duck-shaped pain

Anyway, here are some things that are not whiny:

I got good books from the library yesterday and I intend to spend today drinking good beer or other beverage of choice and reading them. what I have to look forward to are (sorry, can't remember author's names off the top of my head): Mayordomo - Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico and Mirage: The False Promise of Desert Agriculture. Lots of light, fluffy reading.... I've been trying to write something, whether here or somewhere else (or, probably, random, first-drafty thoughts here and something a bit more polished somethere else), about rivers and water and agriculture, but I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to focus on or even if I really want to do it. So, in the meantime, read another book!

Today is a wonderful day and it might rain, so I wouldn't have to water the lawn and deal with the irritating Cane vs. Hose battle.

My friend S., who I thought I had completely lost touch with, is back in town.

I'm learning to like the dog better. I know that sounds like an odd thing, but it's taken awhile for me and Hoover to warm up to each other. My parents bought him after I moved out, so he's always been more their dog than mine. Gopher, the dog that died last year, was my dog -- and two more different dogs you'll never find. Gopher was a complete attention slut - pat him on the head once and you on't be left alone ever again. Hoover is a very aloof dog and rarely wants attention or petting or things like that. Gopher had a very amiable personality and was a very, I guess, funny dog. Hoover is more restrained and sort of dignified. So, ever since Gopher died, I've been thinking of Hoover as more not Gopher than as Hoover. But I'm getting more attached to his personality and weird quirks. He like likes ice cubes a lot. And peas. His favorite thing in the world to bark at is the collie which goes by the house every night at 6:15 pm. He is absolutely fascinated by insects. And such and such.