Yesterday we took a bunch of stuff to St. Vincent de Paul. Then, back at home, as I was scrubbing down the bathroom walls and ceiling(!) I discovered more stuff for them already!

The Lace Project is just about finished. I suspect our kids will be surprised.

The reason we went to St. V. de P. is that the semi-annual SPCA booksale is going on. I took in three bags, and brought home two. Most of my purchases are kids' books, fortunately, including a lot of Mercer Meyer's Little Critter. I don't count these, since they walk, get torn, get given away... they are just nice to have on hand. I got a couple of things I may already own, Manchester's HISTORY OF AMERICA and the 4-volume HISTORY OF MATH by Breasted. (Which I remember from my youth at the Laramie Carnegie Library.)

On our way to the area, we found 5 caches, just to keep our hand in.

I scrubbed the bathroom, as stated earlier. There's more to be done, but it doesn't involve a ladder in the tub.

Tonight we went to "HMS Pinafore" which Bernadette is in. There's a really clever cache in the parking lot there, which I was quite chuffed to find. The play is fun, though I couldn't understand the heroine at all. I kept falling asleep, probably because of the exercise in the after noon. This is the ObGoe of the day, since he was really fond of LOTS and the director, Mike Baad. (Who didn't remember him, but I suspect that's more from the context --- why would you expect to hear of a former colleague who's been dead nearly 6 years? I suspect if we'd set it up, he'd know who we were talking about.)

Today had a number of similarities. We went over to Davis to see if we could see "Annie Get Your Gun" early. We first dropped off metal recycling and made someone happy with a bent and dented softball bat. Then we stopped by the theater to see if we could trade, yeah, and also to donate some money, this time for a seat for ourselves. THEY remember GoE! Steve wanted to know if we'd seen his seat and said how he misses him.

He also explained what happened with the financing. Bank of America blew it and so is buying the loan out at 50%, so anything he gets before the end of April will help a lot. Then he's got a lower loan for the balance: In 2005 he started at $187,000, which was down to $103,000. He's had about $14,000 in donations so far so the new, lower-interest loan (with a different bank) will be for $35,000 or so.

Then, before the play, we went caching. The one I really wanted to get was a puzzle based on geometry: I had solved it and verified the coordinates with an automatic checker. When we got there, there were a man and two kids there, and yes it was a cacher! After this one, we went to 2 others before the play.

Maybe because it's opening week, but this one, "Annie Get Your Gun" seemed awfully lackadaisical. Annie was the only one who seemed to have any energy. They've done better jobs. This time it seemed more like the ACTORS were the ones falling asleep, though I did have some trouble staying awake myself.

Out in the lobby there's a great picture of the notes for "Modern Major General" all dolled up as pirates, having sword fights, etc. I wanted it for Bernadette!

We did two more caches. One was at George's Garden. He was out planting dried palm leaves. This is interesting... we'll have to see it some other time, too. And so home. Where there was a thunderstorm!

Relief. The planet is safe. Or Maybe Not. "Rachel Carson's ideas are still popular, with deadly effect."

Instantman on Weak Reid: HARRY REID GETS HAMMERED IN HIS HOMETOWN PAPER: "The Democratic strategy to use the ongoing violence in Iraq to their political advantage in the run-up to the 2008 elections requires some skill and nuance. But it's growing harder to believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- Nevada's own -- actually possesses those skills."

I can't decide if he's just a stupid traitor, or if he's a stupid and venal traitor. The Las Vegas Review Journal continues:

the Democrats' careful strategy requires them to appear to oppose Mr. Bush's ongoing occupation of Iraq (to please their pacifist base), without taking any concrete, "binding" actions to change the status quo.

Enter Sen. Reid, flopping around in big red shoes like Bozo the Clown.

I would be interested in the Charles Dickens theme park!

Also in Britain, "The future belongs to those who show up for it."