The Dynamic Duo

Stardate: Friday, June 16, 2006

Am up early to make a delicious breakfast casserole for my guys. Put the puppies outside for awhile, but the little one is an escape artist and can get out into the front yard, and, consequently, the road, so they are soon back in the house. A barrier has been built to keep them in the kitchen (linoleum) and out of the living room (carpet). If the reasons are not obvious to you, you have obviously never been around puppies. Little Stetson (or Rudy, as I have renamed him while in my care), exhibits his skills by wriggling through and over the trunk, boxes and blankets that make up the barricade. By the end of the weekend, the barrier resembles a pop-art melange of assorted household objects. In making it difficult for the puppies to escape, we are, of course, making it nearly impossible for any but the most long-legged of humans to move between the two rooms. I am not one of these.
We talk about the day, and decide to head into Elko to experience a bit of the BIG ANNUAL BIKER RALLY. Heather and Heath,will not be arriving til later in the day. The BIG BIKER RALLEY is like a mini-Sturgis, or so I am told. When we arrive, we find that some of the streets have been blocked off to accomodate numerous food booths and stalls selling biker-leathers and suglasses as well as body-piercings and tattoos. I buy a couple of cool biker-scarves to tie back my hair. Every so often there are mini motorcycle shows, and we watch a little stunt bike (and rider) do some amazing stuff. Later we see bigger bikes (again, with riders) do some insane-looking jumps. As they are airborne, the riders do little tricks, like swinging their legs around. It gets less cool, however, after we watch about 25 jumps and see the same tricks repeated. Besides it is hellishly hot. We decide to get lunch in a sit-down-air-conditioned establishment. The Star, Elko’s best Basque Restaurant is only a short walk away. I am sad when I remember they are not open for lunch on weekends, but brighten when I remember it is actually Friday. Johnny is glad to be reminded of the day. It is more enjoyable, he says, if he remembers he is missing work. I totally agree. I am worried we won’t be able to get a table, but we are seated immediately. We all order the steak sandwich, which they are famous for. They also bring us a traditonal cabbage soup, sweet-mayo dressed salad, and superb french fries. I can’t finish my sandwich, but Jim helps me out.
We make a stop at Home Depot on the way home. UDad has been trying to take the biggest portion of the dog-run out of our yard, and Jim has offered to help. The metal posts seem impossible to dig out, so they are going to cut them off a bit below ground level. UDad nearly buys a power metal-cutting saw, but in the end Jim assures him a hacksaw will do. We also stop at another store which shall remain nameless. (no, not Voldemort) While I pick up some groceries, the boys are doing some shopping of their own. When we get home, I am presented with some early birthday gifts. Johnny has bought me a large, very nice cooler, perfect for keeping our drinks cold. Jim gives me two lawn games: Croquet I am familiar with, but what is this Bocce Ball? It turns out to be a marvelously fun game, and we play it, off and on, all weekend long. Johnny and I prove to be nearly an unbeatable team.
Heather and Heath finally arrive, and we grill some burgers. Afterwards I bring out the sugar-free desserts Heather asked me to pick up so we could celebrate UDad’s birthday, late. What I didn’t know was that we were also celebrating my birthday (early). We both were required to blow out candles, and then were showered with balloons and were issued those noisemaker things that shoot out and sound like a kazoo. It was a hoot. Heather and Heath had got us some really cool gifts at the Dollar Store, which included gloves, a little semi-truck model, coin counter and giant barbecuing tools for Dad, and a poodle mug, hot pad and kitchen towel with dog designs and some card games for me. The coolest thing was this throwing game that I think was actually given to Murphy. The “ball” has little suction cups all over it and sticks to the disc you each are holding, if you don’t drop it in the dirt too much. What a nice day.