Today was a kind of fun day... it had been raining when I got up, and Karen was still here, so I got to see her for a little while before she left for work.
The rain, it has been said, is the last that we'll see for a while. This is being blamed on the effects of La Nina or some other cockamamie invention of someone who doesn't want to take personal responsibility for the weather in Kansas. They make up this stuff and foist it off on us and when we believe them (they have college degrees and stuff like that) they take advantage of our gullibility and steal all of our rain and give it to Texas. And the people in Texas don't even appreciate it. Well, anyway... work was OK too. Not too busy, not too slack. I actually got off pretty much on time, and Karen was ready to go over to Patrick's by the time that I got home. Patrick is home by himself... Kim and Lacee have gone out to get his cake. He's pretty excited, and he decides to open one of his presents from us... a pair of cargo shorts. Soon Kim and lacee return, and the rest of the presents are opened... we got him a soccer ball and a collapsible goal. We decide to start putting the goal together, but getting the Patrick's first choice of restaurants was a taco joint, but Karen deemed it inappropriate for such an austere occasion... Kim and Lacee get left out... Lacee is upset about this... she wants to go too. Patrick just wants to be with grandma and grandpa, without Lacee there stealing his thunder. He relents just before we leave, though, but we leave without them anyway. Karen returned to the house and told them to come later... So we're there about fifteen minutes before they show up. We're seated and we've already ordered. We have subtly let our waitress know that somebody is having a birthday. The meal goes OK except for Lacee acting up some and trying to start a food fight. About the time we're done, the clapping starts, and the waitresses are heading in our direction. patrick sets his jaw and is outwardly unmoved by six beautiful girls singing to him. Amazingly, he is also almost unmoved by the chocolate/vanilla/marshmallow/fudge/whipped cream confection set down in front of him. He shared with me, though... excellent stuff, I'm going there next time I have a birthday if I should be so lucky. Patrick and Lacee rode home with me, and we (well, the adults) continued the struggle with the netting on the damned soccer goal. Kim found the directions that we'd looked in vain for before we left, and they were not much help. Steve arrived and I decided that it could be his responsibility and came on home. Karen stayed behind to help Lacee do something, but she returned about a half-hour later to report that the net was put together properly now... I'm on call again tomorrow and Thursday, then I'm off call for a while. Wow... a whole weekend free! Two whole days! Damn... it has gotten late way too early tonight.
netting on becomes a major chore, and we're hungry, so we leave it and Patrick and Karen and I head out for Applebees, which was Patrick's second choice. But he doesn't want them to know that it's his birthday. Empathetically. He really means it.