Ok, well I'm tardy in posting my version of the "engagement surprise". Since I'm lazy, I won't re-type it here, but will copy and paste from an email that I sent to my friends. Enjoy...

Well. I have some exciting news. Colin proposed on
Friday night!!!

So last weekend I was supposed to go down to Palo
Alto. My friend Margie had called me up the week
before and asked me to come down to do a photo shoot
of her and her dogs for a farrier newsletter thing. We
made arrangements to meet on Saturday morning. Since I
was going to be down there, I checked in with the some
of my girlfriends to schedule a GNO (girls' night out)
on Friday night. Great. Everything is set. Then Margie
calls to say she might have a problem on Saturday
because her cousin is having a birthday party and
could we do it on Sunday? Well, I didn't want to stay
over on Friday night and Saturday night, so I told her
I couldn't so Sunday. So she said she'd check on
Saturday and see if she could make it work. In the
meantime, my girlfriends ALL came up with lame-o
excuses as to why they could no longer meet on Friday
night. Margie called and said she messed up the dates
and I didn't have to come down this weekend (being
last weekend), and maybe we could do it another time.
I offered up this weekend, but she was going to be on
a river rafting trip.

Fast forward to Wed, Aug 4th. It is my dad's birthday.
My parents had invited me to go to a concert with
them, but I'm not really into concerts so I didn't
want to go. But then I had this brilliant idea to go
home Friday (two nights ago) to surprise my dad for
his birthday and we could go out to dinner. I am so
brilliant, I thought! I checked in with my girls again
about going out, but GNO would have to be lunch since
I wanted to leave Saturday afternoon (yesterday). We
agreed on a mid-morning brunch, and all was set.

One of my friends got a new horse and I decided I'd
like to see him and I know she rides on Fridays after
work, so I asked if I could come see him before going
to see my parents. Sure. So we set it up to meet at
her barn at 5 p.m. My mom asked me to go to their
place at 7 for drinks, then we'd go to the restaurant
for an 8 p.m. reservation. Fine.

Traffic sucked and instead of the timely 3 hour drive,
it took me 4 hours. But I had given myself some extra
time, so I made it there just a little bit late. Lucky
for me Kris hadn't gotten on yet so I spent some time
chatting with old barn buddies and then watched her
lesson. 6:40 rolled around and I left the barn for my
parents' house.

I got there and my mom answered the door. We walked to
my dad's office, with her "shhh-ing" me so my dad
wouldn't hear. We walk around the corner, I knock on
the door and he does a double-take and says "Susie!"
He seemed so surprised and I was very pleased with
myself. He asked if I was spending the night and
staying for dinner and I said yes so he said "let's go
drink some wine, then!" We're walking down the hall
towards the kitchen, and he has his arm around me, and
I can sense he's feeling very affectionate towards me,
which he usually doesn't display. So I thought again
what a good thing I had done.

BUT! Imagine my surprise when I walk around the corner
to the kitchen, and there is Colin down on one knee
with a box open. Above him is a banner that reads
"perhaps eternity baby smile", which is the very first
"fridge poetry" that he put on his fridge when he
moved down to Palo Alto, and it has been a motto of
sorts for us ever since. I SCREAMED! And I turned
away, then looked back, then turned away, then looked
back. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do.
I covered my face. My back was to the refrigerator, so
I leaned against it and just slid down to the floor,
with my face in my hands, crying. He didn't really
know what to make of that - was it a good cry or a bad
cry? I asked him what he was doing here and he said he
thought he'd ask me to marry him! I said of course I
would. I was in total shock, though. I mean, I thought
it would come of course, but didn't imagine this. He
totally shocked and surprised me! I asked him how he
got down here, and he flew. He has a friend who is a
pilot and owns a plane, and his friend came up to
Nevada County to pick him up, brought him to Palo
Alto, and my mom picked him up and brought him to
their house. My friend Kris had been instructed to
keep me busy at the barn as long as possible.

