Sully the socialite

Dave shot his first deer! He didn't have to wear his camouflage or sit in the cold for hours. Sully cornered it.

After losing Sully for a good 30 min. he was discovered frolicking with a deer just below our house. Now, our German Shepherd likes to play. I mean, he really likes to play. With anything. Cars that run him over, horses that trample him, cows that kick him, squirrels dead or alive, turtles dead or alive and dogs. Dogs that run, dogs that growl, dogs that bite, big dogs, little dogs, blue dogs, green dogs. It matters not the level of aggression he's faced with. Sully will merrily swing his tail with glee at the prospect of a new friend.

Now enters injured deer stage left. Sully happens up said deer and commences to "play" with his new found friend. Play for Sully includes jumping. Jumping on, over, in the face, on the back, between the legs, over the neck, jumping. Not to be left out is licking, welt inducing tail flinging back and forth, tongue lolling in joy, saliva slinging to the four corners of the earth, paws everywhere but the ground.

This spike buck knows not what to do with Sully. Unable to run away he attempts charging our lovable dog who in turn licks the bucks face. After seeing this distressed animal being tortured by our rambunctious pet Dave put the thing out of it's misery. Now before you go running to Fish and Game to put my husband away, know that it appeared to have had an encounter with a vehicle. The vehicle came out better from the encounter I am sure. I will spare you the details of the poor thing. Just know it's in a better place. At least it's not harassed by Sully anymore. If only that held true for the rest of us.

Oh cuss oh cuss oh cuss!

So today an old truth was brought home to me. Electricity is bad! I made our tankless hot water heater explode and shoot water all over the laundry room today and electricuted myself a couple times in the process. Hopefully Valli knows how to fix it because I am never touching it again but I really really miss hot water. And all because of evil electricity. Those Amish know something.

Someone was in a hurry

Dave's personal items are getting shipped to Afghanistan today. His arms were full as he left in a hurry this morning. Our house is in an uproar over the short notice to get the stuff packed. Thus all the gear you see strung though the house. Good times!

Sully ran frantic through the house looking for the birds when I let him out of his room. Sadly for him I had gotten then on their merry little way at that point. He silently watched them, for who knows how long, before I discovered them. A little notice would have been nice. Thanks for that dog!

Has it been a whole month already!

One month old today.

Hobbies include:

• Cornea removal. Instrument of choice: fingernails.
• Practicing applied sleep deprivation.
• Taste test subject of dog.
• Nudist.
• Singing. Favorite song: AHHHHHHHHHH!
• Testing dads pain tolerance levels during chest hair removal sessions.
• Waste management extraordinaire.
• Aerobics Richard Simmons would be proud of.
• Perfecting manipulative facial expressions. (Flashed that smile at the bishop today. Smooth little lass.)
• Studying curtain patterns for future interior design craftiness.
• Bungee jumping. At least it will be when we get a Johnny Jumper.

Recent Activities include:
-Visiting the local pumpkin patch.

-Eating at Macaroni Grill

-Dressing up for church.

-Judge at ward chili cook off.

-Shopping with dad. Oh, how I wish we had picture of that one. Dave walking down the isles of Rural King with squirt in a baby carrier, the dog on a leash, pushing a cart bursting with bags of dog food.

So many activities!

Introducing our progeny

Harrell brood #1 entered the world Oct 15th, 2am. 8 lbs. 5 oz. and a total doll.

Already has dad wrapped around her dainty fingers.

Here she is in her first ten minutes home, bundled up by dad in two blankets, a towel and stuck in bed with us. A trend that needed to be nipped in the bud. Baby's crying - place baby in bed with us - we all sleep peacefully for 15 minutes - rinse - repeat. I think it was harder breaking Dave of this habit than it would have been for her. Once she figures that one out there's no hope for us when she starts walking.

"As I went down to the river to pray,"

My Mom and sister are currently here while awaiting the arrival of the "late" bebe and we are having a blast. While describing to them an incident that we witnessed a couple months ago behind our house I realized that it still needed to be shared with "ya all".

