Hello everybody! I�m at work even though I took the day off. I�m so dedicated to my job. I�m all dirty. Today was supposed to be shower day. But since I spent an hour lying in bed before actually getting up (it was cold outside of the bed! I am frightened of such cold!) only to discover that we gots no water again, I am dirty. Dirty dirty dirty. Probably I�ll be dirty tomorrow too. Tomorrow we�re getting up at about 3 in the morning in order to get to Jeff�s folk�s by noon for the holiday fun times which are scheduled to begin at that precise hour.

Frankie is home and she is unpregnant. Yeehaw. I swear, these mutts better get themselves all together because I ain�t got nothing left for the animal doctor. Stay healthy, you! And you! And you you and you!

So Jeff is starting up a new tree business venture with a couple of fellas and they�ve been having the hardest time deciding on a name so I�ve been asking folks here at work and over email to rate their favorites of the top five names. All of which is to say, my brother Oliver sent back his picks along with this list of names:

a. Yggdrasil
b. Arboriste or Arboristes (French)
c. Baumpfleger or Baumpflegers (German)
d. Tree Surgeons
e. Twig & Root
f. The Overtaker
g. Branches R Us (from my co-worker Joe)
h. Arboration
i. Arboreal or ArboReal (or Arboreous)
j. Arborastic
k. ArboMax
l. Arbour
m. Arboresque or Arborescent
n. Dr. Ent (or Ent Friends Co.)
o. Dr. Dendroid
p. Dendromia

And then Oliver�s friend Leo sent in his list:

Take a bough
Fast Releaf
Best Treetment
Arbor vitae
Lignum Vitae (tree of life in Latin)
Dentist tree
Gee I'm a tree (geometry)
forest tree (forestry)
Tree-pease artists
Tree-mendous
Tree-rific
Treedle dum and treedle-dee
The Healthy Tree
Arborcare
Elm-o
Oak-aly doakaly
I'm oaky, you're oaky
Heartwood
Mighty chesnut
Spreading oaks
Forest friends
friends of the forest
Tree nuts
Tree huggers
tree love
tree love and romance
the lorax
Little Acorns- mighty oaks
Maple Heritage
etc.

Hope that helps...

Oh, and here's a little joke I just now thought up to end with...

Q. What do you call the system for identifying elfs, hobbits, dwarves and the like?
A. Gnomenclature...

GEEKS! But godblessem, I heart geeks. And can I just say, Tree love and romance? That makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Another thing that makes me laugh: me and Jeff went to the store last night to get some vegetables for supper and then we got into the line with Jeff�s favorite check-out girl who he always flirts with (except I think I put a crimp in his style, man) and she said what�s for supper? Salad again? And Jeff said, salad and salmon (just so you don�t think we�re fancy: it�s canned salmon) and she said, that�s not vegetarian! I thought you were a vegetarian! And I looked at Jeff and giggled and then I said, you ain�t a vegetarian! And his little hoochie friend said, he�s not? I said, he likes slammers! She said, what�s that? I said, from Hardees? She said, those little hamburgers? I said, Yep. Then I looked over at Jeff and his face was so red from the blushing he looked like he might have a heart attack. He said something about eating bacon sometimes too and I felt just a little bit sorry but then I didn�t again because he�s so damned cute when he blushes like that. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I said outside, sorry I talked smack about you to your girlfriend. He said we are never to speak of it again. So of course I must write about it here.

I�m leaving early today so I can run some errands and take a long walk with the dogs and clean some messy house and have a me-centric holiday. I�m excited to not have to be at work and also to hang out with all the dogs and with Jeff for the next four days straight. Life is fun, yessir it is.

Also, I�m very glad I�m not crazy sad anymore. Sweet relief (I just spelled that sweet releaf�and ta da! Thought of another tree business name).

Happy tomorrow is Thursday and we don�t have to work to all you out there!