What a weekend!

This was a great weekend. We did so much fun stuff, it was amazing.

We had the fancy Italian dinner on Friday nite--I had new clothes and everything. Should have gotten new shoes too as mine hurt like hell. Then we went to the comedy club and I already told you about that. After we finished there, we moseyed through Soulard looking for some entertainment. It was pretty dead, but we ran into some people who were leaving the Great Grizzly Bear and suggested we go in to listen to the band. It looked pretty dead, but what that heck--so we went.

We had a great time. The band was on a break, and as soon as we went in, we were approached by someone who thought we were other people. We were not, but he turned out to be the lead singer. He spent his break with us and we had a great time listening to them play. We did not stay out late, but we will definitely see them again.

The next morning, we went for hamburgers at a place we heard was great. It was okay. We had a 1:00 appointment to go on the Budweiser brewery tour. I have not done that in ten years, I bet, and although Barry swore he had been, I do not think he has. It was nice. I absolutely love the round barn--I will post pics when I get around to it. In the free sampling, I chose the Bud Select 55 and it was not half bad. I need to learn to drink it for the sake of my fat gut.

After the Brewery, we walked some more and ended up at the Farmer's Market. I admit, I am a bit of a snob, and have never been to such a thing. We had an absolute ball. I got pineapples, and blueberries and blackberries and oranges, and Barry got mushrooms, tomatoes, ground beef, and God knows what else. I am sure we did not spend more than $20. What a fun place--we will for sure go back. I put my blueberries in muffins tonight.

Then we watched the Illinois game on TV. They suck. I took a nap until later, then we went to see another band at the closest neighborhood bar. I forgot that they can smoke in Missouri bars, and how nice it is to not have to deal with that here. We did not last long as a result. We went somewhere else and heard some blues. We were not out too late again. We are such good people....at least this time we were.

This morning, Barry cooked breakfast, then we went to the Home and Garden show. We finally found the right tile for the house--we think. Hallelujah. We bought some odds and ends--new fancy sheets, and this funny cart for toting things home from the Farmer's Market, that Barry calls his stroller. Some good sausage, sunglasses--just stuff like that.

And finally I won the argument--I made him take me to the zoo. There is not much I love more than the zoo and of course, I have a jillion pics of that too. When I recover, I will post all that too. Next we went to watch the end of the gold medal hockey match between Canada and USA. I dont even like hockey, but we watched it at Blueberry Hill in UCity. That is where we went right after we got engaged almost 17 years ago, so it is always fun to go there. We had dinner there tonight--who knew they had such good soup?

Finally, I had to give in and come home. That was sad. It was also sad dragging in umpteen bags of pineapples!

I had two nightmares about the dogs while I was gone--one each, in which they died in sad ways, so I held my breath all the way home, praying they were okay. Of course they were, and are already asleep in their favorite places. Sometimes, home is as good as anywhere else.

Barry has boys' weekend coming up--he is going to Lake Tahoe skiing with about 17 other guys. Hopefully he will not be on oxygen the whole time this time. I am looking forward to a relaxing week and weekend--it is time to get ready for foaling season.

Funny nite out

We went to see Jennifer Coolidge at a small comedy club last nite. Somehow, we got the best seat in the house, right square in front of her. I have always loved her--she has been one of my favorite actresses since Best in Show. She was great in the American Pie movies too, but obviously, I was not as interested as most men were--but since then, any movie she has shown up in, I have rushed to see. I think she is absolutely hysterical, and she is even funnier in person.
I normally hate having really good seats at a comedy show--you usually get made fun of, and that humiliates me. The opening act accused me of looking at his package--and I was, so that was particularly embarrassing. Jennifer Coolidge had an in-depth discussion with me about blow jobs as part of her routine. But I was laughing so hard that I did not have time to be embarrassed and that is pretty impressive for me.

We also made friends with her makeup artist/jack of all trades Dean. He was really nice too and hung out with after the show. Turned out they had been down here near Barry's apartment the night before, we swapped some stories. When she got done with everything, she came to talk to us for a while. She had been signing autographs forever and was still in a really good mood, she never lost her patience with some of the yahoos bothering her, and was so kind. I think that surprised me more than anything. She thanked us for playing along with her act, and said that our seat was the one that always determined how the show would go and we were perfect. She also told us that they are making another American Pie movie with all the original people back in it--not like all the offshoots they have been making. She does not know when it will be out though, but it is one of her next projects.

We had so much fun with her, I like her even more now. If you get a chance to see her act, you totally should--there was not a part of it that was not funny. She re-enacts some of her movie parts, and it is a trip to see her slip into roles and back out again--you cannot believe it is the same person even though you see it happen. We had a great nite!

Headed to Honduras!!!