As far as we can tell, there were close to a hundred people that got baptised. Less than 24 hours prior while Dave and I were fishing, yes, even I, went fishing, I spotted a 4 foot black snake swimming up stream in the exact spot those people are getting dunked. The group was out there for about two hours before they got through everyone. Dave, who was "there first" did not let it disrupt his fishing. He never did snag one. But got to wear that smashing hat and was entertained while trying to bring home dinner.

The baby shower

My baby shower was over a month ago. This post was started two weeks ago. I think it might be time to actually post it.
My wonderful friend Christine, above, had the shower at her place assisted by Tracy, below. Good times were had by all. With the best food. Christine made delicious cupcakes full of happiness and sunshine. They were topped with a butter cream frosting that must have contained an illegal substance judging by all the joyous outbursts coming from those who consumed as many of the treats as could be shoveled into their mouths. Alas, I do not have a close up shot of those amazing confections to share with you all.

Everyone was so generous and we had a lot of fun oohing and ahhing at the cutest stuff. Baby things are just adorable. Can we get any cuter than baby socks and booties? I'm actually looking forward to doing laundry while those are in the mix.

Matching baby pictures with their owners was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Knowing what these women's children looked like did not give me an advantage like I haughtily assumed. Sadly I didn't have any baby pictures of my own too contribute. But I was on the board as a little girl about 3 yrs. old I think. It's the one with the big black exposure mark along the bottom.

This event provided me with an opportunity to finally make some cake pops that I've been dying to try for months. I opted for the block shape. I don't recommend right angles on your first try but it was fun and I was happy with the end result. These were the devils food version. My kitchen took about three days to recover and it was worth every mess.

Thank you, Christine. Thank you, Tracy. Everyone had a great time.

Sully's Solo Frat Party

The Paramedic

Dave has been busy. Thus, I take it upon myself to update you on our doings.
After returning last month from a two week long camping trip (details to come), Dave started a rigorous schedule at a local hospital as part of the paramedic course he is invloved in. His shift is 7pm -7am, week nights. He comes home and tells me the latest adventure every morning (or rather every afternoon upon waking). These include but are not limited to:

· Drunken men getting tazed repeatedly while still being violent with their care giver. Until the police officer threatened to taz the family jewels.
· Parents discovered having “alone time” in the hospital bed next to their sick 12 year old daughter. Followed with indignation and nasty threats at being thrown out of the hospital.
· A man insisting he was well then collapsed in front of Dave in the parking lot as said man was on the way to his car.
· Insane nurses giving sedated patients a “make over” and chopping off an eye brow in the process.
· Insane nurses singing choreographed songs about poop.

Whenever additional help is needed in a “situation” there is a page on the PA system for "DR. Strong report to room ###." At such times every available staff member in the hospital comes to provide support, muscle, intimidation by numbers, additional security and the like. Such was the case with the belligerent parents stated in bullet #2.

Somewhere in all of this Dave has been getting signed off on necessary tasks and duties to achieve his Intermediate Paramedic license. Putting in many hours at the ICU, Labor and Delivery, and the ER. Good job, Honey!

Next comes ambulance ride alongs. Those should provide additional adventures as well. We’ll keep you posted.

Puppy Love

This is for all the canine loving children we know.

4th of July weekend we went camping with a great family. They brought ten puppies along with them. So much fun!

Sully found a unique chew toy while at our campsite. A turtle shell. Thankfully the previous tenant had long since relinquished it's claim to the external casing. I was trying to get a shot of him flinging the shell into the air, catching it with his teeth and then continuing to chew. He wasn't cooperative on that, however. He worked on it for two days off-and-on till it was obliterated.

There were 3 wave runners in attendance. One of which Dave managed to tip upside 3 times. Once with it still running. That was exciting! Even Sully got a ride on one.

On the actual 4th Dave went back to Ft Campbell because the Army had him pulling staff office duty all day and all night. He drew the short straw. It's not like someone is out to get him... maybe. That night I went back too and it was a good thing because there was all kinds of crazy storms and tornado's in the area. Our tent got blown over and filled with water. The people we were camped had a tree fall into the campsite. Thankfully nobody was flattened. And they had a kayak get blown away and sunk wherewith no amount of searching could discover. Lame. But Dave, Sully and I stayed high and dry. When we went back in the morning the party that stayed was soaked pretty good and ready to go home.

