Horse Manure Park

Carving pumpkins on Halloween morning!  Grace was scavenging for bits and pieces of pumpkin.  She found the "guts" rather appetizing.  Weird dog. Ava was making "pumpkin pie" while mom's artistic talents were put to work. Ava's third jack-o-lantern and Neil's first one!  (Notice Ava's burn on her top lip from "smelling" the cookies on Thursday night.  I don't think she'll do that again soon...  at least I hope not!)  I'll post some trick or treat pictures tomorrow.

Well, my daughter has me perplexed.  Since my last entry she's not had a fever and her appetite has been that of a small water buffalo.  There is no way she could have had the full-blown flu, as was my first fear.  I am trying to convince myself this was a side effect of her flu shot, but that theory doesn't hold water either.  Her temperature was far too high and it came 72 hours after the shot, which was too late. The important thing is she's feeling back to normal. Then last night, since Ava was feeling better, we baked cookies.  All was going well until she thought it was a good idea to smell the cookies on the baking sheet fresh out of the oven... No!  Stop!    It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but her top lip is sort of "trout" looking this morning.  She sort of resembles a cute version Angelina Joline (one of the ugliest women on the face of the planet, in my opinion). But the lesson was learned.  Even the most vigilant parent can't

Blech... had a bad night last night.  Ava got sick at school, puked a couple times in class... then spiked a 102 temperature. We've been "nursing" her along today, knowing there is no sense in even trying to see a doctor.  We will have to pay money to be told the following: "push the fluids and alternate Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fevers down."  Then we'll be instructed to "be sure she's urinating and when she cries be sure she has tears."  Then will come the whole "it is a viral infection and there's nothing else to do but ride it out" bit. There, I just saved time and money. It seems her flu shot was too little, too late.  Last night the adventure continued.  She threw up in bed and spiked another temp of 102.3.  I laid with her all night and kept an eagle eye on her fitful sleep.  She seemed a little better today; at least she kept some food down.  She is not running a fever at the moment, so I am going to try to lay

I haven't been the best at updating my blog lately.  I've been on Facebook, but I'm getting disgusted with it.  They are constantly changing the stupid thing and as soon as I think I've got it figured out, it has completely changed again and I have no idea what I'm doing.  It sort of reminds me of my job -- constantly changing.  I don't mind change as long as it is productive, but I get annoyed when things are being "fixed" when the ain't "broke." The weather really hasn't changed much since I last updated.  Rain.  Gray.  Cold.  C'mon, man .  So much for talking about the weather, eh? Ava got her flu shot yesterday -- or was it the day before yesterday?  I've been working all week and my days are totally mixed up.  Anyway, she did very well and got a Dairy Queen out of the deal.  I also promised her a trip to Fleet Farm (her favorite store) for a new toy horse if she was brave and got her shot, so we've got to do that

This has been the ugliest, most depressing autumn I can remember.  I usually love this time of year with the bright colors and sunny, crisp days. Not this year. Many of the leaves on the trees in our back yard are black and shriveled.  We had a hard freeze before anything had the chance to turn color.  Everything else is in drab shades of brown or dark yellow.  It's been cold and gray and cloudy and rainy (or snowy) almost every day since the beginning of October. I feel like I've stepped into a Tim Burton movie. Beth is sick, the kids have had colds and we are all getting stir-crazy from being inside so much.  Can one have cabin fever in mid-October?  It's going to be a long, long winter. At least the Vikings are winning.

This is absolutely hilarious.  It's only a minute long and will have you laughing for hours!

I hope this doesn't offend anybody, but I thought this was so funny I just howled.  This is a spoof... the Onion is a "fake news" organization made up comedy writers and they are very good and very convincing. Christian Charity Raising Money To Feed Non-Gay Famine Victims

It's just a little after 5:00 AM and I'm wide awake.  Disgusted I can't sleep tonight; I supposed I dozed for an hour or so.  Coming off a weekend of working nights, and this is one of the pitfalls of staying awake all night for multiple nights in a row.  This will be a rough day.  So let it begin. I haven't updated for a while so I might as well make my sleeplessness somewhat productive by writing for a few minutes. Last week was an adventure-filled week for me.  Last Monday night I went to the football game between the Vikings and Packers and spent the night in the Cities.  We had a great time -- I went down with Korey and Jeff Porter, who also works at the hospital.  We stayed at a "swanky" place called the Cambria Suites.  We had a room reserved at the Marriott, but they overbooked so they put us up at a different hotel.  The price was right (read: FREE) and it was a whole lot fancier than anything I would normally stay in.  That's not saying I wou

Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Brett Favre went to heaven.  There they faced God. God asks Peyton Manning first: "What do you believe?" Peyton thinks long and hard, looks God in the eyes and say, "I believe in hard work and staying true to family and friends.  I believe in giving.  I was lucky, but always tried to do right by my fans." God can't help but to see the essential goodness in Manning and offers him a seat to His left. Then God turns to Drew Brees and says, "What do you believe?" Drew says, "I believe passion, discipline, courage and honor are the fundamentals of life. I, too, have been lucky, but win or lose, I've always tried to be a true sportsman, both on and off the playing fields ." God is greatly moved by Drew's sincere eloquence, and He offers him a seat to His right. Finally, God turns to Brett Favre : "And Brett, what do you believe?" Brett replies, "I believe you're s

My niece Lisa posted this on her Facebook page and it is just too funny not to post on my blog. The cop is trying to get the old man to blow into the breathalyzer -- and let's just say he fails miserably... The best part is the cop just loses it.

"I'm not old enough to be singing the blues... but I've worn a hole in the soles of these shoes." Here's to celebrating my big 4-0 Bon Jovi style...  a very cool amateur video of Jon Bon Jovi's surprise birthday in Philadelphia.  You'll hear Richie Sambora quip "He's turning 31 years old today."  It was actually his 46th birthday, but who's counting?  Just like me, he's not old... just older. I thought this was pretty cool (does contain some adult language... can you handle it!?)

YES! p p p p p

Off to the Metrodome to hang out, tailgate and see the Vikings play the Packers.   This should be pretty fun... ya think?!

Ava's reaction to fresh cilantro: "Oh, I don't eat grass." Smart kid. She better not smoke the shit either. = = = =