Yay! Boring weather ranting ahead...

A few weeks ago we had temps in the 60s (Fahrenheit). That was unusual for January, but we enjoyed it. The last couple of weeks have been ridiculous. We've been hitting single digits (that's below freezing for you Celsius folks) regularly.

On Tuesday, I left work early and worked from home the rest of the day because the storm that hit had switched from snow to sleet. Wednesday I worked from home the entire day. We mostly cleared off the cars in the late afternoon, but couldn't move the Subaru out of the street because it won't start. I would have jumped it, but the hood won't open due to it being frozen shut. Gah. There's been a plow through that's made a narrow vaguely drivable path on our street. Today, I gunned the truck over the frozen tundra in our driveway and went to work. Getting the truck back into the driveway tonight was lots of fun. I figured I needed to back it in so that I could actually get out tomorrow and the combination of the iced over snow and the plow-delivered barrier at the end of the driveway made it rather difficult. Also, I was trying not to run into Pokey.

The snow is coated with up to an inch of ice and I can stand on it and not break through. This was fun when I was a kid and could stay home and go sledding. Dammit, I guess I'm an adult now. This sucks The dogs are disgusted with the current situation and every time we let them out they go out, pee and/or poop, and then come running back to the door begging to be let in. They're totally wired and feeling the cabin fever. 24" of just snow would have been preferable. The ice part just sucks.

There's no way that mckennl is going to be able to get Pokey out of the driveway without significant pick-axe work on the barrier at the end of the driveway. We don't have a pick-axe. Another lack that needs to be remedied.

It boggles my mind that people actually live in places where it's like this most of the year.

::cue the world's smallest violin::

PS -- Happy Birthday In Advance to mckennl -- it's her bday tomorrow and I haven't gotten her anything and I suck.

Click to see some really cute adorable doggies that sucky people think should be eradicated

Blame the act, not the breed.

We're finally at the point where Liz's new office is starting to actually look like an office, complete with the orange and white cat who has decided that the new chair was purchased specifically for him. While Liz was unpacking books and such today, I set up her computer and monitor while the weasels, Cyke and Day, ran around in the yard. Uncharacteristically, they weren't coming over to the door and complaining about being shut out. I looked out at one point and Day was lying down in the grass, grinning. I said to Liz, "Hey, look at the happy Day -- she's got a really red tongue hanging out right now."

Our pizza arrived and we started chowing down and giving little pieces of pepperoni to the cat. And all was good. Cyke was wandering around the yard and getting in some really good sniffing at some spots in the yard, but I didn't think too much of it.

A little while later, I looked out again and Day was still lying down, but this time she was visibly chewing on something. Liz asked me what she was chewing on. I said that it was probably a deflated basketball. The yard is littered with deflated basketballs -- Day loves them -- so it wasn't that bad a guess. Kiddingly, Liz asked me if I was sure that it wasn't a groundhog. I said, nope, I really doubt it. She then said that she thought it was a red rag that the contractors had left. A minute or two later, I looked out again and decided that it was probably a red rag and that I didn't want her to actually ingest it. One experience with a dog with a blocked intestinal tract was enough.

I headed outside and discovered...oh, you know what I'm about to say. It *was* a groundhog. A deceased groundhog. I figure that it was the idjit groundhog that had been coming into the yard when the weasels were out in their kennels and making Cyke bark incessantly like a maniac. He must have made the mistake of coming into the yard while the weasels were out there and Day took him down.

Score: Daybreak 2, Groundhogs 0.

It's late so I'm going to try to exercise more brevity than usual. Yeah, right.

Two German Shepherd email lists that I'm on raised $225 for the walk that we did today to benefit the local humane society. In addition, one sponsor submitted a matching gift form which means that the company that said member works for will match the donation. Rock!

We managed to raise $520 total in sponsorships and we matched 50% of the amount raised because hey, shelter dawgies need stuff too and our crew live in the relative lap of luxury. Today was a perfect day for a walk. Not too hot. Not raining. The last time we did this walk (2 years ago) it was pouring rain. Dax, the wiseass, walked ahead of us under someone else's umbrella that year.

We accidentally did the "Yorkie" trail twice because that trail is a short loop that goes back to the beginning and we didn't remember that the walk then crossed the street and continued so we did it twice because we figured that we hadn't been walking long enough. Then we finished the second loop and realized that the walk continued across the street so we went ahead and did that loop too. All told, we ended up doing nearly 4 miles rather than the 3.1 which equals 5K.

Dax was his usual gregarious self. He schmoozed a bunch of people and got a lot of treats. A bunch of folks said that he was a beautiful dog. I forgot to bring my camera so I don't have any great shots of scenery or fabulous canines. My bad.

One volunteer asked me what he was mixed with because he was "too big to be a purebred GSD" -- yeah, whatever. I think she meant too thick boned.

One small tiny irritation was that apparently someone had left a dog in a car in the parking lot and all these people were up in arms about it. I asked if the car was in the shade and then let it go when this one guy (volunteer) was saying how it was 130 degrees in the car. It wasn't that hot today -- if the car was in the shade and the windows were opened a couple of inches, the dog would be fine. Grr. Don't get me wrong -- I don't like people who cook their dogs, but I'd really like some common sense applied to the whole situation.