"The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance." John Ruskin

The flowers we have been enjoying in Tennessee are great. From our crocuses, irises, tulips and hostas it's nice to see so much color. Though we've labored hours on many plants the ones we've enjoyed the most preceded our arrival. These tiger lilies could have been planted here thirty years ago for all we know. For as thick as they grow, they very well could have been here that long running the length of our front yard and framing our mail box. Dave took these pictures and did a wonderful job.

He couldn't pass up the opportunity to exhibit his shiny hog. Which he took to the local race track last weekend for a little drag racing. He was delighted with his times and speeds. Legal speeds, in this instance, of 87 mph in 1/8 mi. Unfortunately, our camera was not in attendance or we would have some video to share. A similar outing may not occur for quite a while, since the motorcycle is currently lame with a flat tire; due to all it's burn out on said excursion.

Girls trip

A number of years ago while I was in the financial grasp of higher education my mother, sisters and I rarely saw each other at the same time. Though I traveled back to the grand State of Alaska every summer it was to exotic places like Shemya, Reddog Mine and Kensington. There were seasons where contact with my family was limited to thank you notes for the use of a shower during midnight drive-by's. All us canny girls decided this lack of true interaction must stop. Thus, the Girls Trip was born.

This is from our first trip.

Here we are a few weeks ago outside the Orlando Temple.
(The color scheme in the Celestial Room is purple and green. Usually I'm most opposed to purple, however, this was delightfully elegant.)

Till this year our trips have been within the State of Alaska. This time we broke our geographical bonds and met up in Florida. Spending time with my mom and sisters was wonderful! We had a great time eating amazing foods, visiting water parks, applying copious amounts of sunscreen then promptly sweating it all off, taking pictures in every lighting, angle and pose conceivable and just being together. It was a marvelous week.

The fireworks at the Magical Kingdom and Epcot Center were great, though a wee bit crowded. If there had been a suggestion box, I would advise more seating options at the Magical Kingdom. The sidewalk got a little hard after a while. The Epcot center was more accommodating even if a pagoda was slightly in the way of the show.

Pastries in Paris are a must if you're ever in the area. I just hope the French girl filling my order for the third time within two hours was too busy to recognise me. Maybe putting my hair up, down and then in a hat worked.

To dodge the Florida heat and humidity, large amounts of cold desserts were consumed. Ghirardelli's did not escape our mob descending on their air conditioning and devouring some great ice cream. Here is where I would like to write that all four of us ate this boat of sweetness. Hmm... not so much though. I pretty much had all of it.

After scoffing at lines of people standing in the sun to get signatures and pictures with Disney characters I trampled a little girl in a princess dress and tiara to get to the Beast. Her prince charming must have been busy at the October Fest. How could I not pass up an opportunity to kiss the Beast? What character would you go out of your way to meet?

Long before our arrival each of us picked one eating establishment and one activity that we could not leave without completing. What a great system! There was no way to see everything and this way no one whined about their ideas being shot down like guinea fowl. For my birthday we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I tried to call Dave during one of the thunderstorms so he could hear the elephants and lions roaring. It didn't work so much. We went to a show of my choosing that would not have been possible without Dave's birthday present to me of his June allowance. Thank you, Honey! You're the best!

Look at what they got me for my birthday cake! It even had a candle somewhere in the oohey gooey foot-high greatness. Now, this we all ate. I don't think there was a crumb left.

This is evidence for my drums instructor that I did practice while on vacation.

In my absence Dave purchased Rock Band. "Honey, now you can practice all the time." What things have your spouses managed to sneak into the house while you were away?

Thanks for a great week girls! Can't wait till next time.

One fish, two fish...

Dog Fish!
How to teach dogs to swim.

1. Ask them nicely to swim.
2. Throw something dog likes into the water.
3. Wade into the water so dog can swim to you.
4. Finally admit to yourself that none of these things work, chase down dog, hold by collar, drag into deep water.
5. Pat yourself on the back. Your dog can now swim.