The situation last weekend with my friend Margie was
all made up. She didn't need me to do a photo shoot at
all. But Colin wanted to do it in front of my parents,
and I just wasn't making any plans to go back to PA.
So her "photoshoot" was a way of getting me there.
Problem was, that my parents were going to be out of
town until Saturday night. But I didn't want to stay
Saturday night. So Colin told my friends to all make
up excuses to cancel so that I wouldn't go down there.

It was just dumb luck on my part that I decided to go
surprise my dad. He said "don't ever try to pull a
fast one on your old man!"

Colin had set up his digital camera in the kitchen
(which I didn't know about until afterwards), so he
got it recorded, and we're going to try to put it up
on our blog. If you want I can give you the link if
we're successful.

The ring is so pretty! It is a brilliant cut ruby with
two brilliant cut diamonds on the side. He had it made
just for me to match a pendant that he had given me
for Christmas last year. And for our anniversary this
year he had earrings made to match. So now I have a
LOVELY matched set.

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I know I am. What
did I ever do to deserve this man? I wish all my
friends and all women could have a man this wonderful.

Wow.

- posted by Susan @ 7:28 PM

 
One of the things I really like about moving to Rough and Ready, aside from the bitchin name, is that we're far enough out that the stars at night are pretty visible. We can see the Milky Way reasonably well. On Wednesday night, we took advantage of this to take a look at the perseids, one of several annual meteor showers.

It turns out it's really hard to buy chaise lawn chairs. Go figure. So we puffed up some air mattresses and wandered out to middle of the arena to watch the show. As we were lying there, Iggy wandered up to join us, so we had some nice family time. I sure love it here.
- posted by Colin @ 9:14 AM

 
Well, I can finally get the whole story out. Last Friday (8/6), I asked Susie to marry me, yay! She took her time about it, but she eventually said yes, yay again! It was a bit of a surprise to her, as you will see if you download the video. Here's the story...

So, set the wayback machine to Mayish. The anniversary of our first date was coming up and I thought it would be nice to get her a pair of earrings to match a pendant necklace I gave her for her birthday. While I was at the jewelry store, I also asked if they could make a ring, too. They said they could. Hmmm. About a week later, I had them make the ring, yay! But I needed to know the size.

I did what anybody would do under the circumstances; I snuck into her house, rifled through her jewelry box and stole a ring I had seen her wear. The ring in question is hereafter known as the horseshoe ring. Some weeks go by, and they call me to tell me the ring is ready. Naturally, the day after I pick up the ring, Susan is wearing the horsehoe ring on the wrong finger. Crap. Well, it'll just have to do.

OK, got the ring. Now, I need the situation. I wanted to make the moment special and memorable. I wanter her to be proud of the story when she told her friends. I guess it was just ego on my part :-) Most of all, I wanted it to be a surprise.

Fast forward a little bit. We bought the house! And we're not even married yet (cue father-of-the-girlfriend). OK, now it gets a little more complicated. I had been hatching a plan whereby I would surprise her at her barn, maybe with her friends and a banner and all that. Now, though, I'm too far away to make this happen. Or am I?

Enter Michael and his plane. So, I have the germ of an idea. I let Susan head down to the Bay Area by auto and Michael flies me down to stage the ambush upon her arrival.

OK, good. A couple of weeks after we moved in, Susan was ready to head down and pick up Miles. This would be a good opportunity, so I line everything up. I enlist Margie to help with the timing, just in case Susan needed herding at the barn. Michael said he was available. This would be right at the beginning of July, on the first.

Those of you keeping score at home will note that I did not ask Susan to marry me on the first of July. Indeed, the plan was scuttled. Susan initially planned on driving down on the 1st, picking up Miles, and heading back the same day. I lined up everybody to activate the plan on the 1st with the ambush going down at the barn. On the 28th or so, Susan decided that she would go down on the evening of the 30th, stay over at her parents, go to the barn early in the morning, and drive up that day. Altogether a safer plan, to be sure, but not really convenient. I struggled trying to make it happen, but it just wouldn't add up. If I flew down the evening of the 30th, I wouldn't be able to return until the next day, with Susan. I didn't have a plan for taking care of the animals and Monty. I couldn't count on meeting her at the barn first thing in the morning, either. She said, "4:30", but, does that mean 4:15 or 4:45? And I'd have to get up at 2am or so to make it happen. Nope, going to have to wave this one off.

