Margaret takes some very picture-esque pictures. I know I might sound biased, but it’s true.

She has an eye for scenes, nature, and oddities; to which are all beautiful. I swear, her and my dad have an eye for things.

Anyway, as you peruse this site, please take a look at some of the pics she’s taken. Yeah, not all of them are worthy of a book of “Margaret Photos,” but you’ll find that most of them are absolutely stunning. She has a knack for catching popping colors, dreary (which we find are gorgeous) states of nature, and happiness in a family collective.

Sweety, I love you and I think you take some of the most beautiful pictures. I’m glad that we have so much history that your pictures tell a story of us.

Crashing Before Big Papa

okay okay, sleeping animals are cute, but coupled with sleeping spouses is just beyond cute!

But I no longer feel that way. Nope, money isn’t where it’s at for me anymore, it’s family time. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with Margaret’s family down in Tennessee and my dad and Monique here as of late. We’re already talking about trips to seeing the rest of our family that’s spread out across the United States.

Family is where it’s at and I’m thankful that at my young age that I’ve come to realize that. Sure money is nice to have, but that’s not where my happiness lies anymore.

I’ll have to chalk this life lesson as a learning experience and I’m happy that I’ve learned it.

I wish we could have our days off together on the same days. I just hate that she’s going to be running errands without me…..especially when putting Luke up at the vet. Poor pup.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day and remembers what that day was founded upon. Lord knows those were different times, though behind the scenes it seems things are just the same.

btw, Margaret is making a purse/bag and it’s alright. The outside; to me; is ugly, but the inside; to me; is pretty. Chalk it up to man mentality with no sense of style.

LOVE YOU SWEETY!!!!!!

Before he passed, he was getting into his spiritual side and Lord knows where that would’ve taken him. The last time I spoke to him, he was real happy about the possibility of capturing a ghost on camera and how excited he was about visiting places that were supposedly haunted. I think he was starting to figure out the difference between the religious side of life and the spiritual side of life.

I’ll never get to have that, “Yea, I know what you mean dude!” moments in that aspect.

I know I’m not the best brother and son in the world, but I’m trying. I don’t know, it’s just those small tidbits that ring forever that make ya wonder. Like before Duane passed he always mentioned Led Zeppelin, did he like them or was he going through a phase? Like a tootsie pop, the world may never know.

Love you mom, Terry, Dad, Monique, Margaret, Trav, Chris, Holly, Aunt Betty Lou, Uncle Lee, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Taki.

That happened tonight when he tried to hump me. See, I saw him get his second wind and come at me at full speed. I usually dodge him and grab his toy and he’ll shake the shit out of it. Nope not this time. He jumped up at me and I turned to my side and I felt his front legs grab me. I was like ‘what the jeff you doin’?’ and I realized in a split second he was trying to hump me.

So I threw him to the side, grabbed his head and humped at his face (ya know, to see how he liked it). He didn’t care for that and came at me again, this time from the front. So I threw him down again and got behind him to give him a taste of his medicine. He really REALLY didn’t like that (he tried to nip at me). When he came at me the last time, I decided that instead of stooping to his level I put the claw to his neck and put him down on the floor on his back. I let him lay there till he calmed down.

So glad he’s neutered cause you know his dong would be all flopping about while squirting nastiness all over the place. Not to mention MY CLOTHES!!!

So gross in all ways.

There are a couple things about this photo… notice the scowl… the upturned hands… the fresh dirt floating in the kiddie pool… and the shark tattoo on his chubby belly…

Y’all are smart folks. I’m sure you can piece together the scene, but just in case I’ll tell you anyway. We were filling up the kiddie pool for Abbie (my other niece by my younger brother John & his girlfriend Michelle) when Jordan comes rushing over to play with the hose.  Of course we had to almost hogtie him to keep him from getting it and spraying everyone. As soon as the water was turned off, he tried to get in the pool.  He was told about 4 time not to get in the pool until his feet were cleaned off, but as soon as everyone’s head was turned the punk steps right in dirty feet and all. He  just couldn’t wait.  He looked so upset about being scolded that I couldn’t help but take a photo of him. After this he jumped out of the kiddie pool leaving his dirt behind and wanted back in the big pool.

Oh, and the shark tattoo… I just think it’s funny as hell that he put the shark tattoo on his belly instead of his arm… =)

Last night was really nice. Dad, Monique, and Austin came over around 2ish and we hung out at the house for awhile and had a few beers. It was funny, because everyone congregated in the basement (do I see a trend here?). Monique and Dad did a load of laundry in our super awesome washer and dryer (you know, for bragging rights). While the laundry was going I loaded a program on dad’s laptop and on his phone and Margaret got Monique hooked up with Facebook and was showing her how to use it. Austin was playing the Wii and with the dog, so that kept him occupied very well.

After all that Margaret said ,”Guys, I’m hungry and if we don’t eat, someone is going to get blown up in this bitch.” Well she didn’t say that, but I’m sure that’s what she meant when she asked if anyone was hungry or not. We headed off to Papa Vino’s and had pizza while dad had ravioli’s. I’m glad we were served by the best waiter there, because he’s always on target. He served Margaret and I when we were out of a fridge and range for the first 2 months.