6. Check yourself for leeches.

Our Hunter Gatherer

Ahh! Some time on the lake.













Dave decided that my back-up-in-case-we-tip-clothes made a good covering. We're both fried anyway. Though our head gear did do some good. The skin is still attached to our noses. Hopefully it will remain that way.

The one he kept.


The one he didn't.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Babys First Picture

We saw our kid earlier this week. The tech said she thinks its a girl. So there it is, we're having a girl. Or possibly a boy with no penis. But since there is a loving supreme being that watches over stuff like that, our child will be the former and not the later. Our precious little meat-wad had come a long way from being a gooey blood-filled jellybean. We watched her hopping around like a little frog during the ultrasound. She's feisty, and modest. It took a while for us to catch a glimpse of the goodies because she is already so pure and chaste. She got that from me.

Tired of Rock and Roll

... but only because what goes for 'rock and roll' these days is crapangrywhiteboynoise. I've been threatening to switch brands for a while if things didn't get better and they haven't. I can't believe I'm writing this- I listen to country. At first I only did it when I couldn't find anything on all the rock stations, but now I have half the pre-sets on country station and I have it on about 70% of the time.

Looking back I'm not really surprised. There were signs. Like the hunting, camping, and fishing. The gardening and the beekeeping. And most of my friends are red-necks. My life's ambitions are to work with animals, have a ton of kids and live on a ranch out in the boonies. Those are all fairly rednecktastic themes so it only makes sense that eventually I'd pick up on redneck music.

I still love good rock though. And if someone ever starts making good rock and roll I'll definitely listen to it.

"No, Jim, I use a bad apiarist."

"I say we fill Michael's office with bees. My apiarist owes me a favor."
Thanks, Dwight Schrute. That was a highlight in our week. However, you may not extract our queen and place her on a flushable wipe. She's too valuable for such petty things.

Ah, Bees! We have had our bees for a little over a week. Check out how awesomely unaware and inexperienced we are at keeping them. We checked on them for the first time this Saturday and they haven't all flown off and ditched us yet.
In fact to our delight and surprise they had already started making honey! Apparently, they need to work their bee magic on it longer before it can be applied to toast. Thankfully, we knew this or we'd be having an unpleasant week of restroom familiarization.
Our little workers even started making their own comb. See the honey inside? The comb was so light and fragile. We stuck some in the freezer for show-n-tell for our friends. Thank you all for humoring us. You've been great. If we get a little too excited go ahead and tell us so. Then we'll proceed to tell you how awesome it to have bees and that everyone should jump on the band wagon. When they fly off into the setting sun shouting insults and we cry on your shoulder then you can proceed to tell us how awesome it is not having bees mess up your emotional stability.

It would appear that dogs like honey. As well as honey comb. Who knew? Yeah, probably not the best idea to get them addicted to it. At least we have this kick-butt pest control fence. The dogs are actually part of the pest control management. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a case of the fox guarding the hen house.
Instructions were relied on heavily from our trusty Beekeeping for Dummies during the installation process. We each hived a nuc and made Harrell modifications when needed. Good times!

Our bees did not arrive in the mail, as is the usual manner of delivery. We'll have to try it someday to see the reaction at the post office. Bet that delivery guy won't skip us for having a motorcycle parked within 10 ft. of the mailbox that day. Our lucky bees were picked up from the supplier in Alabama and drove overnight to arrive in our hands by 8:30 the next morning. See all those boxes of bees! We were last on the list. This guy had already stopped at three other towns before he got to us.

The Harrell's are bee owners! With a lot of first timers luck by next year we shall be official beekeepers.

Take Notes

...or rather don't. Take change instead!

Yesterday we bug-bombed our ant-infested car and needed something to do while the fumes worked their magic. We decided to go see a flick but didn't want use our week's date money on a Monday. I raided my change cup instead.

The change cup has been hit pretty hard recently so all it had left was dimes and under. Anyway- we had enough dimes and nickles to pay for a pair of movie tickets. To make things easier for the ticket guy we separated all the change in little baggies and added up the totals. But when we paid, he said he had to count it all out by hand. Super-lame!

