…but didn’t get eaten by mountain men.
VoW sent an e-mail to folk after taking her leave of the Settlement Friday night inviting us to Wau-con-da. (Holy smokes, it just occurred to me that it’s been two years-ish since I’d been there last). I was absolutely all for it because if anything, I wanted to see if there were any mountain men…
We were invited over any time after 4 PM, but most people had stuffs going on during the day. I didn’t want to be more of a freak than I already am, so I waited it out even though it wasn’t like I was doing a whole lot during the day like everyone else. (I lead a sad, sad existence when not in the company of mine friends.)
I passed some time at the Halfway House with Rich and Dixie before taking my leave of them. I wanted to stop by Al’s garage sale before going to Wau-con-da, figuring I haven’t seen me Da in a while. Unfortunately for me, when I passed by the house the garage doors were closed. I didn’t really think about the fact that it would end. (I think I was thrown off ‘cuz the sun was still high in the sky.)
I returned to the Halfway House slightly disappointed. Brad and I had passed each other as I was leaving to go to Al’s, so he was present upon my return. That was pretty five-by-five; two whole weekends where I got to see Brad! He and Rich spoke of politics for a spell whilst I pet the attention-needy Dixie. I managed to inform them of a golf expo I heard about on the radio; I was aware that Joe was in the market for a set of irons and well, Brad is a golf-fiend.
Brad and Rich were to the driving range, so I took it as a sign to start heading out to Wau-con-da. I had a pretty good idea of where I was going — pretty much take Barrington the whole way — but I wasn’t positive of where to turn and such; my memory of driving to VoW’s place involved missing the turn a lot. I called VoW to confirm a few things beforehand, so I figured I would be all right even without a navigator (I had thought perhaps Rich would accompany me, this was before I knew Brad was coming out to play).
The drive was pleasant. I had had the presence of mind to grab Persephone so I had Kaylee playing in the car. I’d discovered as much some time ago since Addison’s CD player seems to dislike me these days. Unfortunately for me, Persephone’s batteries about died half way to the Wau-con-da and I had to listen to the radio instead.
I managed to turn down the right street…but missed VoW’s house even though I knew which one it was; I got a bit nervous with the parking bit so I had to do a turnabout. In the past, I would park in front of the house, but this was the first time I’d been there in daylight and for some reason this fact threw me off. Eventually, I got it right and went up to the door.
The thing I love about VoW’s house is that it’s very VoW. I think eclectic would be an all right word to describe it. There are many a thing Molly has made and other such arts and crafts about. The house has a lot of personality.
VoW’s dad was about when I entered the house. I think my aura turned bright orange ‘cuz parents generally freak me out. He was pretty easy-going, though and didn’t seem to mind that I was shy. Vicki took me into the kitchen, gesturing to the collection of snacks she’d assembled. I was keen on getting me one of the oatmeal pies since I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had one.
It was decided that we ought to go to the store and pick up a few more things. I informed VoW that others were indeed coming, but they probably wouldn’t arrive until a bit later. That gave us plenty of time to acquire some more provisions.
We drove to the nearby Jewel. VoW selected beer for Joe, caffeine free diet Coke for Cristina, Pepsi for me and Yoss, and vitamin water for Bert. (Sadly, we did not think to pick up Mountain Dew for Toni. *hangs head in shame*) We also picked up miscellaneous snacks.
VoW ended up doing a self check-out thing. I was amazed that they didn’t card her for the beer, but VoW figured that the cashier at the stand recognized her since she frequents that Jewel quite a bit.
When we returned to the Bitters Family Home, the critters were out and about. I was pretty excited about that since I’ve never been at the house when the ferrets were let loose. They are quite possibly the most amusing creatures I’ve ever witnessed at play. I think one of my favorite things was when one of them went to investigate the plastic bag on the floor, then like three of them were in there, and VoW decided to twirl them around on the floor whilst still in the bag. (Maybe “spin”? Twirl might now sound right, but it seemed like the right description.)
‘Twas most entertaining.
VoW and I took our snacks to the table in the living room in an effort to prevent the critters from trying to eat our stuffs. The little white one seemed interested in licking my nail; I wish I could say it was ‘cuz she liked me and found me interesting, but I think it was ‘cuz she tasted snack food. I mean, not like she’d eat my nail, more like she tasted the happy snack food that I had been eating like five seconds prior.
I made some comment about how I had nothing to read, so VoW took me to her room so I could browse her book collection. I was briefly distracted by a dagger (yes a dagger), but then picked up a teen book to try. (Sadly, I did not get into it.)
Others started to arrive after we returned to the living room. ‘Twas most amusing if anything because VoW had just sent out a text message to these very folk asking them what time they’d be around.
BerToni, Yoss Mike, VoW and I returned to the kitchen to watch the ferrets play some more. Sure, other folk have Rock Band and stuff, but how often do we get to play with ferrets?! They’re so…well, me-like! Perhaps I was a ferret in my last life, given my attention span and all.
We decided to play a game while we waited for Joe and Cristina to come about. I was really glad it was Rummikub ‘cuz it’s been a while since I’ve played it and we usually have way too many people for it. Sadly, we were but a few tiles in when the Holtzmans arrived. They were cool enough to let us finish out our game though, so that was shiny.
We didn’t play another game right away, instead we had a chance to sit down and chat a bit. Then again, we were trying to decide on dinner, so really, perhaps it was unintentional chatter in that we really should have been talking about food options and not…whatever it was we were talking about.
It was eventually decided we would walk to Burger King. The sun was going down by this time and there were fireflies out and about. I was trying to catch one, but failed miserably.
The walk to the Burger King amused me; I felt like we were in the Outsiders or something ‘cuz of the lack of lots of cars and streetlights. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had Burger King; it wasn’t terrible, but I think there’s a reason I prefer Wendy’s over all the fast-food burger places.
When we returned to the Bitters house, I witnessed an amazing thing — VoW’s parents playing Boggle. (I refer you to the post about the Saturday Invasion when VoW totally kicked everyone’s ass at Boggle and she told us “You should see my family play.”) I was tempted to play with them, but knew it would be a silly effort. I wouldn’t even get a point in!
The VoW parents vacated the big table and we took over. We ended up playing two rounds of Oh Hell. We tried to come up with something different after the first round, but no one was really keen on the geography game except Bert. Admittedly, there was no real structure to the geography game, but it seemed like something different for us. Bert and I played a bit simultaneously with the second round of Oh Hell. I think that was part of my downfall ‘cuz I lost ever so miserably. That and I shouldn’t have been able to take a trick on the 6 of hearts, but whatever. 
We all took our leave thereafter for the most part. Yoss Mike and Joe were going to meet Brad for golf in the morning and wanted to try and get some sleep. Silly golfers.
So yeah. We went to Wau-con-da and didn’t get eaten by mountain men. Although, there was this creepy moment walking back from Burger King where two streetlights went out as we passed ‘em and this shady looking vehicle cut out its headlights as we faced it. Seriously. It was kind a creepy.
But we survived! Not like survive scurvy, more like just straight up survived the misadventure in Wau-con-da. 
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