Do Not Delete These Cookies

Christmas Cookie
Happy Frog-like Cookie
Basketball Cookies
Jackson Pollock Cookie
Steve Buscemi Cookie

Hee Haw and Merry Christmas!

Lazy on my part

Guaranteed enjoyment. I'll watch it again and again. I laughed. I cried. I cried again. Probably I should have known about this at some point over the last several years. Now I do and my life will never be the same.

Boom goes the dynamite.

I doubt I would do much better, but Sweet Sassy Molassy this is good.

The Unfortunate Adventures of Weenis McGee

In the span of a few short unsupervised moments, Mickey was able to start (and possibly complete) a new excavation project. The result is a hole 18" deep and about that wide located along the fence. Luckily it is on the edge of the yard or surely a broken leg for man or beast would soon follow. For now it is covered by a small wooden shipping pallet. China is a few paw scratches away... hopefully the barrier holds up. I give you... the hole.The hole prompted the camera going outside which prompted some fun outdoor picture taking. I give you... Weenis McGee.I give you the jumpingest dog... Mickey McFarland.I give you, emerging from the darkness... Wiener Boy.I give you the blurry image of alien K9.I give you... date stamping. Really need to get that turned off.
12/16/2009.

One Week

One week since my last post. One week since last Tuesday. One week until two days before Christmas. We're really right in the middle of it. The tree in the front yard has finally turned to fall colors and is dropping its leaves. The weather fluctuates wildly - 70 and raining, 29 and clear, 55 and damp. The full range. It seems to guarantee a daily headache or two. The ground has been wet for many weeks now. Squishy and receptive to dog paws. The kitchen floor takes their prints if a towel doesn't get them first. And if the towel gets them first, Mickey gets the towel, and the growling struggle begins. Canine Greco wrasslin'. It's a loud smelly affair with claws and teeth. Bulging eyes and wild glances. Kicking hind legs and snorts and sniffs. Grasshopper-like jumps and giant flapping tongues. Attacks and retreats, dodges and thrusts. And whiskers. The lone white Mickey whisker is back again. I give it another couple weeks before it falls out once more.

Maggie occasional sets her carcass in motion for a five minute spree of Kong in mouth. Dog with Kong in mouth to bedroom, Dog with Kong in mouth to dining room, Dog with Kong in mouth to living room, chase, pause, repeat, repeat repeat, repeat, nap. Mickey cheers us on, or protests. Whatever it is, it's loud and piercing. He'd happily join in the chase. I'd happily let him, except in the confines of the house, Maggie would not enjoy his input, and the corrective action she chooses would likely lead to a late night vet visit. So we continue to employ a dog rotation that has thus far has kept everyone unbitten and relatively well exercised/happy. It turns out there are five separate places they can go, so there are a bunch of combinations of confinement and freedom to offer. Depending on how you look at it, it's all freedom. Or all confinement. Either way, I call them happy dogs, and they've told me no different.KONG!

List

- Video killed the radio star.
- Video also killed my butt, which is suffering from acute tailbone fatigue.
- Comfortable chairs are essential for such video crafting pursuits.
- Eating good meals... also essential as snacking is impossible with the intense time drain consumed by the clipping and dragging and creating and thinking and compressing and fading and previewing and watching and watching and watching.
- I have another video idea that will bring back precious memories from the 90's. But it will take some time. We ask for your patience.
- I opened a Twitter account today hoping that I could get a name that looks like my name. Mission: Generally_Accomplished_
- I also posted a video on YouTube today. For business. Not pleasure.
- As the previous two points have no doubt made you aware, I am now a social media giant.
- I've always thought a massage table where you stick most of your face through the hole would be pretty comfortable.
- The end.
- Or is it?
- Yep.

Video Bloggage

A mellow celebration of goings on... a video slice of life, if you will. Music by Ceiling Fan. Hopefully it translates on this small compressed format... let's see...

Video = Early Christmas Gift

After a couple days and countless hours, video has taken over my life. Free editing software and a free video conversion tool have kept me entertained and possibly inspired. The result of one project is below. While it downloads for what I hope will be crystal clear audio and video streaming seamlessly to your computer, allow me to set up the clip. A few bullet points should do the trick.

* The concept is based loosely on the PEPSI self-esteem public service spectacle from the early 90's that many of my generation were subjected to in school assemblies.

* The best thing for my creative side is to 'officially' present my foibles and triumphs, after which point I have to create some new material. Otherwise I keep rehashing old ideas (musical, artistic, etc.) for far too long. This is part of that process. Welcome to it.

* The quote that opens up the video is not my own. It is from a contestant at a BBQ contest featured on a recent TLC show. In the contest he placed 47th out of 47 entries. His words speak to me. I hope they speak to you as well.

* The title is either "A stupid year of pictures" or "A year of stupid pictures."



Thank you, now I can move on.

A nice brisk blog

Mid 50's and not yet raining, which is ideal weather for an outside sit and type. Yes, the brick step under my butt is chilly. But I'll call it "refreshing" and continue on about my business.

We had a tornado warning the other night, with the suspicious storm cell on a direct path for our area. We were eating the last of the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie when we saw the warning pop up on tv. It was a little dilemma... finish the pie and risk not being prepared or wait on the pie and take cover. After some silent soul searching we decided to be smart. The pie went back into the fridge and we corralled all the animals with us in the hall bathroom. Mickey got to be in his travel crate, Moe hid behind the toilet and Maggie laid on the floor. Aside from Moe growling and potentially picking a fight with Maggie, it was uneventful. Our phones kept us informed of the latest weather alerts and our power never flickered. I never heard the train a' comin'... so I'm guessing the tornado never materialized. Given how destructive tornadoes are, I wonder why they don't build earth-bermed houses in the Midwest. There's plenty of dirt.

After half an hour in the bathroom, we emerged. All returned to normal. Moments later, the pumpkin pie was no more.

Now it's starting to rain. If I read the owner's manual right, rain is bad for computers and thus bad for blogging... so let's shut this down.

Sighting

Why November saw a sizable reduction in blog activity, I'll never quite know. A lot of long breaks in the action... shorter days and less daylight for evening outdoor lounging. That's probably it. Darkness doesn't inspire. Transition and duskiness does. There are still things I intend to write that date back to October. There are things that are long since forgotten - magical blogs about magical things that will never be written. Some will make it back through my layers of memory, aged to perfection with more perspective and care. Definitely. You're ready to write it when you write it, I always say. You've heard me say it. I expect to find a new groove much like I had over the summer where I either had an idea or one came to me soon enough.

The pear tree in our front yard has only dropped a handful of leaves. Those on the tree are still green (I assume green, they're not yellow or fall colored) and show no signs of letting go. In Roanoke last week, all the trees had lost their leaves already. Leafless trees usually bring to mind winter cold and desolation, and memories of driving back to college after fall break through depressing riverfront cities along the Ohio River. Portsmouth, OH has rows of houses along the one-way thoroughfare where once there was activity, commerce and life. Maybe during a post-war boom there was bustle to be hustled there. Now the sad, windblown, somehow road-weary streets speak to the chill of winter and desperation all year long. Unhappy in Summer. The same in Spring and Autumn.

Some might find hope and resistance in the leaves hanging onto my pear tree in December. I think they should drop and move on. Fall before Winter.