He didn't count out our 100 dimes and our 60 nickles. Instead, he just stood there holding the baggies- looking at them. Then he'd move a few coins around and sigh, then he'd look at us, then look and the coins and sigh again. Eventually he must have decided that counting up all our change wasn't worth his time. Since he couldn't print us a ticket without counting the coins, he let us keep them, and told us to go see the show without paying.

What the what!? Go without paying? How awesome is that! There is such thing as a free lunch, and it's at the Great Escape Mega-Plex. So now we'll never have to pay for a movie again. We'll just keep breaking out the coin baggies over and over.

I highly recommend everyone do this, just don't do it at the same place I do, because then I will have to cut you.

Guess What!

It's 87 degree's. Yay!

Room For One More?

Sully graduated obedience school and got to wear this snazzy cap. How awesome is that? He did really good at all his commands and didn't try to eat any of the other dogs until after he passed all his tests. After that he was kind of an embarrassment but oh well, dogs will be dogs. The next day our little graduate amused himself by yanking the DSL box off the back of the house by the phone line wires. Way to go, kid.

Thankfully our internet subscription covers those kinds of things. We had to call the repair man back for the next two days as well. Once because I shot a staple through the internet cable while securing it to the house, and again the next day when I cut through the buried part with a shovel planting a bush. But this post isn't about me.

We've been thinking that we aren't meeting Sully's intellectual needs. He does have a diploma and everything. Even though we walk him every day, he still seems really bored and lonely. I can't spend more time with him outside, and he isn't allowed to come inside (by virtue of the sacred pact I made with Valli when I got him, except in the laundry room when it's stormy).
Recently we were laying in bed talking about what to do about our dog when Valli gave the most best suggestion ever- Get another dog!

So after thinking about it over for a little while we came to these conclusions-

Another dog would double our dog expenses and create a 100% increase in the production of poop.

Another dog would possibly curb Sully's boredom induced destruction sprees.

Another dog would possibly double the amount of destruction sprees.

Sully is fun. Two dogs = Twice the fun!

By the end of the conversation we were agreed that we wanted to find another dog. A grown dog that someone else has already trained, vaccinated, fixed, etc. The next day we found a listing on petfinder.com for Sam.
Meet Sam! Sam is a one-year-old 75 lb German Shepherd Dog. When his daddy deployed, Sam decided that he was the boss of the house and everyone in it. His Mommy decided that to bring peace back into the house, Sam would have to go. I found him listed as free to a good home.
We went to his house the next morning. It was just a couple minutes from our our place. He was nervous and timid and fearful when we first went into the house. We learned that his owner had hired trainers and professionals to help her get Sam under control but she couldn't handle him. She had to keep her other extremely submissive dog separated from him at all times or he would bully her constantly. We decided to give him a trial run and she brought him to our place. Sully was so happy to have company I thought he would explode. Once Sam was out of his comfort zone he became submissive and relaxed almost immediately.

The only problem was Sully. He just wanted to roughhouse with Sam non-stop. We had to separate them for periods so Sam could take a break from getting beat up on. That was when we realized that Sully didn't just like other dogs, he was a bit unstable with other dogs. Even so, we went on ahead and kept Sam. If after a few days they were not getting along well, Sam had a second offer on adoption from the county sheriffs office. But we needn't have worried. By nighttime the two were best buddies. In the week or so we've had Sam, both dogs have had pretty big transformations. Sam is much more docile and easy-going. Sully barks less, tears up stuff less, and never pulls on walks to get at other dogs anymore. I run them in the morning on the same leash and they are well-behaved. So well behaved in fact they've gotten compliments on not only their handsome looks but also on how great they do while leashed together. Then they spend the rest of the day sleeping, stealing each others toys, and beating up on each other. They are two happy dogs, and we don't feel guilty that Sully isn't getting stimulated enough.

I feel like turkey tonight!

