Thanks to each of you for the words of comfort and encouragement. We are grateful for the local support system we have here in Carson City, and I am ever grateful for the community of friends on this Board. Eventually the busy-ness of wrapping things up and finding a new job will settle into the new "normal." I am confident that this Community will be here then as well.

Beard Whisperer, I do live in the US (the last time I checked, Nevada was still one of the 50 states), and I'm well aware of FMLA, which my boss considered yet another government-sanctioned means to pick his pocket. I already had the FMLA paperwork filled out knowing that I would need to submit it in the week Mom entered hospice care. When our HR director had earlier suggested to the owner that I be placed on FMLA, he snapped back at her, "Who's side are you on anyway?" All the more reason to not be working there.

Trick, it sounds like your WeatherBeard requires further calibration, possibly with an additional ferret. Either that, or you need to position the device in an area with fewer large objects (not including yourself) in the immediate vicinity. These objects can create turbulence which interferes with the proper operation of the WeatherBeard. Also, the WeatherBeard becomes unreliable in particularly gusty winds because of the naturally occurring variation in the elastic response parameters of the individual hairs. It is an unfortunate limitation of the technology. More research is required.

Triibeard's Thirty-NINE years of being bearded    (The recent journey from a short- to a long-beard)
Introducing LEGO-Sheriff Triibeard     (The origin story for our polymeric polychromatic hero)
Sheriff Triibeard and The Case of the Missing Beard Balm   (In search of that scoundrel RiffRaff)
Sheriff Triibeard and the Hermit Hoarder    (Consequences of acquisitiveness)

In a world of shorn faces, it is our privilege to offer those around us the exquisite opportunity to know a gentleman with a beard.