Am I dreaming?

As the song suggests, I do dream of white Christmases.  Something about Christmas with no snow on the ground just doesn't seem right to me.  Maybe it's from my time growing up in Washington and Oregon and pretty much always having snow for Christmas.  This year we got lucky, we had a good snow storm on Christmas Eve leaving a nice cold 4" blanket over everything.

I think Santa appreciates it too.  It must be tough to try to take off and land a sleigh meant for snow where there is none.  Oh sure, he can just use magic but it's not like magic grows on trees.  I have heard rumor of a possible magic shortage in coming years.  The world's population continues to increase, more and more people believe in Santa all of which interprets to more magic.  More magic to keep track of the naughty children, more magic to prepare the presents and more magic to deliver them.  It's a vicious cycle.

If you love Santa you should give some serious this issue, and if you don't live somewhere it will snow for Christmas you should really give some thought to doing exactly that.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a better night's sleep than last night.

Is this the end?

So in case you haven't heard, the world didn't end yesterday like the Mayan calendar seemed to predict.  So you can stop stockpiling toothpaste because Crest is still around.

So what happened?  Remember Y2k?  It's the same thing really.  A bunch of people learned and think they are wise start trying to give ancient civilizations more credit than they deserve.  The fact the the Mayan calendar went all the way to 2012 is pretty amazing when you consider that the collapse of the Mayan civilization happened around 1000 AD.  That would be like you having a desk calendar that went to 3024 and somebody finding it 900 years and assuming that the fact that it doesn't keep going must mean some wold calamity will take place.

My favorite is that NASA was getting inundated with  phone calls and e-mails to the point that they had to make an official statement about it.  It's good to know that the highly paid scientists employed at NASA had to tell us that.

I have a theory about the whole Mayan calendar.  Imagine if you will a young lad, a Mayan lad.  One day the king is in town.  The king walks up to the lad and asks him what day it is because he has a sacrifice that needs to be made by Friday, but he can't remember if that's today, or if he has a few more days to find a virgin.  But the lad doesn't know, because he is just a farmer.  The king becomes furious with the lad and throws him in prison.

Nobody knows how much time passed because nobody knew what day it was, but one day the king visited the overcrowded prison.  When he came to lad he asked him "What day is today?" to which the lad answered "Today is Wednesday your grace."  The king was so pleased to know it was Wednesday that he let the lad out of prison

But not long after that the king forgot the day again.  So he traveled back to the lad and asked him "What day is today?" to which the lad replied "Today is Wednesday your grace."  And the king was pleased.  On the way back home he had a thought, I need some sort of carving where I can track the days myself so I don't have to travel 3 days to ask this lad.  So the king summoned the lad to his city and told the lad that he must carve a day tracking system onto a rock so that he will always know what day it is.

Years went by (we know this because of the calendar) and the king forgot about the lad and soon he was an old man.  Every day he would go up to the Mayan calendar and continue his work.  On "bring your son to work day" (according to the calendar) he brought his eldest son with him and showed him his work and told him "one day you will take over when I die."

One day the old man died and his son picked up his father's tools and went up to the calendar to work.  He looked at the calendar to determine where his father stopped and found that is was done through 12/21/2012, over 1000 years in the future.  He thought "This is dumb!  Surely somebody will add on more days when we get close to that day, so he went home and never went back.

Well nobody ever did continue the calendar and that's why we ended up worried about that particular day.  And all because of some lazy teenager who didn't want to do his job.

Which gift to give

If I could change one thing during this season I think it would be these damned commercials.  You know the ones.  The diamond ring commercials that play on people's insecurities to sell glittering rocks and shiny metals.  This will make her love you, or forgive you, or make her child accept you as their new daddy.

The other commercials you may not know so well unless you watch SpongeBob SquarePants (said 3 times) like I do.  It's the toy commercials targeting young children and yours truly.  Yes, I too want a Furby (the new one not the old junky one), a Y Fliker (pronounce carefully) and an Amazing Spider-Man Mega Blaster Web Shooter w/ Glove.

