Aehterod heads for the foothills

Aehterod (not her real name) has had enough, and is moving to Citrus Heights (motto "Home of the World's Highest Tossed Citrus").

If you don't know Aehterod, there is one bit of info that will make you nod your head in appreciation of her awesomeness: it's her fault we have Teddy the Wonder Dog. (A friend of hers took in a stray, that later turned out to be full of puppies, including our Teddy. Aehterod was very persuasive.)

Ydnas (also not her real name - just assume none of these are real names and it makes my job easier) threw a going away party for Aehterod. Granted, she threw it well after she had moved, but then the timing for this sort of thing can be tricky. I guess.

First, there were desserts. LOTS of desserts. And a bit of cheese and crackers.

Here is Ydnas beginning the festivities, with Aehterod silently plotting a way out of this thing. But Aehterod likes desserts too, so she hung around.

The next thing we knew, Yekcim, wearing a red (naturally) feather boa, jumped up on a table and started belting out the song "Saturday Night's Alright for Fightin'."

She was immediately joined by a number of other women (including a nervous Mrs Notthat, who wanted nothing to do with a fight, Saturday night or not) that jumped out and joined her.

Once calm was restored, it was time for the men to be jumping on tables, singing a sweet and moving version of "Surfin' Safari."

This was followed by La strolling down the isle, tenderly crooning "Born to Be Wild."

It took a few minutes for everyone to settle down after that.

The final event had Luap revealing a lot of little known facts about Aehterod:

• She was born in 1967 on the back of a dogsled during a running of the Iditarod. (She claims she does not recall how the sled finished.)

• She holds the Black Angus record for sending a steak back a stunning 15 times. (She wanted chicken, but loved tormenting the waiter.)

• For a short time she filled in as the linebackers coach for UC Davis. (After one memorable pep talk, three offensive players ended up with concussions at a single practice. The head coach decided she was too dangerous of an influence, and, VERY politely, thanked her for her time and suggested she go talk to the Raiders.)

It was a great evening with a large crowd of friends and family. Aehterod will be missed by all of us - she is a blast to hang around. Everyone has several "Aehterod" stories, and almost none of them involve anyone being arrested.

The one sad thing of the evening was as I was leaving, I noticed that a variety of people had scrawled things all over her stuffed puppy dog.

That was when I decided it was time to make a hasty retreat.

That's it - move along...

PS: I made up the bit about UC Davis. Cal Berkeley threatened to have their legal department sit in our cherry tree if I revealed it was them.