A Special Day

OK so today was the day. The day that most people celebrate with joyful parties and stupid hats. The day Kevbears dread. The first wrinkle might appear. Someone might tell me to act my age (again). And it is the time of year where Mr. Grumpy says, now we are the same age... I don't think so... just look at the two of us and it is obvious to all that he should have been arrested for cradle robbery or at least we should live in Arkansas or someplace... So the day started as usual where my first wish was granted...

That I awoke to a snowy morning. Even if it was just a dusting it was still a wish fulfilled! And then I had some good strong coffee...
With just a dollop of the good stuff (clog 'dem arteries boy!) while Mr. Grumpy made breakfast, yum, yum gotta love dem Eggo's! We had to git to the big city to meet up with some vacuum cleaner sales guys that showed up last night on the doorstep...
Normally I would not just open the door to strangers still wearing clothes but they seemed like a nice pair and they hit me with a major weakness... something free if I would just let them in...
And for the most part they got to keep their clothes on... but they did point out how dirty our carpets were that I had just vacuumed, and they were even nice enough to leave me evidence...
But finally they went away. So we met them this AM to see about buying some used VC's for Mr. Grumpy's collection but then we passed on the idea. So then we went to see some homes hitting the auction block soon and then on to the Kevbear dream factory (Costco) where we bought dog food. We then headed to Best Buy where Mr. Grumpy had promised to buy me the complete AD FAB collection on DVD. But the kid there looked like we were a couple of trolls and said they had not carried that for years... sigh... I assured Mr. Grumpy that the steaming pile of shit he bought me was enough of a present and off we went to my surprise luncheon party!
I tried to find something nondescript to wear as I hate standing out in a crowd... And we arrived at my fav Mex Rest to meet up with hundreds of my closest friends and I was thinking probably some more paparazzi... I knew it was gonna be a blast with the start of the stale chips...
And the hoards of adoring friends turned out to be my bud Brenda...
And of course Mr. Grumpy...
Who kept telling me how great I was and how much he loved me and how special he thought I was making for a scene in a public place. My good buddy Pam was there (see group pic) who was the great gal who started the idea out of my scores of friends all meeting up for a luncheon... Mr. Grumpy forgot to give her a list of friends... sigh... But I was having a great time!
And the food was sublime...
And I did get presents... and then they brought out the special birthday boy sombrero...
Which brought a smile to my face... or was that the tequila? Anywho it was fun until I realized that hat had been probably been worn by hundreds (thousands?) of unclean heads and might have (ugh) lice or something in it...
So I took it off and went back to watching out for stalking paparazzi...
And being Joe Cool... Then we did some more (blah, blah, blah blahblah) stuff and came home to leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow we meet up with Mom for a night on the town! All in all I had a great day and can hardly wait till next year at this special time! And I want to thank all my friends (especially Pam! (who is going to the dark side!!!)) who put this lunch together today for me. Thanks Guys!
And NO I AM NOT BEING A WHINY BITCH...

Morning Commute

You just know it will be "one of those days" when you start off the morning commute and nothing seems to be going right. I cannot attribute it to "getting up on the wrong side of the bed" because I got up on the same side as always. My side is by the window (in case of gas?) and closer to the TV so when someone else is sound asleep I can click on a late movie and keep it low. Works about 25% of the time to get me to sleep and trust me the last thing you want to do at 2:00AM is wake someone who is (endearingly) called Mr. Grumpy!

So back to the commute thang... the drive thru was incredibly slow again this morning, they really need to get some quality illegals or something to get their shit together...

There were some people in front of me that just took their sweet-ass time placing their orders or somethang, it was just what I needed, to be late to the office again this week... Traffic was snarled to almost a standstill and at the rate things were moving I thought the boss was sure to have my ass for being late every morning this week... I snapped a pic of the snails pace of the traffic (since it was safe to take both hands off the wheel)...

I mean the walking dead in a zombie movie move faster then this mornings commute time! When I finally got to the office my desk was buried in work the co-workers had dumped on me, probably pissed them off cause I was late again. But hey I can take it on as long as I get a coffee break to replenish the java that runs thru my veins...

