My Parents

Bleu, charging my Dad the fee for sitting on his love seat.

They came in town yesterday to see how we were doing. They loved Bleu, too. I couldn't really talk to them on Sunday night, but my Dad called me Monday morning and said that the sky was the reddest he'd ever seen it. Mom called later and wanted to know if they needed to come out. We agreed that it would be good if they came.

They brought Lola an new toy and some Beggin Strips. She's still not too excited with toys, but who could pass up Beggin Strips? Dad also split some ice cream with her. She was as excited as I've seen her all week when they walked through the door.

We were hoping to get Bleu's remains and they could help us handle that, but he wasn't ready yet. It was very helpful, though, them just being here and driving around all day, keeping our minds off it. Its amazing what parents will do for their kids, even after their grown. We will get to more stories regarding them and Bleu later.

Thank You for coming out to check on us, we love you.

Bleu's First Canoe Trip...

This is Bleu's Uncle Allen, He may have caused some of Bleu's social problems, just by being around during his early development. Anyway, he thought it would be a great idea to take Bleu on a canoe trip while he was a old 9 weeks old. Turns out, it was a pretty good idea. Bleu was all of maybe 15 lbs and would run out in the woods without a care in the world. Bleu took turns between the canoe Allen was in and the kayak I was on. Bleu had a great time, although he did not like being in the water, not a swimmer. I would find out a few days later that while on that trip, Bleu had enjoyed his first taste of Chicken Bones, he was intrigued for life.

Bleu never could get used to the water and was absolutely the worst swimmer I have ever witnessed. I tried throwing him in, holding his body while he kicked, goggles, snorkels, everything, but all Bleu could do was this big, goofy, uncoordinated doggy-paddle that ended splashing everywhere until he would get to you and then scratch the heck out of you.

He never got used to the water. I think last August was the last time I really tried to get him in. We were at Rachel's Grandparents in Kentucky and I bet we spent 3 hours trying to get him to stay calm enough to figure it out. All we cold get was about 30 seconds of a Bleu freak-out and he would get out.
And he never really trusted me around the water.

Bleu would have loved this.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/index.php?p=23589

Its Hard...

I always knew I loved Bleu and that he was going to be there for me whenever I needed him. I just wish that he could have stuck around a little longer. I feel like he would be the prefect person to cheer me up. I never thought that it would hurt as much as it does. You never realize how much impact they have on your life until they're not there anymore. Rachel cries in the morning because Bleu doesn't come and check on her while she's getting ready. I get upset when I wake up and its not because he's licking my face. It hurts throughout the day when you just sit and listen and there's silence, Bleu did not allow silence. I never used to sit in the same place for more than 30 minutes because Bleu would always need a door opened or demand to wrestle or get a rub down, now I could sit without moving for hours and no one would get upset at me. Its hard to let Lola out and not have Bleu tailing behind her and seeing her total lack of enthusiasm when a buddy is given to her. We haven't used the kitchen yet because that was one of Bleu's favorite things. He loved to just sit and watch Rachel cook dinner or me cook breakfast in hopes of a fews scraps. I can't turn down 28th street because I know how much he loved to run home from the corner, I have to go the back way. It hurts to watch TV on the couch with the love seat unoccupied with him napping or growling at us from boredom. Its hard to go to sleep without him hassling me to get on the bed, they both used to start on the bed and then work their way into their baskets through the night. Then wake us up and want back on the bed. I still talk to him, I just wish I could touch him. Thats the hardest part.

Did you hear the one about Petco...

This was their futon at the rent house. I had the computer in there and they would just sit with me while I messed around online with more than likely a Cubs game on the TV.

I think it was the weekend that Rachel went to wedding showers in West Memphis and Owensboro that I decided to take a break. I called Petco and scheduled Lola and Bleu to get a bath and their hair did. The lady from Petco told me that they had a full day of appointments but that I could drop them off, it might take all day but they would fit them in somewhere and give me a call. So I was thinking, "Awesome! I can just sit back and do nothing all day, pick them up around 5 and still claim productivity." I dropped the two off around 9am and I'm not kidding got a call at 9:45 telling me to come pick my crazy ass dog up. I got there and could hear him barking before I even got in the door. The lady told me that it would be for the best if I didn't bring Bleu back. As she was saying that Bleu jumped over the counter to see me, I yelled at him and immediately jumped right back over. Some poor girls arm was attached to his leash and she was not at all happy about the situation. I ran to the check out and paid, all the while Bleu was voicing his displeasure. I got back in there and Bleu hopped over the counter again. I was getting Lola when Bleu decided to hike his leg and piss all down their column in the lobby area. Needless to say I was pretty sure that would be his last time inside a Petco. Bleu didn't get what all the fuss was about.

I guess that was in April or May of 2007 when that happened. Fast forward to about a year later, Rachel and I decided to give it another shot at Petco. We had errands to run, the dogs wreaked of something awful and it was time to get their summer cuts. We called Petco and attempted to make an appointment and the lady said sure. When we got there, it was a new lady, much nicer than the previous. She got out their information and kind of paused at Bleu's card. It read, "This dog is crazy! Do not take him, he tore up a kennel and broke the water dispenser." We talked with her and said that he had grown out of that a little and to please give him a chance and if there were any problems to call us and we would be there in 5 minutes. She agreed and she took them behind the counter.

