Columbia.

17 years and four days ago, we watched tapes of the Challenger explosion over and over in stunned disbelief. Now it's Columbia's turn. It is certainly nothing compared to the WTC attack, or, as one friend has put it, nothing compared to what we've been expecting to hear given some of the leading news stories. But it still sucks in a big way.

Remington is doing fine. He's much better than he'd been for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, while I was in the yard, for about half an hour he monitored and attempted to extricate a lizard from its haven of pots and containers. So he's up and active and interested. I hope it lasts a while.