So I was getting down to it and it seemed like it could turn out to be a good day after all when the co-workers started yelling and snarling about something. I mean really, we have a 8-5 job here and these guys act like they have not a care in the world! There are deadlines folks... So being senior management I had to go get the crew settled back into a decent workplace attitude... And one old timer was just not going to get back to it until he got his tummy scratched! If the boss ever finds out what goes on here...

So I get the crew back to work and check out my daily planner to see where I have to be and what the secretary has (secretly) added to an already overbooked schedule... Sure enough the morning is booked solid but it looks like there might be a break about mid-day so I can go get a workout at the gym and grab a quick bite at this great bistro...
It is just up the block from the gym. I have really been trying to get a full regiment going at the gym and have told the secretary to leave me a good hour+ for it on my planner... There are soo many muscle groups that each need individual attention to keep your bod in the buff shape I maintain... So it is looking like I might be able to sqeeze in those crunches and lifts and get to my fav corner bistro when sure as shit it happens... Yuppers, get the morning back on track, get the co-workers back to the grind and I get hit with... yes, that's right... the end of year reports... And as the boss tosses 'em on top of my already overloaded day... He tells me he wants me to take some time over the weekend and have some ideas and projections on his desk (after I spend my sacred free time reviewing the reports) first thing Monday morning... For crying out loud! It's my birthday this weekend and I was planning (on getting hammered) on a quiet time with the bestest guy in the world! If I had half the brains God gave the neighbors turkeys (which survived Thanksgiving?) I would tell the boss to shove it, quit this job, start my own company and work at home!

Westie Wednesday 2

hI It'S ME, ToRI. PapA HelP mE WIth thiS ThinG.

OK, It's Kevbear here. Tori is having a hard time with the keyboard so we have decided she will dictate to me...

I am Tori, I am a princess. My Daddies see me in a golden light, and when it is icy outside I even walk on water!

I was born in Iowa on June 5th 1999 and live with my half-sister, Elizabeth, and the 2 best Daddies in the whole world. I am older then my sister so I am actually the Queen of all, we call her the Queen (Bitch) and she is happy cause she thinks she is a Queen, but I know really that I am the real Queen! My sister puts me down a lot, cause I had some rough times when I was a kid. There was a mix up at the place where doggies go to get registered and when the daddies went to get it fixed we found out my Momma got runned over by a truck. Then the daddies couldn't get it fixed, I'm OK with it cause I know I am really THE QUEEN. But my sister says now I am just a mutt and my kids are nothing but bastards, she is like that...

But this is about me, not what's her name. My real full name is Victoria of Kensington but the daddies call me Tori Oreos. My favorite things are eating, sleeping and being with my Daddy Rand. I love my Daddy Rand, sometimes more then food! And every day I wait for him to come home...

Cause he's my guy! I love my Papa Kevbear too but he can be mean sometimes and say the words I hate most in the whole world. When he says 'em I get all trembley and sometimes have to go potty cause I get so scared. OK I am going away while Papa types them so I can't see, the words are "poopy butt". I'm back, when Papa says those words I know the daddies will put me in the kitchen sink and my back parts get wet, I hate that and try to escape!

This is the worstest thing in the world, even badder than the coyote monsters that the Daddies say will get me if I run away like what my Momma did when see got trucked to death. So I try to be really good and I always want the daddies to love me.

I am really smart too! In the mornings everyone jumps outta bed to go see if there are monsters outside that should be barked at. But not me! I love to stay in bed late (all princesses & queens do) and Papa leaves on the world news (CNN) so I can keep track of my kingdoms, I love having the bed all for just me!

The daddies even have special feather things and lots of threads too by special designers so I can be happy in bed! My life is really good, but sometimes the Papa keeps me out when it is cold and I know that if Daddy Rand was home I would be inside faster then you could bark "Let me in".

Cause when you are a Queen or a Princess Daddies should obey you and not leave you out like a dog or something... OK, so one more thing about me that I love to do. My sister (Queen Bitch) gets riled up pretty easy so when the daddies aren't listening I whisper something to her and she gets all upset and starts in with her attitude and growling and stuff... Then the Daddies yell at her, I think that is sooo cool! She is like "my potty don't stink" with her attitude, but I've sniffed her butt and she is a real stinker sometimes!