We finally got it all together and put our down payment on our scuba trip today. We chose Roatan, Honduras, one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. This trip has been recommended to me by so many people, mostly Captain Ted, my old boss who dives more than anyone I know. He also recommened Bonaire last year and he sure got that right, so I am following his lead when I can.

We could not afford to stay at the place he recommended, but I think we got a great set up. We are staying at Cocoview Resort, which like the resort we used in Bonaire, includes all the diving we can do. We get four boat dives a day, and all the shore diving we can do. The Prince Albert is sunk right in the "Front Yard" of the resort, as they call it. I think Barry will like that, since he has not gotten to do much wreck diving. The resort it also all inclusive for food, so we won't have to think much about that.



I borrowed the pic from mongabay.com .....they have lots of great pictures of Roatan.
These cabins on the water are part of the resort. Unfortunately, we could not get in to them--booked full already. Cocoview has a nice consolation prize though--we got our own beach house. Two bedrooms, two baths and an observation deck higher up so we can watch the sunset in our own hammocks. AmyB is going and who knows who else might join us--we have room for one more for sure, and a friend of hers may join us.

Only four more months til we go!

People suck

I am so irritated my eyeballs hurt.

My poor sister is being attacked on her own blog for contributing to the evil adoption system in the world.

I understand the position that some shady things go on in the background of a lot of adoptions. That seems to be the main complaint of these people. Evidently, the only proper response is for no one to ever adopt, so they do not accidently encourage that sort of behavior. Forget those children who need homes for legitimate reasons, like death of a parent, or any other number of things. They should be left to rot in an orphanage or an over-taxed foster care system, for the principle of the matter.


One wackaloon believes she has violated God's will by adopting. The others hold her responsible for all the evils of the international adoption system. She has been called delusional, among many other things. A reasonable point they make is that adopted people will always feel a loss for having been put up for adoption, and unless you are adopted, you cannot know that. No one has disputed that point--least of all Mandy--so why she should be hammered for trying to give a good life to her adopted children is beyond me. She never said it erased such a thing, she just believes her kids are more than one event, and that they, like everyone else in the world, will be a product of ALL their experiences. Not just that one single experience

Of course, some/many of these people post anonymously, which is so cowardly. But why not be a coward when you are also a professional victim.

I don't understand the need to have children, because I don't have that drive. But I have seen what they and many friends have gone through because it was not possible to carry their own children. It is a harrowing experience that breaks a lot of people. To get through it to be able to add children to their lives and then be subject to this misplaced rage completely bamboozles me.

What is wrong with people?

Lockdown

I just checked on pig when I finally got around to getting some dinner out of the freezer (at 10:30 p.m. mind you). He has added a VCR tape to his fort and thankfully, he has gotten his tarp back. Barry must have felt bad about taking it, because he gave it back and pig has it all wrapped up with his other important stuff.

The best thing he has is a really thick bicycle cable. I have never seen it before, so who knows where he got it, but he has it set up in the front of his resting area and he has put his head under it, so his snoot is locked down. I called Barry to tell him how funny he is and he told me that he saw it the other day when he first took the tarp, and it had poor pig pinned down so tight that when he first tried to after Barry for taking the tarp, he was stuck.

Poor pig.

I would take it away from him, but he has had a hard week already. And he is laying on it, in addition to being all wrapped up in it.


The only thing funnier I have thought about this week is Jenna telling me that she was attacked by a bat while she was nekkid in her laundry room, and how it chased her all the way up the stairs to her room. That cracks me up too.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Paige

This has been the weirdest day, I swear. I overslept again because my head was hurting so bad, the clock looked blurry and I thought it was earlier than it was. Good thing I have flex time--but it did cause me to have to work until 7 pm tonight.

That is not the weird part, although I realize it sounds like it.

I was stopped at the stop light closest to my office when a semi turned toward me. He got THIS CLOSE to wacking me. In fact, he may have grazed me, but there was someone on the side of me and someone behind me, so I just laid on the horn and he stopped. I should have known this was going to be a day when I was just erased from everything, if I can almost get wacked at a stop light in bright daylight in front of the court house.

I was being super productive during my lunch break--I called some service provider of mine, cannot remember who. That worked out well, since they could not remember me either. I tried to get info to change trash companies. The answering machine hung up on me. I called around about changing propane companies, since I am always mad at mine. I got about seven different stories about how it works, if it can be done etc--I was always taught that changing propane companies is like sleeping with someone else's husband, but turns out not. The whole time though, I was worried sick someone was going to pick me off by sniper for even deigning to talk about it out loud. This time, even the current company was nice to me---which really threw me off my game. I had my standard dispute with Verizon about my piece of shit phone--the Blackberry Storm--do not buy one--and even they could not find evidence of why they had jacked me around on it originally either. It really was like I had been deleted from the universe.