Who could have predicted that those three well meaning travelers from the East (probably more west for us) would start a tradition that would fuel the materialistic hunger we now see today?  Is your child's love so dependent on what is under the tree that it's worth throwing an elbow in Walmart to get it?

Every once in awhile I hear a quote that sticks in my head and I ponder it for awhile as if to explore every nuance.  This happened this week and yes, I would like to share.  The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Rings and jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts.  The only true gift is a portion of thyself."

As I have been pondering this I have thought back on my life.  I have received my share of gifts over the years, and they have brought me happiness, howbeit temporary.  But the memories of the time that somebody took to spend it with me has brought so much more.

Take my Grandma for instance.  She passed away not long back and I think of her often.  And while she did give me many gifts over the years that is not what rises to the top when I remember her.  No, I remember staying at her house, and waking up to find her cooking breakfast for far more people than were in the house.  I remember playing Phase 10 for hours because she loved it (and cheated at it).  I remember her stories and her beautiful voice as she put on a full production just for me.  A portion of herself is what she gave, and that portion is what I now cherish.

Yes by all means, give gifts, fill stockings and celebrate Christmas but don't stop there.  Give the other half of your gifts...a piece of you.  Plan that trip, send that letter, make that call, have that party.  Share that portion of yourself with the people you cherish, and let that be their treasure from you.

Spread the word

I saw in the paper today an article that saddened me.  It was about a 15 year old boy that went missing from a beach in California.  I thought maybe if we spread the word together we may find this boy and return him to his family for Christmas.

 

This is John (Jonny) Butler.  He is about 6'1" and weighs in at about 160 pounds.  He has Brown Hair and Brown Eyes and was last seen at Newport Beach in California.  He went, like so many kids his age, to catch some waves but got more than he bargained for.  His board was found at the beach but he was not with it.  He has some scars on his face that are not included in the picture.

Upon further inspection I realized that this didn't happen quite as recently as I thought.  Included was a computer generated image of what he could look like today.

Yes, this is a computer generated prediction of what the now 66 year old Jonny would look like today.  It turns out he went missing back in 1961, so he really could be anywhere.  So please, if you see an old man walking around that looks like he could have been 6'1", 160 lbs 50 years ago please call the police and let them know.

I think that 50 years is long enough.  If we work together we can bring this kid home to his family so he can have a Merry Christmas.

Please spread the word!

Word of the day

So, I made up a new word the other day, at least I think I did.  I have never heard it before, and I do keep myself educated on the latest words that enter the English language.  At any rate, my new word is "Elfsmanship".

It is a Christmas season word to describe the craftsmanship of those little builders Santa uses to make Christmas possible.  So when you wake up Christmas morning and if you were good enough to get a present or two, take a minute or two to admire the elfsmanship.  I hope learn that you exclaim something like this.  "Oh, look at how the light dances off of the surface of this beautiful unicycle, such fine elfsmanship!"

I can't believe that it is only 13 days until Christmas.  This month has just flown by.  Luckily I got much of my shopping done online over the Thanksgiving holiday.  My Thanksgiving?  Oh it was magical.  We spent a lot of time with family.  We drove around a lot looking for signs and appraising computer components and making new friends.  We went for a long drive in the country and saw some of the sights.  We got to see couple of crazy love birds getting married a couple of days after.  It was a good time.

Unfortunately with such an amazing Thanksgiving I find myself in the slumps a bit for Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but this year I'm having trouble getting pumped up about it.  Could this be a sign that I am on the naughty list?  Oh damn, what an absolutely terrifying thought!  I guess to be honest I have never been a big fan of Christmas.  For some reason no matter how much I tried to be good, I was never able to be as good as the other kids at my school.  This is an observation based on sheer quantity of gifts and whether I received what I had asked for.

