Monday, August 06, 2007 Walking On Water

Craig, Konichiwawa, & I went to Lake Lavon on Sunday & spent the day swimming & trying once again to waterski. And FINALLY, I got it!!! It actually only took a couple of tries, but once I got up the first time, it was a snap after that. Craig is still working on it, but I think he'll get it next time. We also tried getting up on the wakeboard again, but both of us just got drug through the water face first. We had a great time, but I my arms & legs are sore today.




Konichiwawa is really starting to have fun on the boat. She's finally getting over the fear of the water. Although, last weekend she lost her balance & fell over the side of the boat. That startled her a bit, but after a little nap & a snack, she was ready for more. She has a life jacket & she likes to swim between two rafts that we have. Now if I can just get Prosciutto to not to panic in the water. Maybe I'll take her next time...

Thursday, July 19, 2007 First comes the blood, then come the boys...

Xochitl is going in for her spaying tomorrow. I'm so not looking forward to it, but it's a very good thing to do. It minimizes the chance of mammary cancer in dogs, especially if it is done before their first heat cycle. Plus I really don't want to go through the whole mentrual streaks on the floor or pillows again, like I had with Konichiwawa. I know you're thinking "Mikey, I thought that you like blood?" Well, that would be fake blood, or the occasional non-life threatening wound that is picture worthy. Certainly not dog pussy blood... And like Margaret White said, "First comes the blood, then come the boys... Sniffin like dogs..."





If you want to see what the spay procedure involves, click on the following link: http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/sp.html

UPDATE:
July 23rd, 2007
Xochitl did just fine. Although, she was about to go into heat, so the vet charged me another "nominal fee." She was really sore the first day & whined a lot because she couldn't get on the bed or couch by herself. The vet sent home some puppy painkiller so she's doing better with that now too. By Sunday she was pretty much back to normal, except the nasty scar & stitches on her belly which will hopefully heal quickly.

Monday, July 16, 2007 Caddo Lake - Friday the 13th weekend - July '07

Craig & I went ot Caddo Lake this Friday the 13th weekend. We rented out Big Cypress Cottage again, which is so much fun. We stayed there once last winter & couldn't wait to come back in the summer. Usually we take our camper & stay at Caddo Lake State Park, but every once in a while we like to rent a cabin. The cottage is right on the water, which made for easy access for our kayaks. We got there about 6:00 pm on Friday after our 3 hour drive from Dallas. As you can see here, I had to bring some F13 paraphernalia to celebrate Jason's birthday....

We got up early Saturday morning & headed over to Crip's Camp for breakfast & a boat rental. Breakfast there is eggs, bacon, toast, & hashbrowns (your choice of eggs & NO substitutions, but it's cheap & good.) The temperature never broke 80 degrees all weekend, which is really odd for Texas in July, but I'm not complaining. We headed out into the swamp about 10:30 am & started our 5 hour exploration of the sloughs & bayous. It was overcast & drizzly most of the day, but it never rained too hard while we were on the boat. The water level was higher than I had ever seen it, so navigating through narrower areas was much easier this time. The high water level did make it impossible to do any geocaching though, since most of the caches looked to be underwater at this point.

I have no idea what this expression is all about...

Here's a lake house that I would love to have...

Waterfowl.....

We came across this steamboat taking visitors on a swamp tour...

It's Captain Craig!

Us in our glamourous ponchos...

Craig snapping a pic of me peeing...

After the swamp exploration, we headed back to the cottage & took our kayaks out for a while. The current was pretty strong in the open channel, so we stayed in the bald cypress canopy. That was a lot of fun, but it was also creepy. There were HUGE swamp spiders crawling all over the trees & jumping across the water. I didn't get any spider pics, but you can see some here: SWAMP SPIDER

Here's a few videos I took while out on our swamp expedition: (PS- Youtube's video conversion sucks!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YKT3vydFkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mix4VubnII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usM2uk4y-Y8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqjyixP13IM

We had a terrific time, but as usual, the weekend went by way too fast. I wasn't ready to come home yet, but I'll be heading back to Caddo Lake at least once more this year... Hopefully soon!

