Cooper lay at my feet, licking his furry paws.

     “Cooper, stop licking!” I scold.

     Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!

     “Cooper, I said stop it!”

     Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!

     “What are you doing?” I say as I look down at my feet and Cooper.

     Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!

     Cooper is now licking the floor. His long pink tongue laps at the hardwood floor.

     “Cooper, what are you licking?” I push his head away to see what has his interest.  There under his paws and under his nose are scales. Fish scales. Scales from the little tetra that Sam the Killer Cat had impaled with his claws and devoured for a snack the day before. “Awe, Cooper,” I whine. 

     I get up and go to the kitchen sink to obtain a wet sponge. I wipe up the scales that are dried and spread over a small area of the hardwood floor. I look to the left to see another patch of fish scales. There can be no mistaken. Sam had enjoyed the tetra and left remnants – scales – a little reminder of what was left of the fish.

     I wipe up the other small patch of scales. “All gone, Cooper.” Yes, the little tetra is just that – all gone.

     Today I bit the bullet, so to speak, and bought a new phone. My old one was on its last leg.  After numerous drops into toilets and on the ground, it finally was starting to rebel. In fact, now when I turn it on, it has these squiggly lines going through the center of the display making it near impossible to read the numbers.

     Palm has come out with a new phone called Centro. Pretty cool. It has a touch screen just like my Palm so I didn’t have to learn a lot of new software.  That in itself is a real time saver.  It’s easy to use. Easy to read the display and has more features that I think I may every use – at least today.  It has email, internet. Bluetooth, calendar, and it all syncs to my laptop, which is even better. In fact, my Palm can sync to my phone as well as my laptop. That is just way too cool.  In fact, my 4G memory card allows me to store 1000 songs or 9600 images or 1280 minutes of video AND it all can be downloaded to my laptop.  Of course, if I’m going to have all this new technology, I might as well go all the way and get a Bluetooth headset. Again, new technology. It is so small and unobtrusive, you can hardly feel it in your ear. Plus now my phone can use the Bluetooth in the car, too. And it can beam and print.  In fact, with all the rebates from Sprint, this phone was actually affordable.

     Welcome to the 21^st century. Embrace it. It’s not going away!

     Do you remember when I told you all about getting caught up in Duma Key by Stephen King? Well, today I’m nearing the end of the story and I just can’t wait to finish. But I have so much to do around here that I can’t just stay inside and listen to this story. Ah, I have an idea! I’ll listen to the CD on my car radio. What a thought! So out I go, move my car to the garden where I will be working, and get all my tools and garden equipment. I open the cargo hatch, put in my CD, and crank it up. The story takes me away to another time and place as I rake the leaves and clear the paths. The story continues to hold my interest and I’m not even aware of the time slipping away and the afternoon sun moving across the sky.

     Right in the middle of a very fascinating part, the reader abruptly stops reading. Hmmm… why could that be? I return to the driver’s seat and fuss with the radio. The clock stills shows that time, but when I turn the key… nothing… just a click, click, click. Aha! Battery! What was I thinking? Leave the radio on long enough without the car running and Viola! No battery. Dumb, very dumb. 

     So off I go to get the other car to jump start the truck. I called Richard to whine and complain and ask him if he’ll walk me through a jump. I’ve read about how to it, but I’ve never in my 57 years had to actually do it. RJ reassured me that the battery was probably going anyway since it’s the original battery in my 2002 truck. It didn’t really make me feel any better. I still felt dumb.  Step-by-step, RJ told me how to hook up the cables and charge up my battery. I was so excited that I was able to do it that I cried. He laughed over the phone and to told me I should really make arrangements to get a new battery installed so I don’t get stranded somewhere when I’m out and about. The good news is that by RJ empowering me, I now can take care of myself if something should ever happen with my battery again. And that is a very good feeling.

     Okay, I stopped at Home Depot on my way back from dinner with Linda and selected several sage greens that are more to my liking. I knew when I got up this morning and peered out at the Inn from the little house and saw that color, I knew that it was not going to work and I would need to choose something else.  I swear, it looked like track housing.  Too light, too green. It had no contrast with the stone part of the Inn and looked, well, it looked pitiful.  I’ve decided to use a pure white for the trim, dark green on the back door and rustic red on the front door amid the stone entrance way.  I think tomorrow I’ll run out in the morning and pick up the right color.