The best thing--I mean the best thing ever--was when I called the trailer dealership where they have been working on Mack Daddy ever since we dropped her off in November. I had not heard from them in a long time, and honestly, that was okay, since when we pick it up, we have to hand over not only the $7000 insurance check that I have had since December and which is probably expired now, but a hefty one of our own for doing some brake work, winterizing it, etc---and the longer I can put that off, the better.

So guess what happened? They HAD NO IDEA WHO I WAS. None. How can that be? You cannot tell me they do that big of a job every day. I know they don't because they told me that when they did the estimate for me. I was told that the service manager was out sick, but some other dude who seemed to have some authority said he would figure out what was up and get back to me. When he did a few hours later, it was to tell me that nothing had been done other than the winterizing and brake work. No parts ordered, no work done, nothing! Almost four freaking months and nothing has been done. We are getting dang close to trailer season too, so this is totally unacceptable.

The dude said either he or the missing service manager would call me tomorrow, and I told him I felt like I was in trouble. That is how stupid I am--I am jacked and I feel like I have an appointment with the principal. This should be interesting.

So to celebrate all this lunacy and because I had a headache and cramps, and I probably should feel worse just to make it a real banner day, I decided to go to McDonald's. Yes, I know better, but sometimes it has to be done. I was on the phone with Dad while I was in the drive thru, and it was really busy, and I was in the outside lane. I dont know what that has to do with anything, except that when it was my turn to get to the pay window and they had lost my order. Really. In two minutes. Had no idea why I was there or what my business was. I started over, paid my money--the only real time in the last week since we have been on a cashless trend since we overspent at Mardi Gras and dont get paid til Friday. Got my food and drove back to the office.

No straw. Fine. I can wait til I get back inside. My tea was sweet. DISGUSTING. I tried to give it away but no one would have it. I finished my secret demon french fries, knowing they would make me sick, and saved the hamburger for last, like I always do. I get the #2, which is two cheeseburgers. I always order it with no cheese and no onions, so it is made fresh--that cheese makes me sick. Well what do you think I had? Freaking cheeseburgers.

It is a good thing our windows don't open, or I would have jumped right out.

To highlight how strange this day was, I also had an invitation from my OB/Gyn to come up in there or no more pills for me, so I called hoping to make an appointment for Friday. And who gets in to the doc that fast? I have had bones sticking out and not gotten in the doc that fast. But lucky me, gets the Friday appointment--that does work out well, since I can just stay the weekend with Barry and we can do fun stuff.

Some good things did happen today--probably because whoever was in charge of these things did not know me, or somehow they would have gone wrong too. I got Jimmy Buffett tickets for April 29 in St Louis. I could only get lawn seats even though they just went on sale this morning, but that is what I would have bought anyway. So anyone in the area that wants to go, hurry up and get em and we can all hang out--it is a Thursday nite. There is little more fun in the world than some Buffett in the spring time.

And since I will be in St Louis for the doctor appointment, I got tickets to see Stifler's mom, Jennifer Coolidge, at a comedy club, and had Barry make us dinner reservations for some good Italian food. Now if that is not the way to celebrate going to the cooter doctor, I do not know what is.

Sunny day strip

The sun came out finally and I think the animals are as glad as I am. Sly, Twister and Fonzie were laid out like they had been shot. Fonzie was the only one that could be bothered to acknowledge me as I tried to get good pics of them.


This is Boce's post-potato hangover on Friday morning. Peeg is having a hard few days. Not only did he eat enough potatoes to kill a person, now Barry has taken his tarp away from him to transport stuff back to his apartment. Pig is very angry and keeps telling Barry what he thinks of it. It would be sad if it weren't so funny.
Because it was fifty degrees yesterday, I took the old ladies' dresses off to air them out. Playmate is looking pretty dang good for a 29 year old girl. I have not looked at her in a few weeks, so I was happy to see her maintaining this well.

She is still so much fun to be around. She should pork back up really well this spring and summer, and at least she is not starting from a big deficit. So far, she has been really healthy and had few health issues. Her vision has not come back completely in that one eye, from when she scratched it, but she does just fine. I hope we have many more years together

No wonder I am broke

The pig ate 10 POUNDS of potatoes. I left them in the wrong place and he ate them. As a result, he had not felt well since then, but I think he is starting to perk up.

While he was doing that, Slater helped himself to a new bag of beef jerky and a pound of the really good smoked almonds. Barry found him in bed with a stupid look on his face, and laying on the wrappers, like "Don't look, don't look, don't look".

