changes

Well, Lisa has decided - after a short experiment - that she still doesn't like beer. She never did before, but the neighbors have it, and she was looking for a little escape from her pain. But, as I said, she never liked it (neither the taste nor the buzz), and has decided that it isn't worth the trouble.

She'd prefer a glass or two of wine anyway. Just something to soften the edges. But that doesn't get at the root of the problem: pain severe enough to make her legally disabled.

During the day she is OK. Still in pain, but she can work around it. The real problem comes at night and in the morning, lying in bed. That is when the pain kicks into overdrive.

And now we'll be babysitting the neighbor's puppy for a few days, while they take their daughter to Dollywood for Spring Break. There is only one puppy now; one of them was hit by a car a few days after we lost Jack. Somebody in a car had tossed out a disposable coffee cup. It landed in the road and the puppies had run out to see what it was, and one of them darted in front of another car. At least that driver stopped, unlike the one who killed jack.