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Weekend Warriors

We had a busy and enjoyable weekend.

Friday night, we attended the Annual All-You-Can-Eat Fish and Tenderloin Fry at church. (Yes, tenderloins on a Lenten Friday, in deference to the mixed-faith couples at church and to encourage any students to attend. Everything was pretty tasty, but we miss the northern-style battered fry; we're apparently far enough south that everything is breaded and it's just not the same.

Afterwards, we checked out the Dollar Theatre for the first time, finally getting to see "Narnia" on the big screen. We enjoyed the movie and found it to be rather faithful to the book, but we were reminded why we don't often go to the theatre. About halfway through the movie, there began a hubbub in the back (where we were seated), with theatre employees and this man coming in and out and speaking to each other in not-so-hushed voices. At the movie's climax, it became necessary for this group to turn on one of the lights and patrol the theatre. The best we could figure is that they were looking for someone that they never found, despite their frequent interruptions. We would have prepared that they just stop the movie and made some kind of general announcement, learned for sure if this person were in the theatre, and then let us go on with the story.

Saturday, we enjoyed an Indian luncheon sponsored, in part, by two faculty members in Paul's department. We also attended one in the fall and the food was delicious, homemade by some of the area's Indian families. (Among Muncie's shortcomings is a lack of Indian restaurants.)

Saturday afternoon, we finally got together with John and Cynthia for good company and some delicious snacks (among them Coleslaw with Sweet & Spicy Tuna -- the kind that comes in the pouch -- and Buffalo Chicken Pizza). We had a really nice afternoon. Cynthia let me borrow some lavender (her favorite herb) to try and John recorded some of Paul's original tunes so he can work out some bass parts to go with the guitar. Cynthia is an estate auction veteran, and agreed to invite me along some time to show me how they work. I'm looking forward to that, as we continue to seek out some home furnishings with character. We may have made some new friends.

The most surprising thing to me: John's leader dog is a Husky! Well, a husky/shepherd mix. She's a HUGE dog and very pretty, with one brown and one blue eye. I didn't think dogs that big could be leader dogs, but apparently size, as well as temperament, is very important because the owner has to be able to walk comfortably next to the dog in harness. I hadn't thought about the height factor in relation to the user.

This afternoon, we did some yard work,  since we now own a shovel and a rake. The shovel hasn't been broken in yet, but we started raking up the fallen twigs and leaves in the backyard and made a first pass at cleaning the deck. It's supposed to be very nice here all week, so I'm hoping to have the time and energy to finish scrubbing and sealing the deck. The deck's on the north side of the house and was pretty thick with green sludge. I don't remember it being so bad last year; I wonder if we should have waited until later in the season, when some of it may have burnt off. Before we finish it up, I'll need to get myself a new hose nozzle -- it was leaking terribly today so the water pressure wasn't very robust. It was encouraging to be able to tell the difference post-cleaning, so after another dosage of solution and a better pressure washing it should look very nice. Hooray for home improvements!

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