Today it is 50 degrees and gorgeous outside. Foxy and Playmate and Rock got to take off their dresses for a while, and I put Play and Foxy in the front pasture, hoping they would play together and get some exercise. I don't think it is working, or it was not at first--they were just moseying around and not playing like I thought they would. Rock did not want to come out to play, which is odd--and makes me wonder if her vision is acting up again. We shall see.

After I did that, I wasted the good sunshine to go to the movies to see "Precious". I have waited for it to come for so long and it finally did, and I was not about to miss it. I read the book a long time ago, so was prepared, but Mo'Nique was so incredible, I bawled like a little baby at her. If she does not win an Oscar, something is wrong with this world. I think BS even teared up a little, but I was boohooing so hard, I could not hear well. I am not like that at all, and I even cried all the way home. I am still not right. I know some families like that, so maybe it makes my heart hurt more, I don't know.

We rushed home to catch the Illinois-Purdue game on TV--so far The Illini are holding their own, but I withhold judgment for a while.

I am back hard on the very low carb diet, hoping that helps my headaches and gets me kick started again. So if I threaten to kick your ass soon, let it go, it is just the withdrawal talking

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Project Rebound- Foxy, Week Five

What do you think? I was really anxious to unwrap Foxy on Thursday--first, because I skipped a week of documenting her weight as we were called out of town to Barry's mom's hospitalization last week and second, because Madison is back and had to do the feeding for me while I have been out of town so much. She feeds her less than I do, based on what feed I still have versus what I would have had if I had been feeding, but that is all right, since it was time to step it down on the feed anyway. I had no idea what to expect today.
I have been unable to start the exercise program, due to my absence, and as you see, more snow and ick than we ever get here.
I was so excited to see that we are still gaining ground, and not losing as I thought might have been the case.
Excuse the unrefined ass shots, but I wanted to show that her thighs are back together completely now, her vulva is back to proper placement, and she has had no more drainage to scald her--in fact, new hair is growing there. Also, the width is starting to increase--she is getting some shape back to her.
Still a little rough in that six inches in front of her pelvis, but it sure has come a long way. And the doc reminds me that will take exercise as much as the protein, so I am not worried any more.
Overall, I am thrilled. I so badly want it to clear up so I can get her moving some--but more snow is coming this weekend. My Gator has been buried under snow all week--yes snow IN the barn--so not very useful to me. When we stripper her off for her pictures, she was practically zinging out of her skin. She has been in a very large pen, but it has been frozen, so not really conducive to kicking up her heels--and she wanted to bail when we got her out to open ground. I think I will try to exercise her some on Saturday if it is at all possible, then turn her out in the front pasture for a little run, if it is not too gross. She seems to really want to play.

I am really pleased with the progress. I cannot believe this is the same horse that scared me so just over a month ago. She is really making me crave spring.

A treat for you

Because I have nothing outstanding to present to you, I am giving you the funniest thing I may have ever read in all of my many many many many days on this Earth. It is a far funnier story than my running from the police--on foot--and getting away.

You have to read this blog

http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com/


A newlywed woman in England records her husband talking in his sleep. Each one is funnier than the next, I have woken the dogs laughing so loud.

I felt guilty keeping it to myself, so enjoy!

--

The last two hours

Have been a collection of small Paigeasters.

I worked until 7, then went to the farm and attempted to water. This is complicated by the fact that there is a snow drift at gate two, so I cannot drive all the way in, which means I cannot use my headlights for seeing.

First thing I did was get the hose and reel out of the deep freeze where it lives with a heater. Someone had changed it from my regular reel to a smaller one. That was nice. Or so I thought. I started to unroll it and immediately realized it was jacked up. A drunk monkey had clearly rolled it up last nite. It was a disaster. It is a long hose - about 130 feet-- so you have to pay attention when you roll it, or it will never be right. It has to be taut, you cannot have loops etc or it won't roll and unroll. And since it is smaller than the normal reel, you have to do all that while bent over. TWENTY-EIGHT minutes later I had that SOB undone. I had cussed every person I know, every animal I know, every inanimate object I know---you name it, it came out of my mouth.

But I got it. I started the first trough, then went back to the car to go get gas while it ran. Not only did I bust my ass in the drift and get covered in snow, I had left the car running since I was only going to be there a minute. Ha. All that unrolling and cussing had taken so long that I had run out of freaking gas. In my own driveway.

And it was cold, since I just fell out in the snow, not wearing a coat, in 22 degree weather.

One thing went right-- I knew we had gas in the barn, so I put in enough to get to the gas station and went to get it while the water was running. Did that, fell down on ice at gas station. So now, my wet self had debris and detritus and such attached to me. There is a look.

Back to the farm, to switch troughs, feed ponies, etc. Rinse repeat, rinse repeat--filled up five troughs in an amazingly short amount of time since BS changed the spigot head.

