The landscaping project of my entire front & back yard is complete. For the past few weeks I've just been customizing with other flowers and plants & tending to the new growth & new weeds.
You can check out the following link to see the pics of the project from start to finish: http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g252/springparkslasher/Landscaping/
Monday, April 16, 2007 Anniversary Weekend at Caddo Lake
Craig & I celebrated our 12th anniversary this weekend! Actually it's not until the 23rd, but we decided to celebrate with a camping trip on Friday the 13th!
(Man I look high in that pic!)
Craig & I spent our anniversary at our favorite place in Texas, Caddo Lake State Park. It is the only natural lake in Texas. The lake itself is swamp & marshland with miles of sloughs & bayous to explore. We had a great time, even though we had a cold front come in which made it freezing while on the lake. We're going to go back again this summer when it will be hot & a lot of creatures should be scurrying around. The only thing we saw this time was some deer out on an island. We still have yet to see any snakes or alligators, which there are many in the area.
On the Texas State Park website, it lists this info: Activities enjoyed include camping, hiking, swimming, picnicking, nature study, fishing, and boating.
Naturalists can enjoy stately cypress trees, American lotus, and lily pads, waterfowl, alligators, turtles, frogs, snakes, raccoons, minks, nutrias, beavers, squirrels, armadillos, and white-tailed deer.
I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure about swimming anywhere that alligators may be present!
We always rent a boat from Crip's Camp, located in Uncertain, Tx. Uncertain is a tiny town with a population of 150. We spent around 5 or 6 hours exploring the lake & locating a couple geocaches along the way. Geocaching was trickier then normal because everything looks camouflaged with all the spanish moss hanging from the trees. We also briefly got stuck on an underwater beaver dam. But after some paddling & shifting our weight on the boat, we were able to free ourselves & backtrack out of the shallow area...
At the campsite we had a good time playing games & going hiking for a while. On Friday night we had to help out some neighboring campers who had run down their truck battery & were stranded in the rain, We ran back to our truck to help jump them off & also flagged down a forest ranger who assisted us. There was also an old man a couple sites down that had the cutest little dog. The funny thing was that the first time we saw him was when the man stumbled into our site trying to catch his dog, who had gotten away from him. Once he caught him, the man kept getting tangled in the leash & almost fell over. Then for the next 2 days, every time we saw the man he was always either tangled in the leash or running after the dog. This was a little dog, not some huge one that could drag you down the street, but maybe about 10 lbs. I couldn't help but laugh. Now it all made since why it took the man over an hour to back his camper into his site. LOL
Here are some pics from the trip. With the sky being overcast, the pictures came out kind of grey, instead of the usual colorful pics I get when it is sunny. And all the pictures of the 2 of us were either blurry or we looked stupid because we were freezing. LOL
I wore one of my F13 shirts on Friday...
And you can see the hockey mask I hung in the campsite...
And here's a couple of videos I took while out exploring Caddo:
Happy anniversary, Craig!
I love you!
~Mikey
(Man I look high in that pic!)
Craig & I spent our anniversary at our favorite place in Texas, Caddo Lake State Park. It is the only natural lake in Texas. The lake itself is swamp & marshland with miles of sloughs & bayous to explore. We had a great time, even though we had a cold front come in which made it freezing while on the lake. We're going to go back again this summer when it will be hot & a lot of creatures should be scurrying around. The only thing we saw this time was some deer out on an island. We still have yet to see any snakes or alligators, which there are many in the area.
On the Texas State Park website, it lists this info: Activities enjoyed include camping, hiking, swimming, picnicking, nature study, fishing, and boating.
Naturalists can enjoy stately cypress trees, American lotus, and lily pads, waterfowl, alligators, turtles, frogs, snakes, raccoons, minks, nutrias, beavers, squirrels, armadillos, and white-tailed deer.
I don't know about you, but I'm not so sure about swimming anywhere that alligators may be present!
