebody dropped one on the floor one day, and in true cat fashion, she just knew it was a toy. If only took a few ice cubes for the novelty to wear off. They do shoot across the floor like nobody's business, but they made her paws cold and wet.

The next evolution came when I went to the fridge to get ice for my coffee. It was a hot day and ice coffee was just the thing I needed, but I got too much ice, so I put some in the cats' water dish. Oh my, what fun that was! She sat and batted that ice around inside the dish until it melted. No matter what she did, it wouldn't sink and it stayed in the water.

Until this morning.

She figured out that if she gets a paw underneath it, she can pop it out of the dish. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't watched her fish it out and chase it across the floor!

The worst part is, I couldn't laugh out loud. Cats get offended when you laugh at them.

Katrina relief

All I can say is wow. I've seen my share of hurricanes, but nothing like this. This is bigger than when Andrew wiped Homestead AFB off the map.

If you are inclined to donate money to the relief efforts, my suggestion would be to take your check to the nearest United Methodist Church. They have disaster relief teams staffed all the time and 100% of your money will go to the people who need it. The church covers administrative costs. The UMC teams are usually on site before the Red Cross, too. They had teams in Sri Lanka within three days of the tsunami.

For an added reality check, go see what Holly had to say. She's got a good point; I don't think we've gotten much in the way of International aid for anything since the French helped us win the Revolution. I think people who are not American see us as rich and self-sufficient, so when something like this happens they think we don't need help. It would be nice if they asked, though.

First read-through done

I finally finished the first edit on Rogue Pawn last night. I'm happy with the way it came out. There were twists that I didn't anticipate, but that's part of what makes it exciting. I love it when the story takes over; all I have to do it try to keep up!

Today I start making the changes to the manuscript, and then I'll probably print it and give it a fast read-through before I send it to Scott. I really need him to proof it for me because the last, oh, probably third will be incorporated into DR2. He has his own ideas of what will happen in that book, so I need to be consistent.

It may sound odd, my willingness to change my story to fit the wishes someone else. The short reason is that when we work together, the product is better. Sometimes we use his ideas and sometimes we use mine, but our 'bouncing around ideas' sessions always yield some good stuff. He can help me fill in the holes I can't see, too. The downside of working with him is that it's slow. Since he lives twelve hours away, it's difficult to get together. We've done some on-line, but even coordinating that can be tricky, between his schedule and mine.

The good news is, life is settling down just a little, so we may be able to kick into high gear and get some work done. I need to get back into the swing of things; November is just around the corner!

Toyota commercial

Toyota, like all the other car companies in the U.S., is promoting sales for the last of the 2004 models. I was watching the news the other night when their commercial came on, and the music caught my attention. It was big and brassy (which I love) and would have been appropriate for the march of conquering heros in any epic film.

I was entranced.

Then I recognized the tune. It was only the verse, and they repeated the last line when the salesman and the happy customer gave each other an airborne high five.

Now I laugh every time it comes on. The name of the song is, "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor."* You can find some of the lyrics here, but it's missing the one I know:

Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Put him in the crow's nest until he's sober,
Earl-eye in the morning

Personally, the thought of dragging a drunk sailor up the mast to the crow's nest sounds a little daunting to me, but I guess if you're a big burly man it might not be such a big deal.

If you change crow's nest to jail cell, you could sing "What Do You Do With A Drunken Driver" but Toyota might not like that!

*I actually remember learning this song in a grade school music class. I came home from school and sang it for my dad, who was flabbergasted. It wasn't that his innocent little girl was singing about drunken sailors; it was that he'd heard the song at a Rendezvous and I'd learned it at school!