     The weatherman said it will be in the 70-75 – good day for working outside. I have a bit of writing to finish and then I’ll have some time for myself.  I finished making my notecards this morning.

     Oh yea. Remember I said I had this new recipe to try out? Well, I made it this morning knowing I would share with my committee members and hopefully get some honest feedback. It sure smelled good. Everyone said it good. Then I took a bite and said I didn’t care for the taste. I felt it should have been a bit sweeter. Others started to agree and I finally got to the bottom for what was missing.  I think no one wanted to hurt my feelings. Actually no one did. The criticism was constructive.  The tea cake was good but not my best.  It’s nothing like my Cranberry Nut Bread.  So I think I will have to revisit this recipe and see what I can do to make it better.  I know I’m on to something. It’s just not quite right yet.

     The flowers are coming into bloom now in front of the Inn and filling in the front walkway and the scent is heavenly and fragrant.

     I started painting the exterior of the Inn today. A soft sage green. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but after the second coat on a section of side clapboard, it looks like the color will blend quite nicely with the stone exterior and the stucco on the second floor. Tomorrow I’ll finish the side before my meeting at 3:00 PM. That should be the deciding factor. I think once I see the entire side, I’ll be able to make a decision. The worse case scenario, I’ll need to select a darker color and it will cost me a can of Behr paint.  Better to make that decision now rather than after I’ve bought gallons of this stuff.

     The weather today was gorgeous…perfect day to work outside. I cleaned inside after my guests last night, but headed outside as soon as I finished.

     By 6:00 PM, I was finished with my outside work and decided to move my efforts indoors at the little house.  I finally got to updating my calendar for the events in the area and Michael linked it to my site so now I can update it myself whenever.  My press release is almost finished (about time) and then I’ll move on to my newsletter. I found a template I really like. Most of the stories are already written along with a couple of recipes. Once I send this one out, the rest will be easy to do. It’s always the first one that is difficult.  Fortunately, they get better each time.

     Tomorrow will be pretty busy. I have baking to do in the morning for my afternoon meeting. The Inn is ready. It’s just the refreshments and set-up, so I will have time to paint in the late morning after my breads come out of the oven.  I broke down and brought a set of new cookware. Since I’ve been doing more dinners, I bring my cookware from the little house to the Inn and then back again.  It’s just getting crazy. When I was out shopping the other day, I found a complete set out of the box that the manager was willing to sell to me at 50% off. Needless to say, I scooped it up before someone else decided they had to have it. Now I have to decide if I want to keep it at the little house or move it up to the Inn. Oh my, decisions, decisions.

     I am so frustrated with myself. I’ve been listening to Duma Key by Stephen King and am totally enthralled with the story. In the middle of disk 3, my phone rings and I grope for my CD player to “Pause” so I can take the call. Unfortunately, I turn and the CD player crashes to the tile floor. Need I say more?  A crack, a spring, a case that won’t close, and a weird sound when I attempt to press “Play” greets me. Damn… Now what? The radio with a CD player read “ERROR” when I insert the disk. The CD player in the living room is attached to other equipment and is too complicated to work and I certainly can’t carry around my laptop to hear the rest of the story. I’m crushed. My husband bought me that player because he knows that when I can’t read because of other work I’m doing, my CD player allows me to hear the unabridged books that I don’t always have time to read. I’m afraid that if I did actually read all the books I listen to, I probably wouldn’t be doing anything else besides read and write.

     So now I’m at a loss – stuck in the middle of a story and craving to hear what happens next. This book reminds me of the King of old. The Shining King or The Stand King. The King that really told a good tale. I care about this one and I can’t hear anymore of it until I figure out a way to play the rest of the disks.

     I really can’t go out and just buy another CD player. That is not an option right now, so I’ll have to see if I have a CD player at the Inn I can bring over so I can listen to the story while I work over at the little house.

     It’s not the first time I did something this stupid and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I just feel bad for being so clumsy.