01.19.05

When I drove up to the house today, KaliHellKitty was squished against the screen in Mater's bedroom. Quivering. Every kitty sense on bright red alert; whiskers forward, eyes dilated, ears tilted for maximum sound intake.

It was a vicious attack squirrel, and it had malice on its mind. KaliHellKitty knew, and protected all of us. Phew.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful dawn. Mt. Hood had a parenthesis of a cloud just above its summit. It looked like a stroking hand or a plastic rain bonnet.

Finished up some transcription work for a friend. Thank goodness I'm getting more adept at typing. I'll never be one of those bazillions of words typists, but more practice is upping my speed. Whoop.

Back to the lists. Though I've got a bit of a word winge.

Have you heard the phrase "running the gantlet"? You have, haven't you. But you've heard it as running the gauntlet. Why on earth would you run a glove? The correct phrase is running the gantlet. It's taken from a northeastern Native American practice of compelling prisoners to pass between two lines of people. During the passage, prisoners were abused. Thus the term, to run the gantlet, signifying someone about to be severely tested--perhaps to destruction.

I realize that I'm fighting a losing battle here. The word has become gauntlet in the popular mind. Ugh.

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