My parents' dog Rain is getting fixed at the end of the month. Don't tell her that though... She remains blissfully unaware.
Except this collar my mom bought for the week after surgery might make Rain think something is up.
Apparently there have been substantial strides in dog post-surgery accessories. This life preserver/donut thing replaces the cone that dogs used to wear that made them look like lampshades. Those were hilarious.
Breaking news! Joe got a couch!
That sentence implies he took an active role in the acquiring of said couch. To be more specific, a generous benefactor gifted a nice little loveseat to the basement apartment. My pro-couch campaign did not factor into this victory at all.
This is a huge step forward. Looks great, huh? I'm worried about what we will have to talk about now though. My complaining about the lack of a couch was always a good fallback for conversational lulls.
Me (while sitting on the couch): "What am I going to bitch about now?"
This happened way back in January, but the sheer amount of photos I took put me off from writing about it. I am feeling invigorated, so let's go through the rundown of my trip to Norfolk to visit my some of my bestest friends Emily, Andy, Lauren and their dog Jasper.
I'll put a cute puppy photo first to up page views.
Emily and Andy live right near the water, but alas, it was too freezing that weekend to walk on the beach. Note to self - cape does not cut it in any winter weather, even in the south.
Digging this Mod tsunami warning sign, Norfolk!
Part of the weekend was devoted to making prototype whoopie pies for Lauren's fledgling business. I don't have to tell you that they were delicious. We even made logos and packaging mock-ups. Jasper stole one off the table, but he was nice enough to bring it back untouched.
We also jammed out a little (well, I played a maraca shaped like an orange). Here is Emily on guitar, Andy on mandolin and Lauren on accordion, working under the name "Family Band."
The big event of the weekend was checking out something at the Hampton Coliseum called Motorcycles on Ice. Who knew? The motorcycles had no brakes, just spikes on their tires to race around a small ice rink. We settled in to our seats (I was the only one in the arena wearing a cape, I noted), and the smell of exhaust wafted from backstage. The very first race, one minute in, a motorcycle driver immediately crashed into the wall and lay crumpled under the bike, not moving. "Paramedics to the ice," the announcer intoned.
Not a good introduction to motorcycles on ice. I was beginning to feel like a Roman at the original coliseum. Luckily, he was OK.
And the show continued. And boy, did it continue. I think I saw every vehicle short of a car race on ice. ATVs, golf carts, even Vespas. I'm good on the ice motorsport front for awhile.
Here's the children's division. Yes, really.
But then something peculiar happened. There was a female racer with a bright pink ATV riding in some of the races. I didn't notice her at first, but then I realized she wasn't just beating the men, she was schooling them. Crowd favorite for sure. She made it to the finals and in an out of body moment, I realized that I had risen to my feet and was cheering, screaming at the top of my lungs almost involuntarily, for her to win it all. Against all odds, I had gotten into ice ATV racing.
Here is "First Lady of ICE" Mandy Brodil with her daughter at the award ceremony.
I bought my friend a cardboard moose for a wedding gift. Specifically, this one:
I was hoping that it would be the weirdest present she received, but another friend shipped her a 2.5 foot high ride-on walking triceratops kids toy. Darn it! That takes the cake.
I liked the little cardboard moose, and I figured if anyone could make it work, it would be Roxanne.
Here's her awesome flat from when she lived in Scotland, wish I had taken a picture of the floor boards painted varying colors of acid green.
And here's the moose in his new home in Denver, in a built-in wine rack (they don't drink, so seems like a good place for a cardboard moose).