OK, so I'm back in a holding pattern. The ring is hidden here at the farm. I'm just waiting for an opportunity. Keep in mind that, during this time, Susan's dad is keeping the fire warm underneath our little bottoms about getting married. Nothing unmanagable, but enough to make it difficult to wait. Also, during this time, it occurred to me that I should really speak to Susan's parents first. This was reinforced by a lunch conversation I had with some of the usual suspects (Terence, Gautam, Marcel, Alan, Jesse, Kathryn). The discussion really got me to thinking and I decided that I needed to talk to Susan's folks first.

So Susan gets back with Miles and I missed my opportunity. I get in touch with the prinicpals and put them on standby. Now I'm comitted to the plane and the surprise and the whole shmancy deal. I just have to wait...

I don't see another opportunity on the horizon. Susan loves the farm, and won't be leaving any time soon. I'll have to generate an excuse, obviously. I discuss the situation with Margie, and we concoct a plan. First, though, I have to speak to the folks.

Susan's folks come up over the weekend of the 4th. I take advantage of Susie's snoozy behavior one night to show them the ring and ask for their blessing. In retrospect, I am very glad to have done this; it was a very nice moment.

Check, now, activate Margie. We discuss a plan wherein Margie needs a photo for a convention at which she'll be giving a speech. Naturally, who would take the picture but her good friend, the photographically gifted Susie? Excellent...

Now, I've got to reactivate Michael, and include in Susan's folks, who would like to be on hand. I should remind you at this point that I am propogating a significant deception and it's really proving to be a burden. It'll get worse, but, as it is, I have to be very careful about what I say and do. It's really hard to keep the secret.

We set a date, Friday the 30th of July. Margie calls Susan and tells her that she can do the photo shoot on the morning of Saturday the 31st. Susie makes plans to go down Friday afternoon and stay the night.

Somewhere in the umpteen calls, I mess something up. I set the date, but Susie's folks are going to be out of town Friday, back on Saturday. Don't panic, we can do this. I call Margie and beg her to call Susan and tell her she made a mistake, it has to be Sunday morning instead of Saturday morning. This will make Margie look pretty ditzy, of course, and I feel pretty bad asking.

Like a trouper, Margie does exactly as I ask, and plays it to the hilt. The upshot is that it pisses Susan off, because Susan has made plans with her girlfriend for Friday evening. Now, I've discussed the battleplan with Margie, so I know exactly what's going on in the phone conversation between Margie and Susan. To absolutely make the whole moment, when Susan gets off the phone, she asks me what she should do, "Margie wants to change the date, but I've already made plans with my friends!" Too rich.

I think that Susan would be willing to change the date if only she didn't have plans with her friends. So, first thing I do is write an email to Susan's friends, asking them to cancel their plans with Susan, each and every one of them. In order to induce them to such a craven act, I have to brief them on the plan. So now they're all on board, and Susie's plans are canceled. We're in the clear, right? Trouble, sure, but it's all coming together. Nope.

It turns out that Susan has made an appointment with a ferrier who's really hard to get for Saturday evening. There's no way she's going to cancel, so we're off for this weekend. Damn and damn. I make the calls and cancel.

I'm getting desperate here. This whole plan is eating away at me. Luckily, it turns out to be Vernon (Mr. Altman, to me)'s birthday on the 4th of August. Susan decides to sneak down and surprise him on Friday, the 6th. Ah, ha! This is my chance.

Back on the phone to Michael and Margie (she's out, don't worry about the picture thing, Susan's going down for the birthday). Michael is available, so we're on. One of the problems in executing this whole plan is the timing. I don't know when she's planning on leaving here so it's hard to arrange the pickup. I try to squeeze her as unobtrusively as possible for times, but she's starting to notice that my behavior is wonky.