I came home, locked the dogs in the house, and got the hose for the boys out. Their trough is frozen solid again, despite new heater in it from last time. I was ready though, I hauled my coiled up hose to the backyard--the one that does not reach all the way to the fenceline, so I still have to use buckets to carry the water the last few feet. I got the hose hooked up, and it went berserk and shot me. You would think that would be good, since it might rinse off the gravel that was stuck to me from the gas station, but it was really freaking cold out there.

Got that lined out, started hauling buckets and heard a weird sound. It was a clanging and banging from the back of the pasture, near the old dog pen. Since I had to figure that out, and wondered why my ponies were not running to get water that they had to be craving, I untied the gate, patting myself on the back for unplugging the fence first this time, and not freezing to the gate like I usually do. I could see Twister kind of glowing near the dog pen, but had no idea that he was IN IT. He had gotten in through a really narrow walk gate and it had shut on him. It was not actually latched, but the latch had fallen down when the gate was on the inside and ol boy could not get out! The banging and clanging was him kneeing the door.

Can you imagine? How long has he been in there, you wonder? I certainly do, but I know I saw him at the round bale this morning, so no harm no foul. What a fruit loop.

I got him out and he and the Fonz came for water. Sly could not be bothered. I have no idea what that was about, but he was on all fours with his head in a bale, and I was starting to get frostbite, so I let him be and assumed it was a good chance for the other boys to drink before the Boss took all the water for himself. I only had to haul 6 buckets of water, and probalby had about that much on me, but I brought my froze up self in the house via the garage.

That is where I saw raccoon mama and her raccoon children. But not the pork chops I was looking for.

To hell with it, I am going to bed.

You all should thank your lucky stars this distracted me from the story I was going to tell you about how a 37 year old woman ran from the police this weekend. With her law school intern, mind you. Now if that is not a role model, I do not know what in hell is. Be glad I am sparing you that.

My pathetic reality

Ask me how late I was up watching Reality TV last nite? No, don't. It is embarrassing and I am not telling you anyway. Because it is pathetic.


I even watched Tool Academy 3 late into the night. Jennavecia from the Bad Girls Club is on it and she is out of control.

I watch them all.

Millionaire Matchmaker. I am on my third episode today, but I have to change it for Bad Girls Club. I really love that one. I will even watch those fools that sell real estate and they get on my last nerve, except Madison. He seems like a nice guy.

I also love me some Housewives. I did not start watching until the second season of OC, but now I watch them all. Whichever one is on is my favorite, although I thought the Jersey one was kind of gross. I change who I hate the most every week. This week I like Gretchen and hate Tamra. I also like Bethenny, and that Alex McCord---I cannot wrap my brain around her.

I even watch Jersery Shore.

Big Brother is my favorite, but it is the wrong season for it right now. I might get back into Survivor this year. Right now RuPaul's Drag Race is maybe my favorite one--especially where all the Queens fight on the show following it called "Untucked".

I like Tabitha's Salon Takeover, even though I think Tabitha looks like a very angry rat. She is kind of bad ass, so I let it slide, also, she says the F word more than me. You have to respect that in a rat.

Shear Genuis, Project Runway, Models of the Runway, America's Top Model, Top Chef, Design Star, Launch my Line, The Apprentice, America's Best Dance Crew, Celebrity Rehab, I may or may not get into Idol now that I have so much more to keep me busy.

What is wrong with me, do you think?

One thing that is not wrong with me today is this: that unfortunate streak of gray roots that someone put in my Mardi Gras pics has been addressed. Why do people let me go around like that?

Mardi Gras recap

I do not even know where to start with this story. Saturday was cold, but not awful. About thirty degrees I think. We were two hours late for the parade, so we assumed we missed it and avoided that section. Turns out, the parade lasted four hours. Oops!
Our first order of business was to meet up with Crystal--one of my very best friends from grade school. I have not seen her for fifteen years, and only a very little bit since then, as they moved away when I was in eighth grade. It was swell. She is doing great, and I hope to spend more time with her now that I have found her again.
After we dropped her back at her nudie party, we found my new intern Ryan and his girlfriend, Sarah. We tried to find them in the streets, but it was easier for them to just come over to the apartment and hang out on our balcon. Turns out, we had one of the prime locations in all of Soulard--just outside Clementine's, who had the biggest crowd and best music of the mid-day. We threw beads to see boobies, and as people we knew came by, we entertained. Some funny things happened during that section of the day, including people showing up that I did not know I was supposed to know, but I was. Very weird, but fun. We also met the new neighbors at Barry's apartment--and maybe 50 of his friends. He had a very big party.
I was pretty content to watch the crazy goings on from the balcony, because some places are absurd and think a person should pay $20 to stand inside instead of in the streets. Not me, thanks.
Besides, we had this scene from our balcony. This was Clementine's.
I have absolutely no idea what this was about.
This is Clementines. I still do not know if that is a man or a woman in the headdress and I devoted a good part of my day to figuring it out.

