Splat!

I was really looking forward to this weekend for a couple of different reasons. First, I was excited about going to see Gaelic Storm on Saturday night. Unfortunately Saturday afternoon I tripped over a lawn chair & fell face first onto our concrete patio. Splat! I didn't pass out or anything, but I hit so hard that I layed there for about a minute or so just positive that when I got up I'd find a pool of blood. No blood, but I have one heck of a nasty shiner on my right eye and by eyelid puffed up blurring my vision just slightly. It's like Bell's Palsy all over again! My tumble happened about an hour before we were supposed to leave for the concert, but since I was still a little dazed, we decided to spend the night at home. It was nice enough at night to sit out on the patio (and the cursed chairs) under the stars for a while.

Sunday afternoon we did some yard work and then we went to see The Da Vinci Code." I just started the book, which is pretty good so far, and I wanted to see the movie before I finished so I could put faces on some of the characters. We both enjoyed the movie, but now I know why Vic & I go to so few movies ~ loud popcorn eaters, loud talkers & ringing cell phones! It'll be interesting to see if the book is better than the movie (since I've seen the movie first). I can already tell that the book explained things a little better than they did in the movie, but I guess I'll find out in another 200 pages or so.

We spent Monday finishing up yard work & cleaning up the house a bit for Jeannine's visit on Tuesday. Vic was off for the holiday and it was nice having her around during the day. It was really hot ~ over 90 degrees! We washed the Jeeps and gave all the flowers a drink of water and tried to keep Shannon cool. Hopefully we won't have as hot a Summer as we did last year. My face, by the way, looks worse than it did after the initial "splatting", but it doesn't really hurt. It's just difficult putting in/taking out my contact in that eye!

Splat!
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Fit To Be Tied

Fit To Be Tied
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

The Pistons played a great game last night & beat the Heat to tie up the series! Other than that, nothing much is happening around here. We've got plans to go to a small club called The Magic Bag on Saturday night. We're going to see Gaelic Storm, an Irish band. The tickets are cheap and I've yet to hear any bad Irish music, so I'm really looking forward to Saturday night. Jeannine will be in town early next week, so I'm sure Vic & I will probably spend most of Sunday trying to straighten out the house a bit. I also started "The Da Vinci Code" yesterday . So far it's been pretty interesting. I'm hoping that Vic & I can squeeze in the movie version Sunday afternoon ~ I guess it depends on how clean we actually want the house to be for Jeannine!

Feast Ninety-Five

Appetizer

How old were you when you got your first credit card?

About 21. It was Gayfer's in Biloxi, MS in 1987.

Soup

When was the last time you felt out of place?

When I first started at my present job & didn't know anybody.

Salad

Did you have a curfew when you were a teenager? If so, what time did you have to be home?

I never had a curfew.

Main Course

Name a person from history with whom you feel you have something in common.

Kirstie Alley, only I don't have the money to call Jenny...or a personal trainer.

Dessert

When you read a newspaper, which section do you go for first?

The Classifieds because that's where the Sudoku puzzle is. Next is the Sports section. On Friday, I read the Weekend section & on Sunday I read the Travel section. I usually don't read anything actually news-related in either of the two newspapers we get

Who's Your Tiger?

Tigers
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

The only thing better than living in a baseball city is living in a baseball city where the baseball team is winning! The Tigers have the best record in all of Major League Baseball. ALL OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL!! Right now the papers and all the sports related stories are centered around the Pistons and their chase for the NBA pennant. But I look forward to the almost daily baseball games more than I do the basketball games! And by the way, the "Who's Your Tiger?" line is a promotion to get people interested in the Tigers. It's also a game I play with Shannon that sends her into spastic fits. See ~ even dogs love baseball!

Bring On The Heat

Bring On The Heat
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Victory! The Pistons stomped the Cavs Sunday afternoon and will now beat the Miami Heat in the next round to advance to the NBA Finals. What a great game! Most of Sunday was spent doing nothing at all, but we did manage to take time out of our busy schedule to watch the Pistons and drink some pina coladas. Actually I drank the pina coladas (a pitcher) and Vic drank beer. We popped popcorn, I yelled at the TV and we had a great time doing nothing. And did I mention that the Tigers are in 1st place? I'm really looking forward to going to see them beat the Yankees while Jeannine is here. That'll be my first night game at Comerica Park.

Saturday I ventured out into our backyard with sickle in hand to chop down the grass back there. With the monsoon we've been having, our lawn has grown a foot and the rain every day has prevented me from doing anything about it. Saturday, however, we had a brief sunny spot in the late afternoon, so I took advantage of it and now when Shannon goes out to play I won't be afraid of losing her to some swamp creature.

