Today's Punkin(s)

The Youngest Bandit with

our Good Dog...

...together on Thanksgiving

at Sisi's house.

I love both of 'em to pieces!

She's a Beauty

1967 My Green Beret

1972 My Buick Skylark

2003 My Labrador Retriever

Black Dog, White Classic Car, and Cool Guy.

My cup runneth over.

:)

Late...the best time of Night.

It's late here...when I get most of my work done...ironing (which I detest), folding clothes (I don't like that chore either) and filing the neverending pile of paper we seem to accumulate.

Spectre keeps coming out of the guest bedroom (where we're sleeping since it's the only room with a real bed right now...) and grunting at me to come to bed.

Animals are funny.

Beautiful screen.

A gift from John's parents.

From India by way of Okinawa; their first assignment as a married couple.

More memories to come, no doubt.

Act Your Wage & Prepare for the Recession (Thanks, Dad.)

So my dad sends me a note that I intend to take seriously. He never gives me advice anymore unless I ask for it, so when he sent this unsolicited email to me a few days back, I paid attention:

"...further, this recession will probably last another 2 years, so Save, save,save, and try and cut your debt!"

Interestingly and coincidentally, I've been skulking around this site: Dave Ramsey.com, lately, and I've been impressed. This guy is so simple. There are no gimicks - it's just "Save, save, save, and CUT your debt." (Sound familiar?) He gives you a lot of instruction and eye-opening examples about how typical folks waste money. He's even a proponent of the 100% down program for buying a house. Wow.

Now that we're homeowners and only have secured employment for a few more years, I guess it's time to get our stuff together...

So, check out Mr. Ramsey's website and enjoy this random sequence of pictures that I took of Spectre and John wasting time in the pool while I slaved away with the laundry a couple weeks ago. :)

I love our dog

He's awesome.

He is cuddly, devoted, his paws smell good, he would do anything for you, and he will play fetch until you get tired.

Here are my two "men" in the pool...

And here I am, about to throw the ball in the pool for the umpteenth time.

Please try not to notice (Pam, Armour...) my Dale Earnhardt pajama pants.

John is slowly co-opting my Very Soul.

{Sigh}

Uh, huh. OK. Enough pics. I've got softballs to retrieve.

Thank you.

I just love these pictures

Anhinga & Baby Florida Gallinules

Outside our apartment, as I've said before - we have a lot of wildlife. I'm still trying to get a shot of the baby 'gator!

Anyway - this is an Anhinga. Locals call him a "Water Turkey" or "Snakebird". John actually i.d.'d him as a Snakebird first. They swim with their bodies underwater, with just their long, snake-like head and neck showing. The thing is, they don't have an oil gland - so their feathers aren't waterproof.

Here's Jake the Snakebird drying out his feathers...

...and watching me watching him.

Circling each other. Doesn't look like "Jake" is too happy...

Next to Jake was a group of Florida Gallinules. Here are the mama and daddy and their babies (there are 5 babies total) - a group of these little birds (also called Common Moorhens) is called a "plump."

Huh?


And this picture is for Mom. She loved watching the parents while they were trading spots on the nest, waiting for these little babies to hatch.

Recovery

Poor Guy.

He had an operation yesterday to remove his lipoma ("fatty tumor" - please say that with an Austrian accent à la Arnold Schwarzenegger) from his right side. Check out that incision! Our dog is no sissy!

He also had his teeth cleaned while he was under.

So now he's drooling, and lethargic. He'll have a nice couple days at home to relax before he'll go out exploring with us this weekend.

Random Naughtiness

So here's our boy...

Being very naughty.

When Armour was here, I pulled out all the stops and blew up the air mattress for him. (Nothing's too good for my little brother, you know...) and Spectre promptly laid on it.

I love how Deadeye is peeking back there behind him...

Good Times with The Best Couple Ever

I went up to Laurel to pick up Spectre from his Auntie Max and Uncle Ken's house, and while there (as you can see from the two previous posts) we got to ride, we ate an incredible turkey dinner that was courtesy of Ken's latest hunting excursion (wild turkey is so amazingly delicious that it defies description, actually), and Max bought a guitar!

