T took me to the dollar store the other day with the girls and I wound up blowing eighty bucks on stuff that would have cost hundreds at the regular grocery store. It was heaven. I got cat food and canned veggies and detergent, plus candles and even potting soil. K persuaded me to get her some cookies and something revolting called "corned beef hash', which---to judge by the picture on the label----was pre-chewed for your convenience. I loaded up on spices and spaghetti sauce, tuna and water, even orange juice, shampoo, conditioner, and plastic plates to put under the plant pots. K also talked me into vienna sausages, which looked kind of scary, and I told her that there was no way in hell I would buy something called 'potted meat food product.' I think Dave Barry did a column about it.

It was not so sunny at the regular grocery store. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to grapes and a particular kind of sausage, so I indulged, as well as getting diet coke and some baking potatoe, one of which I had for breakfast today. Holy cow, that was good. I stocked up on more cat food---the dollar store only had dry food----and also on bird seed, because I am a huge geek. Within moments of putting out a suet cake and a finch sock on my maple tree's branches, I had both a finch and a woodpecker, and Jezebel had gnawed through the bird seed bag in the belief that it contained her crack of choice: dry cat food.

K came over for the night and we finished watching the first part of Kingdom of Heaven before going to bed. This morning we gardened and then her grandfather---T's dad----stopped by and looked over my garage plot and said he could probably build me a garage on it. And a vardo. At long last, I could have a spot for all my gardening stuff, a place to store pots and things, and maybe a haven for the strays. I saw a new one this morning, a beautiful reddish gray cat that looked like a wild animal. It ran when I put out food for it but it had evidently found the dry food I also put out. There was another new one this week, too: a gorgeous black tuxedo cat, who was eating food out of the can with its paw.

K's a bit different since T came back; brattier and needier. I see less of the girl who wants to learn new words and hear about history and more of a brat who just wants to do fun things before she cleans up after herself.