Interrupting the Crickets

I've been trying for seven or eight hours (in between attempts to sleep) to get Blogger and this lousy AOL dial-up connection to let this entry post. Had I known it wouldn't be possible, I'd have slept in he car last night and saved myself a lot of money.

I had a mostly good day today. I spent the bulk of it with my godson, Jacob, his parents and paternal grandparents. Jacob's First Eucharist went well, and the celebratory group picnic in the park was successful despite the 25 mph winds. We did a few other things as well....

Jacob and Anita tease each other with secret messages,
written with Jacob's spy pen.

Dan and Jacob make their way almost to the edge of
a 1000-foot canyon made by a section of the Rio Grande.

Jacob plans his spy disguise as "Tom Blocher."

We all had fun looking down into the Rio Grande, and we managed to laugh off a Pizza Hut visit during which

• Jacob's grandfather was unable to get a beer because nobody working that shift was old enough to sell it to him,
• It took an hour to get our two pizzas, despite the fact that we were very nearly the only dine-in customers throughout the ordeal, and
  
• They ran out of mushrooms and green peppers, key ingredients of both our Supreme and our Veggie Lovers' pizza. And no, that wasn't the cause of the delay. We didn't wait while they bought more. We did without - and still waited forever. They didn't mention the ingredient shortage for the first 45 minutes we were there. They probably weren't out of mushrooms or green peppers when we arrived!

After the pizza and a round of goodbyes, I headed south. I ended up in Socorro, NM, about an hour south of Albuquerque. Tonight's hotel room is a $100 suite, because that's what was still available when I arrived. It's almost identical to last night's non-suite, except for the presence of a microwave oven and some things that are bugs, not features:

• The only soda machine on this floor of this building won't accept any coins tonight.
  
• The room smells of pesticide, which is probably contributing to the asthma attack (caused by cats earlier today) that should be over with by now and isn't.
  
• I've picked up two dead bugs off the carpet while trying to get a working combination of power outlets and phone and power cords.
  
• The outlet installed on the side of this desk doesn't work.
  
• The high-speed access exists for wireless or with a $150 deposit for a "bridge." So I'm on dial-up.
  
• And to top it off, AOL, with its one local phone number for Socorro, bumped me three times in two minutes, before I even fully connected.

Oh, and nobody commented between early this morning and late tonight, except on the fiction blog. The comments there today were plentiful, perceptive, and appreciated.

Nevertheless, I'm not in a fabulous mood. So I won't regale you tonight with happy stories. Maybe tomorrow I'll do better. I'm apparently minutes away from the Very Large Array, which should be fun to see, photograph and explain.

That's the plan, anyway.

Good night!

*****

Seven or eight hours later: either the relevant Blogger server's been down, or this AOL connection is incredibly slow, or both. I suspect both. I haven't gotten enough sleep, and the maid keeps ignoring the "Do Not Disturb" to knock on my door. Phooey. It's time to leave, whether this posts or not!

Karen
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