Author: Elaine

Martha Stewer

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Martha Stewer is the most opinionated of the three pullets who belong to my friend. (Every time I call them hens, my friend corrects me and tells me that they are still pullets.) She is also the largest, and the one you notice first because of her glowing white color. Martha doesn’t like to be touched or carried. She doesn’t do anything obnoxious like peck, but gives a running, indignant commentary of clucks when anyone has the effrontery to pick her up. My friend insists that she is also the most intelligent of the three, but then you aren’t working with much when it comes to chickens.

I am looking forward to fresh eggs.

Fedora Core 3 Test 3

I’ve spent the last day or so upgrading my system to Fedora Core Test 3. My system came up without a problem, including network connectivity, so I was able to use a browser and email immediately. Unfortunately, yum, which is the utility that allows updates, had some problems, and it took me a while to get it working. And then, it took an even longer while to download all the updates to get me a current test system.

However, my upgraded system seems to be working fine now. I haven’t done much checking yet, because it is pointless to do so until your system is current with the patches generated since snapshot for the install CD’s were created. I will have to fix my palm to sync with my desktop again, but this seems to happen every time I do a major upgrade.

Fence fighting

Fence fighting
Smokes entertains himself by fence fighting with the dogs. He used to canter up and down the fence line to drive the dogs into a frenzy, but has found that it works just as well to stand at the fence and make suggestive movements with his head.

I don’t enjoy this hobby of his, but am glad to see its return. For a while, a month or so ago, he had quit doing so. In fact, he was so shutdown and shrunk into himself that I though he might be starting the equine equivalent of turning his face to the wall. He had become very lame on his bad leg, probably due to stamping at flies, and had stopped moving around much, probably due to the pain of the abused knee. However, the flies are gone, and Smoke is back to his old, obnoxious self.

Meeting in Denver

Yesterday, Jack and I met athenais who was making a weekend trip to Denver. We met at the coffee bar at the Tattered Cover, but decided it was too crowded for easy conversation and adjourned to a nearby pub. Jack and I first met athenais at a party in Maryland, and some time was devoted to figuring out where exactly that was. It was over two decades ago, so fuzziness on the details can be excused. We had the server take several photos of our groups, which included the friends with whom athenais was staying, but only this one by koroshiya turned out well.

Flu shots

I took my mother to get her flu shot yesterday at the Senior Health Center she uses. We had not planned to do so, but she heard about the flu shot shortage and wanted to make sure she got it. The line was long, but moved quickly and she was done in about thirty minutes.

I usually get one each year, but may not this year since I am not in one of the high risk groups. I started getting them after we moved to Colorado. I was sick so much my first year here that I wanted to do everything I could to minimize getting ill.