Spent a blissful Saturday doing very little. I brought John his birthday presents while he sat reading the morning paper, and watched from the sofa as he opened them, a cat curled up in my lap. He got exactly what he'd asked for: a video and a vise clamp. I knew which video to pick out, but I was a little taken aback by the number and variety of vises available when I went looking for one. I finally opted for the "Hobbyist" and hoped for the best. He seems quite pleased with it.
We were going to go out for dinner, but I made pork chops, potatos, salad and cheesecake so we stayed in and had that instead. I tried to get 46 candles on the cheesecake, but it was a fire hazard at 31 so I stopped there.
Mmm, cheesecake.
The only other thing I did Saturday was read Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand. That was a great book. It's a fascinating look at the 20's and 30's as well as a history of U.S. Thoroughbred racing, the unbelievably hard lives of jockeys, and the story of a funny-looking descendent of Man O' War who got more press in 1938 than Hitler or Roosevelt. If you like horses, or social history, or an insider's glimpse into a world most people know nothing about, you will enjoy the book. It's very well written.
Sunday I dropped Natasha off at the groomers' and we met with several people for a birthday dim sum feast at Ming's in Palo Alto. We all ate as much as we could stand and it still only came to about $10 a person. I love dim sum. Janice Murray gave me a really cool Stu Shiffman t-shirt that says, "I love a History Mystery" and Trish Homis gave me the Sims House Party expansion pack. Woohoo! Birthday presents!
I gave everyone who attended a friendship card. I thought it would be nice for each person to have something to open in case we birthday guests received presents as seemed likely. It seemed to confuse quite a number of the guests. I didn't think it was weird, but I guess that was me out there marching to that different drummer. Oh, well, I like getting cards any time. I still think it was a cool idea. [Addendum: Ah, I wasn't alone after all. Michael thought it was cool!]
John and I went to the Peninsula Humane Society on Saturday and Pets In Need on Sunday, but didn't see a dog we liked. The gal at P.I.N. sympathized with our failure to adopt Violet, but did say she went to a home where a little boy is having a hard time of it (implying serious illness). I'm sure Violet will help him get better. She also mentioned they'll be getting a new "shipment" on Monday as several animals have run out of time and are being shifted over from the other shelters who euthanize. John and I came home and put up our fence. Yay! It really didn't take much time. It looks pretty good although it's not really high enough to stop a very determined dog who is a good jumper. We wouldn't be getting that kind of dog, though. We want an easy-going, quiet sort of dog. We just though it would be better to have more of a visual deterrent, and the fence does add four inches or so to the white picket fence. It has the added bonus of making a nice trellis for the roses on that side of the yard.
Natasha came home smelling like a florist shop, and has her back leg hair shaved down to about an inch because of the tangles. She looks and feels much happier with all the matting gone. The groomer told me how much he likes her, and what a mellow cat she is. He understands that even though I comb her out regularly it all gets to be too much in the summer. "See you next August," he said jauntily as we left the pet store. A macaw screamed at us, scaring us both to pieces. Man, those are loud birds.
Now it's time to watch the first episode of The Sopranos, which neither John nor I have seen. We got HBO especially for this. I have a feeling I won't watch it much since it's obviously violent, but I do want to see at least one episode so I can feel like I'm part of the cultural mainstream.
I don't know who I'm kidding here, but hey, give me credit for trying.
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