I remember one year when I was about 8 or 9 and thought I had been really good.  So I asked Santa for a car.  Not just any car, but a Corvette Stingray.  I had seen miracle on 34th street and in that case Santa had given a whole house.  Certainly a Stingray wasn't out of the question.  In an effort to increase my chances I also added the car to my personal prayers for Christmas.  I was so sure that come Christmas morning a new Corvette would be parked out in front of my house with the keys in it.  I don't remember what I got for Christmas that year, but I do remember what I didn't get.  I was heart broken.  Not only was my trust in Santa shaken, but also my faith.

Looking back I can see how silly my request must have seemed.  What would a 9-year-old boy do with a beautiful automobile like that anyway?  I couldn't even afford the taxes on it not to mention the looks I would get when I drove it around town.

Santa and I were eventually able to work out our differences.  He admitted that he didn't really take my request very seriously and I accepted his apology.  Over time what once was a gaping wound in my tender heart has slowly healed.  The once painful gash is now but a feint echo of its former self.  Now we are even able to look back on that year and laugh.

What is the lesson here?  I guess one lesson is never hold a grudge against Santa, because you will only hurt yourself.

Who would win in a fight....

As Wendi pointed out, she bought a Loki doll.  I thought it would be a good idea to get a Thor action figure to keep the Loki doll in line.

So we both went to bed last night and she woke up this morning and found Loki with Thor's hammer on his chest, yes just like in the movie.  Logic would seem to dictate that Loki was already starting to act up and Thor put him in his place.  Sounds like I was right about the whole getting Thor action figure after all.

When I awoke I found this sight waiting for me in the kitchen...

It is so obvious that this is a setup.  Does she really expect me to believe that Loki the doll was able to get out from under Thor the action figure's hammer.  The hammer that nobody can move but Thor himself?  There are so many things wrong here that I simply find in unbelievable. 

First off, Loki the doll is holding Thor the action figure's hammer up as if to triumphantly wield it.  It is pretty well documented in graphic novel and silver screen adaptations that he cannot move the hammer, let alone lift it above his head.

Secondly, his staff.  He's not even holding it.  Unless he is planning on committing suicide he is amateur when it comes wielding weapons where Thor is what we refer to in the business as a master.  I guess that's the difference between how a doll holds a weapon and an action figure.

Thirdly, what are those things growing out of his head?  I'm not a medial doctor or anything, but I don't think it should be doing that.  He should probably get that looked at.  He must have very strong neck muscles to hold his head up with those things attached.  It looks like some that Hellboy would have if he stopped trimming his horns back.

The one accurate piece of this I can see is that the Thor the action figure does look to be in a bit of pain.  I imagine that god or not it would probably hurt to have somebody standing on your crotch like that, doll or no.  I think Loki the doll should be more grateful to Thor the action figure for not taking him out on one of the many occasions he has had to do so.

For the record, I think the Hulk had the right idea of what to do with Loki :-)

Gitt'n down

 We had a ton of fun celebrating Eric's birthday last week.  Lisa successfully threw him a surprise party at Boondocks.  He played laser tag and drove the go carts around.  Eric drove the entire track with his left blinker on.  Ye kept yelling at Mel to "slow down or somebody is going to get hurt".

We also played a bunch of video games and ended up on one of the head-to-head driving ones.  Suddenly he is in a hurry ramming Mel and me off the road.  I guess he still knows the difference between real-life and video games, which is good.

When we were all sitting down to cake the hostess (person not the makers of the delicious cupcakes and twinkies) came and gave Eric 200 tickets to redeem for all sorts of amazing prizes, but she made him work for it...I captured the moment for blackmail purposes (check out the people watching him in the background :-).

 

I know there were times there where we weren't sure we would make it past 20, but you did it, and I couldn't be powder.

Thanks Lisa and Eric, we had a blast.

 

Avenge my birthday.

