The acquisitive der Brucer and I were at the retail stores today! It's all his fault, though. He thought we'd be able to get a bargain on a vacuum cleaner he saw in the pre-Black Friday mailers, and didn't realize how crowded the stores get. No rain checks, and they were sold out. We bailed from that store fast.
So instead we went on over to one of the hardware stores in town and loaded up on Christmas stuff. This might not make sense, but they had good bargains on tree trimmings and a tree base. Since this is the first year in our going-on-eightteen that we'll actually have a tree, we're far behind on collecting that sort of stuff. It's like starting out fresh, all over again! Now we just need a tree.
We also took old doggie Kelsey to see the vet, regarding his arthritis. The doc prescribed Rimadyl, the first non-steroid anti-inflamatory drug designed for dogs. I'm glad to report that Kelsey made it through the physical exam with hardly a whimper, and only tried to gum the vet's assistant once.
I think we're both due for naps.
Oh, before I forget, somehow the conversation drifted over to the novels of James Michener. (This was after der Brucer had pondered whether or not Asimov's Foundation trilogy could ever be made into a motion picture.) The only book by Michener that der Brucer could remember reading was about "evolution, or something like that," but I pointed out that all of his major epics start out with evolution. Actually, they start out with geography, then evolution, and then move on to stories with people in them. It's been quite a while since I've read any of his books, but I recall Hawaii, Centennial, and Chesapeke as being major works of his. Space was an oddity, as it was set entirely in modern times.
It might be interesting to go back and re-read some of his books. Der Brucer, meanwhile, is threatening to find a copy of the Foundation trilogy and re-read that, but I think he's got a copy already. It just hasn't been moved yet.
