We went off to Reno again. I wanted to make one pass for the tree this year, and Rich wanted to try to sell softballs again, and we always enjoy gambling.

One of the dwarf's friends looked at all the pictures of the tree I took and recognized a defunct ski resort, so he went to the bottom of the hill the tree is on top of, and took pictures of that and sent them. This indicated that the road was on the other side of the highway from where I remembered. I was thinking we might have to walk from the bottom, but first I wanted to find the place the guy had and work back up along the highway. So we did. Rich pulled off in one place and we decided it wasn't high enough, so he bopped past the next one, but when he did, I spied a very familiar turnoff. We went back there (We were describing circles all over the highway) and started walking down till Rich thought he could get the car on the road without trouble. A half-mile in, there, indeed, was the Tree! I was so delighted to see it! I guess I wasn't supposed to find it last year. I told it G. was gone, but that we'd be returning his ashes to the Tree soon. We walked around and I showed Rich all the places, views and such, that I'd talked about. Washoe Pine #4, which was threatening the road, has been cut down.

That only took a half-hour, instead of the two hours I'd figured to be looking. I certainly know that square mile of mountain better than I'd ever have figured! We drove on into town and the store wanted all 160 of the softballs Rich brought! That gets the pile down a bit. He needs to go to the nearby places early in the spring, I think, when they need these balls.

Two really good things, so I told Rich the dwarf should give us the third, a jackpot. We went to the Atlantis and got a free $5 just for going, and then we tackled the buffet. Mighod, the food. They have a great salad bar and ditto a dessert bar, and then they have three stations, for Mexican, Asian (including Mongolian BBQ) and American. I mostly ate Mexican, but I had to have the bread pudding. Yum.

Then I went off and played slots. I put one nickel in a machine and got $75.00! The rest of the day didn't go that well, but I still came out way ahead. Rich had good luck, as well.

We stopped for an hour or so with Papa Gerhard, and so home.

I FOUND THE TREE!!

Back at home, I was online, with a cat on my lap, and Rich went up and started for bed. I kept asking him to turn the tv off. He finally did, but asked me if something was wrong with the remote. Oops. I'd completely forgotten it.

You can't make this stuff up. I thought it was satire, at first.

[Instapundit's] READER DONALD BURTON WRITES:

Now that we're sending troops into the Ivory Coast on a rescue mission, is Molly Ivins going to write a column claiming it's really about the cocoa?

Lileks came up with "goratory:"

Substance aside, the speech made me glad I don’t have to listen to this man very much; he manages to combine pretentiousness and contempt in a way that demands a new word - pretemptuous, perhaps. Or goratory.

Michael Kelly pulls no punches.

Well, I've been picking on Al's hero (too easy, that) so I should mention Al puts up a couple of great Feghoots. (He'd have loved that panel at WorldCon!)

Meanwhile, Tom Daschle found that the truth hurts.