• Squirrels were flirting this afternoon in front of the beautiful -- but condemned -- brick house down the street, which is now for sale.
• What does squirrel poop look like?
• Another disheartening sign that The Day is approaching: Conversation hearts are five for a dollar. Fax me, baby.
• Somewhat related, an update on Ariel's wacky ancestors: 1) Several newly-discovered grandfathers are named Valentine Day (seriously); 2) Ariel's grandfathers are getting divorces long before it's in vogue; 3) One of Ariel's great-great-grandfathers grew up in a boarding house run by the relatives of his future wife (and later ex-wife).
• I spent the afternoon browsing through all the editions of my paper since I've been there; 2005 is over, so it's time to prepare entries for the state newspaper association contest. I'm not too worked up about it because our paper won for general excellence last year, and it's not generally excellent. Still, even deciding what to enter is a chore because there are all those weeks to work through and so many categories: general excellence, typography and design, best news story, best news series, best feature story, best feature series, best headline writing, best column, best humor column, best spot news photo, best feature photo, best sports photo, best photo series, and outstanding young journalist. And I'm lucky -- I only have to peruse seven months of papers. Everyone else has 12 months to deal with. (I guess you could look at it the other way -- I only have seven months of work to choose from.)
• On the way home from the flirting-squirrel walk -- during which I coveted many adequate to superior hanging porch swings -- I was approached by not one but two sets of Jehovah's witnesses. I'm not sure how to react to them. I forget their theology; I just remember it's "bad."
• And the latest sin -- I was once again tempted to abduct the neighbors' puppy before I walked in the door.