Monday started out extremely busy.  My list of things to do was growing very rapidly.  Work had a lot going on.  Now that we are down one person, I’m twice as busy.  We’ve figured out the logistics and we are looking for a new contractor.  I hope we can find someone who is willing to learn the fast paced business of organizing an upgrade.  Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

 Tuesday was our 19th anniversary.  It doesn’t seem that long.  We’re still trying to figure each other out.  But I wouldn’t trade Rich in for anyone else I’ve ever met.  Oh wait, there was that guy from this summer at Baker’s Beach.  Too bad I didn’t talk to him though.  Anyway, we went out to celebrate, just the two of us.  Rick had class that night.  There was an Italian restaurant across from Duke’s Alehouse in Crystal Lake that I keep seeing and never made it into.  On this night, we walked right inside the door.  It was half price bottle of wine night.  Perfect for celebrating.  The food was excellent and the wait staff was friendly and knowledgeable.  It was a great time.  Happy anniversary, Rich.  Hope to have more years with you.

On Thursday night, I met up with my friends, Kim and Diane.  I convinced Kim to come up for dinner.  Diane works up this way already.  We met at The Village Squire in town.  This place is known for their flaming cheese.  You know, the Greek stuff where you shout, “Opa!”  It was raining, so I got there first and waited until Diane arrived.  We chatted about upcoming event and her recent wedding in Vegas.  We finally called to see where Kim was.  The rain and traffic were not being kind to her.  She arrived after a couple of hours trying to get north.  We had dinner and talked, talked, and then talked some more.  It’s always good to meet up with your friends.  Thanks, Kim and Diane, for a great evening.

Rich saw a video showing someone riding their bike with a dog walking device attached to the bike.  I thought this was courting disaster.  I think Sascha could easily drag a bike.  Rich ordered the device and it came in the mail on Thursday.  Even with it raining, he set up the bike and took Sascha out for a trial.  I guess she was very leery of the bike, but trotted right alongside.  Maybe this is a good way to exercise her.  As along as she doesn’t go off sideways looking for a squirrel.

So on Friday, I had decided to work at home.  I was running behind on getting some things caught up and delivered.  These sorts of things are best done in the quiet of your own office where there are fewer interruptions.  I was slowly grinding my way through documents, files, and postings.  Unfortunately, I felt like crap.  With the rain yesterday and the changing temperatures, I had a sinus headache that made my ears and my teeth hurt.  I did manage to concentrate, attend conference calls, and continue to work steadily. 

Around lunchtime, the DirecTV guy showed up.  Since the late spring, our upstairs receiver and DVR has slowly been dying.  The recordings were halting and hard to watch.  The machine would sometimes say it only partially recorded something when it had, in fact, captured the entire thing.  Or it would do the opposite and stop unexpectedly and not have recorded the entire program!  Then the guide started to slow down so much that it might take 20 minutes before it would appear on the screen.  In the meantime, you couldn’t do anything!  I had had enough the other day and called for service.  This very nice guy named Mike showed up.  He checked the alignment of the dish and swapped out the receiver for a new one.  It works beautifully.  Funny thing is, I hadn’t noticed how bad the picture was on the TV until the new one was running.  I have true HD again!  Thanks, Mike.

Then around 5:00, it happened again!  I was working away when I heard a very solid THUNK!  I ran to the back door to make sure Sascha was still there.  She was, but she wasn’t alone.  She was standing over a dead squirrel.  This time she had made sure it couldn’t get away for definitely crushing it.  Rick and I went out to clean up.  Sascha had different plans though.  She wouldn’t turn loose of her prize.  I thought about Rose’s request for a picture of the dead animal.  I sent Rick in to get a camera while I got gloves and a bag for disposal. 

Sascha promptly walked over to my flower bed and nestled the squirrel in around the flower pots.  Yuck!  I garden in that area, dog!  Rick came back out and got a picture of the squirrel.  We got Sascha into the house finally.  Time to clean up the bodies. Then I put him in the bag and tied it up.  The entire time, the trees were alive with squirrels screeching and throwing down nuts at us.  After cleaning up, we let Sascha back out into the yard, but she was upset that her prize squirrel was missing. 

I just have visions of her getting to be very good with her skills and needed to clean up the yard on a daily basis. Why can’t the squirrels move out and over to the neighbors’ yards? 

So we got a call from the contractor.  The drawings for our proposed garage are ready.  So tomorrow, we get to see the first cut and find out what this is going to cost us.  The additional space and being able to separate Sally from the house would be great.  The cost might not be.  I’m kind of anxious to see what they came up.  Not looking for to losing my yard or digging it up, but it would be nice.  I’m just saying.

So another weekend is upon us.  I’m going to try and sleep in, even if Miss Sascha wants to chase squirrels at 6:00 AM.  Have a great weekend yourself.