2003-04-29 - 6:48 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Possum Kingdom", the Toadies

SATURDAY:

Woke up feeling like crap. Was not at all happy about this -- dismayed, in fact -- not least because I had to go up and down the stairs about fifty bazillion times while feeling like crap. About an hour into the trip breakfast finally kicked in and I felt a little better, and then after a nap felt almost like myself again.

We checked in at the house and got the HVAC filter sizes, and checked the landscaping situation. There were almost no weeds, much to my relief, and some of the stuff I planted was even growing again, amazingly enough. So we got the filters, replaced 'em, I weeded, we spread a couple bags of mulch around, and set off to Kit's place.

When I lived in the DC area, I considered (in my own little horrendously biased worldview) anything outside the Beltway to be "too far away". I went out there as little as possible. Fairfax and Burke were beginning to be "really too far away". Manassas and Herndon were the outer edge, the beginning of "nowhere". Kit lives beyond the edge of nowhere out in the "middle of nowhere".

This is not to say the "middle of nowhere" is a bad thing. The advantage to it, of course, is that she has mountains and cows nearby. And a lovely, lovely home that I could not stop oohing and ahhing over the entire time I was there. High ceilings, openness, lots of light. I LOVE the colors and the lovely choices she's made in decorating it. Did I mention the colors? Oh, and she has the best. couches. ever. A lovely dark chocolate color and soft as clouds.

Poindexter was appreciative of the the guest bathroom -- "It's almost a guy's bathroom. If you take the girly stuff out of there, you have a bathroom in a [color suitable for men] and you've got gun catalogs and Victoria's Secret to read."

We were yucky and gross from working in the garden ("Evelynne made me mulch", Poindexter explained), so the first thing we did was ask to take a shower ("I'm dirty from all that mulching," said Poindexter). Kit asked if we wanted to go to the range, as we had tentatively planned, but there wasn't much time, "Plus I'm tired from all that mulching," said Poindexter. I finally whacked him and told Kit that what I'd actually said was, after he helpfully weeded some salvia (note to the gardening-impaired: Salvia is not a weed. At least not to me.), "You can spread the mulch if you need something to do."

So we sat around and chatted a bit and ate leftovers and then headed over to Mark's house. I was floored at the spread he'd prepared and extremely annoyed with myself for snacking too much before I came over. He had: shrimp cocktail, a berry cake/tart, potato chips, pizza, and my personal favorite, the anti-Kit/anti-Dan plate: cut up celery and cucumber with ranch dip. (Kit hates the former, Dan hates the latter, both quite passionately). I ate a bunch of both, and crunched celery loudly during the movie. Poindexter glared at me.

I had a fantastic time, and was amazed at how INCREDIBLY NICE AND FRIENDLY everybody was. Not that I was expecting any less, but I think having all those fabulous people all together in one room was still just amazingly lovely. A very attractive bunch of guys. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.

Poindexter tells me that the audience commentary during the movie was absolutely hysterical. Definitely enhanced the movie experience. I couldn't hear any of it, of course, but I enjoyed hearing everyone laughing at the funny one-liners.

On the way home in the car, Kit and Poindexter were talking and suddenly I hear Poindexter say,

"I'm not a SHUT-in!"

So I had to interrupt to get the recap of the conversation thus far. Apparently Kit had said she was glad he left the house to come down and visit, and he protested that he was a social person, liked to visit people, and she mentioned that I'd said he didn't like to leave the house, which prompted the shut-in remark. So, I wasn't too sympathetic:

Evelynne: You are too a shut-in.
Poindexter: I am not!
Evelynne: Name one time you left the house that wasn't for work, a family obligation, or something your wife requested.
Poindexter: [long pause] well...
Evelynne: SEE!
Poindexter: I wanted to go to Arizona!
Evelynne: That was in JANUARY.

To be fair, he *is* a social person and likes to have people visit. He's actually more social than I am in some ways. And my question was also unfair because it's been winter, and he's from California, so going outside in winter is hardly on his list of fun activities. AND, not that there's anything wrong with staying home. I myself would probably be thrilled if I never had to live Center City.

But. It's still true that I voluntarily leave the house more often than Poindexter does, and he also likes to pester me (it's like a game) by making me pull teeth to get him to do something. I forget sometimes that he's just playing around. Or maybe I don't believe him. :) So I say he doesn't like to leave the house.

I suppose this is a good time to mention that when Kit and Mark were here last month, Poindexter said, "If I'd known you were gonna sit down at Dairy Queen and shop on the way back, I would've come along. I thought you were gonna be back in five minutes; that's the only reason I didn't come along."

SUNDAY:

Woke up to a beautiful day. Kit was watching the talking heads, and Poindexter told her "Evelynne doesn't let me watch this." I told him he could make an exception just this once.

Kit first thing in the morning is a lovely sight to behold. Touseled hair, rosy cheeks, looks gorgeous in her robe. Don't hate her because she's beautiful, hate her because she looks so good in the morning.

We persuaded Poindexter to come to the range and went off to meet up with Dan, Nikolai, and later, Partywhipple and had a fun hour or so of shooty goodness.

I rented a Browning Hi-Power and surprised myself by doing very well with handling it. I've never liked the higher-caliber guns and figured I never would, but this one gave me some hope. The grip fit my tiny hands pretty comfortably and I also had no trouble with the slide or in dealing with cartridges getting caught. I'll have to try it a few more times and see what I think of it.

I tried Still Prettiest for about two rounds and decided she was Not For Me. Good grief. I don't think I need a .45. It's a nice comfortable gun to hold, though.

Everybody tried my little Ruger Mark II and they LOVED IT. Mouse gun or no, my gun is FUN.

This entry is taking forever to get written so I'll just post it for now. I'll post another entry with shooty goodness photos another time.

Meanwhile, the Leftover Heating continues, with "Evelynne Gets a Clean Plate out of the Dishwasher":

That's my armpit you're seeing, not my booby. Nothing to see here. Move along.

previous index next