ksmith | As the holiday closes in

Every year, I buy a new coffee maker. It isn't that the old one breaks downs in any catastrophic way. It just seems that over time, the quality of the coffee degrades, even when one takes care to clean it and do the white-vinegar-flush-thing on a regular basis.

I didn't buy a MOMA display piece, just a Cuisinart Grind&Brew. I bought a Cuisinart toaster a few years ago, and it's proved a sturdy thing. Hoping the same proves true of the coffee maker.

As I drove through the neighborhoods on the way home from work today, I was compelled to wait at an intersection while a column of 14 mallards crossed the street. Why did the mallard cross the road? To get in

kaygo's way.

Also saw a field full of Canada geese, and a few of our local crop of black squirrels. They're sleek critters, much prettier than their grey-brown cousins. Just to confuse matters even more, every once in a while, a mink-brown one will pop up in the genetic mix. If a squirrel can be gorgeous, those mink ones are gorgeous.

Started writing the new J5 epilogue last night. I didn't want to write scenes out of sequence, but I felt like starting this one, so I did.