My uncle died yesterday, his wife, my mother's youngest sister, died a couple years back. My newest cat does not seem to understand that the kitchen counter is not for sitting, I've been experimenting with some new crockpot recipes, post-election I'm back down to half a pack of cigarettes a day, and apparently my left ear is finally better. I'd had partial deafness in it from the service and its been recovering the last couple years. I've been a teetotaler since then too but relaxed a bit in recent months to enjoy the occasional beer or wine and to my surprise, because I used to be a serious beer snob, I've come to enjoy this interesting blueberry beer. Of course I principally continue to be a massive drinker of coffee and to a lesser degree Earl Gray and Chamomile. I'd cut my hair after more than a year of not doing so this fall, and I've been getting a bit long again and am undecided on if I should keep it.

I've also been oscillating between beard, goatee, and clean-shaven every other week or so and one of my other cats, Prospero, always pats my beard if I have one when we're engaging in our daily hug, where he jumps up on a stool, stands up with front paws on my shoulders or chest, and I scratch his head for a minute or two while he drools on me. He never drools unless he's being petted, and then it is like a leaky faucet.