Friday, July 13, 2007 Happy Friday the 13th!!!!!!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!!! I hope you all have a bloody good time! I'm out of here at noon & off to Caddo Lake....


It's a bit late, but I didn't find this pic until after Independence Day.... Too bad, it would've been a great holiday post pic...

Monday, July 09, 2007 Renovate & Rejuvinate....

I've been remodeling my upstairs room since Independence Day. It's technically a guest bedroom, but we use it as a media room to watch movies on a projector screen. It's really looking great, but I am worn out now. The project has been ongoing for days now. Craig & I moved everything downstairs & ripped out the nasty carpet from the previous owners. EWWWW!!! We then painted the ceiling, walls, & doors. Over the weekend, we installed a new laminate wood floor, which looks fucking fantastic!!! And it saved us a ton of cash by us installing it ourselves. It's a good thing I bought those kneepads this time, plus they may come in handy in other situations.... I've replaced all the hardware & lighting, except for the new ceiling fan, which I'll be installing today after work. I also got a Bjursta cabinet from Ikea to store all my media components. The sofa & loveseat should be delivered weekend after next.

The room is pretty much ready to have everything moved back in, so now I'm ready for a break. And just in time for that is the upcoming Friday the 13th weekend!!!! Craig & I rented a cottage at Caddo Lake. We always have so much fun there exploring the sloughs & bayous of the swamp. YAY!!!!

I'll try & get some before & after pics of the room up soon, as well as an entire post from the Caddo Lake adventure...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 DISCO DISCO DISCO!!!!

I don't know if the gays have fully taken control of the company I work for, but the music in the lobby downstairs has been DISCO DISCO DISCO for weeks now. It's Raining Men, YMCA, I Will Survive, I'm Coming Out, & Xanadu have been in high rotation. I always get this weird sense of Deja Vu when I come into work & it throws me back to Sundays at the leather bar I used to DJ at. It also makes me want to put on some roller skates & blow my disco whistle while waiting on the elevator & getting my boogie on to KC & the Sunshine Band....

Monday, June 25, 2007 Hummer Happening 2007

On Father's Day we went on our annual Hummer Happening off-roading event. Craig & I took our friend Chris with us this time. We had a great time in the H3 sliding through the mud, climbing steep hills, and generally getting mud drenched. It has rained so much here the past few months so everything was quite slick. The event was held at Rough Creek Lodge, a luxury resort & business retreat. The place is neat, but it's in the fucking middle of nowheresville and it is way too expensive. At least it's free to the Hummer group once or twice a year. I've been to this place twice now, so I hope the next event is at another location.

I've posted some pics from the day & also a couple of REALLY shaky videos.

DISCLAIMER: Before anyone gets all anti-Hummer on here, let me tell you that I don't just drive the beast around for day to day activities & shit. Gas is way to expensive for that. I use it on the weekends to tow a boat & a camper. I have a great economical Scion XB for daily driving & I carpool to work. Besides, if you really look into it, the H3's MPG is no different than most full size trucks & SUV's out on the road. In fact, the inline-5 engine in it is the same that is in a Chevy Colorado & GMC Canyon. And when NASCAR stops driving hordes of cars around in a circle all day wasting gas for entertainment you can then get back to me. LOL

Also, here a funny little story about the Toyota Prius

Thursday, June 21, 2007 Beware of the Birthday

Everyone head over to Beware of the Blog to wish Todd a very happy birthday...

Have a great one Todd!!!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Goodbye Element...

This past Friday I traded in my 2003 Honda Element, The F13. I will miss that car. It was so much fun.

However, I got a 2008 Scion XB to replace it. I didn't like the old Scion models at all, but they have completely redesigned the XB for 2008. So far it's been great & I'm loving it! I'm averaging 28-30 MPG so far & that should get better as I break it in. It drives great & comes pretty much fully loaded, plus the safety features are fantastic!