We always rent a boat from Crip's Camp, located in Uncertain, Tx. Uncertain is a tiny town with a population of 150. We spent around 5 or 6 hours exploring the lake & locating a couple geocaches along the way. Geocaching was trickier then normal because everything looks camouflaged with all the spanish moss hanging from the trees. We also briefly got stuck on an underwater beaver dam. But after some paddling & shifting our weight on the boat, we were able to free ourselves & backtrack out of the shallow area...
At the campsite we had a good time playing games & going hiking for a while. On Friday night we had to help out some neighboring campers who had run down their truck battery & were stranded in the rain, We ran back to our truck to help jump them off & also flagged down a forest ranger who assisted us. There was also an old man a couple sites down that had the cutest little dog. The funny thing was that the first time we saw him was when the man stumbled into our site trying to catch his dog, who had gotten away from him. Once he caught him, the man kept getting tangled in the leash & almost fell over. Then for the next 2 days, every time we saw the man he was always either tangled in the leash or running after the dog. This was a little dog, not some huge one that could drag you down the street, but maybe about 10 lbs. I couldn't help but laugh. Now it all made since why it took the man over an hour to back his camper into his site. LOL
Here are some pics from the trip. With the sky being overcast, the pictures came out kind of grey, instead of the usual colorful pics I get when it is sunny. And all the pictures of the 2 of us were either blurry or we looked stupid because we were freezing. LOL
I wore one of my F13 shirts on Friday...
And you can see the hockey mask I hung in the campsite...
And here's a couple of videos I took while out exploring Caddo:
Happy anniversary, Craig!
I love you!
~Mikey
Thursday, March 29, 2007 My Sweet Lord
On April 1st, artist Cosimo Cavallaro will unveil his calorie & fat intensive, anatomically correct, life-size, chocolate carved representation of the most famous of messiahs...
Yes, It's Jesus Christ in chocolate!!!
Here's a rundown of J.C.'s nutritional content:
Yes, It's Jesus Christ in chocolate!!!
Here's a rundown of J.C.'s nutritional content:
Personally, I still want the zero calorie Jackhammer Jesus in my Easter basket...
Monday, March 19, 2007 Atlanta State Park
This weekend Craig & I went to Atlanta State Park in Atlanta, Tx. This is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Lake Wright Patman. Atlanta is a small, beautiful park with tall trees & big roomy campsites. They have some great beginner level trails, which was great since we took Xochitl on her first hiking adventure. During our day hike trough the main trails, we found 2 geocaches. I finally got to place my first Travel Bug in one of the caches. It's a pink & yellow diving squid attached to the travel bug tag.
I also found another geocacher's Trout-About travel bug which I'll be placing in another great caching location soon.
Here's a couple pics of the park during the day:
Just before dusk on Saturday we went for another hike on the park's interpretive trail. The terrain was much more fun since it had hills, bridges & creeks all along the winding trail. The park had recently performed a prescribed burn in this area, leaving the ground charred with downed trees lying about. It actually looked kind of creepy with nightfall approaching, making it seem like a haunted forest. By the time we were reaching the end of the trail it was getting pretty dark. About that time we started hearing the strangest noises coming from not too far away. It sounded like some sort of strange monkey-bird-cat creatures howling at us:
Here are some pics of the interpretive trail before it got dark...
We saw a nest of webworms while walking this trail...
A night pic of the camper...
Here's Craig in the puppy playpen...
Xochitl playing in the camper...
We also made this silly F13 video while out on the dusk hike:
During the trip, there was one odd thing that happened. While we were packing up on Sunday, a man, who for the purposes of this blog I've named Zeke, came by walking his chihuahua. Zeke must have been around 60, was very nice, very hick, & had maybe 3 or 4 teeth left in his entire head. He stopped & said hello, then asked if Xochitl is a chihuahua. I explained that she's an Italian Greyhound & told him that I do have a chihuahua that is at home. Zeke introduced me to his dog, tritely named "Taco Bell." He was so cute & friendly as I was petting him. That's when Zeke said "I don't know how to say this, but you must have the taco in you because he usually barks at everybody he meets." I knew what he meant, but was still kind of taken off guard by the statement. I've got the taco in me??? Hmmmm..... You always meet the fanciest characters when camping around Texas.
