Frostbitten But Fabulous

I made it safely through my first blogmeet. At first, I was worried that I would be "throwing myself to the wolves" so to speak. I didn't know these people. Hell, they could all be serial killers waiting for new, innocent prey like me! Instead, they were all just criminally insane (myself included) for braving single digit temperatures to howl at a starless sky with an accompanying chorus of canids.

I'm exhausted. The body used up all its energy trying to keep warm. But I arrived home with a satisfied soul.

It was my pleasure to meet the welcoming
Laughing Wolf. He was the brains behind the weekend's festivities and put together a wonderful event. Many thanks to the man behind the Howl. To the incredible staff at Wolf Park, thank you for your hospitality, for sharing your knowledge with us and for allowing us to enjoy a wonderful day with you.

Now, onto the festivities: Laughing Wolf started off on the right foot with me by calling to make sure I arrived safely (he is a sweet, sweet man!).

After the caring shown by LW, I called the sweet and caring Contagion, who immediately began hollering at me about driving too fast because I made it to Lafayette an hour faster than I had estimated. Problem was, Contagion was still on crazy central time. Ha! Shy my ass! Well, I decided to meet him anyway, even though he was an hour later than expected. *rolls eyes appropriately* He was ok, he had this thing about the bad touch . . . but all in all he was good people - oh and much nicer than he wants you all to think. His wife, Ktreva is a knockout. Fantastic woman, he is a lucky, lucky man. Ktreva is obviously the brains of the operation. *winks knowingly at Ktreva*

It was decided that dinner would be enjoyed together and I met with Contagion, Ktreva and Machelle in the lobby of our hotel. LW joined us and we had a lovely dinner.

Let me tell you! Machelle is very, very shy, however it is all a rouse. She is like a stealth bomber. She lies undercover, and at the appropriate time lets loose with rapid fire repartee putting the rest of us to shame. She takes it all in, processes and then, when least expected, she swoops in for the kill. I love this woman! She is great ammunition for dealing with Contagion *winks again*.

The "fun" began after dinner. On LW's directions, we hooligans piled into Machelle's (aka - Mario Andretti) rental in order to partake of additional merriment at LW's. The directions were fine, except LW didn't give us his address. We arrived at an unfamiliar corner and decided the time had come to ask LW's assistance. Upon calling Mr. LW, and describing our present location as "the corner of Juglans and De Vere" we were met with the response "I don't know where that is, turn around and . . . oh hell, I'll just cut on the porch light and see if I can see you." Like a chorus of angels an "AHHHHHHHHHH" rang out and lo, LW stood upon a porch mere yards from we stranded travelers.

People! He didn't know the name of his own street! However, all was quickly forgiven when we were granted entry into his abode, kept warm in anticipation of company. The evening was spent with talk of boyscouts, mormons, good scotch and firearms. Yes, the finer points of firearm ownership were discussed so as to give Machelle an idea of the addiction to which she was getting ready to succumb.

Oh, and LW, I'm so glad you took Flo out of her crate, she was a lovely addition to the party!

We were soon joined by the bulk of our party contingent. Where many hugs were passed out. The lovely and talented Tammi, Bloodspite-I'll sweep you off your feet with my southern manners - and the lovely but quiet Mrs. Bloodspite, as well as the exceedingly charming That1Guy. I knew at once that I loved these people.

I felt as if I had known Tammi forever, she is beautiful and she was so warm and welcoming. The only bad part? She and I have a very similar sense of humor, so it was probably dangerous to let us out in public together! I can't wait to get together with this wonderful woman again!

Bloodspite and his bride were also lovely. I couldn't get enough of Bloodspite's southern graciousness. I do believe he and his bride were chilled to the bone though. I missed out on hearing Bloodspite and T1G play their guitars, but am looking forward to getting together with them again.

That1Guy : what can I say? I did an appropriate bow as only Jeebus could command, and I followed him around like a good disciple. He's good people as he joined me in annoying Contagion and drinking beer. Good people I say.

For the record, I am sure that I'm staring a karmic bitch-slap of epic proportions in the face after all the pestering I put Contagion through.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harvey and TNT but I was disappointed that I didn't have more time to spend with them. I hope to meet them again soon.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Wes and his bride who were hilarious together and who are surely a target in T1G's quote book.

Jerry of Back Home Again joined us to partake of libations and it was good. I hope we didn't scare the poor fellow off!

The wolves, of course, were the stars of the show and they carried on their part with Oscar worthy performances. Especially Apollo and Chetan. They of course snickered at the pack of humans walking around wearing so many layers that we looked like individual piles of cast-off clothing to rival that of a swingers club!

Speaking of swingers clubs, as you will no-doubt read later at T1G's sight, we had some beavers, brokeback huggers, dueling loins, wet women and a cigar indian to complement the festivities. I will leave all of that up to your individual imaginations. Let me just tell you - the cherry-popping was a success! While I saw more of each individual's outerwear than their smiling faces, I still came away feeling as if I had known them all my life. I cannot wait to get together with them all again!

And lastly, if any of ya'll are passing my way, you are welcome anytime!