I am supposed to be drawing Loki right now for Wendi.  No, I can't really draw, but thanks for asking.  It's my own fault I suppose.  We had a birthday party yesterday for one of our long-time friends (a guy my age).  Wendi ran to the store to get gift, card etc. when it came to me.  "Don't get him a card" I said, "I'll draw him one".  I thought it would be fun to give him like a kid-like drawn card.  Those are always better than store bought ones anyway, right?

Well one thing led to another and I was late coming home and I still hadn't made the card.  So I grabbed a box of markers, some paper and a book to draw on as we ran out the door.  For the 20 minute drive to their house I madly scribbled.  A table, a cake, some plates....Iron Man, yes this is turning out nice.  The bumpy road was really working to my advantage here.  Captain America was next...of course, followed by Thor (whose head was smaller than the rest Wendi pointed out).  I needed a couple more people gathered around the table so I asked Wendi for some help.

"Draw Loki" she said.
"I can't draw Loki!" I said.
"Sure you can." she said.
"Not and him be recognizable as Loki" I said.
"Fine, then the Black Widow" she said.
"What does she look like" I asked.
"Black suit with red hair" she said.
"Easy enough" I said and I went to work.

Keep in mind that I am scribbling frantically so these people only vaguely resemble the Avengers, but mostly I did it to keep from getting sued.  Then behind all of the other birthday well wishers I drew a big green mass, obviously the Hulk.

As we pull up I pen the birthday greeting "We will AVENGE your birthday" and signed it from us.

It was good for a laugh, which it did deliver.  Who knows, maybe it will make the fridge for a week.

So Wendi says on the way home "If you can draw that good in 20 minutes on a bumpy road, imagine what you could draw if you took your time!"  I tried to explain that it's easy to draw something when expectations are low but not when they are high.  It's like going to a movie that somebody has told you "It's the best movie EVER!!!!"  Don't get me wrong, I liked Halloween Town 2, but there was just too much hype and it didn't even make top 10 for me.

So, I have been tasked to drawing Loki, Wendi's favorite character in the Avengers.  I'm not sure if she realizes that she is cheering for the wrong side, but I don't have the heart to tell her.  I guess I better get to it.

Trying to Recover

Well, it is September, which kicks off the "burrr" months and, if you know my wife, begins the preparations for that day that comes but once a year.  I am of course referring to HALLOWEEN!

At our house we spend more time preparing for and decorating for the big day.  Wendi usually has one or two projects in mind to add to the decorations.  Last year it was the Apothecary which turned out amazing.

It is mostly Wendi as I am not really very crafty unless it involves a computer or a wood shop.  I need to have a plan, precise measurements, consistency and either a mouse or a power tool in my hand.

Today Wendi wanted to work on making scary books for Halloween.  We had got shopping at some 2nd hand stores and found some that had old looking pages a couple weeks ago for just this purpose.  This involves modge-podge, painting, decorating and a general lack of power tools.  She invited me to do one but, as I am pretty sure we established earlier, it just not my cup of tea.  To be honest nothing is really my cup of tea.  I simply don't care for tea.  I have had my share of tea in my day, but have never enjoyed a drop.  If somebody was to cast everybody I know into characters from Alice in Wonderland, I could not be the Mad Hatter.

I decided that I could at least lend her a helping hand and picked up and started sizing up a human skull.  I thought having a skull protruding from the front of a book could be cool so I decided to cut his face off (maybe the Knave of Hearts).  I tried the kitchen sheers but the bone-like plastic was too much.  Next a steak knife entered the skulls mind, but I soon realized that I would soon be putting a lot of blood and tears into this project if I kept it up.  Then it came to me...the rotary tool.  Yes, that made short work of the skulls face and my blood remained right where I like it.

I sanded it flat and got it ready for Wendi, but she was already hard at work with her own dumb idea.  "Why don't you use it for one for yourself?" she taunted me.  Well, I must admit that my pride got the better of me.  Watching her do it made me realize how simple it was.  "A child could do this!" I blurted out accidentally, and then it was on...yes, like Donkey Kong.