I missed the fall turkey hunt this winter by 2 days. I really wanted to try to shoot something when I got home. Not the “post traumatic stress disorder want to shoot something”, just the normal want to shoot something that I’ve had since I was 5. So a week ago I asked a friend with a really big yard if I could try to take a turkey. He said that was great but only if I shot some of his horses while I was at it. Sadly we just didn’t have the freezer space. Maybe next year though.

I’ve never been hunting before. Everything I know about hunting I learned from the advertisements in Field and Stream magazines. I didn’t have very high expectations, but by golly that wasn’t going to stop me from trying. Long story short: I didn’t get one. After 6 hours and being chased out of my first hide by dogs I sat up to leave. That was when I discovered that I had unknowingly called in a hen. She was standing just outside my field of vision about 20 feet away watching me. When I sat up she started moving off and then I missed my shot. Oh well. At least I knew I was doing some things right. The next day I went back and found a spot where I could see more. After 2 hours I called in another hen and nailed her. It would have been cool to hold out for a big old tom but I was excited and didn’t really care what I brought home, so long as I wasn’t empty-handed. So here is my turkey.

Something else I learned. Plucking and cleaning a turkey sucks and smells tremendously bad. I brought it home pre-cleaned because I wanted a picture. Next time I’ll make sure I bring the camera and leave all the guts out in the woods. Anyway- Yay for me and being a mighty hunter.

What's Cookin?

Gosh. Is it April already?

I have so much stuff to blog about! The biggest news is that Valli is pregnant. And what is even better is that it's mine! We are at about 15 weeks now. For all of you who don't know what that means (like me), we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We find out in week 20. It had better be a boy, that's all I'm saying. From what Valli has tried to explain, it seems our baby is a 4 inch long turd-shaped, wriggling, thumb-sucking, meat-wad with a discernible neck.

Valli is doing great. She wasn't ever super-ill so we are grateful for that. In case you wanted to know, I handled the first trimester like a champ. I was never sick and the energy levels were through the roof. I think I even lost a couple pounds.

Meat-wad's suspected birthday going to be some time in early October. These are some of the things I want our baby to have for its birthday: a Nintendo Wii, a Remington 300 Ultra Magnum, the 3rd season of My Name Is Earl, and numchucks. Valli wouldn't ask for anything unless it was life and death. Not even for her first baby. But you can trust me that she agrees with everything I've written

Deuces, y'all.

Courageous little guys

Yesterday we had a burly storm pass through. I thought the house was going to blow over and there was water running inside a just painted wall. Yes! Inside the house. The wind ripped off some stripping over a window and rain came rushing in. There were even pictures taken of the streaming rivulets so Dave would know I wasn't exaggerating. The dog licked up all the water as it hit the floor. I guess he came in good for something.

That was yesterday. Today, it's gorgeous out. The crocuses must have decided it was safe to venture out after all the death and destruction. It's barely February and we have flowers! I figure they are the most courageous little guys or they're kamikaze's. Either way, it is great to see them this morning.
Tennessee has had the craziest weather lately. One day it's in the 70's the next it's -7 followed with ice storms. Maybe all the bulbs we have are just confused.

Only the yellows have opened. They did this last year too. I planted three colors and they all came up by color. First the yellows then the whites followed by the purples. I don't really mind their color selectiveness. It would be nice to see all the colors at the same time though. Does this happen to any of you? Or does anyone know why they do this?

Kindergarden

I signed myself and my dog up for puppy kindergarden at Petsmart. Our first day went really good. The other dogs in the class were big breeds too, so I didn't have to worry about Sully injurying anyone elses dog. However, I did have to worry about him injuring someones child. One couple brought their toddler.

I dont know exactly how old he was, but he was just learning to walk and didn't pay any attention to what mom and dad said to him. My dog still greets people by planting both paws in their chest, so I had to keep a really short leash on him. The puppy that the family brought had no immunizations. They had picked him up from the pound a few days prior, so who knows what he might have been exposed to. Nobody could let their dogs off their leashes for fear they would injure the baby walking around, or contract some kind of disease. At one point the trainer must have said something to the family about not bringing the baby with them. They got all offended and made a scene about how they want to talk to a manager. The manager told them the same thing. After they left we had a great time.

