When The Dog Picks Fights With Cardboard Boxes

I've been having tons of fun with my new blog.

...But don't worry, I shall still be posting on Animal Lover!

I thought this picture was pretty neat. Arlo has been quite the cardboard box killer lately. If you want further evidence check out his blog. I should probably go feed him. 

...Yup. That's a good idea. He'll start complaining at my window in a few minutes.

...Sigh...this dog o' mine. (What, does he think I'm his owner or somthin'??)

Catcha Later!

Plink/Animal Lover

Blog Number...?

Over the last couple minutes I've been board. So I made myself (another) new blog. I'm not really expecting it to get all that far, but it was fun to create. You can find it at http://www.Saladbugs.blogspot.com/. I think I'll just use it as a place to write a jumble of anything random. It won't be like a "Web Log" as this is. Instead, I suppose it will act as an outlet for whenever I feel like writing anything that doesn't necessarily make sense, but look good on paper.
...Sound like fun!
...Nerdy, but fun...

How is 2012 treating you? January has brought warmish temperatures. No frosts this year!
With a chunk of my Christmas money I bought a Yamaha Keyboard. I've been spending my time tinkering around on it and recording songs.

Nothin' else goin' on much 'round here.

I was checking out Google images for some neat pictures to use for the new blog and stumbled upon this.

Ahh...God's beautiful creation! 

Goodbye dear readers!

-Plink.

Egg

Christmas time has come and gone.


...And left me with a few stories to share!


I have just gotten back from a two-night trip to Tucson. Tamales, tortillas, beans, and pies--complete with Trader Joe's Peppermint Jojo cake pop thingys--dotted the tables and ended up in my digestion system. Ahh, Christmas! The day(s) of feasting and beating people with your awesome word-usage in Taboo.

It was a fun three days (despite the cold that I had caught). And here I am, waiting for the New Year to come! All in all, we had no calamities. Just fun and a happy time to be with family.

However, a few--ehh--humorous things occurred. Of this I shall share.

When we go to Tucson, I usually end up staying at my grandparent's house. Grammy & Poppy (dubbed this by myself and my brother) have a tidy little house (in a not-so-tidy neighborhood) and a fairly spacious back yard, which holds a tiny little guesthouse and two small sheds. A new(ish) thing in that backyard is the garden.

Oh, and the chickens.

Let's not forget the chickens, shall we?

11 (formerly 12) chickens are currently living in my grandparents backyard. They now basically have a farm in what used to be a square of dirt fenced by brick walls. These chickens, or hens, whichever you call them, are the happy-go-lucky, pleasant, and cluck-happiest egg-layers I know. And even though intelligence is not exactly as strong point on their part, their bright little eyes glitter when the cackle at whoever they think will feed them next.

Anyhow, these chickens roam 'round the wire-fenced in garden and lay eggs. Actually, these are pretty good eggs. I don't really like eggs, but the way Grammy makes those guys...Ooooh...

Cheese.

That's what makes eggs good.

Cheese.

Anyway, these chickens are now permanent residence of their backyard, and are pretty neat.

Yesterday morning, before going to see the movie Hugo (GREAT MOVIE YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE IT!) My mom & aunts were outside, talking, enjoying the nice weather, and, of course, chicken-viewing. When I came out I was promptly given an egg (to go and put in the kitchen), and I stuck it in my pocket (of my new jacket), meaning to bring it in when I went back into the house.

Ehhhhh... (Oookay, so I don't exactly think things through all that much)

I sorta got caught up in the conversation. And then I sorta forgot I had an egg in my pocket.

Oopsies.

About ten minutes later, as I was sitting in a plastic lawn chair and listening to whatever was been discussed, I felt the corner of my jacket and realized something was weird.

Why in the world was my jacket--and my shirt--and my jeans--WET???

I just sat there trying to figure out when, in the last few minutes I had been near water. Okay, so I'll be the first to tell you I spill things.

...A LOT.

I have made myself a reputation for being a messy eater.

Hey, I've improved since I was four, but CERTAIN PEOPLE will not let the joke go.

But how could I spill water on myself if I hadn't even been near water at all?? I hadn't even taken a drink, gotten near a hose, NOTHING.

What was going on?

And then I looked up. And saw that I was sitting right under the edge of the roof of the guest house.

Ummm...

But no, that's not right. It couldn't be birds (man, that would have had to be one BIG bird), and it wouldn't have been rainwater.

But wait! What's this?? It's not even water! Why, why...

IT"S STICKY!

The first thing that came to mind then was that I had somehow, someway gotten Spackle on myself. You know, Spackle, like the clear stuff you paint on wood to make it shiny. Of course, there was not a hint a Spackle anywhere as far as the eye could see, but still, it really felt like Spackle.

I was getting up to go inside and change when I noticed a small bottle of oil (like for power tools) on a table nearby. It looked a little leaky, and I had been around the area.

Great.

On my new jacket, shirt, and jeans (Christmas brought many things) I had spilled oil.

Just great.

