Weekend update

We're screwed if it snows heavily. I know I said that the snowblower was all set, and, therefore, we were ready for the snow. After that, we noticed a strong smell of gas. We traced it back to the snowblower sitting in our garage. It was leaking gas on the ground.

So, on Friday, I called the equipment company we use for buying and servicing whatever we need around here (the snowblower, lawnmower, tiller, etc.). Jerry, the boss there, said we should bring it in first thing on Saturday morning, and they would fix it. He thought it might be a problem with the carburetor, but he assured me he could fix something like that and have it back to us in a few hours.

Unfortunately, after examining it, he told us that the gas tank was cracked. How that happened is beyond me, but it did. So he had to order a new tank. It wouldn't cost much, but we can't have the snowblower back until Wednesday.

Ready for a blizzard, everyone? :)

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On to the happier parts of this weekend. After our adventures in attempted snowblower repair, we put together some plates of candy.

We make our own candy for the holidays and often mail it out to friends and family, but, this year, it was an abbreviated run, due to all that's going on (house construction, etc.). So we just did a drop-off service to a few people around here (sorry if we missed you, but we really didn't have a lot!).

We started at the apartment of a celebrity friend and his partner. The celebrity in question had a matinee that afternoon, so he wasn't there, but we spent a lovely visit with his partner.

After that, we went past our friend Jeff's. Jeff has been feeling a bit under the weather, so he couldn't come out to dinner and/or drinks with us. Since we still wanted to get the candy to him, I waited outside in the Explorer while Marc ran in and gave him the candy. I'd have parked and come in, too, but curbside parking in that neighborhood is very tough. So, since Jeff wasn't coming with us, this made more sense than paying for parking in a nearby garage.

After our stop at Jeff's, we tried to find Matt and John but had no luck with that. So we went to meet up with our dinner date, Byrne. We met him at his apartment, where he entertained us by sharing his 2004 French rugby calendar. (Okay, we saw it on the wall, and he handed it to us, so he could break our trance, as we were locked in place, staring at the wall and drooling!)

After that, we went to a great dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. We had "catfish fingers" (fried in a delicious spicy batter and served with jalapeno tartar sauce) and guacamole for appetizers. Then we each got chicken fried steak for our entrees. Unlike most attempts at chicken fried steak, this was tasty and the steak was tender. It was a big meal, too. When the waitress asked if we wanted dessert, we all declined. We were too full!

After that, we headed to Posh. We knew, from having spoken to Patrick, that his dinner group would be heading there for drinks. So we got there about an hour before Patrick and our other friends and started having some drinks.

Byrne ran into his friend Jeff who was being joined later by members of his hockey team. Well, this was interesting. Gay hockey players. I wanted to see this.

As they arrived, I decided that it might be worth adding hockey to rugby as a favorite sport to watch. :) Some of these men were strikingly handsome (not to mention well-built). Byrne's friend Jeff was truly adorable.

After a couple of drinks, the rest of our motley crew arrived. The aforementioned Patrick was there, with his handsome and charming partner Greg (if you can't tell, these boys are two of our favorite people...actually, so are Byrne and Michael, so it was a good evening), along with Michael (whose alleged partner couldn't make it), Rich and... hmmm... was it Jason? Something like that. I'm so bad with names. Sorry. He was nice, and he was cute, but he was only there briefly. So the name didn't get a solid hold in my semi-reliable gray matter.

Anyhow, Patrick was true to form and started buying shots for everyone. Since I was driving, I was able to avoid his efforts at getting us trashed. In fact, he's a good friend and doesn't even offer when he knows I'm driving.

In the course of the night, we distributed more candy. I also enjoyed singing songs with Patrick and Michael. At one point, both of them were practically on top of me. They're both dear friends, not to mention very cuddly, so that was a treat.

I'm a little jealous of Michael, actually. He's heading for Waikiki in a few days. I hope he has a wonderful trip.

Today is a slow day. Marc's back from church and feeling a bit tired. So we may have a little nap in a bit. After that, I'm hoping to, as Benny Hill used to say, have carnival knowledge of him. ;)

That's about as far as the plan goes for today. That, dinner and maybe a DVD tonight. For all of the running around, it has been a nice weekend.