Elise Sereni Patkotak

But every time Mitt Romney expresses sympathy and understanding of the plight of the middle class, I can’t help but snort.

I’ve had to take a day to calm down and believe that computers are good again before I could describe my Friday.

Came home from a lovely lunch with a friend to find my desktop, which had been showing signs of ailing, was now in full blown sick mode. So I picked it up (thank god it’s a mac and that involved very little beyond unplugging it) and drove to my friendly Mac repair store. Sat there an hour while they tried to fix it only to find out its troubles were deeper and it would need to be admitted.

Give me a break. Our Anchorage mayor gets sworn into office from Hawaii via telecommunications while wearing a very casual aloha shirt. First of all, Magnum PI was the ONLY person who ever looked good in one of those shirts and second of all, could he not have had the slightest bit of sympathy and compassion for his constituents left behind in the freezing cold of what we are euphemistically calling summer here in Anchorage and at least worn a tie and jacket? Sheesh!

My dogs were strolling in Kincaid with their beloved Karie and some other canine friends when they came upon not one but two black bears, a couple of moose and a couple of calves. The good news is that everyone made it back to where they were supposed to be in one piece. The better news is that neither of my dogs (yes, I’m talking about you, Carm!) thought it necessary to bark incessantly and take on either the bears or moose. For this we are all eternally grateful. Almost as grateful, in fact, as Bubba and Carm were to

I should have had the courage to go down to the ceremony at the Traveling Vietnam Wall Memorial on the Park Strip last week. I wanted to go. But I didn’t. All I could do was remember a few years back when I was in DC and finally found the courage to go to the Wall there.

I’d just come from the Holocaust Museum and figured I couldn’t possibly feel much worse so I might as well take those last few steps to the Wall. (BTW, a double header of the Holocaust Museum and the Vietnam War Memorial is not

does America really stand a chance?

Happy 4th everyone. Come down to the Park Strip. Bird TLC will be down there with education birds and lots of games and fun.

Abdul, the only African Gray parrot the world will ever need (according to him), has picked up a new vocalization. Now he can sound like a bunch of little dogs barking hysterically. And that, of course, starts my real dogs going into a frenzy of their own barking and screeching. Once the sound level reaches unbearable, I can hear Abdul start laughing.

Sigh….

Bubba finds a left over piece of a doggie chew before Carm does. Bubba immediately jumps up on the couch where Carm is laying atop a pillow and starts chewing with exceeding and noisy delight on the chew that she has and Carm doesn’t. Carm sits bolt upright and stares at her in horror, periodically turning to stare at me as though I’ve betrayed him by giving her a treat when he wasn’t looking. I stare back without moving since I am very aware that I sit in a chair in my living room surrounded by the remnants of at

Every once in a while I realize Vanna White is 55 years old. And then I get very, very depressed.