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!