Grumbling aside, it was a great day and we bought a sticker that says: German Shepherds Are Like Potato Chips: You Can't Have Just One.

Again -- thanks to the folks who supported us on the walk Y'all rock.

It's that time of year again. We missed the Paws in the Park 5K walk that benefits our local humane society last year and since I'm not currently working, I figure that I ought to volunteer some of my (our) time/money to benefit them.

We will be taking Dax, our canine ambassador for the breed. One year when we went, it was raining and the people ahead of us had an umbrella and Dax spent most of the walk strolling ahead of us under their umbrella.

Donations made to sponsor us are tax deductible. According to their website (http://www.mchumane.org), our local humane society handled over 9800 animals last year, including wildlife.

If you should wish to contribute to this blatant solicitation of sponsorship, please leave a comment so that I can get in touch with you to make arrangements. The walk is May 7th so you would be able to mail a check and have it get here in time. I can also take contributions via Paypal.

Thanks in advance.

So 2 years ago when I got bit we hired a lawn service.

Which we fired after last summer for various reasons, including the fact that they cut the grass too short, left the gate open more than once, and planted grass that looks suspiciously like weeds.

Prior to getting the lawn service, we had a mower that my dad had left here when he moved out of this house. We gave that mower back to him. So then he had that mower and an older mower.

I procured the older mower from him last week.

Yesterday, I went to Sears in search of a new air filter and a new spark plug. I was able to get the air filter, but not the spark plug as I hadn't brought the model number with me.

Today, I went back to Sears and got the spark plug. Then I went to Lowe's and got a new gas can. The one that I have has 2 year-old gas in it so it wasn't viable.

I hit up the gas station and got gas and was stupid with the cap on the gas can so when I turned a corner and the gas can flipped over in the back of the truck, it leaked all over the place. I pulled over, remedied the problem, and headed home. Once home I washed out the back of the truck.

Then I installed the new spark plug and gave the mower gas. Went to start the mower and it refused to start. Yanked again on the pull cord. Gas sprayed out of the side of the mower. I peered at the mower and saw that gas was now dripping out of the air filter. Went inside and got Liz and said, Look -- insult added to injury.

She looked at the mower and said, Hmm, are you sure you don't want to get a job?

The lawnmower is currently sitting in the driveway and I'm hoping that someone steals it.

So the doods are here doing flooring and tile again today and playing their radio really loudly -- I'm mostly tuning it out, but every so often one of them will break out into song.

I'm feeling particularly trapped today -- the house is a complete and total disaster at this point, I'm tired, I want to go back to sleep, and instead I'm hunkered down upstairs listening to a tile saw, a reg'lar saw, and a Spanish radio station that primarily plays love songs.

Did I mention our ridiculous search for the black bullnose tile yesterday? We spent at least 3 hours driving around last night looking for black bullnose tile and ended up getting this grey glass tile that we probably could have obtained locally, but we didn't realize what a PITA the whole thing would be until we were at the fifth (sixth?) home improvement store and we were out in New Carrollton.

They were scheduled to wrap up the flooring and the tile tomorrow, but from what I just overhead, it's possible that they'll be done with the flooring and ceramic today. See -- this is the mood that I'm in -- I heard the general contractor come in and talk to them and I didn't move from my position of safety on the couch.

Got x-rayed today. The x-rays are beeyootiful. If you like that sort of thing. The doctor is firm in his belief that I could fall on that shoulder and the bones wouldn't re-break. Of course, I'd be in a heck of a lot of pain, but details, details... Oh, wait, isn't that how I broke it in the first place?

I start physical therapy next week. 2 sessions/week for 4 weeks and then the doc wants to see me again. I got him to pony up some more Ambien. Even with the Ambien helping me get sleep during the week, I'm still pretty tired.

The weasels have returned from Weasel Camp and they have better manners and shorter toenails.

Har -- pony up -- I must have a Pony on the brain.

Sleeping in the bed has worked out great. Between the gradual recovery and the Ambien, I've slept well for the past three nights. That said, I'm still battling this weird chills/sweats/dizziness bug or whatever it is. To make matters worse, mckennl is suffering from some variation of said malady.

Nothing much else exciting going on. We were going to get the weasels back this weekend, but when goingferal found out about the rampant sickness, she graciously offered to keep them for an additional week. Although both mckennl and I are bummed about our current lack of weasel-ness in the house, with any luck that means that the newly sprouting grass will have a chance to get a foothold and we'll have a chance to recuperate. The babygate that we ordered to put between my office (where the indoor dog crates live) and the bedroom arrived today so that also gives me a few more days to get it installed.

I can now roam about the house without having to wear the sling. This is major progress. I'm making bits of progress every day. When I first started doing the baby shoulder exercises, I could barely make the tiniest of circles and could barely move my arm more than about an inch in any direction. I'm now able to move my arm much more substantially to the left and right and towards and away from my body and make fairly decent circles while bent over. Lifting my arm is still a no-go, but that'll take more time.