We took plenty of pictures, so those will be interspersed throughout my entries all week. Most of what we took was of the puppy, but there�s at least one good one of Luke and I, so that will come up soon as well.

Picking up Luke Saturday night, he got into the car and suddenly decided that he wanted to go to the grocery store for road snacks and general junk food, so we spent a good 20 minutes or so combing the aisles for things that he would enjoy. He grabbed barbecue potato chips, turkey jerky, and a bottle of tea, while I went for granola bars. Now, just what does that say about our respective eating habits? We came home and he unloaded his bag of tricks, having got me the SFX Buffy special edition and The Osbournes second season on DVD at work.

We got up at 10 the next morning and got out the door in 20 minutes, making our way first to the gas station and then heading up north listening to the horrible atrocity that is radio the entire way. If only the tape player in that piece of crap car worked still. We stopped for a bagel each on the final leg of our trip and made it to Grandma�s in less than 2 � hours. Along the way, on a stretch of two-lane highway, there are the typical signs for road adoption where the Kiwanis club and Girl Scouts go out every now and then to clean up the roadsides. Not too many trips ago, Luke happened to be paying a ttention to these signs and noticed one that was not your standard community organization, so we snapped a photo of it this time around. You be the judge.

Upon arriving at the homestead, Luke made it into the house first and I heard him say to me, �wait until you get in here and see this little puff ball.� So, as you can see, the camera was immediately hauled out. I tend to be a bit of a puppy hog, so I had to really restrain myself and resist the urge to spend all of my time cuddling. She�s an unbelievably affectionate little beast and incurably adorable and such traits make it very difficult for me to contain myself. I�m fairly certain that I did a better job of keeping myself in check this time around. Grandma and Papa were watching football, so while I played with the pup, Luke read a magazine.

We wanted to visit with Luke�s great grandma, but they were out, so we waltzed around looking at kittens (another). It�s really unfortunate, though, because every time I go up there and see more kittens, it breaks my heart. I don�t blame great grandma and Luke�s uncle for the state that these poor felines in because they simply don�t have the resources to keep them both healthy and to limit their population. All of them have respiratory problems, a lot of them are blind, they are achingly thin, and some of the tiniest ones you just know will no longer be living by the next time you visit, as evidenced by their being so much smaller than their siblings and the uncontrollable dripping of what looks like mustard from their hind ends. I want to take them all home, make sure that they get well, and disperse them to homes that guarantee a good life. I wish that I could resist visiting with them and hate that I have to avoid petting them and their affectionate brushing against my legs because I fear contagion to the healthy animals in the other family households.

We spent some time roaming about the yard, kicking up leaves and lying in the afternoon sun underneath the swing set (pictures taken, but you have to wait for them). I think it was the first time that we�ve ever just lain down outside and cuddled like that. It was so very lovely and I could have done that for the rest of the day, but Papa came home from his deer gazing (he calls this hunting, but all he really does during bow season is sit in a tree in his camo with a pair of binoculars) and dinner was to be had soon after he got home. I think it was the first time I�ve ever had dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon. This is not a common thing in that household, either, so I don�t know why Sunday was such an anomaly, nor did I bother asking.

Luke�s cousin J stopped by with her little ones Collin and Aria and invited us to a couples game of 20th anniversary Trivial Pursuit. We went to town (a � hour�s drive) with Grandma for a puppy bed, saw this at the store, showered before Papa got back from another round of �hunting� knowing that it would be too late were we to try and shower when we got back from J�s, and headed over. J has said that she will never ask us to play another game with her again because we won without any major trouble and despite knowing that we are a brain trust in and of ourselves, she invited us along anyway. The game ended at around 12:30am and we drove back to Grandma�s, brushed our teeth, had wonderfully sweet sex, and went to sleep.

Monday�s report will come tomorrow with more photos and details of the visit to great grandma�s and the cheese factory.

For some reason, the power went out for a fair amount of time this afternoon while I was trying to compose this earlier. I worried for a bit that it would stay out well into this evening, wondering what I would do about dinner, but just after I realized that I couldn�t even go to the office to check what it was all about (Luke took my keys because Andy has his), it came back on.