"The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were." - David Brinkley

In the last hour the wind has started to blow. I have whitecaps on the lily pond.
Jack does not like the wind. It makes him skittish but I don't know why.

He also doesn't like the vacuum cleaner, and freaks as soon as he sees it coming out of the closet. He could just go into his kennel in the guest room but for some reason he seems to think he has to keep an eye on it. So he skitters from room to room and panics if he gets stuck in a spot where he doesn't have a ready escape route.

When Pam's gone I do extra cleaning. Today it's been dusting, wiping down baseboards and vacuuming. The very fine particles of desert dust get in even with windows closed and coat everything. This time of year, when daytime highs are in the 90's but overnight lows dip into the 60's, we open everything up before going to bed to cool the house down. Then, if around 9 a.m. we close it back up and pull the blinds it will stay cool enough that we don't need the AC.  But it also means a lot more of that desert dust in the house.

I realized this morning that the problem wasn't with the carb kit but with the mechanic. Steve says that at Best Buy they would tell the customer with a computer problem that they had a UTS error. That was their (unshared) code for User Too Stupid. I didn't realize the accelerator pump came apart. Once I figured that out I could see how the kit parts worked.
So late this afternoon I went back to work reassembling the carb. I'd been at it about an hour when the tiniest little e-clip I've ever seen shot off the post and out into the air. Where it landed is anybody's guess and I have no hope of finding it. This thing is maybe a 16th of an inch in diameter and gray. And it landed on the rug.
So tomorrow I'll call and order a new carb. I had been debating about that anyway, and this makes it the only option. Drat.

I talked to my dad earlier. He's sitting in my mom's hospital room watching her sleep, the effect of the stout pain meds they've got her on. He said she's had 2 pints of blood and several units of hemoglobin (?), and the doctors think things are under control. If she continues to improve she'll go back to the rehab unit in a couple of days. That news makes me feel a lot better.

The European Union will turn 20 next year. If it makes it that far. There was lots of hand wringing on this side of the pond when it was instituted and the Euro established as the universal currency among EU members. Now many are wondering if the Union and the Euro can survive. The Greeks seem clueless, but that's nothing new. They've got massive deficits and riot at the word austerity. Not to be outdone, the French elect a Socialist who believes the answer to their economic problems is for the govt. to spend more money.

Then again, maybe they've got something.
Maybe Pam and I should spend all of our money, then borrow more and spend all of that. Once we've burned through everything, including funds that aren't ours, the key to getting out of debt is to....
spend even more!!

I don't understand high finance but I have trouble believing the dynamics at the governmental level are the exact opposite as what's appropriate at the personal level.

I ate the dinner Pam left for tonight - actually the second half of what I had last night - and I'm still hungry. I think it's time for hot dogs and chips. Then more chocolate cake from the pan. All of this while I watch either the Coyotes hockey game or the episode of Top Gear that I taped from earlier tonight.