Down and Up.

Linda was ready to go to bed early, and I was grabbing my book to read, but we hadn't quite turned off the T.V. -- when "UP" came on.

The first five minutes of that movie are pure genius, and enough to bring you to tears -- without a word spoken. Of course, then we got hooked.

All I can say is -- dogs make very unreliable henchmen. Squirrel!!

Linda said she had a discussion with a woman who never watches cartoon movies -- "They're for kids."

Her loss.

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Got some gardening done, yesterday. At first it was a little cold, but it turned out to be perfect gardening weather.

It jibes with my memory of my Mom, who was the most intrepid of gardeners, who I have vivid memories of coming in the house wearing a winter parka, and having dirty knees and a smudged nose and looking utterly content.

Always a bit of a joke to me whether I'd come by the house to see her in the garden in Feb. or March (or Dec. and Jan. for that matter.)

Looking at my yards, front and back and sideways -- I have the "bones" for a great landscape. I've decided to clear the time, and I have can even afford to buy some plants. (I like subdividing the plants I have...makes me feel creative and cheap.)

Much like when I was writing novels, it takes a long, long time, and doing it a bit at a time.

Also like writing books, I kind of just plunge in and see what happens. Probably should put more thought into what plants and where -- but what's the fun in that?

It's a discovery.

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Speaking of writing. I've now written this blog for 2.5 years, EVERY DAY! Half the time I wake up and have no idea what I'm going to say. But all I need is a small start, and the words flow.

Not saying it's all great, but it happens every day.

100's of thousands of words, novels worth.

What would happen if I did the same thing with 'fiction?' What if I told myself it didn't matter what I wrote, or how long it was, or how good -- just do something every day. I suspect -- if I set out to do it -- that the same thing would happen.

I even have the blog already in existence. The scribblings probably wouldn't make much sense to anyone else, and would obviously be raw, unlike my blog where I can pretty much finish each entry, fiction would necessarily be 'first drafts." But it would be interesting to see what happens.

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The political stuff is just aggravating. I don't know where to start. Shilo Inns cutting down trees, then calling their "Republican" representative Chris Telfer to intervene, and being behind on their taxes but getting the fine reduced 90%?

Wow. Just wow.

It's not the first time a motel along the river has done that, and if the fines are going to be so pathetic, it won't be the last....

And, with all due respect to John Sterns, I just don't buy that Healing Hands' sale had anything to do with local taxes. It's starting to look more and more like a thought out agenda on the part of the editorial staff. Write a story, then go back to it again and again.

But I read the original story, and I don't think it said what they think it said.

Oh, and at the bottom of the business section of the Bulletin there is an article mentioning that at TRG "there has been a shift in customer service and telemarketing services to Pakistan, which could separate a large number of workers at TRG's Bend off from their jobs..."

Let me repeat that: "Separate a large number of workers...from their jobs." What a passive aggressive way to put it.

They were fired!

This seems like MAJOR news to me. When TRG sold recently, there was the usual talk about nothing changing, and as usual with new owners, I didn't believe it. That's what new owners do. That's why they buy the place, because they see a way to skin the business alive.

The Bulletin's slant seemed a bit strange to me -- the fired workers can go back to school! What a great opportunity!!!

TRG seemed like one of the few places in town where people could actually find jobs --