Whew!

whew
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

No shit! See you Sunday @ 3pm for the final game! GO PISTONS!

Chilly May

In addition to the copious amounts of rain we've been getting, it's also been pretty cold here. Right now it's around 50 and breezy. I wore socks to bed this morning and slept with 2 blankets! I'm sure it won't last forever, but I'm glad now that I didn't put all my winter clothes in storage! Ah, Michigan!

Vic's mom left for an Alaskan cruise today. And didn't take me. I don't think my going was actually ever under consideration, but still it would've been nice to be asked. Every year Vic & I try to take one really big vacation (last year it was a week in London), but I think this year we're going to take a lot of smaller trips instead. We'd really like to explore Michigan a bit, so we're going to head out for a lot of daytrips and a few weekenders all around the state. This way we'll also be able to do some work on the house and hopefully save some $$ for our bigger trip in 2007 (location still to be determined).

The Pistons play the Cavs tonight in Cleveland. It's win or go home for the Pistons, but if they have to lose I can't think of a better team to lose to. Still, I'm really rooting for the Pistons to win and continue on to the finals. Good thing Vic will be at work tonight because I predict a lot of screaming at the TV. Go Pistons!


Feast Ninety-Four
Appetizer
What is the last thing you had to have repaired?
I recently broke my mechanical pencil and will have to fix it tonight because it's the pencil I use to work on puzzles while at work. I need that pencil!!

Soup
If someone gave you $2,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend half of it on yourself and give the rest to charity, where would you spend the $1,000 and which charity would receive your remaining $1,000?
I would spend the money on a trip to Mackinac Island and give the remainder to an animal organization like the humane society or an animal rescue group.

Salad
What is one of your favorite songs from the 1980s?
About 4 songs immediately came to mind:
Spin Me Right Round ~ Dead or Alive
Der Kommissar ~ After the Fire
Save A Prayer ~ Duran Duran
Rock Me Amadeus ~ Falco

Main Course
You enter a pet store. Which section do you go to first?
Dog squeaky toys.

Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how athletic are you?
I'm sorry to say that I'm an abysmal 1 or 2. I used to be a great runner, but haven't ran in years. Vic & I have committed ourselves to riding our bikes at different metroparks every weekend this Summer if it ever gets warm again! I'm looking forward to that.

Helicopters

Helicopters & Fish
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

It is bright & sunny outside, although we are currently under a severe thunderstorm watch and the weather guy is predicting buckets of cats and dogs to start dropping from the sky at any minute. So because of the nice weather there will be no Things In My Bathroom today. Instead, I took advantage of our brief sunnyness and cut the front grass. The wet front grass ~ my legs are covered in wet grass blades! Afterward, Shannon & I relaxed on the patio and read for a bit. There was a slight breeze which gave flight to hundreds of helicopters! Here is a picture of our patio fish and some of his helicopter buddies. The fish, as you can see, is in need of a trip to the eye doctor and as soon as I can find a permanent black marker he'll have better vision! I don't remember if we had helicopters in Pensacola. It seems like everything I see in Michigan is new somehow and can only be found in the north. I know that sounds silly, but things just seem brighter in Michigan. I don't regret moving up north for a minute!

Another Boring Rainy Day In Casey's World

I really like it when other bloggers include pictures in their blogs ~ it's very pleasing to the eye. So, I'm going to try to include more pics in my upcoming blogs. I can't guarantee every blog is going to have an accompanying photo, but I'll try my best to be as colorful and unique as possible. So, without further ado, I present for your viewing pleasure Things In My Bedroom:

In this first montage you see one of the best inventions of mankind, the touch lamp. I absolutely love my touch lamp ~ all you have to do is touch it & it comes right on! Also in this photo is a bottle of Kiwi Strawberry Snapple (made from the best stuff on Earth) sitting on a mug rug I got from the US Air Force Communication Command when I attended NCO Leadership School in 1988, a little seashell & sand paperweight given to me as a going away present when I left P'Cola, a dog frame with a picture of the Sweet Baboo and my miniature bulletin board in the background.


Here is a lovely photo containing my Casey piggy bank (I put only state quarters in her) sitting atop my jewelry box. Also in this pic are my kangaroo hair spray, eye juice for my contacts, my Jimmy Buffett glasses case and a brush. All of these items are perched on top of my lovely pressed wood cheap as heck dresser.


No bedroom is complete without at least one stuffed animal and here is mine ~ Bear. When this picture was taken he was sitting in my director's chair (which is also my computer chair because I still haven't gotten around to buying a real desk chair with rolly wheels on it yet) adorned with several baseball caps including those of the Tigers (currently just 1 game out of 1st place in the American League Central Division) and the greatest team ever to swing a bat Indians. In the background you can see my shoes strewn about the floor and a vacuum cleaner from the last time Vic vaccuumed upstairs (too lazy to take it down, I guess).