Seriously. Who does that? The kid was the smallest one in the room! Morons. And then when someone told them, "hey dude, maybe letting a 20 pound baby loose with a half-dozen 30 pound hyper-active clumsy puppies is not the greatest idea you ever had", they act like they are being picked on.

Otherwise that class was great. Sully really likes the trainer and does whatever she says. It makes him look like a prodigy and makes me feel like an idiot because he hardly ever does what I say the first time I say it. But whatever. We went over all the not's first. Teaching not to bite, bark, jump on people, eat things they aren't supposed to, and crap in the house. Then we started the sit and "watch me". I never heard that one before but it's kinda cool. It's just to get and keep your dogs attention. It seems like it's too easy but it really isn't.

If anyone has or is getting a dog I really recommend the course, especially if you have a big dog. It costs about 100 bucks for 1 hour long sessions over 8 weeks. If your are not satisfied with the results, or think your dog needs to go through it again, you can take it again for free.

I know some of you are thinking, why spend a hundred bucks on something you can do at home for free? The biggest reason was that I am so busy that dog training is sporatic. Another reason is that every day Sully gains about a pound and we have no idea if he is ever going to stop growing. We want to get him in hand as soon as possible, and that includes not turning into a moron every time he see's another dog or person he doesn't know. Going to the class gave him the oppurtunity to get familiar with other dogs and people, and to be obedient even with distractions. So it's still a good deal.

Here he is now at 4.5 months and 45 pounds. Growing so fast!

Stupid Rail Road Companies anyway!

All the experiences with time zones in my existence have been either so-so or bordering on the negative. Such as: trying to facilitate phone calls to family members without waking them up in the mornings. Or vise-versa, them waking me up at night. All in all, not that big of a deal since I like talking to family and we all agree sleep is highly over rated. Most recently we experienced one of the negative aspects of time zones.

Dave and I had a little jaunt up to Louisville, Kentucky a few weeks ago. (Yes, we saw the big bat outside the Louisville Slugger Museum while driving around. It's hard to miss since it accents the skyline.) Even though Louisville is only a 3 1/2 hour drive away, we had planned on staying a few nights and seeing what the city had to offer. Due to school madness and timing we were limited to one evening. Before returning home from Afghanistan Dave purchased tickets to Wicked in Louisville.

By process of elimination, we choose to go the night of the show and leave our packed overnight bags to gather dust on the living room floor. Arriving 4+ hours before the show we killed time in a local book store and at dinner. I've just got to say that I judge restaurants by the quality of the raspberry lemonade. Hard Rock Cafe is one of the few that still puts real raspberries in theirs. They are now on the good list, even though they're way mainstream, which usually takes people off the list. Melting Pot, on the other hand- I have no words for serving me hard lemonade. My lawyer might though. But that's for another post.

So, back to Louisville. We would have loved to continue killing all our oodles of time down at the river and enjoy more of the city. As fate would have it, the weather was bitter butt-cold, and the wind howling like a banshee, so we opted to go the venue about an hour early and see what they had to offer by way of visual art. Bah, as if we saw any. The show had started 7 min. before we got there. While trying to wrap our minds around this concept it dawned on us that we must be in a different time zone.

DUDE! I mean really! Shouldn't there be like some loud voice that announces when you've entered a new time zone. Or, at the very least, a sign on the freeway. Every city and county we passed through had a sign letting us know we were in their territory. We were in one county for less than 2 miles. And how do I know this? Because there were signs. I even commented to Dave on the matter when he was wonderfully reading Treasure Island. Our city alone has 10+ signs letting everyone know that it's the home of Miss USA 2007, who fell on her face at the Miss Universe pageant. OK, so it doesn't say all that. I can't help but think of it when I see them though. So signs, they're handy, they're informative, they're helpful, they're necessary. Come on people, work with us here!

And another thing: why are there two times zones in one state. They should all take after Alaska and become one time zone. It took like four years for Alaska to get there once they started (it's just that big). But they did it. And if Alaska can do it, you can too.

On a completely different tangent, Wicked was pretty good. The Defying Gravity song, spectacular.