Milk in the batter, milk in the batter!

We are back from Oregon! Jeez, what a good visit we had. I feel well-rested and happy, and I wish that I got to see the Schluetermetz' more often, because then I think I would feel this way more often. Here's the highlights:

Thursday: lots of flying. 3 hour layover in San Francisco, during which time we thought it would be really fun if Drew happened to be performing something clownish at the airport. No such luck. Arrived at the Schluetermetz' around dinnertime, visited, and went to bed.

Friday: lounging around day, and Jen and Brad had gotten a babysitter for the evening, so the four of us went out for dinner and hit the town. None of us knew what to do with ourselves, because we're all so much out of the habit of 'hitting the town.' We ended up having some Thai food (that Schlueter lied about the spiciness of) and then going to a bar called, I believe the Downtown Lounge, which, after we had been there a little while, revealed itself to be a kind of David Lynch-type place. It was kind of dark, with red fake leather booths and furniture, and red and gold curtains hanging up, and the lead singer for the band there was super tall and wore a beret, and there was a one-armed woman dancing (and basically having sex with the creepy dude she was dancing with), and a woman in a wheelchair, and then an Asian woman walking around selling very vivid-colored flowers. And the band took like an hour and a half to do a stupid soundcheck, and they were annoying me, and they had a setup of congas and chimes that they never even fucking used (at least during the first 4 songs, after which we departed). If I had congas and chimes, they would be in every song, you can be assured.

Satuday, Sunday - Head to the beach house in Waldport, OR. Crazy weather. It would be sunny for 20 minutes, then hail for 10, then be cloudy for 20, and then sunny again. I got in the water up to my knees. It was cold. Jeannie was afraid that if I went in any more I would lose control of my body and be swept out to sea, and then they would all die trying to rescue me. There was a seal in the water not too far from me. We flew kites, which was pretty awesome. Jeannie was a good first-time kite flyer. We made big dinners of lasagna and falafel, drank some, and had heated games of hearts. We also played a childrens' version of hearts that Henry had, and during one of those games, Schlueter played the Jinx card after I had lead the 7 of Clovers. On like the second trick. You probably don't know what that means, but it infuriated me, you can be assured.

Monday - Drove home from the beach, Schlueter made a big dinner of roasted vegetables and goat cheese and pasta (that turned everybody's [or at least mine and Jeannie's and Schlueter's] poop red for the next day or so), and good ol' J. Schmor came over and joined us. We chatted and drank and it was good to see him. He reminded of of the fact that I once bought him a Seal CD. I vaguely remember this and I am ashamed of it, but I think I only bought it because he said he liked it.

Tuesday - Hungover. I used to associate hangovers with sitting in the House of Brown listening to Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day.' I now associate them with leaving the Schluetermetz house. It seems that every time that I have to drive away from there I am feeling hungover. Our plan for the day was to visit Anna and Chris in Corvallis (which we did, and it was good to see them and hear about their cross-country adventures [see Sockiboos or Wine for Truth for details of their trip], and they treated us to a tasty pizza lunch and walk around Corvallis) and then drive up to Salem and try and find a fun Cob house that Jeannie's former boss built out of mud and hay and earthen-type shit back in his hippie days. Unfortunately, we got a flat tire on the way up to Corvallis, and the car felt a little funky after that, and I wanted to do as little driving in it as possible, so we had to skip the Cob House detour. So anyway, we flew out of Portland at around 11pm, and had a layover in Chicago from 4am to 8am, then arrived in Baltimore at around noon, and then I left for work at around 2pm. So it was a long day, but fortunately I was able to sleep pretty well on the flights and in O'Hare Airport, so it wasn't too bad.

You are now at least somewhat up to date. I hope this pleases you.