I also found another geocacher's Trout-About travel bug which I'll be placing in another great caching location soon.
Here's a couple pics of the park during the day:
Just before dusk on Saturday we went for another hike on the park's interpretive trail. The terrain was much more fun since it had hills, bridges & creeks all along the winding trail. The park had recently performed a prescribed burn in this area, leaving the ground charred with downed trees lying about. It actually looked kind of creepy with nightfall approaching, making it seem like a haunted forest. By the time we were reaching the end of the trail it was getting pretty dark. About that time we started hearing the strangest noises coming from not too far away. It sounded like some sort of strange monkey-bird-cat creatures howling at us:
Here are some pics of the interpretive trail before it got dark...
We saw a nest of webworms while walking this trail...
A night pic of the camper...
Here's Craig in the puppy playpen...
Xochitl playing in the camper...
We also made this silly F13 video while out on the dusk hike:
During the trip, there was one odd thing that happened. While we were packing up on Sunday, a man, who for the purposes of this blog I've named Zeke, came by walking his chihuahua. Zeke must have been around 60, was very nice, very hick, & had maybe 3 or 4 teeth left in his entire head. He stopped & said hello, then asked if Xochitl is a chihuahua. I explained that she's an Italian Greyhound & told him that I do have a chihuahua that is at home. Zeke introduced me to his dog, tritely named "Taco Bell." He was so cute & friendly as I was petting him. That's when Zeke said "I don't know how to say this, but you must have the taco in you because he usually barks at everybody he meets." I knew what he meant, but was still kind of taken off guard by the statement. I've got the taco in me??? Hmmmm..... You always meet the fanciest characters when camping around Texas.
Monday, March 12, 2007 Misadventures in Camping
Sometimes you should pay attention to clues that are telling you not to do something. I did not heed the warnings & have learned my lesson.
This weekend Craig & I were supposed to go camping with some people from work, whom we really don't know all that well, but seem friendly enough. Although they may not realize that we're mo's & then it could go South once we got there. Nonetheless, we decided to go anyway.
The first thing that should have tipped me off was that they had already reserved a shelter at Meridian State Park. I don't really care for this area of Texas anyway because there are hardly any trees, the landscape is flat, & just not very visually appealing. I tried to make a reservation, but since the park is small & it was also Spring Break weekend, they were full & I was out of luck. That's when I thought too quickly & came up with the alternative plan of camping at Lake Whitney State Park, which I had heard had a pretty decent lake. I figured we could camp there & go visit the others during the weekend. The plan is already getting too complicated, but we are still full steam ahead.
Normally, we go camping in our pop-up camper, which is already fully stocked with plenty of equipment for cooking, lighting, etc... This weekend we decided to take out our new boat for it's maiden voyage, which meant we had to tent camp. This is the best time of year for tent camping, due to the fact that soon the temperature will be 100 degrees plus. Anyway, I spent all last week gathering & organizing stuff to take on this tenting trip. This was a nightmare in itself. Thursday night I pack the Hummer with all this equipment. The car was so full I could barely close the doors. I also wanted to take Konichiwawa with us, so on Friday Craig drove the Hummer & boat to work & I drove the Element. I left a bit early so I could get Ms. Wawa, ice, the cold food, etc, and then rushed back to swap cars & pickup Craig. Finally at around 4pm we are ready to head out directly into Dallas rush hour traffic. It took over an hour just to get out of town, then another 2 hours to get to the park.
We finally get to Lake Whitney and it's packed with people. There were 2 ladies working the check-in office, one of which was training on her first day, making the process extremely tedious. She tells us that even though we have a reservation, the sites are limited & points out available sites on the map. Having never been there I didn't know where to choose, so we selected site 108. When we arrive at the site it is AWFUL! Flat, no trees, and the sites are all jammed together. There is a large family directly across from us taking up 3 campsites and there must have been about 15 screaming kids. I knew then I should have retreated back home, but didn't.
