Sunday

It was a sunny day overshadowed by the impending party at 5 o'clock. Husband's older sister and mother-in-law went
off to church. I took the doggie for walks and made 100x100 icons/avatars with The GIMP. Husband and I took dog
and mother-in-law's dog to the beach.

Mother-in-law's dog, hereby known as Daemon Dawg, is a terrier with a rotten temperment that the Dog Whisperer would
describe as being in the danger zone. She bit me once and I beat her right in front of my mother-in-law. She has
bitten, nipped, and growled at other people too. The Dog Whisperer would probably insist on putter her down or at
least upon a muzzle. If it were up to me and the Daemon Dawg had to stay alive, i'd be in favor of yanking all of her
fangs out. And vocal cords too, since she won't shut up.

On the beach, the Daemon Dawg lets loose and runs all over frantically in huge sweeping circles, jumping over rocks,
and frolicking in the waves. She plays well with my dog and when we all came upon two bigger dogs, the Daemon Dawg
allowed herself to be chased without so much as a snarl. Showing herself to be a good sport, the two larger dogs
went on to play in general and it was all very chummy.

The party wasn't. The party was a vast amount of suckage, with fancy food and five bottles of alcohol mixed in with
a bunch of old people and the four of us. The Daemon Dawg had been shuttled off to mother-in-law's bedroom where
she proceeded to bark non-stop for three hours. My dog was supposed to stay in our bedroom. This did not entirely
suit her as she is fairly social. I escaped up there for most of the party-- which was full of talk and legal things
about wills and such since a neighbor's sister had just kicked the bucket fairly young-- and make a break for the
outdoors, saying merely that the dog wished to go for her evening constitution. As we got back, the party was
breaking up.

Husband had come upstairs asking if I wasn't coming down at all. I informed him that I was having difficulty with
the booze, the idea that he was bartending, and what was occuring between mother-in-law and grieving neighbor. When
the news had come down to church this morning that neighbor's sister had died, mother-in-law could not wait to insert
herself into the middle of it all. Quite like when she had showed up unwanted by my grandmother's deathbed and I
had been vocal beforehand about not wishing her presence there. It is hard enough to die without being expected to
suffer the presence of a stranger. And hard enough to grieve without being exposed to all kinds of advice and so
forth.

At any rate, the suckage was over with at 8:30 p.m. or so. Reading and computer time as usual before bed.

spike