More decoration.

This was part of the drunken idiot transport system. It is a John Deere 6 wheel Gator like mine, used to haul dumbasses out of the district. No cars were allowed in the area, so this Gator had lights and a siren. Cracked me up.

This was across the street from Barry's. You should have heard us all suck our breath in, as we watched this fool climb up to his perch on the roof. And he never even put down his big lug of magic.
This was a very happy dancing girl, who needed to climb a tree. She practically fell out, but it did not seem to bother her.
These are some of the more unique outfits we saw. I think they were dressed as water buffalo. I do not know why.

This chic must have impressed people as a wide path cleared as she came through.

I cannot explain this either. We were dancing in the street at McGurk's
I thought this was an exceptional hat. It lit up on the ends.
I do not think there is much funnier than a little white boy dressed up in his pimp coat
I always pick up these sorts of oddballs on my adventures. I do not know why he felt the need to write on his shades, but I thought that hat was a must have, so who am I to ask? Actually, Barry bought that hat for himself and I took it away from him to have for my very own. Watch out for me, I may wear it every day.

This is a little obnoxious, but it was funny, so here is a picture of it.

I will catch up with some more stuff this week, now that I am home. Barry's mom is still in the hospital, it snowed like crazy for here and I have to go back to work tomorrow. In the meantime, I swear I have gained 10 pounds. I have to get my life back in order- and now that this is over, I can.

How the World Revolves around me

My need to control---especially the scheduling of the world--is almost legendary. And it is well-earned. I cannot tolerate the concept of wasted time, unless it is sleeping or at happy hour. I have to multi-task all the time--right now, I am blogging, watching TV, rubbing the dog with my feet and making cookies. This is the least I have done all day. It is just how I am.

So much has gone into this weekend--we so wanted Barry to be moved into his apartment before Mardi Gras, so we could entertain. I worried myself sick about him getting his work to sign the lease, to call the furniture rental joint a week in advance to make sure he could order things and get them in on time, call whoever is in charge of turning on the cable, etc--do it in advance so everything is in place when it needs to be. I even drive myself crazy.

But it is almost here and we are so excited. It is so rare that we get to just blow off--not be responsible, not take care of anyone or anything and just let loose--and this is our weekend to do it.

This is where I get horrid--and you realize just how deep-seated is my belief that the world revolves around me. Just when I start thinking that all our frivolous stuff really matters in the big picture, BIG important things happen. Sometimes, just sometimes, I am afraid the big things happen to give me perspective. Like quit worrying about who comes to the party, or whether the TV will be on yet, stuff like that--there are more important things in the world. I swear on most days, I know this stuff, but evidently karma thinks I need a reminder. If I did not get so self-involved, big stuff would not have to happen to get my attention.

Barry's mom is in the hospital in bad shape. She has ruptured her large intestines and her colon, and she put off going to the hospital so long that it was dang close to killing her.

We are headed up to see her tomorrow, and hoping that she does not need the emergency surgery they may have to do on Friday to cut out the bad stuff. They are already planning a colostomy down the road but they have to get this rampant infection out of her before she is completely septic.

Kind of makes Mardi Gras not matter huh?

In other news--that somehow I will also make about me---go here to see the huge news in our family. NEW BABY! For once, someone is not sick. We have a new nephew--his name is Crews. Bagi calls him Obo Kwooz. She talks funny. We should get to meet him sometime in the next three to six months, after Mandy and Edward go to Korea to fetch his fat little snausage self. He kills me how he looks like he is busting out all over. He is gonna Squash Bagi.

There is other big news in our Dang-Near-Family also posted on Mandy's blog. Liza and Kyle Liza finally got married---HALLELUJAH! She has been Mandy's best friend since they were little kids, and their friendship is a weird one. She is more like family than most of the people in our family, so to see her finally pull the trigger and get married to an awesome guy--and to do it her way--is the best news. Congrats you two!

Short bus Cat

I can see this happening once. Maybe twice. See him up there, tipping the box in the garage rafters? He was ---this---close to tumping himself on his head--and just as it would start to fall, he would jump off. The box would catch, but he did not know that was going to happen. I watched him do this no less than four times.
And then he cussed me for laughing at him.

If there is such a thing as a mentally challenged cat, this is him

Slater goes to Mardi Gras

I have just started on the pics, and there are so many to choose from, that I thought I better get some up here for now. Slater made a friend at the parade--this was a very brave kid to pose with Slate. That is Slate's arrogant look he is showing us. We got to the parade 20 minutes before we started, and I stopped counting at 30, the number of people that asked him to stop for photos. He loves it. I noticed that all of my pics were his serious self, and never his silly faces.


