I finally caught it on digital film. Oscar has this very strange habit that I am seeing more and more. He enjoys kneading Mason's manly areas whily sucking on his flank. Is he trying to get milk out of him? How do I help him understand that a 12.5 year old MALE golden retriever DOG can't be a mother to a CAT.




Also, I managed to finish Marley and Me this week (who needs sleep anyway). I can see why this book was on the best seller's list. Obviously there are going to be many people out there who don't "get it". For for many of us with big dogs, we can relate to this book at various if not all life stages of Marley. I found myself laughing and at the end (for the first time ever in a book) I found myself crying. I am glad I am not the only one dreading the day I need to say good bye to my long time companions. But the book helps remind you how much our animals can teach us. I highly recommend it for anyone who has ever owned a big dog.

Taunting Crabs Gone Bad

This is too funny (if you know Grant) not to clue the public into:

Pitel vs. Crab Round 1

Househunting adventures Part 1

Househunting

Last weekend our realtor took us on our 1st home viewing marathon. The first outing was meant for Nathan and I to get a feel for what we want and for our realtor to get a feeling of what we like. So we saw an interesting combination of houses. The first house proved some important points to keep in mind when selling a house.
1. If you are selling your house have your teenage son take down all of the posters of swimsuit models he has posted to his walls and ceiling. I can really tell you what that room looked like but I remember the multitudes of posters.
2. You want to give an impression that rooms are bigger than they are. This image isn't conveyed if your children's toys are spewd all over the floor. I hope I didn't break any of them.

Some lessons from the other houses.
3. Don't show potential buyers around the house. That is what the realtor is for.
4. Musty and moldy smells are not inviting.


Ok. The first house wasn't too bad but like another house we saw later on it was in one of the many lake neighborhoods. They neighborhoods are made up of summer homes and permanent homes. So you could have a nice home right next to a run down boarded up cottage.

The second house.... on paper this house looked great. Newly remodeled, a lot of square footage, view of the lake, fenced yard, etc. When we got there is was moving day for the family and there where 6-8 kids swarming around the house like bees to nectar. Walking around the house our realtor points to a cabinet in the butler's pantry. Something ain't right. It is crooked. Interesting. On further inspection of the greatroom, the whole room was taller than the rest of the house by several inches. Interesting...what small differences in measuring can do. Oh, and let's not forget that the owners accidentally locked us out on the porch.

The third house....Walk into the house and a funky smell. The house has been vacated but what is that smell. As we go into the basement.....standing water. I think the room with the standing water was suppose to be an additional family room b/c it had a formal fireplace. Further inspection of the basement revealed a small home business complete with cubicles and a receptionist corner. But let's not forget the mold growing out of the walls. The only good point is that is had a bright lime green toilet.

The fifth house. A beautifully landscaped property that backed up to a conservatory. The house wasn't quite our style and we weren't horrible excited about the confederate flag we saw flying next door or the porn shop two doors down.

Ok, the forth house. This house was nice. It had a beautifully remodeled kitchen, a nice big backyard with a screened in porch, nice neighbor's with lake access, a beautiful fireplace. The only negative is that the bathrooms were really small and very 70's.

So stay tuned for more house hunting adventures.


PETS

I had a scare a couple of weeks back with Mason. He got to the point where we could hardly walk and wasn't eating very much. Let me tell you one thing. At this point invested emotions don't mix well with a scientific history. I just began thinking of all the horrible things that he could have, completely ignoring the obvious of arthritis. A few tears and a couple of deep breaths later I started him on an anti-inflammatory and he is feeling much better. He began eating, nibbling, wanting to go on walks, and being frisky. His breathing is mildly improved but he still has his good and bad days with that.


FAMILY OUTINGS

A few weeks ago, Nathan and I flew to NJ and drove up to Seneca Lake with my parents and Adam to spend a couple of days with my mom's side of the family at their lake house. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The heat wave had broke the day before, the sun was out, and there was a nice breeze. But the best part is, is that despite the fact I haven't seen any of them in 2 years there is never any of the awkwardness that you generally feel at other types of family gatherings. You just jump right in and begin where you left off like it was yesterday. Go to the photoweb page to see a selected collection of pictures from that weekend. The little boy in alot of the pictures is Bryston -- Holli and Jason's little guy....he is so photogenic that I couldn't help but snap a few shots.

Odds and ends I thought I would post from last time

Woofstock. Each year the humane society here in Kenosha hosts a festival called woofstock as their main fundraiser. Sponsors throughout the county buy these fiberglass dogs and cats from Cow Painters in Chicago and has a volunteer paint them. These sculptures are then displayed downtown for about 60 days leading up to Woofstock. On Labor Day weekend the dogs and cats are auctioned off. I thought it would we really cool to do a photo decopage thing on one of these animals.

I finally finished the quilts for Baby Wood (could be a girl or boy --- only I know, hew hee I am keeping my secret as promised Holli) and Baby Amelia. They aren't perfect but I am slowly getting better. I know I need to master the whole binding issue next. The binding is currently taking me way too much time and turning out way too crappy.

Darwin award nominee: A few weeks ago, a man was driving on a very busy highway (that runs from Chicago to Milwaukee)on his motorcycle. While driving along, he has an attack of road rage and feels the need to "get back" at the car (yes this is an important detail...car) that initiated this rage by rear ending him. Needless to say his motorcycle hit the car and he went flying from the bike and landed on the road. If he wasn't dead by this point, then I hope for his sake he went quickly after being run over by the semi truck he landed in front of. Lesson learned: Motorcyle + Road rage + rear-ending car does not = progression in evolution.

FEMA is still on hold. I am applying to being in the veterinary portion of FEMA but I am stuck at the proof of vaccination portion. It is a slow process to offer help in a time of need.

Very cool, I just got a picture of Oscar kneading Mason's manly areas while suckling his thigh.

Ok. This is long enough for now.