A vacation ending dinner.....

Last night I was thrilled.... I got to make chili and couldn't wait to dive in and eat as much as possible.... When it was done, I grabbed a big bowl, added a ton of cheese, crumbled a bunch of crackers into it and got a big glass of milk..... After I devoured it we were watching TV and my stomach started hurting.... It progressively got worse and worse... I guess I ate a bit too much of things that will fill you up and then expand.... Anyway... I started to think that I would die it was hurting so bad.... I spent quite a bit of my night in the bathroom looking like this..... It's really pretty sad.... I couldn't wait to eat it, but I don't think I ever want to again..... :( That was the last night I could have stayed up late during my vacation... We go back to work tomorrow.... What an ending.

Monsters......

I never considered myself the mad scientist type.... A little mad, maybe.... but definately not a scientist.... I started blogging back in January... I got all into it- my wife didn't get it... So one day back in May, I set her up her very own blog to try out. She posted just to see what the fuss was about.... then I sent people to visit her and she got hooked! The validation that somebody out there cares what you have to say is a bit of a rush.... She took to it and hasn't looked back.... We posted happily for quite some time.... At some point my mother started reading our blogs... Then she started reading a few others from our links... I kept telling her she should start her own blog- I'd get the same old.... "I don't want to be a blogger" response... One day back in September, I set her one up just for grins... I sent her instructions on how to get to it and left it alone... A couple of weeks later, she decided to make a post... She got the bug... She loves it too.... So I have created two blogging monsters... I have minimal skills in web design so I have done templates for both... I am technical support for things like Blogrolling and linking and other tidbits that they feel they need to know... I love it! Both of these women thought I was some kind of a nutcase when I started blogging... now both are more obsessed than I am. Gotta love it! If you haven't been to either of their pages, go take a look... Both are far better at this than I am (they have writing skillz)...

My tree limb is gone!!!!!

The tree service I called about my broken tree finally got the time to come out today.... This was damaged when Hurricane Rita blew through. It was pretty fascinating to watch... They started out by tying ropes to it... They had to get it out without damaging the powerlines or the fence underneath. After they got most of the branches that were not supporting the load, one of the guy shimmied up the branch... Then he went waaaaaaayyyyy up there to tie off some of the ropes.... Here they finally have the major part out of the tree.... hanging over my power lines and making me nervous.... I had to help guide the trunk down at this point... that was a major piece of wood! So no pics of them lowering it.... After it was all down, monkey man repelled down... And then they chopped it up to haul out of the yard.... This was a small portion of the debris that came out of there... How cool would it be to have one of these???? Well... My wallet is lighter, but my tree is finally gone! I kept a couple of large pieces to build something out of... I'll post pics of that as soon as I figure out what I'm doing.... At very least it's an excuse to play with the chainsaw!!!!

OK... I'm over it....

It was a crushing blow watching the Houston Astros get swept in the World Series. But I am now over it.... So Congratulations Chicago White Sox on a great victory!

