In which - an update!

Actually, a lot has been happening - which is part of the problem. I haven't had time to write anything down.

For one thing, I have neighbors now.

Jett's partner in crime, Spike, crossed the Rainbow Bridge a little over a month ago with a scent gland tumor that turned out to be one of the rare metastatic ones. We intended to get two babies to introduce to him as new friends - but the introduction didn't go well, to say the least.

Jett is doing well, though - getting lots of extra attention - and I ended up with a gerbil condo next to my house. Oh well. :-) Meet Pagey and Percy. Pagey is the one in the first pic - the sort of Siamese-spotted-whatever one - and Percy is the reddish one, which Maddy said was called "Argente."

This was all just before the last Mercury retrograde. Normally I'm kind of skeptical about astrological things like that - I'm an Aquarius, after all, and we tend to be - but yeah, this last one was rough. Among other things, Maddy ended up with a friend in the hospital (another slipped disc - which happened about the same time last year, too,) the "Check Engine" light on in the Rogue for quite literally no reason ("Other/Unknown Error,") a rather anxiously awaited (and pricey) package going astray for almost three weeks and some weird cold/flu hybrid making the rounds that she's almost recovered from, except for a cough that sounds somewhat like a tuberculin seal (her words, not mine!) On the doll front, Shel tried to change shirts one afternoon and ended up needing emergency limb reattachment surgery when his left hand came off along with it. (Maybe not having separate jointed hands like they do isn't such a bad thing after all....) However, all patients, human and doll, are home and recovering, the "Check Engine" light went off  on its own, the stray package has arrived and all seems to be normal again.

Well, normal for here, anyway....

~*~

Devon's fella Rafael arrived just before all of the above started. He's a nice guy - not at all like what I was envisioning. Not I that I thought he wouldn't be nice, but - if I've got this right, he's an Unquiet Spirit like JT, also from New Orleans, who was a Vodou priest (is that the right term? I need to get a book on this.) Not sure about the circumstances that led to him being an Unqiuet Spirit, but I'm sure it's an interesting story - yeah, that kind of "interesting." He is a really nice guy, though, an seems to really know his way around the spirit/elemental realm.

And this is Paisley's friend Kilbey.

There has to be an explanation for him, and I think it has something to do with the same brown acid going around the first Woodstock festival - the stuff that was apparently not so good.

He said the missing antenna will grow back. (Apparently that isn't an eyestalk?) He also said he wished it would hurry up and do so, since it was like having one - well, unlike Kilbey, I am going to keep this G-rated.

As for the fact that he is in fact a "he" - Paisley said he's related to Mystery Snails, which actually do have genders. Most snails don't. Or do - they're both at once. Which explains how one stray pond snail in an aquarium turns into one bazillon about three days later. (I suspect the same is true for coat hangers in the closet.)




And if you need more proof that this last retrograde messed with EVERYTHING, look no further than our trusty thermometer. See that inside temperature? That was also the outside temperature, according to both the Weather Channel and the working thermometer. And no, the sensor wasn't in the sun.

And yes, it was sunny that day, too.







Bonus pic: Tempest and Kilbey.






















(Kilbey is a Doll Chateau Larry. He's named for both musician Steve Kilbey of the Church and the snarky but sweet shapeshifter who was best friends with the Lady Madrigal Baker in my Doctor Who fanfic days. Rafael is a Pukifee Pio - the only human-ish male in my BJD crew.)

In which it's just another day around the house....

"This has got to be some kind of April Fool's joke...."

"What does?" I was wondering what the FedEx package John got today was.

"We switched to Apple?" He didn't sound especially pleased.

"Miskatonic?"

"Yeah. When they said they were upgrading everyone, I expected something like your person's laptop. Not one of these...."

"I thought MirrorBooks were supposed to be good," I said. Not that I know. I've never used a Mac, much less a Mirror.

"They're just - completely different...." He got it booted up. "Now what?"

"Dunno," Scaramoche said, coming over to look. "I've never used one. Just an iPhone. Some of my human-type friends have those.....

......Hey, short stuff, no popping the bubblewrap, 'k?"

"Do you know anyone who knows anything about these?" John was at a loss.

"Swan does, I think. Where is she, anyway?"

"Upstairs. Something about rehearsing for the Spring Talent Show," I said.

"Oh yeah. The Woodstock devas do that every year. I think she said they're doing Oscar Wilde's Salome."

~*~

Meanwhile, upstairs.....

"I would, that they presently bring me in a silver charger..."

"Silver charger?" JT, aka Herod, looked skeptical. "Man, Apple's getting all fancy-schmantzy with this new release. WHich one is this, iPhone ten or something?"

"JT, stick with the script, willya?" Zephyr, aka Herodious, sighed.

"Okay, so - what would you have in a silver charger, whatever the heck that is, oh fair and sweet Salome?"

Swan, in character, took a deep breath. "The head of Jablome."

"It's Jokannan...." Zephyr tried, and failed, to not laugh."What do you think his first name is? Heywood?"

"I told you we should have picked The Glass Menagerie..." Swan said, laughing as well.

"Swan? You got a sec?

"What is it?"

"You know how to set up a MirrorBook, don't you?"














"Yeah. I'll be right down."















"Okay, what do I do here?" John was looking helplessly at the screen.

"Okay, launch System Preferences...."

"Where?"

"Right here. Now, click on Mail, Contacts and Calendars - okay, good, they have your iCloud account all set up already. Looks like your Miskatonic account is set up already along with your Gmail. So click out of that - okay - and click here to open your mail...."









"Is it - oh good, it's syncing up with the server..."

"If they did this right, you shouldn't lose anything. Were these your folders before?"

"Yeah. Looks like everything's here. I just hope I can get to all my stuff. I had a lot of files on the main server,"

"They should have thought of that," she said.





"Okay, here's the new emails...." He opened one and frowned. "Okay, what do you devas know about the Unseelie?"

"They're jerks," Scaramouche said. Well, she actually described them as something else, but I won't repeat it here.

"And they're not supposed to be here now. It's the season of the Light Court," Swan added.

"Okay - but first, how do I hibernate this thing?

"Here. It's called "Safe Sleep."


He hibernated the computer. "So what else about the Unseelie?"

"What's all the interest int he Unseelie?" I said.

"There have been some reports of attempted abductions and a reported attempt at swapping out a newborn in Boston for a changeling," he explained. "It was foiled by an observant nurse in the maternity ward."

"Are they sure it isn't the Seelie?" Scaramouche said. "You can't trust some of them, either."

"The Seelie wouldn't normally swap roadkill for a newborn," he said.


"Um - no. Ew." Swan made a face.

"I haven't heard anything around here," Scaramouche said.

"I haven't, either. I'll ask Tallulah if she has," Swan said.

"Yeah, where is she?"

"Bearsville. Where else? She told me to tell you she ran into one of your New York friends up there last summer."

"Who?"

"Cheetah Chrome. When he was up there putting down the track for "Bad Blood."

"No way. And she didn't tell me?"

Nice. And she didn't tell ME, either? How come the devas get to meet all the cool people?


~*~

Swan is a tan Pukifee Mio. Tallulah will probably be here next month.

Bonus pic - Paisley and Swan