Here is an especially eclectic shot. You have a flying pig sitting atop a Fiskar's paper cutter all in my dirty clothes basket. It's interesting, thought provoking and colorful all at once. Talk amongst yourselves.


Awww. Here's the last picture in the photo shoot. It's me saying goodbye into the mirror. I'm wearing a Wolverines t-shirt only because it was the t-shirt on top when I opened the t-shirt drawer this afternoon.


If by chance it should rain all freakin' day tomorrow as well and prevent me from going outside to play, you might just be treated to Things In My Bathroom. Let's hope it clears up soon!

Canada Cows

This may be one of the first weekends in the history of weekends that Vic & I actually got everything we set out to do accomplished! Of course, we didn't really have all that much on our to-do list, but that's not the point. Saturday we both managed to sleep in late due to the lovely rain and dark clouds covering our yard. When we did finally roll out of bed we enjoyed a nice lunch and then set about the house putting away Winter coats and scarves and just doing some general house cleaning type stuff. Sunday we drove over to Windsor to spend Mother's Day with Vic's aunt's cows and chickens. Here are a few photos:

















We had a great time mucking through the mud and petting cows. There were a lot of new babies! Cows noses are very soft and their tongues are very wet! We also met come very talkative chickens, a very playful cow herding dog and some aloof barn kitties. We drove over to Canada via the underwater tunnel and drove back by crossing the very high Ambassador Bridge. We saw downtown Detroit all lit up at night on our trip back. Well, just I saw downtown Detroit all lit up ~ Vic is v e r y afraid of heights and kept her eyes closed the entire time! We made it back around 9ish which still gave us plenty of time to lay around the house in "fat clothes" before finally heading to bed around 4am. We had another great weekend!

Rainy Days & Q Nights

After several days of really nice weather, we are now in the process of loading up the ark and pairing off the animals. It's been raining for the last two days with no end in sight. Oh it lets up for a few hours during the day to lull you into a false sense of dryness, but then it just starts right back up again when you attempt to take the garbage out. I don't actually mind the rain because 1.) it really perks up the flowers and 2.) it affords me the opportunity to do stuff I need to do inside the house without feeling guilty about not being outside enjoying the sunny weather. Like today I'm going to try to get my laundry done so that I won't spend all weekend doing it like I usually do. The plan for the weekend is to spend Saturday "Springing" up the house ~ putting away heavy coats and scarves and getting out Spring/Summer clothes. And on Sunday we're driving over to Windsor to visit Vic's aunt's cows.

Rainy days, or more specifically rainy nights, create a whole new set of police calls, too. Instead of getting into fights at bars, bullies just stay home and beat up their wives instead and of course we get more traffic-related accidents. Hopefully tonight will be a "nice" night at work. You never say the "Q" word about work. It's funny, we had the same saying about the "Q" word at the Sheriff's Office in P'Cola, too. The "Q" word must be a nationally recognized law enforcement fear. Some dumb rookie cop will come into the station and say, "Wow, it's really been q---- out there tonight" and we'll all just cringe and throw a stapler at him.

Feast Ninety-Three

Appetizer

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

I really like Cherries Garcia. A lot.

Soup
What are 3 things you would like to put in a time capsule?
Probably 3 of my scrapbooks. I figure someone else will take care of the important news making events stuff, but maybe aliens would like to see pictures of me in Ireland, too.

Salad
Name something you are 100% sure of.
Northern squirrels are more bolder than Southern squirrels. Our backyard squirrels actually knock on the back door looking for "Vickie the peanut girl."

Main Course
What is something you do to calm yourself when you're stressed or upset?
Breathe deeply and talk to Shannon.

Dessert
If you could receive an invitation to any important event, what would you like it to be?
Something that involves me spending the night at the queen's house. I wonder if she plays board games with her overnight guests? Or maybe she has a karaoke machine!

Trip To the Vet

Peanut Dude
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Shannon got the thumbs up at the vet today. Everything inside & outside looks great, except that she needs to lose a little weight. She's gained about 20 lbs over the last year! I try to take walks with her, but I think alot of her weight gain can be attributed to her age ~ she turned 8 in February! Vic & I have also noticed that she's starting to show signs of arthritis, so the doctor suggested we start giving her some buffered aspirin to help relieve a little of the discomfort. I also gave her this peanut dude to help relieve the discomfort a little more!

