Comes a Dark Rider

It's been a busy week. School ROCKS. It's starting to sound like this wedding is going to turn into a bit of a family reunion. And Mandi and I finally managed to meet up for lunch. We decided to meet here at my house, since we didn't know how Voltaire would deal with other dogs, and thought that meeting her dogs on his own turf might be a good thing.

Turns out, he got along great with them. While they were tumbling around in the yard, and Mandi and I were kicking back, sucking up ice tea in the garden, there came this rumble in the distance. And then a dark rider, on a shiny red motorcycle pulled into my yard.

Close up of the dark rider, who is in fact, my baby sister Kumo (okay, her name is really Emily. But since she got her blackbelt and decided she's a ninja, she's been making everyone call her "Kumo").

Kumo is a pretty busy girl, what with being a ninja and all. Well, and when she's not being a ninja, she's got a courier job that she likes a bunch. But she thought she'd stop by and say "hi" and show me her cool, new, spiderific wheels. Mandi being here was just a bonus. I don't think they've seen each other in at least 3 years. So we dragged out another chair, poured Kumo some iced tea, and allowed the dogs to mob her thoroughly.

Kumo loves dogs, so this was a good thing. And of course, no visit from someone with a new motorcycle would be complete without the offer of rides. Mandi bravely went first, while the dogs and I looked on.

And then it was my turn. I, being safety minded, got out my bicycle helmet. Conversation followed:

K: You're wearing a helmet?

G: You betcha (strapping on helmet)

K: You're kidding me, right?

G: Yeah. So.. what happened to your last bike?

K: That was TOTALLY the other guy's fault!

G: Yeah. I'll be wearing the helmet.

It really was a lot of fun. And Kumo really is a very safe motorcycle operator, she's just also really a lot of fun to tease.

Eventually we wandered inside, I showed them the big spider hanging outside the office window (over which they ooh-ed and aah-ed) and now they're sitting downstairs, in the library, getting all caught up while I update my blog.

Voltaire had a great day playing with the other two dogs. Turns out he's a pretty social little guy, but that's not THAT big a surprise, really. Mandi's thought is that I don't need to do anything right now, and I shouldn't feel pressured to make any decisions I might regret because of someone else's dislike of dogs. She's going to take Voltaire sometime next week (probably next Thursday) since he gets along with her dogs, and that way he's out of the house while my Aunt Esther is here. I can decide what to do about him after the wedding is over and my houseguests have left.

Wow is Aunt Esther going to hate that spider, now that I think about it. The good news is, she's even shorter than Wendy, so she probably won't even see it!