Well everybody's going out and having fun

It was a long weekend and took longer to catch up at work than I had planned so we are way behind here. Apologies to all my regulars!

Wednesday night there was a change in plans and the Eldest Daughter was going right to her Grama's to stay. I wanted to make sure she had what she needed and made a late run to take a few things over and greet her as she arrived. She used the coffee grinder but never got to the garden fresh spinach or aspargus as we all kept taking her out to eat. Mom enjoyed it later.

Then Thursday the boss surprised all of us by being pleased that not one order was late and not one bill overdue while he was gone. He bought lunch for the guys and gave us all a half day off on Thursday. I got a Black Forest coo coo clock I had requested instead of the lunch. It's a lovely little wind up that is still losing time, about an minute an hour, because the pendulem is still not perfectly positioned. I really like it.

The story goes; I was three or four and had visited the Great Grands house on a Saturday. Now I had a Grampa and Grama Gee already. This extra set of the same name would have confused me. The GG's had a beautiful German coo coo clock that had the little bird that popped out calling the hours. I was fascinated with it. The next day, at church, I spotted them passing in the aisle and stood up on my pew to holler, "Hi Grampa Coo Coo!" we called them Grampa and Grama Coo Coo forever after and my mom bought herself a new paper bag to wear on Sundays.

When the boss said he was visiting the Black Forest area I asked nicely for a small one, offering to pay for it. He made me a gift of it instead. It's one of the few nice things he has done for me in my eight years here and I really like it a lot.

I used my "get out early free card" to have brunch with the eldest and the Mom on Thursday. We had a nice visit and roughed out her plans for the time she would be here. That evening we met #1Son along with the mate's Eldest Girl, another foster brother and his girl and mom at a locally popular diner way back in the boondocks. The company was great but the dinner left a lot to be desired, mainly service. I hate poor service because I was good at doing that job in my past I really don't like a lazy or poorly trained server. This girl was both.

The food was mostly ok and we did have fun. Afterwards Mom and I went back to Another Brother's place to visit. I never found out till too late to fix it that ED didn't realize who he was. I felt badly about that. He was a good friend and play mate to my kids when they were little.

There were lots of little screw ups like that all weekend. It still was wonderful fun to see all the kids and cousins together. Only one of the Biker Nephews couldn't make it and he was pretty heart broken about it.

Friday ED spent with her friends and her brother and sis in law and the little neice. My #1Son had taken two days off to have time available to spend with his sister. I owe him and his wonderful wife, my daughter in law, a big thank you because the actual time they got together was pretty short but he made his family and himself available for anything. My main man!

I was off Friday and went shopping. Saturday we had a BBQ at Eldest Nephew's home. He and his wife had a great spread laid out and one newly treasured maple tree that shaded us from the 90 degree heat as the little ones played in the wading pool and sprinkler. A big thanks to them for hosting the wild bunch!

There were photos and memories and stories and fun had by all. There was way too much food, as usual, and lots of ants. One of the neice in laws stirred up a whole hill of them and we had to relocate chairs to avoid them. The heat was the only real negative in the whole day. Last weekend I froze my butt off on the bike and this week end it was so hot the bike had trouble running in the high temps. Welcome to Michigan!

There is never enough time to spend with the girl when she is home. We stay in touch well by 'net and phone so I don't worry about her. I just can't hug her enough with her long distance. I enjoyed seeing her and getting to know her again in person. I know we will still be electronic friends anyway but appreciated her taking the time to be with us. So, Thanks, Eldest Daughter! We all love you and miss you in the circle when we party. It was fun.