From there we went to the beach to watch the fireworks. It was nice just sitting on the beach hanging out, but we got there a little early. We arrived around 7:30 and the fireworks didn’t start till 10:30, so we had some time to kill. We sat there watching skinny guys pose for the chix (that’s C, H, I, X) and the anorexic chix wear skimpy bathing suits to impress the guys, there was fun to be had all around. The part that started irritating us was when these two blond women showed up with no disregard to involve themselves in everyone’s business. They would happily throw a football to a daughter of theirs; that didn’t want to play; and let it hit over by us. The one blond lady really thought highly of herself, because she’d have this big smile and her boobs all pushed up and would come over all “I’m the shit” like and would say, “oh, sorry. hahahahaha,” and would laugh her stupid head off to her own “joke.” She wasn’t funny.

But then the fireworks came and everyone ooh’d and ahh’d and it was very nice. Margaret will have pic’s up later.

The fun part was leaving. You’d think there was a riot happening, because when everyone was leaving, there were hordes upon hordes of people going in the same direction. Must be like how ants feel on an ant hill. Scrambling like mad to leave an area. Luckily we parked a ways away and were able to back roads to get home in record time while people were at a stand still on the main roads.

Other than that. That’s all that happened.

Margaret received a call from a lady who volunteers at the local Humane Society on Monday. We’ll call her Cardinal, so Cardinal called telling Margaret all about this dog and how she’s been taking care of him. She tells her how laid back, loving, and obedient this dog is, so of course Margaret instant messaged immediately me telling me all about this dog and asks if she can have it. Now, she’s been wanting a dog for quite some time. It really hit home when she was off of work for a week and there was no one at the house for her to talk to. Anyway, she received all the paperwork by email and fills out everything to get the adoption process going. I would also like to announce that we saved him from being destroyed. He was on a short list with 4 other dogs to be the euthanized by this weekend.

Fast forward to Thursday. Everything was set up for us to meet our soon to be new dog. His name is Lucas by the way and he’s part Husky, Labrador, and Border Collie (quite a combination huh?). So we met him that morning and Cardinal was telling us stories and even got choked up a few times, because she bonded with the dog (no not in that way) and it was a great meeting.

Friday was when the fit hit the shan. A lady from the shelter called confirming our adoption of Lucas for Saturday (today) around noon. Then all of a sudden around five o’clock Cardinal calls Margaret, in tears, saying she’s having separation anxiety and that we couldn’t have the dog. Margaret kept her cool and gave this woman down the road. Told her to shut up even amidst this woman’s cries (so proud of her, anger management is really paying off). After that call Margaret was pissed and disappointed all at once. She called the manager and had to leave a message. She got a hold of another volunteer and was grilling her if this was the way the Humane Society ran. Again, she kept her cool and didn’t swear once. This other volunteer said she would find out some answers and get someone to call her back. Some lady called Margaret back saying she was a manager and told her that both Cardinal and the dog were having separation anxiety and that we couldn’t have him. Margaret had to give this woman down the road. She was blowing up people left and right.

Margaret kept me informed on what all was happening and she was very upset by the whole ordeal. I mean really, who says you can adopt a dog, lets you meet it, and then says “sorry, you can’t have it?”

I get home and Margaret is already in bed. She wasn’t a happy camper. I talked to her about the situation for a bit, but not enough to get her upset all over again. She had a restless night’s sleep and got up very early (3am I think). I did my best this morning to console her and she opened up a bit more about the situation over breakfast. I even made her chuckle a bit with a smile.

It was close to 11 this morning when Margaret received a call from the actual manager. She proceeded to tell Margaret that she was the only manager and that Cardinal overstepped her authority. She said basically that all the drama that occurred shouldn’t have and that Cardinal will no longer be a volunteer anymore.

From that point on we got Lucas, took him to Pet Smart for a royal dog cleaning, teeth brushing, and nail manicurin’. It was a three hour cleaning, but I wanted to make sure we got the stench of dog kennel off of him. During that time we got a kennel, dog bed, dog harness, dog food, couple of toys, bowls, collar, treats, and a leash. Got it all set up and we were ready for him.

Got him home, took him for a potty walk, and then relaxed. He’s pooped twice today and pee’d a zillion times. Not to mention marking his territory all over the damned place. We keep a belly band on him while he’s in the house to he won’t mark his territory. Not once has he kicked his leg up.

This next Friday his nuts are coming off, so he’ll be even more relaxed. So far though everything is going great.

Nothing like thinking about the 7.7 trillion dollar bailout running through your mind with Hall & Oates playing Sara Smile. “Cause it’s you, and me, forev-ahh-aaaHHHAAHHH!!”

So, then I try to silence my mind to hear the natural white noise that surrounds us. (“It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”) And that didn’t help, because what do I hear sneaking up on me when I think I’m about to lull myself back into sleep?

That’s right, Dominick the Donkey.

Oh well, thankfully when I got up Margaret had my lunch made and coffee ready for me.

Don’t know what I’d do without her sometimes. Other times though….I just want to upgrade to an ’88 model hehe. Just kidding sweetness. *wink wink*

It was a blackened green chili pepper placed upon a tortilla, topped with egg and cheese. I put our salsa on it and it was rather tasty. Cholula might be good on it too. Oh yea, don’t forget to add a bit of salt and pepper.

To mix it up a bit I think I’ll use fresh green chili peppers and blacken them. Your tongue can kinda guide you to the flavor that you’re tasting for.

But yea, overall that was real good. I wouldn’t have thought of pairing those items together even though I do for soups. It was nice coming home to my little lady and her having a little surprise snack to make me.