OK I gotta go now and practice for the best part of the day, when My Daddy Rand gets home, cause he's my guy! Bye!!!

TWO POST TUESDAY!

You would think that someone that heats with wood would (ha ha 2 woulds in a row) have better sense then to tarp it in a halfassed way but... oh well... With all the rain we have been having the water just ran down the one tarp and soaked my bestest dry seasoned wood (shit). Luckily I am an ingenious kinda guy and figured out what to do... (don't tell you know who) Yuppers, that is right I ran in the house and got the handy dandy bed warmer...

And had that wood dry in no time! But I did come across one issue... why is it when you have a hole in your glove (and you are stacking wood) that the splinters know where to get ya?

So I did get the wood stacked as planned but the wheelbarrow just did not seem inclined to cooperate and stalled just inside the gate... so I gave up on that for today...

And since I think I spotted a bigfoot track right by the manure I decided it was getting late (and cold) and I should head in to start dinner...

Now a few nights back we had pot roast and since we both hate leftovers I usually try to do the abracadabra thang and turn the offending leftovers into something that does not look anything like said leftover. (Man was that a leftover sentence or what?) So I got out the ol' family cookbooks and used...

That's right, a long held family secret for BBQ beef saniwhiches. Mr. Grumpy thinks I have spent hours getting the ingredients just right and we'll just let him go with that! It will be our little secret OK? Because everyone knows that what most people say is true... that the way to a man's heart is thru his stomach. But me being the clever Kevbear have found a faster way! Yuppers, right again a sharp pointy knife is much faster!

Changing of the Season

Actually went into town yesterday! As part of our eat local I had found we could buy direct from the dairy (thanks Eberhards!) and so for a minimum of $20 we can get local dairy from now on. Just doing a little bit more to help the environment out... As I try to kill 20 birds with one stone each trip to town I also stopped at Don & Pam's to donate the fall pumpkins to their deer food, just keep the deer at your end of the ranch!They all appear happy and well fed... and of course they all have names! And I got the stationary finalized for the business, something I kept forgetting to do...

And I stopped at the Christmas storage facility (Mom's garage) to get another load of stuff because it is the changing of the seasons...

Santas (Radko Cookie Jar Collection) boot out the fall decorations...

And the first nativity is starting to take shape... baby Jesus always looks so happy!
And then when I got home it was back to trying out this bread recipe which turned out as described and was very east to leave & forget while I ran into town...

I found the recipe in Mother Earth News, a reprint from the New York Times and it is here if you want to try it. I was very impressed, not quite sourdough... but good & crusty.

The weather has warmed to almost 40 so I will venture out and fill up the porch with more logs and try for a few runs of manure down to the garden today. I was a good boy and spent half the morning on real estate (work) stuff and the other half starting in on the hundreds of Christmas cards we send out each year.

And remember tomorrow is WESTIE WEDNESDAY! The hostess will be Victoria, sister to our last guest blogger...

I DON'T CARE

I don't care to go out and work on moving more of the piles of shit down to the garden, it is so damn cold out the piles quit steaming and any heat that was there has headed somewhere warm and south of here...I don't care to drive anywhere just to see some sun, because the cars are still frozen... I don't care that the world looks all nice and frosty and winterwonderlandy... I don't care that it is 1:00 PM in the afternoon and we are still in robes (for warmth)... at least the Daddies and doggies got some food that was warm...

I don't care that I remembered what it was I was trying to remember that I wanted for Christmas from my sister that you can only get down in Cali (sugar pine tree cones for decorating)...

And I don't care to have my fingers freeze to the ladder and staple gun today just because a certain person called last night to razz me because their outdoor lights were going up and mine aren't... because it's too damn cold outside (Patti!). About all I do care about today is getting some bedding washed, and no I am not using the damn clothesline in this 25 degrees at 1:00 PM weather! And I am now curling up on the couch with the doggies and getting some movie watching and reading done...

Because it is too damn cold out... and just whose bright idea was it to move the office out to the unheated garage in winter??? Jeez what an idiot...