At the last moment, Susan's friend, Kris, writes and lets Susan know she has a new horse. Susan mulls over the possibility of going to see the horse, which sets a time pretty firmly. I decide this is just what I need, so I get in touch with Kris and ask her to make sure that Susan comes and that she stays until 7pm or so. Now I've got a time frame, just a few loose ends to tie up.

I call Mary Lee (Mrs. Altman), and ask her to tell Susan to be there no later than 7pm for a (surprise) dinner at 8pm. I just have to get Michael to come get me and figure out something to do with the various animals.

I plan with Michael to return that evening. I am on the hook, during Susan's absence, for taking care of two horses, two dogs, and one cat. The cat is pretty much self-maintaining, so that leaves the other four. The horses need food at 1pm, 5pm, and 7am. The dogs need food at 7am and 4pm. If Susan leaves at 130pm or so on Friday, after feeding the horses the 1pm feeding, that still leaves a 4pm dog, a 5pm horse, and two 7ams. Plus, the dogs need to be able to go out and do their bidness.

One problem at a time. First, to let the dogs go out, I construct Dogcatraz, an enclosure built of hideous galvanized steel chain link fence. The catch is, it would take me too long to build this thing after Susan left so I had to do it before. I thought that Susan would complain because the end effect was that of a prison exercise yard. What a sweetheart, she didn't say a word.

OK, so there goes Susan at 130 or so. The soonest she can be in the Bay Area is 430, and I expect her to be tied up with Kris until 700. I depart the farm at 400, after feeding the girls and placing them into Dogcatraz and feeding the boys about an hour early. I also call Susan on her cell phone from the home number in order to seal my alibi.

Now, it's time to go to Nevada County International Airport to meet Michael. On the way, I stop by the dog food store because the girls were nearly out of food. I load up the special order food in to the trunk and head off to the airport. Michael is there, a little early, and we're ready to go.

We take off and head south. Michael lets me fly the easy part of the journey, and it's a nice smooth ride. He hands me the banner I had made up that he was kind enough to pick up. I meet Mary Lee at the Palo Alto airport and off we go to the Altman's house.

I get there about 615. Susie is expected at 700. Vernon is in the hottub. We dicuss strategy and he suggests a plan of action that is much better than the one I had in mind. He'll wait in his office. Keep in mind that Susan is coming down to surprise him for his birthday. Mary Lee will lead her to his office for the surprise. In the meantime, I have set up shop in the kitchen. I hung the banner and then I just wait.

What if she doesn't say yes? I don't think that's likely, but, man, wouldn't that just suck? I wait. And I wait. While I'm waiting, it occurs to me to set up my camera on video record, and I'm really glad I did. That's where the video above came from.

Finally, Susie pulls up. I cue the camera and take my place on bended knee with ring in hand. I hear her come in the front door and I hear her mom tell her to come on back to the office. I hear her greet her dad, and I know that I'm just seconds away from changing my life :-)

Finally, she wanders into the kitchen and and

screams like she's on fire and falls on the floor. Ummmmm, not at all what I pictured. This could be good, this could be bad. Girls are so hard sometimes. Eventually, it turns out it's good, yay!

OK, so the ring is too big but she said yes anyway. Now I just have to think about getting home by 7am. The original plan was to see if Michael can fly me back that evening. That means that I duck out of dinner early and hope that Michael's not too tired to scrub the flight. Vernon proposes an early morning departure instead. It occurs to me that maybe Susan could fly back on Saturday and I could drive back early in her car.

So, that's pretty much how the story wraps up. We go out and have a very nice dinner, back to Susie's folks house for four hours of sleep, and I drive back to Rough and Ready at 3am. All goes well, and I'm home in time to feed everybody. Nobody collicked and died, nobody barked themselves hoarse. Yay!
- posted by Colin @ 2:14 PM