It was getting dark, so we start putting up the tent, which we are not used to. We finally get it together & now it's very dark. I go to get the extension cord to hook up some lights & inflate the air mattress & realize that the cord I brought was only 2 pronged, not the grounded 3 prong that I need. Fuck! So I decide I'll go to the nearest store & buy another cord. The bustling town of Whitney apparently shuts down at 5pm everyday. I look everywhere & the only open store is a Brookshires. They have no extension cords. I ask a girl where I might be able to buy one. She tells me the only place would be Wal-Mart. I ask where it is & she explains that then nearest one is about 20 miles away in Hillsboro. Whatever! I drive all the way there & get the cord. When I finally get back to camp, Craig is pissed & is hating the campground severely. Besides the screaming heathens across the way, there is the stench of rotting fish permeating the area. After exploring our site a bit further, there are fish carcasses just laying around the ground & in the fire pit which caused the rancid fish smell to turn into charred rotting fish odor. We finally get the electricity going & decide to minimally unpack because we're probably going to head home in the morning.
The next morning we get up, shower, & drive around the park. We found a site that was much nicer & decide to move there. We go back up to the office & wait behind this family who is checking in. They are asking question after question, and wanting to look at every t-shirt, and map, & any other crappy items that the park may be selling. The also have 2 huge dogs that they have hanging out right at the entry door. After 20 minutes of waiting for these fucks to get out of the way, we finally get our site changed & head back to start breaking everything down.
We get everything together as quickly as possible & threw it all in the car & boat. We finish hitching the boat to the car, which is running, and then go to get in. THE FUCKING DOORS ARE LOCKED!!!! Konichiwawa had stepped on the door lock while looking out the window. Both sets of keys are inside. We both immediately were thankful for OnStar, or so we thought. We pulled out our cell phones & both were dead. I keep trying to get Konichiwawa to step on the unlock button, but she just wasn't getting it. Craig went over to a neighbor, explained the situation, and asked to borrow their phone. He finally got connected to OnStar & couldn't remember his PIN number. He finally got verified & explained that the dog is stuck in the car while it's running. The OnStar rep kept asking Craig if she needed to get the police involved. Craig says that we don't need the police, just open the damn door. She explains that it could be several minutes before it unlocks. He thanks her & gives the phone back to it's owner. We go back to the car & wait. And wait. And wait. Still no unlocked door. About this time, Konichiwawa steps on the passenger side panel & rolls down the window. I couldn't believe she locked us out & then rescued us too. We get in & start driving to the other site, during which we finally here the click of the doors unlocking from OnStar.
We finally get setup at the other site, which is not great, but immensely better than the previous one. We spent the rest of the day on the boat, which was very nice. We explored the entire lake, and also located a geocache on an island. After all that had happened, I never even made it to visit the people from work. I'll have to explain the situation to them later today. All I can say about the weekend now is that I've been to Lake Whitney State Park, I will NEVER go back, and I also have this sad story to tell.
Here are some pics of the only actual good a part of the trip.
This weekend Craig & I were supposed to go camping with some people from work, whom we really don't know all that well, but seem friendly enough. Although they may not realize that we're mo's & then it could go South once we got there. Nonetheless, we decided to go anyway.
The first thing that should have tipped me off was that they had already reserved a shelter at Meridian State Park. I don't really care for this area of Texas anyway because there are hardly any trees, the landscape is flat, & just not very visually appealing. I tried to make a reservation, but since the park is small & it was also Spring Break weekend, they were full & I was out of luck. That's when I thought too quickly & came up with the alternative plan of camping at Lake Whitney State Park, which I had heard had a pretty decent lake. I figured we could camp there & go visit the others during the weekend. The plan is already getting too complicated, but we are still full steam ahead.
