Tired, sweaty and footsore; according to my pedometer I have walked something over 30 miles in the last five days.

Not sure I can afford to go on such a long vacation again though, while at the kennel someone taught Cuddles how to fart. You all almost read about it on the news, woman and dog found asphyxiated in their car on the I-10. HOLY SHIT, BATMAN! So to speak.

I'm hoping it was just because she only got kibbles to eat while in the kennel.

Had another good day at the con, bought some comics collections, including one of Groo off of Sergio Aragonés in Spanish. I asked him if he wrote the dialog himself but he said no, that he wrote the stories and drew them but as usual Mark Evanier wrote the dialog and then Sergio had some other person translate Mark's dialog into Spanish. Seems roundabout. :) I know that there are comics out there that Sergio has done in Spanish that he wrote himself but he didn't have any at the con. It sort of tickled him that I bought the one I did.

The site stays up as long as there are no blowups. I'll leave it up as long as I can and only take it down if there is a mess that I or my helpers cannot clean up easily without me writing a lot of PMs and emails. If I think I'll have to do that, I'll close the site down until, probably Sunday night or Monday morning.

Hugs to all and be excellent to each other,
Erin

Not sure why yet, but it's back up now. I was asleep and did not see the problem. Piper will investigate later.

Hugs,
Erin

I was actually a bit worried, nothing was past due but things were getting tight. And knowing that everyone has their own expenses I wasn't sure anyone would be able to help out. But plenty of you cam through with donations and in two days, we reached goal for June and got a start on July.

Yay, us! :)

I'll be gone for a week in July but I'll have my laptop with me and Piper and my other helpers will be around to keep things on an even keel. Let's have a great summer!

Hugs to all,
Erin

Ranting in the comments on someone else's post is not a friendly act. If you have some subject about which you feel strongly enough to post a rant, please do so at a site where ranting is allowed. It's not allowed here.

I overheard some men enjoying this rather rude joke at a party on Saturday, so as part of the language studies that my brother and I are doing, I translated it into my semi-bad Spanish:

Una vez Caperucita Roja estaba caminando por el bosque, para llevar una cesta de cosillas buenas a su abuela. Caminaba sola cuando un conejo se acercá³ a ella y le dijo: "Me temo para te, Roja. Hay un lobo en el bosque y él podrá­a intentar herir te."

I went out to eat at a fast food restaurant and felt a bit lonesome and bored afterwards. So I did something I do once in a while and headed over to the nearby casino to people watch.

As usual when I do this, I leave my purse and money in the car, taking in only myself, my keys and my phone and a small amount of cash in case I get hungry.

This link is to the blog of an acquaintance of mine, Mark Evanier, who writes the Groo comic book and the Garfield television show among many other things. Mark is a whiz at words and here he does a marvelous job of expressing part of what I mean when I say, give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/06/03/the-olaf-story/

Hugs to all,
Erin

What with vet and doctor bills, repairs to the house and other expenses, I just had to borrow $800 to pay this month's bills. Accordingly, I've increased the amount I'm asking in the Hatbox because, quite frankly, the time I spend running the site could be spent doing something that would earn money. Expenses on the site have gone up also, since running websites and servers is Piper's actual job, I feel I have to pay her at least some for the time she spends working on the site and the servers as well.

We passed 19,000 stories on Sunday, 19,001 to be exact. We'll probably hit 20,000 sometime in July; Fictionmania may get there first. :)

Here's his lesson for this morning:

It's almost the end of the month and we are still a bit short of our goal for the month. Please, if you can, help us keep BigCloset up and running by subscribing. Thanks.

Hugs,
Erin and Piper

I’m not sure how long we stayed with Ma and Pa that time, not more than a few months I’m sure. We moved into a house in town that wasn’t much more than a shed for a short time and then into a place I called The Little Red House. It had asphalt siding made to look like red bricks and it sat between the schoolhouse and The Big Red House where another bunch of cousins lived.

Mom took an immediate job in one of the agricultural sheds since Aunt Opal would stay at home to take care of me and John. Dad soon joined Mom, sorting fruit and vegetables for shipment. I seem to remember this as being cantaloupes, but that doesn't seem right since we arrived in fall after most of the melons would have already been harvested.