After taking meticulous measurements and making sure I had it centered, I hot glued the elf's face to the front of my book.  Soon I was modge-podginizing with book cover with tissue paper and painting it.  Then I started learning new words like "Second Coat" and "Dry Brush" and I had to take a break to refill my manly meter before things got too crazy.  As soon as Richard Simmons left I painted and painted, and dry brushed, viola...my masterpiece was complete.





Wendi had of course not only finished hers but had gone back to watching "the doctor".  I looked at her completed book and I realized that my initial decision was the correct one.  I should have stayed out of Mr. McGreggors garden, but it was too late.  Hers turned out amazing while mine looks like something that a child could have made out of macaroni and lima beans.

I suppose there are some lessons that can be taken away from all of this.
#1 - Know your limitations.
#2 - Follow your instincts.
#3 - Be a graceful loser.
#4 - Only go to bed once each night.
#5 - Things never turn out as cool in real life as they do in your head.
#6 - Modge-Podge tastes just like Elmer's Glue.
#7 - Just because something says "Eat Me" doesn't mean you should.
#8 - Dylan cheats at cards.
#9 - Each can of alphabet soup does not legally have to contain all of the letters of the alphabet.
#10 - Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.

Long Distance Surprise

Wendi had another birthday.  It's getting to be like clockwork now.  Theoretically a civilization could build a big calendar based on it if they wanted to.  I think it would be funny to make it stop abruptly for no reason, that should throw some people for a loop someday.

Anyway, she always goes all out for my birthday, and this year was no different.  She bakes and decorates cakes a lot but she knows that I am not a huge fan of cake (yes, I know).  This year she made a cake that she knew I would appreciate...a fruit cake.  No, not the kind that your in-laws re-gift you at Christmas, but a real pile of freshly cut fruit in the shape of a cake.  I loved it!

She always makes my birthdays special, where I feel I always struggle to make hers special or even memorable.  Fortunately, I have some of the best family on the planet.  Somehow I was able to convince my cousin, Wayne, and his wife, Linda, to bring their beautiful little girl on a 12 hour drive and spend the weekend in Utah to celebrate Wendi's birthday.  It was a tight fit but he managed to bring my other cousin, Kathy, and her little boy too.  Somehow we kept it a secret although Wendi insists afterward that I was "acting weird all week".  Newsflash, I pretty much always act weird, so I was really acting normal.

Finally, the day arrived.  Like a child waiting for Santa I tracked them as they made the long trip up and first thing in the morning they knocked on our door.  Yep, it was all worth it, at least for me.  It was a sweet reunion.  Smiling and tired faces were more than a welcome sight as hugs and high-fives were liberally distributed.

The weekend went by too quickly but was filled with fun.  We were able to fit in a shopping trip, Tucanos and of course a night of staying up until our slap-happy antics had us literally rolling on the floor...literally.  The party was a blast with a house full of friends and family all there to support Wendi as she crossed the yearly finish line.  It was amazing to have everybody there to share in the festivities.

But all too soon it was time to pack up the car, with 10 bags of fresh produce, and send our family back to their lives and for us to do the same.  We missed them almost immediately, but I think it was just enough to recharge our batteries...at least until November.

A special thanks goes out to Wayne, Linda and Kathy for making the long trip.  I truly appreciate the effort and sacrifice you made to come up for just a few days.  I hope that you know how much we love and appreciate you.  Thanks for being so awesome!

Thanks also to Riley and JD for weekend full of smiles and melt-downs.  I am sorry your rooms were so close together.

Thanks also to Eric & Lisa & Family for making the trip for the party.  To Jen & Todd and Family for coming over and hanging out.  And to Tom & Sabrina and all the gang for coming and bringing the party with you.  And Evan, it is always good to see you.

Thank you all for helping make Wendi's Birthday a celebration and most importantly and P-A-R-T-Y!

