"Blogger is Temporarily Unavailable"

So, this time I haven't written much not only because I'm busy, but because the last two times I tried to log on, Blogger has been "down."

Oh well, it's not like I've been writing during the week anyway. See, I can't log on at work (it's blocked) and because I still can't get DSL, the dial up at home takes forever, and sometimes I'm booted off 2 or 3 times when I do log on. Okay, there's my litany of excuses.

This weekend was one of those that started off with no expectations. I had no plans, and most of my friends were busy. Katrina and Sam were going to a "forty-tenth" birthday party up at Lake Cachuma; it's about 30 miles away, and a wonderful camping getaway. I hadn't been invited, but I'm not one of the inner circle of friends of Dan, the birthday boy; more like a friendly acquaintance. They were staying overnight Friday and Saturday, so no dog walking with Jelly this weekend. Then, of course, Victoria wasn't in the mood to do anything. I called her Friday and asked her if she wanted to go sit in a cool movie theatre for two hours, but she declined. I haven't spoken to her at all about Cookie, but I was thinking it might be a way for her to escape for a couple of hours. You know, be with someone, but not have to talk, sit in the dark, and lose oneself in what's on the screen...it's something I would do, but not her, I guess. Also, it was about a million degrees on Thursday and Friday (okay, more like 90) and school has no air conditioning.

I then called my friend Helga, and we decided to go for adult refreshments after work. I went home to change ( a school staff polo shirt is not the height of fashion), and left to meet her at the Brewhouse downtown. Nope. Got to the car, and what I thought were my keys in my pocket was my cell phone. Duh. But, Helga doesn't have her cell phone with her, so I can't call her and tell her I'm going to be a bit... uh... late.

I pry the screen off my kitchen window, and climb in. Climb in over my dish drainer, full of drying dishes, and my sink, which is full of dirty dishes. I scare my dog, and get my pants dirty, but I get in, get my keys and leave again.

Get to the Brewhouse, and it's Oktoberfest time. Waitresses in St. Paulie girl outfits and bartenders in Lederhosen (not sure how that's spelled). LOUD oom pa pa music out back, and a bratwurst eating contest. Not a relaxing kind of time. We have a couple of drinks before Helga can't take it anymore, and leave.

(You know, if this is mundane and boring to you, don't feel you have to keep reading. I'm just babbling, ha... get it? just babbling here because I've not been able to post lately, and if you haven't noticed yet, I have verbal diarrhea... )

So, Saturday, I'm cleaning up the place, doing laundry, no plans, and Katrina calls from Cachuma.
"What'cha doing this weekend?" and proceeds to invite me up for the rest of the birthday party. This is typical of her style. There have been several times when there's been a get together in which no one is "formally" invited. Because I'm in the outer circle of this group of friends, I usually am invited through Katrina or Jillian, another friend. Katrina rarely passes on the invitation until the last minute, sometimes even after the event has started. The worst example of it was when she called and invited me to a big Superbowl party. She called after half-time. I don't know what the deal is, and I used to be much more sensitive about it, but whatever.

I packed up a bag and Charlie and off we went. Sam took Katrina and I on a little tour of the lake (no swimming allowed, but boats are fine), we ate and drank, sat around a campfire, drank some more (a bottle of wine is 10 points), and I went straight from sober to asleep. I think I was out by 9 o'clock that night. Woke up in my clothes the next day. Completely missed the excitement.

See, the guys stayed up late drinking... and a mama raccoon and her two babies showed up. They were up in a tree, and Gary, the daredevil of the group, decided he was going to climb the tree and "catch" them. How he thought he was going to do that, I don't know. And if you know anything about raccoons, you also know that they can be vicious. They have razor sharp claws and teeth... and it was a MAMA raccoon with babies.

Anyway, he didn't catch the raccoons because he fell out of the tree. And broke his leg.

I miss all the fun.