Groan, thud.

Oh I am suffering mightily today. I am quite certain many of you fellow Denners who ate a huge...dinner will smile knowingly while downing plenty o'Tums, pepto, and whatever other substance, herb, concoction or formulation of leftovers suits your fancy.

Two of our good friends attended our day, which was definitely a sweats and tee-shirt affair. No formal or well-designed attire had been deemed necessary...besides, sweats naturally expand at the waist. That way you do not have to suffer that uncomfortable, "Oh crap, I have to let my top button loose" line of thought after which all belly-hell breaks loose anyway. Then you can't get the damned things closed again. That leaves one skulking into the night, belly hanging out, and hoping one's pants do not drop allowing your soon-to-be former friends to see your heinie in usually bad daily underwear...phew.

Apparently our coyote clan also had a good evening of feasting since we noticed a distinct decline in the rabbit population over the past couple of days and the ol'covey of quails seems to have lost a few members as well.

Mel made a wild organic blueberry pie since it was also my birthday and I whipped fresh cream...sigh. It was sooooo good.

We then watched "War of the Worlds" with the man everyone thinks has gone 'round the bend: Tom Cruise. I gotta tell you, the original scared the crap out of me when I was a kid; and this one achieved the same result. We all sat owl-eyed contemplating the possibility aliens would land and do us in here in the middle of nowhere. I would argue the death ray would be unneccessary on Thanksgiving because all the astute alien would have to do is give us a good poke and "Kaboom!" Spontaneous explosions would result.

Today, the newly-proclaimed "Black Friday" marks the start of the holiday shopping frenzy. I don't know about you, but I have always found holiday shopping a pleasant, meandering sort of affair. I do not work myself into a frenzy - it is such an odd psychological state to attribute to buying gifts. And why "Black Friday?" After all, the merchants are pleased and the theory you find what you want all seems positive. Ok, so it probably WAS Black Friday for the guy tackled by security in Wal-Mart for cutting line for a laptop in Orlando, Florida, but overall, it should not be a day of violence.

Which, incidentally, is a marvelous argument in support of purchasing gifts online.

So all said, and well fed, I am groaning and hitting the bed...again...THUD.