I just ordered this pen from Levenger. I got the rolleball rather than the fountain pen--I'm not really a fountain pen person, although I've had them in the past. Too expensive, but I couldn't resist it. What a great design! Of course, it was the colors that actually seduced me into buying it.

I'd like to have a nice pen again. I haven't had one for awhile. I used to have a nice gold plated Cross ballpoint--and I still have it, actually, or actually I have the replacement one I got when the first one stopped working--they really do replace them for life--but I don't like using ballpoints much anymore, and it's awfully thin and cold.

I've been using Pilot rollerballs for awhile, and I like them a lot, but I suppose they leave something to be desired in the design department.

When I went out to get the newspaper this morning, I saw that we had had an ice storm overnight--there was about a quarter inch of ice on all exposed surfaces. I crunched through the grass beside the sidewalk to go down and get the paper, and when I came back in I told Bob he might want to reconsider going to work this morning.

He said he'd go in and check things out, and if it was bad, he'd put up a sign that he was closed, and he'd come home.

He called a couple of hours later and said he'd stopped at Barley's for a beer; I said I was getting ready to go out to Target, and he said if I'd wait for him, he'd go with me.

We were looking for another electric blanket. The one we have works fine, but it's not quite wide enough--most nights, one of us ends up with not enough blanket, and we can't tug it over because there are cats sleeping on top of it. So we were looking for a king-size one, probably. They had a few at Target, but they were pink, and Bob wanted to keep looking.

So we went to Penney's home store, where we found none at all, then to Bed, Bath & Beyond, where they had a few king size ones, in a nice sage green, but they were $149, and I didn't feel like spending that much, particularly since the pink ones at Target were $80. So we tried WalMart, and they were completely sold out, too, so we came home. I guess we aren't the only ones trying to beat the high gas prices.

When Bob came to pick me up this afternoon, he said, "I'm mad at Clinton again." I sort of rolled my eyes and sighed--we never agree on politics--I'm a die-hard Clinton fan and Democrat and Bob, while I don't think he's completely sold on Bush, is a Republican through-and-through. But it wasn't political this time.

He said it wasn't about the pardons, although he (Bob) wasn't happy about a lot of them. And it wasn't about something else political that I've forgotten about now--it was about the cat.

He said the Clintons have given away their cat Socks because Socks and a new dog they've acquired don't get along. Bob was absolutely livid about it. And he said it wasn't just Clinton--he was just as mad at Bush, who said they couldn't bring their cat to the White House because it isn't declawed. Bob said, "He's the President for God's sake--if the cat scratches up something, they can get it fixed."

He said he's fed up with people treating their pets like any other possession, and throwing them away when they get inconvenient or a little too much trouble. He said Bush keeps talking about making covenants--you make a covenant with a pet when you take one in. Their job is to love you, and be your companion, and your job is to take care of them no matter what, for as long as they live.

Now, of course there are extenuating circumstances, like in the case of becoming allergic to animals, or if an animal becomes vicious, but for the most part, once you make that commitment, it's for life. I feel that way, too. You don't go buy a dog when you already have a cat and, Surprise! they don't get along, so you get rid of the cat. If you can't make that kind of commitment, you don't take an animal in.

He was completely wound up about it. There aren't many things that can get him that upset, but people mistreating cats is right up there on top of the list. And he said that there seems to be an inherent discrimination against cats, too, as if they're less important. If it had been a dog, they would have found some way to adjust and take care of both of them.

You can bet that if Bob got elected President, he'd have both of his cats with him, no matter what.