Toys and Babies

Dear Toys-R-Us/Babies-R-Us,

Please, for the love of Legos, stop filling my inbox with e-mail upon e-mail of advertisements.  I am sorry to have to tell you this, but you ARE the definition of an e-mail spammer.  I get it, you have a seemingly endless supply of deals just for me, and I do appreciate it.  But do you really NEED to send me an e-mail every single day?  And why, for the love, would you EVER feel like you need to send me multiple e-mails in a day, because you don't.  Between Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us I am currently receiving an average of 2 e-mails each an every day, and on special days even more.  You must have an absolute army of graphic artists at your disposal, not to mention the advertising department conjuring up these deals.

I know what you are going to say, and yes you are right, I did check the little box indicating that I would like to receive notifications of special offers and deals.  But come on!  This is ridiculous!  The note next to that checkbox needs to be reworded to accurately articulate the magnitude of decision to check that tiny little checkbox.  In addition, you should probably have a completely separate checkbox for Babies-R-Us as they most certainly don't carry my size onesie.

To be honest the only reason I checked that damn little box is because I thought it would be nice to know when you have video games "Buy 2 Get 1 Free".  But even if you did have that deal I wouldn't know it because I stopped reading your e-mails a month after I started getting them.  And that's just sad, because I LOVE video games, and I buy a lot of them.  I cannot tell you how much I would like to get a free video game every time I buy 2 at full price, but I simply cannot justify wasting the kind of time it takes to sift through the 730+ e-mails you send me in a year.

Do you carry "The boy who cried wolf"?  I'm sure you do, how can you not for bedtime's sake?  I would recommend that you read that book, and really internalize it.  I think that you will find a nugget or two of wisdom that you can take away and apply to your advertising business.  You, Toys-R-Us, are the store that cried deal.

Kind Regards,
James Klein

Note: I am tempted to attach a picture of myself to make you picture me in a onesie!

Chick-Fella

Today was Chick-fil-A support day.  We drove by one this afternoon and the line was crazy, and the restaurant parking lot filled to overflowing.  We didn't know what was going on, but thank goodness Wendi didn't have a lemonade tooth today or who knows what would have happened.  Later tonight I heard about it on the news.

It all started when Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, publicly affirmed that the openly religious family that owns and runs the chain does not support gay marriage.  Not only this, but that the company contributes funds to groups that openly oppose gay marriage.  Dan stated in part "We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit...We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

Since then Chick-fil-A has been the recipient of a firestorm of scrutiny by the press and pro-gay marriage groups around the world in an apparent attempt pressure them into changing their views.  The openly christian company became the target of protests and public ridicule by the mayors of Boston and Chicago and others, who have threatened to abuse their power to block attempts by the chain to enter their cities.

Apparently today was designated a day for people to show their support for Chick-fil-A and here in Utah people showed up in droves to show their support for the company with their wallets.  Whether you agree with their views or not, you have to respect them for having their beliefs, and sticking to them even in the face of criticism and attacks by those with opposing views.  Those who cannot apparently not bear the thought of others having a view that differs from theirs.

In the opinion of this journalist, religious freedom and the freedom of speech are among the most important freedoms upon which this great country was founded.  The ability to have an opinion and to express it, stand by it and defend it as you choose.  This is time when this freedom is squandered, where many of our leaders are swayed by public opinion or pressure from contributors.  Even the parties are guilty of trying to make themselves more appealing by embracing the popular horse carcass of the day.

I applaud you Chick-fil-A, for standing for what you believe in!  For closing on Sundays because you believe it is the right thing to do.  For having the best mission statement I have ever heard "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."  Thank you for not sacrificing your morals and beliefs in the name of profits.  I truly hope that your example will influence others to do the same.

Hot Dog

Well, it has been heating up, yes...even up here. Our dogs have have stopped going out as much and the Central Air (God Bless America!) has been pumping out the comfort non-stop. Our youngest dog has black fur and it is getting a bit long, and he seems to be the most uncomfortable. I guess it's a lot like driving a black car in Arizona, only instead of paint you have fur, so really it's nothing like that. It's probably more like being an albino polar bear at a tanning salon...yes, that's a much better analogy.

