The first of several stories ran yesterday on the fund-raiser that Wendy Garrett is organizing for abandoned pets in the wake of Katrina. About 250,000 animals were left on their own–some chained up, some in cages–and apparently it’s pretty bad. So Wendy’s raising money, through a gala she’s organized, to help rebuild the Gulfport Humane Society. Details are at www.adoptgulfport.org The shindig takes place at the Overland Park Convention Center on December 9th. Art Auction, banquet, music. I’d like to see very strong attendance, and wallets emptied.

Later today my family and I leave for Eureka Springs, AR. Beautiful resort town in the mountains. Been going there for 30 years. Curious combination of latter-day hippies and fundamentalists. Great restaurants and spas. I’ve been asked to judge an art exhibit, so this trip is paid for. It’s going to be great.

Reading a biography on Lawrence of Arabia. My second. You can’t get too much of a genius like that. Hope to follow some of his journeys one day.

Football yesterday. As I expected, the punks flattened me on most of my solo returns. I scored once out of five attempts; a year ago it would have been five out of five. I’m getting slower, they’re getting bigger and faster. Damnit. I almost made two runbacks, but my older son nailed me with a flying tackle right at the goal line on the near-success–this after I’d broken all the other tackles and thought I was in free. Punk! Very proud of him. Well, at least I made one clean runback. I’m pleased with that at 48.