Dadaist Vandals Strike!

Woke up this morning, stumbled outside to get the paper, and discovered that my front lawn was covered with cutesy lawn ornaments. Huh? Go back inside, come out again. They're still there. Two little poodle cutouts. A ceramic kid sitting in a wheelbarrow, fishing. An adorable little ceramic couple cuddling on a tiny bench with baroque ornamentation. Another little ceramic kid on the steps. No yard butts, thank God. Woke up Richard and made him go down and look. He saw them too - apparently I'm not hallucinating. Amber (who arrived home from Germany) came wandering downstairs complaining about the racket from a nearby tree-trimming crew. Yup, she sees them too, and no, she has no idea where they came from. Weird. Very weird.

Car for sale - runs good.

I just bought a new Mazda Protege, so I'm selling the old one. It's a 1992 5-speed 4-door sedan with 133,000 miles on the odometer. Mechanically it's in excellent shape. It starts, it stops, it drives down the freeway without wobbling from side to side. Engine uses insignificant quantities of oil, which is always a good sign in an older car. Very economical - I've been getting 34 mpg just driving around town and commuting to work. Previous owners put a lot of work into it - new alternator, new clutch, new brakes, and substantial front-end work. I've had it for a year, and have put in a new battery and a nice new radio/CD player. The body's in decent shape, although nobody would mistake it for a new car. Blue book value is $1400-$1575; I'm asking $1400, but could be talked down to $1200 fairly easily. The Mazda Protege (and its predecessor, the GLC) have a great reputation among folks who like their cars reliable, well-designed and affordable. (I'm now on my 4th). Let me know if you're interested.