It has been a nice little break from work over this 4th of July weekend. On Thursday we hung out all afternoon at our friends the Bartholics’ housewarming party. There was lots of food and yard games and of course drinks. After midnight the crowd moved inside for karaoke in Bart’s new game room/bar.

This is what was left of the crowd after fireworks around 11pm. Lauren of course was long gone as she had to work Friday.
This is what was left of the crowd after fireworks around 11pm. Lauren of course was long gone as she had to work Friday. Most of these people met Bart through his volleyball leagues. 

Friday I had the day to myself as Lauren worked and brought Hounderson along. Unfortunately I didn’t exactly feel great enough to do much. I accomplished very little aside from catching up on some TV. That night Lauren and I went out for dinner at an Austin staple we’d never tried before, Threadgill’s, which was pretty decent Southern fare.

Saturday I was feeling a little restless sitting around home so I loaded up the hound and we drove downtown and ran along the lake with hundreds of others in 90+ degree heat. We walked/jogged/ran almost seven miles along Lady Bird Lake! At the end of our journey we heard someone call from the road, “oh look at that beagle!… Glanzer?!” It was a co-worker and her husband on their way to lunch at Banger’s on Rainey Street, and invited us to join them for a while which we did. After resting up in the afternoon, I personally prepared Lauren’s famous chicken Thai pizza recipe and we spent the evening watching a movie.

Around 10:30 some neighborhood punks lit off some fireworks which startled all of us, including a neighbor’s small dog named Louie which wound up in our yard. Lauren took it in and we eventually tracked down the owner, who had left the dog with her cousin to dogsit and was none too pleased to learn he had lost track of her baby.

Baxter and Louie waiting for Louie's dogsitter to come rescue him.
Baxter and Louie waiting for Louie’s dogsitter to come rescue him.

We had our AC and dishwasher both go out on us Friday, but miraculously they both started working again. We just had to change the AC filter to get it going again, and the dishwasher just magically started back up yesterday. That saved us some money and trouble. My left foot has really been hurting lately after running and I suspect it’s my new shoes that are the cause, unfortunately. They are really comfy but apparently not supporting my arches very well. Baxter has fully recovered from the corn cob ordeal. Lauren is about to go on the road again for work to open a new Whole Foods. And I’m just counting down the days until the trip back to MN for the Walsh bachelor party… just 18 more days now! I suspect I will not run into any snowstorms this time.