My Own Pemberley

After a leisurely stroll thru the countryside, viewing the neighboring estates and partaking of the verdure of their various landscapes, the Miss O'Connells retired back to Pemberley wherest they delighted in the beauty of their own estate's fauna and flora whilst reclining with a most interesting novel in their arboretum.

What really happened was that the Sweet Baboo & I took a walk thru the hood, where Shannon stopped to pee at every fourth house and then we came home & watered the flowers. After all this, I plopped my fat butt on the patio and read a few chapters of Jane Austen. It was very relaxing sitting on my freshly painted Adirondack chair in the privacy of our new patio, enjoying a good book, beautiful flowers and a wonderful breeze on a sunny afternoon. This is really our first Spring in quite a few years and we're loving it! If the Pistons weren't on TV tonight, this would be perfect weather to listen to the Tigers on the radio.

I also had to make a vet appointment for Baboo today. It's not easy finding a good Babooist. We've already been to one doctor, but I just didn't like the feel of the place, so I made an appt. at a new clinic for tomorrow. She'll have a female doctor this time, which I feel good about because she seems to have a better disposition with lady Babooists. We'll find out tomorrow!

Backyard Weekend

Vic & I had a great, but dirty, weekend working in the yard! We finally got the lattice and flowers put in around the patio and we're very pleased with the results. We'd still like to find something climby to put under the lattice, but we're in no real rush for that. We planted some lovely lavender there for right now and I think it'll look great once it starts lavendering. We also planted some sunflower seeds, so I'll have to keep an eye on those over the next couple of weeks! Here are some pics of our work...




We think this will give us just the right amount of privacy we want from the perv neighbor two houses down. He already seems a little peaved...Success!!

Today is our 8 year anniversary and we really wanted to do something special this past weekend since we both have to work today, but we also wanted to get the backyard finished and we had a great time working on it together, so I think we had a pretty good anniversary. And Vic made some wonderful shish kaVics on the grill (I set the table & washed the dishes!). It was a great weekend!

The Quatroth

Feliz Quatro de Mayo! I have a feeling I'm not going to have a whole lot of time to blog tomorrow, so I thought I would complete the Friday Feast today, on the quatroth. I went to bed early last night (actually it was more like this morning at 3 am-ish) so I woke up early (noonish) and spent most of the day outside doing outsidey stuff. The weather was wonderful!! Warm with a slight breeze, the Tigers on the radio and the smell of freshly cut grass. After freshly cutting the grass I did a little touch-up job on my Adirondack chairs paint project and inspected the bikes. Vic & I made steak on the grill (I made the canned corn and frozen garlic bread) and Shannon rolled around in the back yard. Perfect day!

Feast Ninety-Two

Appetizer
From which country(s) are some (or all) of your ancestors?
IRELAND

Soup
How would you describe your sneeze?
Loud and scary.

Salad
What is the last thing you cleaned?
My face.

Main Course
Who made the strongest first impression on you?
Vickie.

Dessert
Name one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime.
I'm really looking forward to exploring Scotland and the rest of England with Vic.

Dispatch Ducky

Dispatch Ducky
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Today was a very sleep-deprived sort of day. I woke up yesterday around 4:30 and have been up ever since. I had another dispatcher training class I had to go to straight from work. I usually don't have too much trouble staying awake during the classes, but once I get home I crash pretty hard. The bummer of it was that today the temp actually got up to 76! and I had to spend the day first inside a classroom and then taking a nap. I did get the chance to play ball with Shannon and I checked on Shawn since his surgery was today (he says he's doing fine)and then I watched the Pistons advance to the next round of the NBA playoffs, so I guess the day wasn't a total loss. AND I got this wonderful ducky at class today! Tomorrow I hope to get our bikes down and clean them up and put some air in the tires so we can start riding on the weekends.

It's Over

Over
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Bummer!

F&P & P&P

F&P & P&P
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Vic & I had a pretty busy weekend. We got a lot of small stuff done around the yard; I finally finished painting the Adirondack chairs and we started on the lattice/trellis thing for the patio. We probably would've completed it, but on Sunday afternoon we went downtown to the Irish Festival. Lots of beer and Irish music ~ we had a blast and it was a nice way to relax from our busy Saturday. We also fired up the grill for the first time this year and Vic made some wonderful steaks! I made some wonderful macaroni & cheese and set a lovely table!

I'm at the 3/4 completed mark on my cross-stitch and I finished my book Sunday night, so I'm going to start "Pride & Prejudice" now. I was fairly certain I had read it quite a few years ago, but then I got to thinking and it might have been "Sense & Sensability" I read instead. Either way, I'm in a classical kind've mood, so P&P should do just nicely.