Local Color

I wait all year for these days, when I can sit on the porch next to this wall of morning glories. Before too long it will fill out even more. I thought I had some reds and blues in the mix, but it's all Prince. All purple. In the lower right corner you can see our dogwood bush. Strangely life like. And of course, the sunflowers keep showing up, so the goldfinches show up ... you can see the bare spot where the goldfinches have been kissing on the one flower.

The After Bath Aftermath

Otty pup had a big day at Bow Wow Beach today - his favorite tourist trap. In the miserable heat he still had the energy to run around for 40 minutes with: Jack, Simon, Reeses, Snickers, Zoey et al.

And as always, after funning around in the dog park's shit water pond, he gets a serious bath.














Rolls around like a super freak after his bath.















And then falls asleep standing up. Sleeeeepy Pup.

Dear Dr. Freud, I had the underwear dream again

I had the underwear dream again. Goes like this. I am back on the campus of Grand Valley State and though it has changed and expanded, the core buildings I knew when I was there are still there, just surrounded by new looking structures, etc. Not sure how it happens, but there is an incident and my clothes get a messed up, stolen, torn or something, so that I am in only my underwear and spend the rest of the dream moving down halls in dorms, up and down stairwells, trying to not get spotted, ducking into rooms, being scared and frightened by a sense that people are after me, custodial types. I try finding a phone to use so I can call someone but all the phones are in highly visible places, then I finally give up and just start walking across campus through crowds of students, hoping no one will notice, or at least think wearing underwear in public is some new trend. This time, as I am walking I try and explain to some girl I pass that I lost my clothes. My attempt to downplay it all. I notice a new building, a kind of small one story stone structure and slip inside. It's a daycare place and I go to the closets in front and find small art smocks, too small mostly, but then one I can wrap around me like a bath towel, so then I go back outside again and start my journey somewhere. Never know where it is I am trying to get to.

BTW: tighty whities in the dream. Scary.

Big Win in the Little Town of Akron

Wow, how impressive. My wife Devon has become the uber runner over the past few months, running in every race in town. This morning she placed 1st in her age group in the Muddy Paws. Way to go Texas! This weren't no walk in the park my friends. It was over the river and through the woods. Hills. No bumps. Hills. I hear tell 19 hills. Hills that want to break you in to little people pieces. But, she is runner hear her roar. Ass was kicked.

Every Blooming Thing

The sunflowers are starting to open. Guessing there are about a dozen or so that came up this year, all really sturdy. The first to bloom didn't fare so well, but the goldfinches don't mind, and it's still very pretty. The second, which bloomed yesterday is pretty in another way.

Weekend Pieces, Bits, Blobs

Really, it doesn't get any better than a mud fight on a hot day. Oink. Fun. Oink. My wife Tanya, diplomat that she is, said it was a tie. I think Whit won. Gots to get me some goggles of my own. BTW, if you have a mud fight, be sure to wear white. It makes it all look so much dirtier.

I laid in this little bit of fence a while back to pup-proof the backyard, and then (with great tenderness) transplanted some morning glories from the front yard. Yesterday, I woke to find this little sweetie. The first!

Take a closer look.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

Shouldn't they both be wearing straight-jackets?

Chip Implant for Otty

It was a big day for Otty! We took him to the vet to get one of those info chip implants for him ... it's coded with his name rank and serial number should he ever get lost and is easily read by any vet using a handheld scanner ... because I am jobless, I couldn't afford the deluxe version but the vet assured us this style is equally effective.

Take Cover! Explosive Erections

Despite my downbeat day, downbeat because I spent the whole freaking day unexpectedly dealing with the carpenter ant mess, I perked up when I got this in my SPAM folder.










The images that "explosive erections" call to mind are nothing short of ... grisly, messy? For either party. Anyway, I think it's too tempting to pass up despite possible "wreckage". So I put a rush order on some. How timely to have an explosive erection with the 4th of July just days away.

Here is the link to a more comprehensive presentation of said erection pills. Warning: if words like rock hard bother you, don't read on. The wrestling couples shots are ultimately what sold me. That and knowing rock stars, probably like Steven Tyler, use it.

THEM - any suggestions for carpenter ant removal?

Big little bummer, as in ant-size little, bummer. I had noticed this sawdust pile on our front porch about two weeks ago and figured termites or carpenter ants. After reading up online about such piles, the ants seem to get credit for creating them--they're fastidious about keeping the colony area clean and clear. Sure enough, this morning I actually sat down by the pile and watched. Every few seconds, an ant or two could pop up out of the crack where the screen meets the baseboard, scurry to the edge and toss down another sawdust crumb. The little black comma to the right of the photo is one of the party crashers - heading to the edge with his crumb.

Speak! Good boy!

This is really cute. It's from a piece called Animal Tales in the recent New Yorker. Animals talking, that sort of humor.

Dalmatians

"Hey, look the truck's stopping."
"Did they take us to the park this time?"
"No--it's a fire. Another horrible fire."
"What the hell is wrong with these people?"