Save a Horse! Ride a Cowboy!

Or if you live in Indiana where cowboys don't exist, just read about them.

While trying to decrease the size of my ever-growing butt by running on my treadmill this morning, I spent much of my time thinking about how much I love the Lonesome Dove series. Or really, how much I love Larry McMurtry. Along with Neil Gaiman, he's one of my new favorite authors. This is obvious by the fact that I've read three McMurtry novels in the last three weeks.

Before Lonesome Dove, I had never read a Western. If you haven't, start with Gus, Call and crew on their cattle drive to Montana. I laughed. I cried. I pouted when it was finished. I spent eight hours watching the miniseries, and I laughed, cried, and pouted some more. I advise everyone to read it. It truly is too good to miss.

Husband thinks I'm weird, since I recently asked him to purchase a tight pair of Wranglers, ride a horse, and rope me a steer. Seeing as he's parked in front of the television tipping back a cold one while rooting for the Hoosiers ... well, I'm thinking that's not going to happen any time soon. In the meantime, I'll finish Dead Man's Walk (the first in the series), and then I'm ready for Comanche Moon.

Other treadmill thoughts: why is Meredith Grey so unlucky? Every character on Grey's Anatomy has had a bit of good fortune here and there, but not poor Meredith. It's bad enough that her mother has no clue who she is and her father abandoned her as a child, but the writers keep putting her in mortal danger. Last year she got blown up (sort of), and this year, she gets knocked into the river while trying to save a man's life. She's the Charlie Brown of the show. All she gets on Halloween are rocks while the other kids get the good stuff, but oh wait ... she does have that gorgeaus McDreamy to snuggle, and snore with, every night. That does it. No more pity party for Meredith.

And now I'm off to join my friends for a special viewing of Casablanca at a local theater. My family eagerly awaits my departure as they are tired of listening to me spout off random quotes from the film. Until next time, we'll always have Paris ...