About noon Wednesday, Granddaughter #2 texted me to ask if I would make her a birthday cake.  Her birthday was the next day.  The Husband and I were already planning to visit her on her birthday to take her some presents, but I had not factored in the time in would take to bake and decorate a cake.

I asked, "What kind of cake do you want?  And what time do you want me to bring it?"

She said she wanted "an orange crush cake, like the one you made me last time."  Her parents had rented a water slide, and a bunch of her friends were coming over from 11 until 3.

I cringed.  I was at work in a courthouse about 60 miles from home and had no clue what time I would get home.  I did not have the stuff to make an orange crush cake.  But I really wanted to make the cake for her.

As it turned out, The Boss came down from the courtroom while the text exchange was still occurring.  She said court was finished and I could have the rest of the afternoon off to make the birthday cake.

It took an hour to get back to town, 30 minutes for a grocery store run, and another 30 minutes from town to home.  There would be plenty time to make the cake and deliver it that night.

I came home and started baking.

While the cake was cooling, a friend called, wanting to know if I had any cucumbers to give away.  Boy, did I!  Fifteen minutes later, she showed up at my door, and we went to the garden.  Picked more than a 5-gallon bucket full of cucumbers.

I had about 30 minutes to spare between the cucumber picking and time to start dinner, plenty of time to frost the cake.  But I'd put the frosting in the refrigerator when I went to the garden, and it needed to warm up a tad before spreading it on the cake.  I set it on the table then took my laptop out to the back porch, turned on the fan (I was dripping sweat after the garden run), and sat down to check my email and do my daily crossword puzzle.  

I was back in the kitchen when The Husband came home from work.  He changed clothes, made himself a glass of ice water, and went out to the back porch to unwind.  After a few minutes, he came in the kitchen and said, "Well, you missed the excitement."

"What excitement?"

"The snake on the back porch."

I whirled around.  "What kind of snake?"

He said he thought it was a corn snake.  Or maybe a rat snake.  Or something.  When I asked him how big it was, he stretched his arms out wide.  

He had not killed it; he'd just shooed it out the screen door with a broom.  I nearly fainted when he told me he'd found it about six feet from the table where I'd been sitting.  

And it's out there, somewhere, still alive.

We delivered the cake that evening.  Last evening, we delivered the birthday present.  The birthday girl had given me a list of things she'd like to have for her birthday.  It was small all stuff - colored pens, a clipboard, fake eyelashes, t-shirts - so I bought her everything on her list.  She seemed most excited about the fake eyelashes.  :)