gloom, despair, agony on me; deep, dark depression, excessive misery

For those of you who were forced to watch "Hee Haw" as a child...and you know who you are...well, the title of this post will jog your memory a bit. I never understood why that segment of the show was supposed to be funny.

Anyway, YES, I know that I have not posted anything in a while, and YES, I'm sorry about it, and NO, there's nothing I can do about it now, so cut me some slack.

Here's what's been happening: bad weather every gosh-darn day. Telling people to get out of the way of tornadoes, lightning, hail, and other accoutrements of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Kelly and I bought a car. I will put a picture of the Element up sometime soon, because it is just so darn cute. I love this car. It is irrational to love a car, but I do. Because, you know, I'm stupid, or something.

I had a birthday. It was fine. My mother is having a birthday today. I assume it, too, is fine.

My nephew kinda-sorta broke his leg by falling off a couch (yep, those would be the Lorson catastrophic-stuff-happens-to-us-in-nominally-benign-circumstances genes, all right). You can learn more about this at schindlersinkentucky.blogspot.com. Cute pictures of a kid in a bright green cast abound.

The dogs have been keyed up and on-edge for days. I am assuming this is because of the weather. On Friday night, Finnegan came in and woke me up and would not leave me alone until I agreed to go downstairs with him. I sat down in a chair in the downstairs bedroom and was watching the Weather Channel (geeks of the world, unite!), and he was still unhappy. He kept nudging me, and then pushing me, and whimpering. So I stood up, and he pushed me into the bathroom. Which is where we go in moderately severe weather -- if I can hear the tornado sirens going off, we go outside and get in the creepy underground storm shelter. Anyway, Finnegan was determined, so I gave in and ended up sitting in the bathroom for an hour, until he calmed down. Dogs? Love 'em. They endlessly surprise you.

Nothing else to report, really. The book is coming along slowly, because I am a lazy bum with no sense of self-preservation or ambition. The house, however, has never been tidier. It is amazing how much energy I have for vacuuming and dusting when I know I should be writing instead. The lilacs have finished blooming for now, though they may make another run at it. Our magenta peonies have bloomed; the pink are ready to go any day now. Also, the irises are up and our poppies are blooming.

Happy birthday, Mom! Eat cake, go out for dinner, go wild. I'm glad you were born.