Back, at last!

Our satellite dish had simply tilted out of tolerance. Huh. Naturally, I blamed it on the neighbors who've appropriated our yard to: build a bonfire, periodically store their trampoline, build a fort, build jumps for their ATVs, run a trail for their ATVs.

Most of that has stopped because we don't really take it well, though they still use the trail behind our tree line. The oddest day was when they got upset (families on both sides of us) that we didn't want their fort in our yard. (Picture dragging of boards and metal into our yard via ATV's/sawing/hammering, etc. that is often more acceptably done on land a person owns.) Imagine our arrogance.

So--I was arrogant. I assumed they came over and moved our dish to protest our refusal to house their fort. But they didn't unless they brought tools and hung around a while. I feel a bit mean and ugly about suspecting the worst, but honestly, this will be the second time in our married life that we've had to build a fence to keep neighbors from appropriating our yard. (Okay, it's a three-acre yard, but that just means more fencing to pay for.) Come on, winter! Because these rather annoying kids seem to stay indoors if there's a chill. Wouldn't it be nice if their parents suggested they stay out?

Now this has turned into a whiny post, but I'm actually glad to have access to my blog again. I've missed rambling, and I should delete the whining. However, I'm busy, and I'm not starting over.

Has anyone seen "The Mentalist"? It's my latest TV-fave. I keep the old one (there have only been two episodes, but I'm in luuuuuuuvvv!) until the new one comes on cause I have to watch it again. I see a DVD set in my future! (Shhh! Don't tell the husband. You know the economy's not that good lately, and he doesn't think we should demonstrate confidence that spending money makes money!)

Anyway, I'm taking a class online, and today's lecture is about characterization. I've recognized the bad guy immediately in both episodes, but I cannot look away because they're doing very clever things with characterization for Patrick Jane. He breaks my heart, and yet, I find myself laughing out loud more than once a show. Witness: Hero and sheriff playing intense rock/paper/scissors on this week's epi.

Gotta go. Gotta write. Gotta vacum, cause company's coming! But it's nice to be back!

Note: I have long owed several people books, but I couldn't get into that email address to get snail mail addresses. I'll get the books out next week. Sorry! ;-( (Shamed smiley-non-smiley)