Copious Free Time

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There was a fox in our back yard the other day. I ran for the camera and took pictures, then watched it as it scratched, looked around, sniffed here and there, and did other thrilling fox activities. Then Matty, the neighbor dog, ran up, barking. I thought for a second she might go through the invisible fence again, but it stopped her. It was enough for the fox, which ran off in a direction I couldn't be certain of. Matty then looked satisfied, turned away and kicked a couple back paws worth of dirt in its general direction. Later that day, or maybe the next, Sarah and I were driving somewhere and it ran across the road in front of us. A couple of our neighbors also saw it.

Thursday night, I helped Sarah make a scrapbook of the China trip. She chose about 90 photos from a set of 350 that I'd made, and I used InDesign to lay them out on eight pages. She did one of the pages mostly by herself with me giving instructions. I think she could learn the basics of the layout program pretty quickly. Friends who are interested in the scrapbook, be aware that the PDF is only about 2.5MB.

Now we're up in New Jersey, with Cathy's family. Yesterday Sarah and I went along as Cathy's sister Mary took her dog, Rags, for a walk on a railroad trail somewhere not too far from Budd Lake. At three miles, it's the closest thing to exercise I've done on this trip. As we approached the parking lot, a dozen or so shots were heard somewhere over a hill. Rags was not thrilled. Some folks at the parking lot were unhappy because one of their dogs had bolted from the vehicle and was now running down the road. We allowed that Sarah's theory about the dog being scared by the shots was a good one. We were going in the same direction and drove slowly behind the car that was tracking the dog and looking for a chance to get it back in the car. Some brilliant soul a couple of cars back figured we were all driving too slow and had the notion that he could fix everything by honking his horn.

Today we were out for an errand and managed to swing by White Castle. The one near here is the only one I ever get to visit any more, and I always look forward to it. This time I didn't have a regular slider but had a fish slider, a bacon slider, and a jalapeño cheese slider. So hot, so fresh, so tasty. I'm hoping we can get in one more slider run as we depart for home in the morning. If all they serve in the a.m. is breakfast items, well, that wouldn't be so bad either. (And yes, I am aware that some people may not like White Castle. I am unperturbed by this.)
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Yesterday, Sarah wanted cheesy eggs and bacon again. I had her gather ingredients while I finished unloading and loading the dishwasher -- it's so much better to cook in a clean kitchen -- and things started as usual. This time, she wanted to crack eggs. Just one, she said, but I had her crack two of the three (I'd already broken the first one). Then she started the scrambling. I had her start the microwave with the bacon in it as she had me finishing the scrambling, and then I had her put cheese on the plates for the eggs to go on top. Just one egg for me this time, as I'm getting no thinner.

When it was all done with, she ended up only eating one egg as well. That's life.

This morning, I was doing boring old morning stuff when I was informed that Sarah had made bacon and eggs already, with Cathy standing by. A little firmer than I make them, but perfectly acceptable and tasty eggs. Sarah is learning to cook.

In other news, back when we were still in Virginia, I told Cathy I had decided my midlife crisis car would be a Honda Element. Three days ago, we closed on a red 2006 Element that I might call Mao. Sarah, who has been an Element fan since she learned of my interest, likes it because it's kind of like a van and it has great back seat legroom. It's the first car we've had with Automatic. I guess I can deal with that. It has four-wheel drive for those weather emergency days. My god, I have an SUV. Now I have to be saintly in my driving conduct to try and counteract the bad rep all those other drivers have given us SUV drivers.

I've also had a busy week designing a web page for the Friends of the Library here, working on a couple of books, and participating in the "Art Ambassador" program at Sarah's school. This was the Faith Ringgold unit. The next one will be Winsor McCay: my unit.

And now I will head for bed.
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24. I heard that your milkshake was made from chicken hooves, is this true? I know the rumors about the nuggets being all beaks and feet and burgers being filled out with chicken are no longer true but I can't believe the milkshake is also chicken enriched!

The public wants to know, and McDonald's (UK) sits down to quietly and patiently defuse every urban legend -- as well as every reasonable query -- customers send in. There are 102 questions on milkshakes alone.

Make Up Your Own Mind, or just amuse yourself.
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