We packed a lot into a two-day visit, and we had to, because in a week, they pack out for Colorado!!!! Life in the military is never boring.

The Missing Man pic...this time without my man. Boo Hoo.

Our tradition every time we get together...the "phone-call-whilst-imbibing shot"...which started 5 years ago with our toast to Amy, Max's sister, on the occasion of her wedding while we were in Korea...

Max with her beautiful new "Big Baby Taylor"! It was time for an upgrade from her old guitar, and she did it right!

~Best Buds~

Parting Shot. Isn't this funny? Magoo just couldn't be bothered to tuck in his front legs!

Sweet Reunion!

YAY!!!!! This post needs no words, as I'm sure you'll agree!!! :)

The Missing "Heartbeat at our Feet"

"You ask of my

companions. Hills,

sir, and the

sundown, and a dog

as large as myself

that my father

bought me. They

are better than

human beings,

because they know

but do not tell."

~ Emily Dickinson

Good Boy

Just found out I'll get him in May! Max & Ken are headed to Colorado in the Early Spring, so I'll drive up to see Max & Ken (bonus!) and take Spectre back with me to Sunny Tampa!

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Life just got 50% better (yeah, John's the other 50% I'm missing...)

Tired

John and I went for a long run today - weekends are good for that. Spectre, true to form, found every puddle. We gave him a bath, a bone, and then he took a nap with John.

Right on my clean laundry.

Spectre cleans up

Well, even after the cat had her way with my turkey, he turned out brown and beautiful.



You'll have to excuse my attire. I was in my pajamas as it was really late by the time that 19-pounder cooked. But check out my crocs! GREAT house shoes.









Yeah. So, the turkey looked fine but ended up dry, even after the brining. I was disappointed that it didn't taste as good as a plain old Butterball. Next year I'll know better. Still, I wanted to use every bit of that thing...and I did, the next day.
Here you see the beginnings of a casserole, a stock, and meat for sandwiches.


...and Spectre took care of the roasting pan for me...













We had to get out for some fresh air on Friday. Here's John and Spectre outside the Heckler & Koch factory. They make guns there. Apparently, extremely good guns. (Obviously this was John's idea...) They didn't let us in, saying we had to be part of a larger tour group - but at least we can say we made the effort.

The Kids

Here's John with his biggest fan...








And Dosie, clearly very relaxed...
















Spectre with Armour -

and Dosie in Mom's suitcase the day before she left last week...

Zwiebelkuchen und Apfel Neue Wein

John and I have great neighbors, called Sandra and Frank. They called us early this morning and asked us to come over to help them make "Neue Wein." It was a perfect day for it: cold, foggy, and damp. Another family brought out hot Zwiebelkuchen (Onion Cake) and brats, and Frank put John to work straightaway on the 100-year-old press.


Spectre and I stood around and drank apple juice.

Spectre's Nocturnal Activities

I woke up at 0400 to a wet nose on my forehead, and a low growl in my ear. Spectre had to go out. I stumbled down the dark hallway of the Gmachl Hotel (check out the view from our window...incredible...) and let Spectre out in their back acreage.

My buddy Max and I kid each other about "anthropomorphizing" our animals, but Spectre's innate Labrador reaction when he saw the pool (bottom right corner of pic) was Pure, Unadulterated Glee. He stopped, looked at me, and before the horrified reaction registered on my face, he had run full-speed ahead and launched himself into a Peter-Pan...

...and landed on the pool cover.

It made a terrible noise; John even woke up, wondering what all the commotion was about - not realizing our dog was the culprit. I was feverishly "whispering" commands under the window: "Hierhen Spectre!!!" "Spectre, kommst Du Hier!!!"

Picture a confused canine scrabbling on wet, corrugated plastic, trying to get to me, and sinking all the while. Ridiculous.

And then we got back to the room, and he started chewing on his bone.

Which he put in John's boot.

Spectre...being himself. {Sigh}

I'm getting the hang of this; you have to post your last stuff first - that way, folks who actually want to look at your life do so in chronological order.

However, until I figure this out, please just look at the date stamps.

This is Spectre trying to get away from the brush the morning we left the hotel for The Eagle's Nest. I was exasperated; John thought it was hilarious.