Time marches on. In a month and half Milo will be one year old. It's funny how in some ways it is very clear who he is, and in other ways he is still just larva - no way to to tell what sort of butterfly or cockroach he is going to turn into. For sure he is just about the cutest thing ever. Dribbly, googley, squirmy. He points at things, and plays ukulele, and sort-of crawls, and feeds himself cheerios and bits of trash that he finds under the couch. A few things that Milo really likes. If you are outside near a tree, and you pound on it with the ham of your hand, sort of like you are pounding on a door, Milo will laugh and laugh. That old tree-banging gag. That's a good one. He has a stuffed monkey that he sleeps with every night. He likes that monkey a LOT. It's crusty with drool and snot. I can tell why he likes it. Bean. Our 17 year old cat. Poor old cantankerous Beany. I am not sure who is going to be more disappointed when Milo finally gets full hold of Bean - Bean or Milo. When Bean creeps by Milo stops what he is doing and points at her. Sometimes he says "cat" but really all he says to her is the end of it, the t. So he points and grins ands says 't!, over and over. Blueberries. Blueberries? Forget it. You could keep giving him blueberries and he'd keep eating them until they just bounced off the back of his mouth because he was literally stuffed full of blueberries. The colored part of his eyes are the color and size of blueberries, but, as interesting a coincidence as that is, correlation is not causation. Antibiotics. It's sad but true. He had an ear infection, and of course they prescribed him antibiotics. We are pretty naturey with what we give him, so I can only imagine what the bright orange creamy liquid antibiotics tasted like to his unsullied palate. You bring over that little syringe-dropper thingy and he's like a starving baby goat at the zoo. Let's see, what beside Milo is there? In other milestones I took my 2000th consecutive daily Polaroid sometime in late December. I keep taking them, though I don't do the drudge work of scanning them to post as often as I should. I need an intern. I have that other big project, and a few medium sized projects that I'm working on, too, but it all keeps getting pushed aside for other things. I hate that. Maybe I'll be better. Another upcoming birthday that just occurred to me is the birthday of dirtdirt.com. I started this thing in 1998, it's nearly ten years old. Damn. Like Beany, it's lost a few miles off it's fastball, but keeps on trucking. I still really like my job. I really like riding the bus, and I should really use that time to update this site. I have a little laptop (work supplied) that is with me on the bus every day. I should be more productive. Or not. Oh! Erin bought me a smoker for Christmas. A big beautiful kettle smoker. So far I've done some brisket and ribs, and they both turned out SO WELL. It makes me want to smoke meat every weekend. There are worse fates. I want to make home made bacon next. It's cool: now I have a matching Weber kettle grill, and kettle smoker. I am ready for any BBQ opportunities that might come my way!