Normally, we go camping in our pop-up camper, which is already fully stocked with plenty of equipment for cooking, lighting, etc... This weekend we decided to take out our new boat for it's maiden voyage, which meant we had to tent camp. This is the best time of year for tent camping, due to the fact that soon the temperature will be 100 degrees plus. Anyway, I spent all last week gathering & organizing stuff to take on this tenting trip. This was a nightmare in itself. Thursday night I pack the Hummer with all this equipment. The car was so full I could barely close the doors. I also wanted to take Konichiwawa with us, so on Friday Craig drove the Hummer & boat to work & I drove the Element. I left a bit early so I could get Ms. Wawa, ice, the cold food, etc, and then rushed back to swap cars & pickup Craig. Finally at around 4pm we are ready to head out directly into Dallas rush hour traffic. It took over an hour just to get out of town, then another 2 hours to get to the park.
We finally get to Lake Whitney and it's packed with people. There were 2 ladies working the check-in office, one of which was training on her first day, making the process extremely tedious. She tells us that even though we have a reservation, the sites are limited & points out available sites on the map. Having never been there I didn't know where to choose, so we selected site 108. When we arrive at the site it is AWFUL! Flat, no trees, and the sites are all jammed together. There is a large family directly across from us taking up 3 campsites and there must have been about 15 screaming kids. I knew then I should have retreated back home, but didn't.
It was getting dark, so we start putting up the tent, which we are not used to. We finally get it together & now it's very dark. I go to get the extension cord to hook up some lights & inflate the air mattress & realize that the cord I brought was only 2 pronged, not the grounded 3 prong that I need. Fuck! So I decide I'll go to the nearest store & buy another cord. The bustling town of Whitney apparently shuts down at 5pm everyday. I look everywhere & the only open store is a Brookshires. They have no extension cords. I ask a girl where I might be able to buy one. She tells me the only place would be Wal-Mart. I ask where it is & she explains that then nearest one is about 20 miles away in Hillsboro. Whatever! I drive all the way there & get the cord. When I finally get back to camp, Craig is pissed & is hating the campground severely. Besides the screaming heathens across the way, there is the stench of rotting fish permeating the area. After exploring our site a bit further, there are fish carcasses just laying around the ground & in the fire pit which caused the rancid fish smell to turn into charred rotting fish odor. We finally get the electricity going & decide to minimally unpack because we're probably going to head home in the morning.
The next morning we get up, shower, & drive around the park. We found a site that was much nicer & decide to move there. We go back up to the office & wait behind this family who is checking in. They are asking question after question, and wanting to look at every t-shirt, and map, & any other crappy items that the park may be selling. The also have 2 huge dogs that they have hanging out right at the entry door. After 20 minutes of waiting for these fucks to get out of the way, we finally get our site changed & head back to start breaking everything down.
We get everything together as quickly as possible & threw it all in the car & boat. We finish hitching the boat to the car, which is running, and then go to get in. THE FUCKING DOORS ARE LOCKED!!!! Konichiwawa had stepped on the door lock while looking out the window. Both sets of keys are inside. We both immediately were thankful for OnStar, or so we thought. We pulled out our cell phones & both were dead. I keep trying to get Konichiwawa to step on the unlock button, but she just wasn't getting it. Craig went over to a neighbor, explained the situation, and asked to borrow their phone. He finally got connected to OnStar & couldn't remember his PIN number. He finally got verified & explained that the dog is stuck in the car while it's running. The OnStar rep kept asking Craig if she needed to get the police involved. Craig says that we don't need the police, just open the damn door. She explains that it could be several minutes before it unlocks. He thanks her & gives the phone back to it's owner. We go back to the car & wait. And wait. And wait. Still no unlocked door. About this time, Konichiwawa steps on the passenger side panel & rolls down the window. I couldn't believe she locked us out & then rescued us too. We get in & start driving to the other site, during which we finally here the click of the doors unlocking from OnStar.
