A proper weekend! We seem to get one only every six weeks or so this year, so it came as a welcome respite from the madness. This week: more madness. Awoke this morning to a sudden bang and a clatter, accompanied by intemperate distant thudding, the likes of which is not often heard in these parts. I got out of bed and looked out the office window into the sunrise -thunderclouds were blowing in from behind me, off the mighty Pacific twelve miles west of here, and there in the middle of the field adjacent to our suburb I saw a bright tear in the sky, striking the top of the hill, backlit by the sun. It was an odd sight. I blinked awake a bit and mumbled, "here it comes" and-

WHOMPBOMBOMBOMBUMBIDIBUMBUM!

Right on top of us. Someone up there doesn't want us to go to Legoland today, I thought.

But it has since passed and there's a smattering of rain and a rainbow and all is well in the suburbs. I hear it tumbling off into the distance, the lightning raking ahead of it, and it's on its way out to Escondido, where the morning grey of Oceanside goes to die. Here comes October! I am not a quitter! I spent a good amount of time out in the garden this weekend turning and amending the soil and planting some onions, peppers, tomatoes -all those things that thrive in the Spring. Thought I'd beg the gods for another shot at it in the next few months. Hey, it's California! It's a twelve-month growing season!

Members of DawgRun headquarters came Saturday for barbeque and wine. They brought the wine -that is: 2 bottles of cabernet, a six-pack of pumpkin ale, 1 bottle of port, and a twelve dollar chunk of Manchego. There was no obligation to bring half of the local Ralph's Grocery European Dining aisle, but we appreciate it all the same. (The port and cheese will be here for the pumpkin fest, available to all who attend.) That being said, I had already opened a bottle (jug) of Spanish wine previously and had stopped by the Oceanside Ale Works for a growler of the local suburban hefeweizen, so after a day in the sun and a willful neglect to hydrate, I woke Sunday morning with a powerful headache. I begged off church and stayed home to shave the cat.

He's nineteen! He had yet another birthday last week and I went to pet him to find he had become no less than a matted geriatric fur ball that reeked of the unmentionable contents of his litter box, with a sorry all-my-nine-lives-are-pissed-about-it kind of attitude. He didn't like the shaving, but I just know he'll appreciate it in the long run. I didn't much like it either, so we did the clipfest in shifts until he angrily sunk a fang into my hand, then I gave him six hours off. If we make it to Legoland today, I may succumb to feline distemper, but at least my teeth aren't hurting as much.

Legoland! I got last week's order in late, so I got a free day today. Sort of. The phone just rang a bit ago and the plant only has a coil of the .032 gauge in the Spanish Brown -can you believe this crap!? Oh, man, that screws up everything! And I was going to take my truck in to get the "Engine Check" Light fixed so I could get it properly smogged for the DMV registration. I can't afford all this!

But well, that's life. Allow me to draw attention away from this blog now, to the DawgRun's new little addition: here. She's so cute! Welcome to the blogosphere, baby.


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