So, today ended up being a busy day.

In the morning, I took mom out to the Nature Science Center. She had a wallaby sniffy her hand, got to pet rabbits and ferrets, and got to see otters and meercats; she was in seventh heaven. We did lunch at Bruegger's (salads all around) and I brought her home.

Meantime, back at the ranch, our front yard was leaking yesterday. No joke. We're talking, sod bubbling and moving like a water bed. We eventually pinned down the issue to a (relative) torrent coming out of a buried drain pipe. Eventually, Jeff concluded today that it's the drain out of the basement, not something connected to the septic, and speculated that maybe a clog in the pipe had gotten cleared up. Yesterday, when we were still worried it was the septic (we had no idea when the last time it'd been pumped was), I called Dad and got the number of his septic guy. We had him come out this afternoon, anyhow (see also, no idea when the last pump was). He was polite, efficient, and knew his septic, and the tanks was pretty full, so I'm glad that we got that taken care of.

Val had an appointment with the kidney doctor this afternoon, and he reports that her kidneys are back to perfect working order. She wanted to celebrate, and rightfully so, so she took us out to Olive Garden (which, believe it or not, has a gluten free menu). Dinner was tasty (mm, salmon) if a little bland (the GF choices also mostly being "Garden Fare" choices; my leftovers tomorrow morning will be getting some Thai chili sauce) and the service was excellent and humorous.

And now, it feels like way later than almost 9.