Survivor

Don't forget to check out my renter...... We start out with Judd, man... talking about Margret, man... He hopes he'll be laughing his ass to the bank, man, and she'll be home making chicken wings, man.... (I saw someone post on a message board that there should be a Judd drinking game... every time he says man... you drink! Try it and see if you can stay upright thru an entire episode.) Yaxha is all banged up... Everybody's shoulders look like they have some serious road rash. Nothing like open wounds in the jungle with all those bugs.... I can just imagine what will lay eggs in there..... The reward challenge.... One by one, the Survivors must spool fabric from a pole onto their bodies. At each pole, another person will join them as they also wrap up in the fabric. The first team to wrap up and then unwind and cross the finish line will win. The winners get a ride through the canopy on a zip line, and then get chocolate.... Had Nakum been in the right order, this challenge could have been hot.... Steph started out but then Lydia killed it all! Damn you little leprecaun! Ya'll should have taken Cidy as the second person! Anyway... Lydia did cop a feel of Cindy during this... Yaxha proved that the guys were more comfortable hugging up to eachother than the women... they moved with precision grinding together as they spooned... errr.... spooled up and then unwound.... Nakum fell on their ass. So Yaxha wins reward! Amy was scared to death on the zip line... but she did it anyway... the rest of them just cruised through.... (I would love to get a chance to do that... looked like a blast!) After the ride, they had a chocolate feast... Candy, cake, cookies, strawberries, more more more....! They pigged out and gave me brief hope that we would be treated to an everybody gets sick in camp scene... But it was not to be.... Yaxha decided (yeah... the producers had nothing to do with it) to invite Nakum over for a pool party and chocolate to celebrate Danni's birthday.... They all went, though Jamie was a bit reluctant... Steph said that if they wanted to give them chocolate and let em swim in their pool... Hell yeah... she's all over that! We got treated to Judd in his tighty-whiteys... Then I got to see that sick scene I wanted... only it was me here at home.... Amy and Gary were talking about what happens if they don't win immunity.... She told Gary that if she finds out he played football... she'll hunt him down on the Internet... Gary was saying she'll never find him because there's no such thing as a Gary Hawkins in Grand Haven.... Ummmm.. Gary.... Everybody knows your last name is Hogeboom... do you really think she couldn't find out? Immunity Challenge.... three people from each tribe must retrieve giant puzzle pieces from a sand pit. The object: to assemble the pieces to form a giant Maya calendar. Nakum kicked Yaxha's ass on this one.... At tribal council.... Amy tried real hard to get them to vote Bobby-Jon out, but she just couldn't pull off the votes.... Amy, the tribe has spoken... you have been voted out of the jungle. After the vote... Jeff informed them that they weren't going back to their camp... They needed to go to Nakum and they were now one tribe. One thing I forgot to mention... at one point, Bobby-Jon was in the pool... he had little fish trying to eat the flap of torm skin on his shoulder... and he was trying to catch the little fish in his mouth. This was the absolutely funniest part of this season for me... I had to rewind it and watch it over and over... classic stuff....

Killer

Here is the vicious beast that is Gizmo.... Showing Daizii that he is not intimidated. I found this pic I had taken back in August.... I just remembered that I meant to post it.

Morning fun and games.....

This morning, the dogs and I decided to go hang out in the back yard for awhile.... It wasn't long before they decided to play their usual game of chase... this can go on for hours! Go Gizmo Go! While they did battle, the neighbor decided to come see what all the fuss was about... Of course Gizmo thinks that he is some huge ferocious beast and decides to protect the yard... He guys... what's going on? I wanna play! But he showed up too late.... Gizmo is all tired out... And Daizii isn't feeling much better I wish I had a better camera.... I had three different kinds of woodpeckers in my tree this morning... One of them was as big as Woody (and had the laugh too)... But I couldn't get a decent picture of any of them.... Maybe somebody will think about me around Christmas.....

Rent My Blog

OK... I have a new renter.... This time, everybody go visit Wendy and let's make sure she gets her money worth out of this.... Thanks!

F$@K!!!!!!!!!

%@$#!*&% %#@@( %@#$!# F@$@'n White Sox son of a m&*@# F%@$@$ DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN! THAT SUCKED !

I've got skills....

Finished bench and other projects...

I finally finished the bench I built for my friend... Here is the result: I figured while I'm showing that off, I might as well show a few other projects I have built. First up is the frame for this porch swing... Here is the aquarium stand I built for my 55 gallon tank. Next up is the bench I built my dad for Christmas last year... And here is the bench I built my sister for her birthday. I love getting out in the garage and building this stuff... It's great to turn a pile of boards into something useful... The results thrill me every time. If I thought I could live off of it, I'd do this stuff full time instead of working... Maybe when I retire.....

My weekend so far......

Hope everybody is having a great weekend.... The nice thing about mine is, we both took vacation so it won't end until the first! Anyway- yesterday we decided to bar-b-q and have a bunch of folks over to watch the first game of the World Series... Lots of excitement, as you can see... I cut some flowers from out in the yard to throw something together.... Here's a sneak peak at the bathroom redecorated... I'll let Stormii give you more when we finish... And I finally got to put a second coat of stain on the bench I built... Just needs a coat of poly now and it's finished!