He is a smart one though. He is learning the cooler places in the house. The entry-way tile seems to be near the top of the list, but the other day I caught him doing this...yep laying on top of the vents.  I hate when people hog all of the cold air!

When the AC was running he would sit in front of it straddling it with his font legs letting its cooling power skirt his undercarriage.  But like all pleasures it is short lived and the AC would turn off.  At this point he would lay on top of the vent, as pictured here, and patiently wait for the Conditioned Air to once again return.

I told him that summer is almost over and he better make the most of it because right now his report on summer vacation will look something like this.

What I did last summer was...

Sleep, and eat...a lot.

I bit my sister on the face repeatedly.  I also enjoyed grabbing her by the collar and pretending I was a people taking her for a walk.

I also learned how to get into the garbage can, so much for "dog proof".

I learned that I get hot very easily and that metal plates in the floor are magic heat-stroke cures.

Oh, I also pooped...a lot.

It so sad to see these young dogs not applying themselves to learning new tricks.  If only they knew how cruel a mistress time can be to the unsuspecting and naive.  Unfortunately, I don't even think he suspects that he is naive...so sad.

Photo Challenge

Day 1 - Whatever I want.

I was going to take a picture of money but I don't have any...hence me wanting it. I couldn't very well take a picture of me napping, trust me I tried. So instead I decided to go with nature and spring. Here is a bird that mistakenly thought it was time to come out of hibernation too. I bet he wishes he could climb his freezing red breast back into his egg for another week at this point. Actually, make that 6 days, Easter is on Sunday and that could be an awkward surprise for a little child. I'm kidding, I know they don't hibernate in eggs, they hibernate in Mexico.


Day 3 - Something you collect

This one is a bit tough as I collect many things, but I decided on one of my earliest obsessions, coins. "Why coins?" I can almost hear you ask, well first off it's money, so if worst comes to worst you can use it to buy a gallon gas. It's also one of those collections that you can take as serious as you want. I think I would prefer classic car collecting but that just isn't in the cards. If you think about it, coin collecting just makes good cents!

Hush Puppy

Trixie has been a bit mopey since I left with Toby and he never came home. It's understandable since he has been the head cheese since she got here to suddenly not have that security blanket. I'm honestly surprised at how she still seems to be waiting for him to come in the dog door or something. I guess when your brain is the size of a walnut it makes sense.

Trixie is a social dog, much more so than Toby was. I think it helps that the neighborhood has embraced the idea of having dogs as house pets so she has more dogs available than Toby did. We realized after getting Trixie that we waited too long with Toby. He didn't want to play with her and she was an annoying puppy to him. They got along like old people and midgets.

So we decided that if we were going to get another dog, we better do it sooner rather than later, so that Trixie would actually play with the new dog and hopefully become fast friends. I hope we are all picturing a scene behind an Italian restaurant with a plate of spaghetti and a single meatball. We didn't want to be potty training a dog in the snow so we were going to wait until the spring to get one, but we have had such a mild winter we decided to go ahead.

We found a litter of 8 week old Cocker Spaniel and mini-Australian shepherd mix puppies that were "crate trained". They were in West Valley so we donned our neutral gang colors and headed over to see if there were any suitable males. We decided to take Trixie. It made sense at the time, since we were picking not only a pet for us, but also a playmate for her that she should have some say in the matter so to speak. Alas she was as useless as a double sided wristwatch (I don't know okay?). She just hid on the couch behind Wendi the whole time which was funny since she was the biggest one there.

