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So.  Had a great time for the first 4 innings of the Father's Day baseball game Sunday.  I was at the concession stand getting hot dogs and beer, turned around to get some ketchup packets and snap!, a sharp pain in my back, like a knife.  It was hard to even breathe, let alone walk.  Took me several minutes to get my composure, then I made my slow and painful journey back to the seats.  Incredibly, I took the beer and dogs back with me.  No spills.

We stayed for the rest of the game.  I was relatively pain-free as long as I remained standing, supporting myself against the railing.  There are worse places to throw out your back than in the middle of a baseball game on a gorgeous summer afternoon.  And the Sky Sox beat the Las Vegas 51's, 13-4.  It was a fun day.  Got to play catch on the field with the girls before the game. They got free baseball gloves. And they're actually pretty good gloves!

Getting out of the stadium and into the car was pretty dicey (another reason we stayed: avoiding the crowd).  Out of the car and onto the downstairs couch (where I've been ever since) was similarly difficult.  And the first night was painful and spasm-riddled and not something I ever want to experience again.

Better now.  I can't get up or down from the couch without help, and pain.  Lying motionless I'm fine.  And I can lie on a couch motionless with the best of them.

So.  I'm reading undemanding fiction and watching whatever movie I can snag on the DVR.  Last night was Dreamcatcher.  Absolutely awful.  I rather enjoyed it, but that's just the muscle relaxants talking.  Tonight is Ride With the Devil, which is about a period of the Civil War I'm pretty familiar with.  Ang Lee directed it, which bodes well.  Jewel is in it,  which does not.

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p.s.: Got another story published.  Baby Teeth, in fiction@work (an early draft is here).  Had to tussle with the editors about the last sentence.  I like tussling with editors.  It means they give a damn about the story.