Survivor

As it begins at Yaxha, Brandon is asking Bobby-Jon about them voting Blake out last week. Their conversation is a bit hard to follow, I think they have about a brain cell between them... Anyway... Brandon is now a bit worried... he thought they had a strong alliance and just figured out that they don't. Over at Nakum, they are bitching about mosquitos and Margaret... Both seem to be annoying everybody. They went to the reward challenge and were told that they were playing for a bar-b-q... And then they'd both do tribal council.... Reward challenge was teams of two trying to push a big ball across the other team's endzone... first team to score three points wins. The winners also got to compete for individual immunity and a chance to sit in on the other side's tribal council. First up was Step and Cindy against Amy and Danni. WOW is all I can say. The camera man treated us to some spectacular shots of Danni! We now know her better than I ever thought we would! Thank you camera dude! Anyway- Danni and Amy won that round. Next up was Judd & Jamie Vs. Bobby-Jon and Brandon. Judd and Jamie won, and then Bobby-Jon freaked out and bowed up to Jamie.... I thought for a second we'd get to see the hillbillies fight, but they just screamed at eachother for a second and walked away. Amy and Gary came up next against Step and Judd.... Amy got bulldozed by the ball and hurt her ankle again... Then she got up and tried, but Steph and Judd scored the point. Then Amy had to go back out with Danni and they scored to tie the game. Last up was Bobby Jon and Brian vs. Judd and Jamie... Judd and jamie scored to win the game! After, Nakum got to compete for individual immunity... They had to run and grab three bags of letters and then unscramble a puzzle... Judd fell way behind, but as Rafe was working on his, Judd looked over and told him the answer. Who knew Judd could spell? Suprise of the night! Nakum celebrated by eating hamburgers and hotdogs, and drinking beer and rootbeer. Judd got an extra somehow, and made it a point to tell everybody that they wouldn't be drinking them at all if it wasn't for him. He bacame what the t-shirt says.... "Instant Asshole- Just add alcohol". Nakum went to tribal council where Judd and Margaret fought thru most of it... Judd proclaimed that he is not a 'bad sportsmanship' many times, and launched into what a bitch he thinks Margaret is. Most of the tribe sat quietly during their little tiff, and then they voted Margaret out. Rafe stayed to watch Yaxha have their tribal council, with the added bonus of getting to vote first for a secret immunity for one of the tribe. Boring tribal council and then the blindsided Brian... The immunity could have been interesting if Rafe would have chosen to give it to Brian, but instead, he gave it to Gary.... I would have cracked up had Brian gotten it and Bobby-Jon went home due to it.... Oh well....

Priceless

05 National League Champions!!!!!!!

Congrats to the Houston Astros for winning last night's game! I sat down to watch... the excitement was high... then I fell asleep. It was 2-0 in the 4th inning I guess... I woke up in the 9th... got to watch the last two outs and realized we did it! First time ever in the World Series! Woooohooooo! So I hopped in the car and ran up to Academy to get a few shirts... Apparently, everybody else had the same idea... I pulled into the parking lot and saw the line... OMG... the line! It was HUGE!!! I got to park way down on the other end of the parking lot and hopped in it... and then watched it snake up and down the rows behind me... thousands of people lined up for T-shirts in the middle of the night... excited as Hell... it was crazy! We did the wave in line... everybody stuck in traffic was honking and cheering... the crowd in line was screaming... Trucks would drive by on the freeway blasting their horns causing the crowd to go wild... It was great! After only around an hour and a half I finally made it to the door... They were limiting people to two items only... I grabbed two Championship T-shirts and headed on.... watched the couple of thousand people still in line act crazy, and finally made it home around 12:30 or so.... Way to go Astros! Can't wait to see what the celebration is like when we win it all!

Game 6

Tonight will bring us game 6 of the National League Championship Series... The Houston Astros have the chance to clinch their first ever spot in the World Series. Let's hope game 6 is the final game of this series, and the World Series comes to Houston! Go Astros!

Wilma!!!!!!

There has never been a hurricane like Wilma before. With an unbelievable round of intensification that saw the pressure drop 87 mb in just 12 hours, Wilma smashed the all-time record for lowest pressure in an Atlantic hurricane this morning. The 4 am hurricane hunter report put the pressure at 882 mb, easily besting the previous record of 888 mb set in Hurricane Gilbert of 1988. Holy shit! What an active hurricane season we've had! Who'd of thunk that we'd have 3 Cat. 5 storms decide to threaten the Gulf coast this year? Wilma is another monster in a string of them this year. Luckily, we only have about 6 weeks left of hurricane season.

Bench Progress

I got to work on the bench I'm building some more this evening.... Here it is after I cut the back down a bit... I think it looks much better now... (and no, the cat is not real) Here it is after a coat of wood conditioner... I kinda like this look.... And the next two are after the first coat of stain. I'll do another coat tomorrow after work and then decide how much more this needs.... It's almost finished!

Latest Project

I am in the process of building my first paid job! Here it is as of last night... I am going to shorten the back by 4 inches and then stain it.... Now to figure out how to make a career of building things like this....