This was Slater watching the parade. He thinks this whole parade thing is for him.

Leave it to Slater to get arrested. Look how ashamed he looks in the back of the cop car. As well he should be.
Unfortunately, there was a mob of people taking his picture so I could never get a good one that showed he was actually in a cop car. You will just have to take my word for it. It really was fun, and the patrolman was a great sport. It was actually his idea to put him in the car for his pictures instead of just posing next to the car. It was really warm in there though, so ultimately we had to drag him out or he would still be there, riding around the downtown area.

We had a ball as usual. The attendance was way down this year though, since the Super Bowl was on the same day. We watched part of it in a bar in Soulard, and the second half at the Brewhouse at the Hyatt at the Arch, where we got dinner and Slater slept off his hard day. He is a big fan of hotels, and particularly enjoyed this one. The Hyatt has a 50 pound weight limit which no one told me until we got there, and despite my clearning him in advance. They waived it for him though, and gave him a toy and a water bowl, and some other treats, and told him this morning that he was welcome back any time. He makes a fan of every one who meets him.

He and I slept in while Barry went to work this morning. Slater was very torn between having his own bed to sleep in and wanting to be with me. It was really fun.

Stay tuned for more pics as I get time to go through them. This is going to be a short week for me, especially if the blizzard hits tonight--that will give me some time to play with pics. I also need to rest up for a crazy weekend, kicking off Thursday nite

What kind of store is this?

I went to the costume/party supplies store yesterday on a mission. I was hunting the supplies for Slater's costume for the Mardi Gras dog parade in Soulard tomorrow. I always wait to the last minute and then am sad that he does not have a great outfit.

I was on the ball this time--two full days ahead of the parade.

So I enter the store and asked them where they keep their pimp capes. Barry thought for sure this was the year that Slater needed to be a pimp, which evidently requires a purple cape.

So I asked about the pimp capes and they told me, without even thinking about, I swear---that they had no pimp capes. In fact, they acted like it was not even a reasonable question.

What kind of store does not carry a pimp cape, I ask you?

Never fear though, they came around and we managed to assemble a mess of supplies that could be made into a pimp cape. With feathers. Some of which are stuck to my fingernails now, but that is the price you have to pay when the store does not carry a proper ready made pimp outfit.

Stay tuned for pics of his debut in his 2010 costume

A matched set

Diablo and the Demon Cat--previously known as Bubbles-- have been reunited. Not hard to tell they are a mother and daughter, is it? Diablo is covered in mud, as is her preferred condition, and the Demon looks like she is, but on her, it is really white hairs.

I wonder if they or I am more ready for spring.

Project Rebound--Foxy Update Week 3

This week, I have slowed down on the Foxy feeding program. Her antibiotics are over, and she is just almost finished with her ulcer meds and her Visorbin. Then we will wait a week and draw more blood and see where we are.

But I do not need a blood test to tell me that she is so improved. There may still be some infection in there, but it is not slowing down her weight gain. I did not really expect a great jump this week, since she had already made so much progress.

She still needs weight in her butt, but there has been improvement there as well.


She needs a little more padding here as well.

But her tailbone is not protruding even as much as it did last week.
Here you can see some left over scalding, but more importantly, you can see that her thighs are touching now. They sure were not when we started this--there was about a hands width separating them when this all began.
This pic makes her back end look the worst. That tells me we still have work to do, but honestly, she does not look this bad in real life.

So I have two ideas. Is it time to switch her from all-Senior all the time to Strategy, twice a day? Or maybe three times? Or should I keep up the Senior program another week or longer? Thoughts on that?

Also, she clearly needs exercise. My options are very limited of course---it is winter in Illinois and the barn is full of round bales so no indoor round pen to work in. The footing outside is either mud or frozen all the time. I do not think it is quite time to start riding her to fit her up--that little bit of spine sticking up would be uncomfortable for her. And she is so short backed that any saddle will wack her there. And it just occurred to me that the only one not in the trailer which is still at the dealership is my barrel saddle--that might work--and Barry's heavy roper which is way too long for her. I am thinking using the Gator to trot her up and down some hills when it is not muddy or frozen, or perhaps even trotting down the road a little might be a good idea. Any thoughts on that? Suggestions on how to build some muscle up there on her topline?

I do not think it is too early for some workouts. Do you? Just how and what is my dilemma. Keep in mind that I do not have a lot of daylight hours, but could do it as I water over my lunch hour most days---I could do 20 minute sessions at first, then build up. Ideas?