There were 4 males so we proceeded to check them all.
#1 (The Biggest) - Freaked out and peed all over us when we tried to pick him up and hold him. When I say freaked out, you would have thought we were skinning him alive and the pee was just the topping on the cake. DENIED!!
#2 (Next Largest) - Was nice enough but had a bad reaction to his shots and his muzzle was in bad shape. His ears appeared to be infected so we opted to not take the chance on him and risk large medical bills down the road. Sorry bud.
#3 (The Runt) - Much smaller than the others but very playful. He didn't like being on his back much and tried to wiggle free. Viable option #1.
#4 (Pick of the Litter) - This dog was such a doll. He was mild mannered and just loved to be petted and didn't mind not being in control. He was the only one that wasn't black and brown, instead he was white and brown.

We decided on #4 but we the lady said they weren't getting rid of that one...of course. So we opted to get the runt instead. We put him in the car (queue the crying) and drove home.We started the chore of picking a name for our little bundle of teeth. I voted for fun ones such as "Dammit" or "Treat" which I thought would drive the other dogs crazy, and "Carma". I really just wanted to yell "Bad Carma" through my neighborhood. Wendi voted for more normal names like "Edward" (10 guesses where that came from). In the end we compromised and decided to call him "Paul" but then we decided that isn't a dog's name, it's a persons name so we went with "Daxter".

The rest of that day Daxter wandered around our house crying. When time for sleepy-pie he laid in his crate and cried for an hour (not so much crate trained). So Wendi took him out he spent the night curling up around her head while we slept very little. The next day it rained, and it has snowed on and off for the last week which is so nice. One of my favorite things in the world has to be standing out in the snow half dressed trying to get a puppy to pee when all he wants to do is play with dead plants.

He is supposed to be super smart with the Australian shepherd in him, but a week has gone by and I'm not quite convinced. He learned to used the dog door after a few days which took Trixie a month to figure out. But the potty training isn't going so well. He keeps peeing and pooping right in front of the dog door, so either the effort it takes to get through the dog door is causing him to go or he is trying to be more earth friendly by not polluting our water table by going outside. Either way it's quite annoying.

He also has this bad idea of crawling in tight spaces. He has spent many an hour under our bed while we are walking around the house calling his name. He also likes to curl up under the recliner, which is a really good place for him as well. The other day though he found that there was a hole in the back yard that went under the cement patio and climbed in there. Wendi was able to get him out but he had some trouble. We plugged the hole with bricks until we can fill it in, but when we let him back out he ran straight back to the hole.








On the plus side Trixie seems to like him. The first day she pretty much avoided him, but the next morning she jumped up on our bed and they played for a bit. They seem to be getting along great other than they don't like to share food.

They learned that they can play tug-of-war with each other which has been nice. Daxter has had some trouble differentiating between dog toys and other items around the house. The other day he brought a sprinkler into the house that is apparently a dog toy now. Oh to have the worries of a dog...but the neutering is kinda a deal breaker for me.

Valentines Shmalentines

I guess I need to get back on the horse. I haven't really felt like posting anything since we had to put Toby down, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet.

It's Valentines day. If you didn't know it is probably too late to run out and grab something and pretend that you were "acting" like you forgot. Sorry bud.

Valentines day is one of those days that I find annoying. Yes, it has a lot to do with all of the commercials that try to suggest that you are a bad person if you don't buy your girl something shiny with lots of diamonds. It has become a marketing tool much like Mother's Day and Christmas. Beyond that though I find it humorous that we have a day set aside to let somebody know that you love them. If you are in a relationship I hope that you already know how the other person feels about you.

I don't object to Valentines day completely though. It serves it's purpose for those who may be struggling or distant. It does provide one day a year to set difference aside and remember why you are with the person.

I feel bad for Wendi really. She is awesome and I know that she knows that I know that she knows, you know? But I don't buy the flowers and bling for her to prove that I love her. But I hope that I make it pretty obvious the rest of the days in the year.

If not here goes. Wendi...I like you....a lot! You are the kettle to my pot. You are the ice in my Mountain Dew. You are the batteries to my remote control. You are the helium to my balloon. Thanks for being such a cool wife. Everybody is sooo jealous of me and they should be :-)