Muffin

Since we've put up the birdfeeder, there have been several menaces out there trying to harass the cute little birds that flock to it. Some are bluejays who sit on top of the feeder and shake it and squawk until the little ones are scared away. Some are hawks, and some are random cats who prowl along the fence. Then there's Muffin:

Our pal Muffin is the biggest squirrel on the block, who runs along the telephone wire to get to the trees with the feeder on them, and chases away the littler squirrels. In fact, the other day when it was in the 90s outside, I saw Muffin laying on the wire, passed out, with his tail drooping over the side and his arms and legs on either side, trying to get cool and at the same time ward off anybody else who might try to sneak some seeds from the feeder. As you can see, he likes to hang off of the feeder lazily. The other day, I was showing this bad habit to Nolan, when Muffin looked about to break the feeder altogether. So I threw open the window, yelled "MUFFINNNNN!", which scared him so much that he FLEW off of the feeder in a wild ball into the bushes, making squawking noises. I haven't seen him hanging off of that thing since. On the other hand, I also haven't refilled the feeder since then.

For my birthday (which was awesome!), I got a BBQ! EEEEEEE!!! Now we're real suburbanites. We test-drove it on Saturday night, then hosted our first BBQ with 10 people on Sunday before game night. Nolan broke out his manly skillz and fixed up a smokin' meal for us all. So naturally I snapped a picture:


And another picture of the BBQ itself:


Yesterday, on my very last day off, I was totally lazy. I woke up late, sat at Starbucks and read (and ate breakfast because our fridge had conveniently broken and all the stuff inside had gone bad), came home and did some yoga, then met my friend Erin at Riconada pool and just LAID there...for hours. Then came home while the fix-it guy fixed the fridge, and went on a double-dinner date with Erin and her husband Eric at Fresh Choice (where else?).

Thank you, everyone, for the birthday wishes!