Two goldens, four mixes, and a Bichon(?)

Well, having slept in this morning, I had just finished breakfast and was down on the couch lying on Philip's legs when the phone rang. Sid wanted to know if I wanted to go on a walk down on the bike path behind the new strip mall. "Let me get dressed," I said. Some fifteen minutes later (she'd said it would take her that long) Lark and I were in Sid's driveway, waiting for her to locate her biking gloves.

It was a long walk. We left about nine-thirty, and got back at noon. We met six dogs: a "Hawaiian mutt", female; a Saint Bernard mix who looked like a gigantic teddy bear, male, older; a golden some distance away; a poodle mix that was, I think, pretty young; and a white mix, larger than and about twice as heavy as Lark, which might have had some beagle in her distant ancestry. 

Phil, have done the last grocery shopping, left shortly after I got home, while Grandma and I were making her lunch sammich. For dessert I made Ensure smoothies with yogurt and bananas, both at their last prayers. They were pretty good.

I spent some time on the comp, took a nap from three to four (a recharge I was grateful for later), cleaned up the kitchen, and then, having been invited by Sid to come over later while her daughters' families were there, I went next door.

Rough census: Sid's brother, three daughters, three husbands, two grandsons, three granddaughters. It was......full. Lark freaked as soon as she encountered the youngest granddaughter. "What is this? Too small! Too gentle! I dunno and I don't want to! Mom, this is scary! Pick me up! Help!" She spilled my lemonade. I set my drink down, picked her up, and explained to the (impressively gentle) little girl that my dog wasn't used to small children and was freaking out.

This was emphatically not the case with Isaac. Eight-year-old little boy about sums him up. I had a hot dog for dinner, and I guarantee you not one of those calories remains with me now. I think I strained something in my foot, chasing that kid. He pulled out all the stops, too. Steal something,  call me fat (for example), and in general make himself obnoxious. It was great. Any brother (although this is more Amen than sibling) withdrawal I was suffering is gone. Actually, make that little boy withdrawal. He was a lot more energetic than my brothers, and I'll do them the credit to say that their techniques are a lot more advanced. He has a little sister, too, considered acceptable by Lark, possibly because she's five but probably because she's more assertive and noisy than the youngest. Beautifuls couldn't handle a human acting like a particularly mild kitten.

The little girl in the middle, besides leaving me with what may have been her name, didn't make too much impression. I think she was Kaley, but....yeah. Oh well. They all would have liked Lark, if they could have. :D The latter grandson was somewhere around my age, had dyed the last inch of his nearly shoulder-length (brown) hair a sort of lavender, and was dressed all in black. The black hoodie had (candy?) unicorns on the front, and his very long, baggy, black pants had purple straps on them, with touches of studs. Pretty impressive. His name's Dylan (spelled however) and he spent most of the time on what might have been a cellphone. Could've been an mp3 player. It was orange. He also took a discussion of Goths in good part. One of the little girls said, right out, "Dylan's a goth." "I see that," I said. "He even wears black to school," she continued. "Well," I pointed out, "where else are you gonna wear your clothes if not school?" "The mall," Dylan said. "Oh. That's right. People go to malls. Okay." He never really did any chasing, and when I asked if her could run in those pants he said he couldn't really run at all. He dealt with the little kids pretty well, though, and when we were waiting for ice cream and I was holding Lark up away from the girls I caught him petting her. So, yeah, he was pretty nice. The only manga he reads are Chibi Vampire and Vampire Knight, though. Gamer, not manga addict. Sigh. He was nice, though. 

Isaac and his sister left first, and then it started raining, so I came home. Grandma had eaten about six, when I came home to set her dinner out, and when I got home for good she was watching Antiques Roadshow. Sid suggested that she hasn't really been feeling social, and I think this is possible. Hm. Is this something I should worry about?