The ^*&%$@#$% alarm clock went off at 5 a.m. today because I forgot to turn it off. Up at 0500 is my fallback time if I don't get up at my normal 0430. I may have killed the clock; I swatted it right off the bedside table onto the floor, narrowly missing the dog in the process. Misty the cat headed for the underside of the bed until the fuss was over. The clock gave a little bleat when I picked it up, so I guess it still lives. Poor thing.

Today is the day I go out erranding. When my husband knows I'm going to have a vacation day or two he stops doing errands and chores, leaving them for me, the housewife. He is not a house husband, he proclaims. So does that mean he's just a kept man? One wonders.

The pressure cooker for my daughter arrived yesterday. Never have I seen a box so torn up and retaped with gaping apertures where none were ever meant to be. It arrived via UPS in the box you would find in the store--the flimsy cover box with the picture of the item on it. I would have expected them to put it in a sturdier plain cardboard box. If it isn't damaged, I guess I'll accept it; too much trouble to send it back. For one thing, I'd have to find a box to ship it in!

Almost finished with First Man in Rome. Only 100 pages or so left. Then to treat myself with Analog and Asimov's before tackling The Grass Crown.