Well here I am, in a small muck of despair, when my brother, Matthew comes out. As he walks by me, I explain briefly what happened, and he commands me to take my jacket off so that the oil doesn't ruin it as much (or somethin' like that). I did just that, but while I was taking it off, something else caught my eye. My new jacket is black. Completely black. But on the interior, it's a light gray color. As I took off my jacket the left pocket came into view from the gray side.

And there it was.

The gray had been turned to a much darker shade--obviously it was wet--but only in the very bottom corner. The top of my pocket was completely dry.

And then it hit me.

...And then I remembered the egg.

And then I got laughed at.

Ehhnn.

The gooey, sticky mess came out of the pocket, shell & all, and tossed over to where the chickens could get at it (hey they ANYTHING, so much so that they are cannibals [or cannon balls as Poppy calls it]). After the giggles had tuned down a bit, my slimy wardrobe was thrown in the wash (needless to say, I am glad that it wasn't oil). And they have since turned back to the dry side.

And I have since earned myself the nickname egg pants.

...Ho' boy...

-Plink.

Merry Christmas!

-Plink.

Weekend Of Interestingness

This is baisically my summory of the weekend I had at the capitol. I dunno if you'll find it interesting, (after all, it was sorta a school "paper"), here it is anyway...

Youth & Government

Binders, suitcases, name tags, and elevator doors. YMCA's yearly Youth and Government Model

Legislature three-day weekend for high school students had come again. In addition to adult sponsors

and 9^th through 12^th graders included into the program, “pages” were allowed to stay and experience the

event as well.

...And that's where I came in.

As an 8^th grader, I was a year short of being accepted into the program as a whole, but I was signed up

to be a message-runner for the numerous delegate. From the start, I knew that the pages were the lowly,

humbled, and over tasked kids, who usually were siblings of the older participants. We were basically

the bottom of the food chain. It was hard to determine how many times people, almost always former

pages, reminded me to “wear tennis shoes” and to “take the elevator, NOT the stairs.” Page “training”

was more or less a tour of both the House of Representatives and the State Senate. We were warned against personal notes and tic-tac-toe game scribbles, being told to toss these if we felt as though they were rather irrelevant to the weekend.

And then we were sent off. A page (or two) to a room. All nine of us, wondering what our destiny as note-bearers would amount to. I headed directly to the room I was commissioned to, the furthest back in the State Senate.

And then I waited.

...And waited.

That first Friday was–considering the dramatic stories of poor pitiful pages, exhausted and footsore that I had heard–dull. Just dull. Sure, a few highlights, and a handful of laughable occasions, such as the time that I had been aboard an elevator, and despite the pressing of the floor #2 button, the other persons and I ended up in the basement (and how that happened is beyond me), and the moments as I witnessed Eve (one of the Senators there) cringe in disgust when we watched in horror as Matthew, playing the role as Bear Grills, devour a repulsively greasy, grimy, drippy, mayonnaise-slathered and gargantuan-tomato ridden Wendy's burger for dinner.

The next day came to me more fast-paced. Trotting–or rather power walking–slips of paper back and fourth between capitol buildings and the courtyard between them took it's toll on my feet (clad, or course, in tennis shoes). But the larger workload was welcomed, despite my occasional rumblings about them. I ended up spending much of my time on the Senate floor, ferrying messages and listening to bills being poked and prodded at, while the author or sponsor present tried his or her best to defend its cause. A few of the bills that I over heard were

–A bill to begin airing recorded schooling sessions.

–A bill to encourage swimming lessons for small children.

–A bill to outlaw driving while under the urge of going to the bathroom (a personal favorite of mine).

Yup. Saturday was action packed, and when action packs, it often also comes to me with a packet of clumsiness. Ah yes, the day of running into an automatic opening door.

Nice memory.

Lunch that day was pretty neat too. Rumors of Taco Bell haunted delegates and pages alike. Ghastly stories of food poisoning and stomach pumping were heard. But to our surprise–and delight–tins of what looked to be homemade Mexican food, REAL, cheesy, crunchy, steaming hot tacos, enchiladas, and beans and rice all piled together on a paper plate.

...Definitely NOT Taco Bell.

And lastly, Sunday. I arrived at the capitol after church and after grabbing lunch at Chilli’s (oh yeah! Shrimp tacos...). Both the House & the Senate Floors were churned around and bubbling with the frenzy of Representatives, Senators & Lobbyists, all trying hard to pass their bills. My paging job was almost over.

And finally, the closing ceremony. I watched from the floor, standing in the doorway, and feeling like me feet were about to melt off. But it was great to see people, people who I felt I had gotten to know by reading the random things that they wrote to their friends, get awards and being mentioned for the outstanding accomplishments that they achieved. All in all, it was...fun, but, well...work.

...For lack of a better word anyway.

And now since I have annoying people staring at the screen and distracting me, I will try my hardest to wrap this up once and for all.

Argh.

-Plink.

Wordless...Thursday(??)

I noticed that a tennis ball looks really cool against an amazing sky. Hmm... What else will I end up noticing?

And meanwhile...

-Plink.

Wordless Wednesday: After Rain

Honey Suckle & Dew Drops

Blue Skies Ahead