May I Help?

I was dutifully working on the glass cabinet doors for the kitchen remodel this afternoon, when I was approached by the lady next door with an entreaty to help her get her lawn mower started. Figuring she had simply forgotten to apply the choke, I said sure. No luck...the mower was dead, she was already sweating profusely, and as mentioned in an earlier post, her husband had recently parted ways with one of his legs.

I offered to mow her horribly overgrown back yard with my mower. She accepted very gratefully, and I began. On average, the weeds and grass were about 2' tall, with gopher mounds, wood and bricks mixed in sporadically. I mowed it once on the highest setting, and went back over it two settings lower.

I was interrupted once by rain and hail, causing me to run home in panic to put the Tundra in the garage. After two hours and another rain shower, I was able to finish the job, and return to the garage to finish the four doors I had vowed to build today.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to work with the garage doors open. Tomorrow, I attack my own yard.

A Fond, but Painful, Farewell

I awoke this morning, but the last thing I wanted to do was get up. I knew the task that awaited me. It was a task I had known was coming for a while, but I was still not ready for it. This morning, I had to escort my dear Katie to the clearing at the end of the path.

Katie began her journey 14 years ago in Amarillo. The wife and I were heading to Colorado for vacation, and she mentioned some strange creature called a Pembroke Welsh Corgi was available if we wanted to take a look. I said sure, why not. I had no idea how taken I was going to be with this dog. Little short legs offset by ears that more than made up for her stature, and a doggie smile no one could resist. We made arrangements to pick her up on the way back to Texas, and thus began our life with Corgi's.


Katie had hip problems forever, but that did not keep her from running around the yard, keeping the other dogs in line.



She adapted to this problem amazingly, and was even able to compete for a short while in agility and obedience. It was the progression of this condition, along with other age related issues that finally brought me to the painful decision I had to make.

Katie has been a treasure in my life, and I will always be grateful for the joy she brought me and the wife. Travel well, Scooter...I will see you down the road.

Peace of Mind

Whilst working on the kitchen remodel last week, I noticed some contractor types working diligently at the hillbilly neighbors house. Turns out, the contractors were converting the home to the north to be ADA accessible. During a paintbrush washing episode, I encountered Jerry, the hillbilly neighbor, tooling around in a wheelchair. Imagine my surprise when I noticed he was missing a leg. He greeted me with something like this. "Hey Steve, I lost a leg since the last time I saw you. It's really kind of an interesting story."

Turns out, he had gone in for some type of arterial surgery, and due to complications from a staph infection, six weeks later, he came out, one leg short.

What really hit me was his complacency about the whole situation. I have more respect for the lunatic now. I don't believe I could have handled such a situation as well as he apparently has.

Kind of renews my faith in the phrase..."Let not your heart be troubled."

Achoo, Snort, Oink, Sniff

Well, here we go again. The fucking swine flu this time. Don't know how we survived Monkey Pox, SARS, Anthrax, Bird Flu, Flu Manchu or any of a number of the next great pestilences that were supposed to wipe us from the face of the earth.

I am not sure I will survive this round of scare tactics and government supported panic mongering. My only hope is that "man made" global warming will raise the temps enough to kill of the swine virus.

Jesus people...get a life, take a chance and don't worry. Be happy.

Death on the Blogosphere

I got tired of looking at the Monster Dog on my own blog, so I decided to just post something. I have nothing to say really, just needed to put up something new.

Got home last night from the TNTalk meeting and was greeted with an all-out dog fight as I walked in the door. Seems the Monster Dog has an affectation for all of the toys in the house, and Sam decided he had had enough of Winston hogging all of the toys. Sam jumped on him, and Winston responded in kind. That got Tom all excited, so he jumped in. The two female Aussie's hightailed it out of the room, and poor deaf and senile Katie never knew anything happened. It's a good thing, because it took all the wife and I had to get the other three apart. I made the bad choice of trying to lift the 52 pound Corgi out of the mix, and discovered he had Tom hanging off of him with a death grip. By the time it was over, I had a little nip to the finger, a nice gouge in my calf and a sore back from lifting a furry cannonball without using my legs.

All is well now, and the dogs seem no worse for the wear. Thank goodness, as the wife heads out tomorrow for a two week journey to Canada for intense dog show training. As for me, I hope to finally get all of the finishing touches on the kitchen remodel while she is gone. I have been slacking for too long.

Monster Dog

The wife occasionally rescues Corgis who have found themselves homeless for one reason or the other. I am proud of her for the work and effort she puts into this, as she has successfully found good homes for a dozen or so dogs who might have otherwise been destroyed.

Now...a typical Corgi will stand about 10 inches and weigh in around 20-25 pounds. Imagine my shock when I first laid eyes on the Dogstrosity she brought home last week. His name is Winston, he is a really nice looking and friendly dog. But, at 52pounds, he walks the line between dog and pot belly pig.

As the wife has begun the process of finding him a home, I have suggested we find Sasquatch. I think it would be a great companion for him.

I threw in a photo of Katie for comparison purposes.

Change We Can Believe In

Couple of weeks ago, I went to Josie's for breakfast burritos. Simple enough order...one sausage, egg and potato for the wife and two sausage potato and cheese for me, and a bag of chips and queso. Picked up the order, noticed the price was a little high, but you know...what with the price of gas and all. Got home and discovered a bag filled with carne guisada and bean burritos and a tub of Menudo. But hey, they did remember the chips and queso. Took it back, and was asked if I had called the right store. Made them get out the phone book, and showed them the number I had called. They acknowledged I had called the right place, but the only order they had for someone with my name was the bag of crap I had picked up. They asked me what I had ordered, and I informed them it sure wasn't an order for dead pig feet floating in grease as they had presented to me. After a few more minutes of arguing whether I knew what I had ordered, they sent me on my way. (I had to do the math for them for the refund they owed me). Got home with my three burritos, only to find they had given me three sausage, egg and potato burritos instead of what I had actually ordered. Screw it, said I, and commenced to eating what I could.

Yesterday, I went to Wendy's to grab lunch. Couldn't get in the drive thru, so I went inside. Great, only one person in line. Ordered a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Caesar Side Salad and small fries for the wife, and a Baconator combo for myself. Then I waited as they waited on several people, and proceeded to provide food for the same people, as I waited. While waiting, two different people returned to the counter with food that differed from what they had ordered and one guy came in from the drive thru to announce he had been waiting 15 minutes for his order to come out.

Should have known bad things would happen. Turns out, one of the people who was returning a wrong order was actually returning my Baconator. They apologized and told me it would be out soon. They finally bring it out, and I grab my food and head for the house. Get home to find the wife's order was right (Thank God), but instead of a Baconator, I have a Wendy's single. You guessed it...the guy who returned my burger had actually ordered a single. Scraped off the vegetables, wolfed it down and went back to work.

I have a solution. Put these dipshits to work at the IRS (I'll never worry about an audit again), and put all of the laid off auto workers in the fast food restaurants. Sure, food may cost more, but at least these guys would know how to put shit together.