A Death in the Plumber's Family

I had a plumber here to replace my scummy old sink and equally scummy old toilet, and after he got the sink in, he had to leave because his dad was dying! Terrible. But as I told Lisa, he still has to switch the H and C taps so they are correct and I can't pay for the 45 minutes of phone calls or lunch.

I'm writing a grant to the national research council in humanities -- although if I get (highly unlikely) I can't accept because you can't work and hold this grant, and my salary is way higher anyway. But it's an exercise in clarifying thoughts and proposal -- and I got good feedback thus far: many corrections to make before next week, but they said it's "important work." Yeah!

Todd is in the hospital again -- he has a baby toe infection, this time in other foot. He had surgery yesterday and they amputated the whole little toe. This is crappy, but he won't have problems walking, and he'll heal faster and better because they just removed the infection source. Still, poor bird. He's had a really tough year.

I hear the Ferreys are coming to Schmoozy! Even though you got a 'dear friend' letter. Hello, mail merge?!