In other news, dad came home from the hospital this afternoon. He managed to avoid the skilled care facility in favor of home health care. But I caught him on Facebook tonight, so he must be feeling way better than when I saw him last.

I am so looking forward to the weekend--I cannot wait to get Barry home to help me gut this barn here at the house. Sly is playing Houdini in there, while he is under supervision for his peculiar behavior yesterday. That mostly means he is making a mess playing with everything. It is long overdue for a gutting anyway, so it will be nice to get that done. Now to hope the weather holds so we can do that and replace a water spigot at the other place

A new location

On the way to our hotel in St Louis last nite, I tried to take pictures in the dark. It was not successful, but this Court House shot turned out kind of neat. Barry and I had looked at even more apartments for him to live in while he is working there, and been to see Dad, and gone to dinner on the Landing, before we got back to our room.

Dad is getting a little better. He was able to sit up in a chair yesterday, although after seeing how weak he is, I cannot imagine how many people it took to get him there. He was at least normal people color, which he definitely was not on Saturday. He says he feels 300% better, but not even close to normal. Even changing positions in the chair was a major production.

Today, he was able to walk to the end of the hall. I do not know how he was able to do that yet--I would have thought it would be several days before he could. They are now evaluating when he will be able to leave the hospital--but they want to send him to a skilled care rehab facility for some undetermined amount of time so he can recover with the kind of support he needs. There is no way mom can take care of wagging him all over the house, as weak as he is.

I guess that is the next step.

Meanwhile, Barry thinks he found a place to live and it is very cool. He actually found two--one a typical townhouse apartment in Soulard with a balcony--very handy for Mardi Gras coming up. The second one is an alley house also in Soulard--kind of cool to have a little house tucked away so no one knows it is there. We had the hardest time deciding--we really could not even get a gut feeling. By this morning, he had decided on the townhouse. God willing, he will move into it on Monday. That is such a fun area to be in--restaurants all over, and famous music clubs and bars--I think it will be a lot of fun. And how often do you get the chance to be so frivolous and just pick something for fun like that? Pretty much never.


Being there this morning before I came back home, I started thinking about all the photography opportunities I would have while Barry is living there. I was born in St Louis and lived there when I was little, and of course, I shop there, go to the doctor there, etc, but because I am always in a hurry with everything I do, I have not paid as much attention to so many of the neat things there are to take pictures of. This is going to get me out of my photo rut, and we are going to have a great time enjoying all the little things we miss by rushing all the time.

All this running out of town business always ends in the same way---what kind of mess will I find when I get home? Today, it was not what I expected. Sly had a crack in his hoof, so the farrier was scheduled to come out tonight. I mentioned to him that I thought he might have been a bit off on his hind left the other day, but it might have been just the bad frozen muddy ground. I left Matt there with Sly to go start the water at the farm, and when I got back, he said the crack was fine, but Sly was breathing really weirdly. I had noticed when I fetched him up that he was nowhere near himself--he made me walk all the way out there to get him, drag him back, and was not happy to see me. I can count on one hand the times that has happened--he loves me and gets so excited to see me every day. He was not that way today.

After his trim, he seemed off on his front left--where his crack was. However, the crack was not as bad as it had first appeared, so it was not that. He is definitely not right on that side. There is no heat, no pulse, not lumps or bumps anywhere to explain it. I suppose he could be working an abcess and I hope it is that easy. Even though I cannot imagine what it is, I do not think it is what is making him act so weird. I called the vet, took his temp, checked his gums, his level of hydration, his tum is working if all the poop means anything--its all normal. Doc M suggested I keep him in a stall where I can watch him, bute him up a bit and supervise closely--and call if he does something else weird. I think he thinks perhaps his trim is causing him pain, and since I did not see the onset of heavy breathing, I cannot rule it out, but I sure saw no sign of it in his hoof itself.

We have a weird stall situation here--Sly has removed most of the boards dividing two stalls, so the wall is only about two feet high. He does not like to be stalled. He does not freak out, he just looks at it as a challenge. He is more than a bit of a houdini. I put him in the good stall, went to get him hay and fresh bedding, and when I got back, he was in the next one. Matt had tied him up and laughed at him. I could not get him to go back for love or money, so I had to take apart our temp fix-it and walked him back to his stall. There, his grain and hay and water were waiting for him--but he had known that for two hours by then. He had perked up a bit seeing it, but could not get himself to it. That is just weird.

When I left him, he was torn between eating his hay and eating grain. I am hoping they keep him busy enough that he stays put, but I would not be surprised to find him somewhere else. As irritating as that can be, it will be a suggestion that he is feeling good enough to cause trouble.

In the only at Paige's house theme---I found a pile of pony poop in the tack room tonight. Obviously, I know who did it--but why? And when? What goes on down there when I am not there to watch them?