We finally get setup at the other site, which is not great, but immensely better than the previous one. We spent the rest of the day on the boat, which was very nice. We explored the entire lake, and also located a geocache on an island. After all that had happened, I never even made it to visit the people from work. I'll have to explain the situation to them later today. All I can say about the weekend now is that I've been to Lake Whitney State Park, I will NEVER go back, and I also have this sad story to tell.
Here are some pics of the only actual good a part of the trip.
Friday, March 02, 2007 Metaphysical Weirdness
The past 2 days have been a bit odd in my neighborhood. Night before last, I was outside talking to a neighbor when a girl from another street came up to us in a panic. She had lost her cat & was frantically searching for it. I decided to help her out & walked the neighborhood for about an hour calling out for this missing kitty. Then I met the girl's mom. She was just as worried. I told her that I know how she feels, having lost a cat last year. She then proceeded to tell me that she had just called some friends who have a link to the "psychic realm" and that they are envisioning the cat outside, but very near the house. At this point I figure that they don't need my help any longer since apparently Dionne Warwick & Miss Cleo are on the case. I went back into the safety of my house to tell Craig about the psychic realm incident.
Then the next day, I have landscaping contractors working in the yard. Craig's mom had forwarned me about the oddness of one of the contractors. So I finally meet him & he's even weirder than I was told. He rambles & mumbles incoherently while talking to you & also when he's alone. As he is explaining the work he is doing he tells me that he is envisioning the yard project through his "third eye." He repeated this about 4 or 5 times & then began to ramble incoherently again. Once again I just went back into the safety of my house.
Now I'm just waiting to see what other metaphysical weirdness is lurking around the corner.
Then the next day, I have landscaping contractors working in the yard. Craig's mom had forwarned me about the oddness of one of the contractors. So I finally meet him & he's even weirder than I was told. He rambles & mumbles incoherently while talking to you & also when he's alone. As he is explaining the work he is doing he tells me that he is envisioning the yard project through his "third eye." He repeated this about 4 or 5 times & then began to ramble incoherently again. Once again I just went back into the safety of my house.
Now I'm just waiting to see what other metaphysical weirdness is lurking around the corner.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 My Bloody Valentine
Happy Valentine's Day or Anti-Valentine's Day to everyone!!!!
I love you all from the bottom of my bloody heart!!
..... Camp Blood Mikey
I love you all from the bottom of my bloody heart!!
..... Camp Blood Mikey
Tuesday, February 06, 2007 A Long Time Ago...
I just rediscovered a pic of me & my mom. I was 16 and we were on our way to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As you can see, even back then I had a thing for fake blood! Oh what good times. My mom wouldn't dream of going to see RHPS these days. It would be too "sinful."
Texas Frightmare Weekend
Last year I met Bill Moseley at the Texas Frightmare Weekend. He was ever so nice & personable. I of course was starstruck & acted like a dork, all gushing over him. Oh well, at least I got to meet him & get a hug.
Here's a pic of Bill:
I also met Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini, Irwin Keyes, and Stu Charno of F13 fame. I got them all to sign my Crystal Lake Memories book.
I then got to meet Bill Hinzman from Night Of The Living Dead. As soon as he sees a camera come up, he goes straight into character. Fantastic!!!
This year the Texas Frightmare Weekend will be held June 22-24 and will be featuring appearances by George Romero, Adrienne Barbeau, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Kane Hodder, & Doug Bradley. I'm sure the guest list will be growing in the coming months!!!
Here's a pic of Bill:
I also met Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini, Irwin Keyes, and Stu Charno of F13 fame. I got them all to sign my Crystal Lake Memories book.
I then got to meet Bill Hinzman from Night Of The Living Dead. As soon as he sees a camera come up, he goes straight into character. Fantastic!!!
This year the Texas Frightmare Weekend will be held June 22-24 and will be featuring appearances by George Romero, Adrienne Barbeau, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Kane Hodder, & Doug Bradley. I'm sure the guest list will be growing in the coming months!!!
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