I hope everyone had a nice and restful "holiday" weekend. I put that word in quotes because for the genius it was work as usual.

I awoke at about 9:00 to find the house empty except for me and Rufus. And no note. Of course, I was pretty sure where he was so I called him on the cell. Sure enough -- he was at work.

"It's a holiday!" I said.

"But I have work to do and you were asleep," he explained.

Well, what could I say? Anyway, he was home by lunchtime. Jim IV and Jay and Annie came by that afternoon and we went to Chef Yang's for dinner. Everyone but me loves that place, a Chinese buffet that also features sushi and hibachi bars. I'm just not that in to Asian food anymore unless it's very unusual like PM, an Asian fusion restaurant that we have been visiting lately. But the company was nice so I enjoyed it.

The genius is trying to finish up all his work in the next two weeks so he can relax on our trip out West. I'm really looking forward to it. We are taking Rufus with us so we have to be careful to find pet friendly hotels with exercise rooms also. So far I have booked the first night in Oklahoma City and the second and third in Socorro, NM. That's where the genius's father attended school while his father's uncle was president of the college. It was called New Mexico School of Mines then but is now New Mexico Tech.

We will stay there a couple of days before driving on to Phoenix to visit Ashley and her family. The trip is open ended, so I'm not sure when we will be coming back or how long it will take us. Just what we need to unwind from what's been a very busy year for the genius.

And we'll have our "baby" with us so we won't be worrying about how he's doing without us!