About 45 minutes later she called us in tears. She said that when they took them back and put them in kennels Lola just laid down but Bleu went ape sh*t. She tried to calm him down as best he could but he just wouldn't stop barking and banging against the cage. With her final attempt to keep him quiet she took him out of his cage and opened Lola's kennel. Bleu climbed right in, Lola scooted over and Bleu didn't make another sound until they took Lola out. They kept them together the whole time, when Lola was getting bathed and cut, Blue was standing right in front of her. He was codependent to say the least. The women said it was the cutest, most touching thing she thought she had ever seen. Bleu loved Lola so much.

Bleu and Lola

Lola and Bleu met in 2005 and started living together in the spring of 2006. At first Lola was not too enamored with the much too aggressive Bleu, but after only a couple of months they grew inseparable and formed a bond that I don't think people can understand. They had their own way of doing things, everything was a structured ritual without words, just looks and movements that cued the next in a sequence of events.

Lola was the mastermind and Bleu did all the leg work.

Bleu became Lola's bodyguard of sorts. He would never leave her side. She took off running one day and was heading towards the busy intersection of 31st and Harvard. Bleu was right by her side, I have no doubt that whatever might have happened, had we not caught them first, Bleu would have taken the brunt of it and Lola would've been safe.

Our rental house that we first lived in was broken into and robbed in the summer of 2007. Bleu was obviously beaten with an outside Tiki Torch by whoever broke in. The robbers came in through the back and left the back door and gate open when they left. We found out about the robbery when Rachel received a call on her cell phone that morning reporting a lost dog, it was Lola. There was another dog with her but the people couldn't catch it, it was Bleu. Bleu never ran off from the people just kept an eye on them from a safe distance. They were found a couple of streets over in between two houses together. Even after being beaten Bleu made sure Lola was safe and never took his eyes off her.

On another occasion, I was mowing the yard one day and left the gate open. Being extremely lazy I took a break inside for AC and a cold drink. Bleu normally would wine at the door, maybe bump into it a couple of times before giving up. This time however he was going bananas and throwing his whole body into the door. I came out to get on to him, but realized Lola wasn't around. I then saw the gate was open. Bleu was once again looking out for his sister. She was found a couple of corners down the street.

Here's a picture where they are actually cuddling. You can See Lola's paws wrapped Bleu's face.

As close as they were, they were complete opposites. Bleu was crazy, hyper and was always looking for a good straight away to run as hard as he could through. Lola was lazy, not as playful and absurdly cat-like. After a few months together they agreed on a happy medium. Lola would allow Bleu several stints of activity and playfulness throughout the day and Bleu would agree to back off and take more naps to satisfy her. Whenever one was bored they would simply go get a buddy and stick it in the other's face this would lead to a good time tug-o-war.

Lola is having a little trouble with the recent absence of her brother. One of their odd rituals was treat time. Treat time was anytime I walked past the hallway closet, Bleu would find a way to inform me that the treats were stashed there and I would get 2 out. Bleu would take his and run to the TV room and quickly engulf it. Lola would take hers to our bedroom and look at it awhile, then come out to the kitchen table and lay underneath it until Bleu would finish his and come looking for hers. She would then run in front of our large window looking into the front yard. This was her way of making Bleu jealous and keeping his attention. Yesterday we realized we hadn't given her a treat and so he gave her one. She stood there for awhile and walked around the house for several minutes and ended up put her treat in Bleu's basket where he slept, the last two nights she has slept right in front of his basket. I gave her a treat this afternoon and retreated to the couch. I heard her prancing around for at least 10 minutes and finally went to find her when she let out a moan. She finally ate it when I set by her and watched. I have no idea how to comfort her and I have no idea what she's going through. I can imagine its a lot like what Rachel and I are going through, but like I said earlier people probably can't understand their bond.

The last two days Lola has starred out the car window more, glanced at the doors more and walked around the back yard differently. She used to lay on the deck or in the sun, now she just roams around, ducking under the deck from time to time where Bleu used to hide. Also, everytime she goes to sleep she seems restless during it. I'm sure its because Bleu is pestering her for some playtime in her dreams.

Bleu Bear...

he loved dancing with his mom, although rarely on camera

Day One

The first day I brought Bleu home with me was a Friday. It was in the afternoon and he was around 8 1/2 weeks and we played outside for a couple of hours and ate dinner. He passed out around 7-8 at night and thought that would be the end of his day. Quick side note, when Bleu was a baby, you could literally touch his butt with his ears when he went to sleep. Being that it was a Friday night and all, I thought I would go out for a while, just a little while, and get back and it wouldn't be a big deal.

Now we were living in a 1 bedroom apartment at the time and I had kept up with it pretty good to that point. So, I put him in the bathroom, covered the floor with newspaper and left him there without him even batting an eye.

I was gone for around 3 hours arriving back home around midnight and could hear his yelping from the parking lot. I ran in and opened the bathroom door. Bleu had pooped on the newspaper and somehow managed to wipe the poop all around the bathroom wall. Everything under 6 inches high had poop on it. He had unrolled the toilet paper, eaten the tooth paste and poop smeared my tooth brush. At that point I realized my life was going to be completely different.

We love you, Bleu.

We will always love you.

This is Why its Good to be Rich

In case you don't know, thats Richard Branson. He's windsurfing on his island with a naked model. Ha, he probably has 2 more on the beach waiting for their turn. Well Done.

Everything is Going to be OK!!

Links You May Not of Seen...

Horse Deaths
http://news.aol.com/article/horses-die-before-polo-match/435339?icid=mainaimzonesdl1link3http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fhorses-die-before-polo-match%2F435339

Wrigley Cat
http://news.aol.com/article/cat-tail-carry/441661?icid=mainaimzonesdl1link6http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fcat-tail-carry%2F441661

1st Date Don’ts
http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/04/17/10-things-to-never-say-on-a-first-date/

I'm pretty sure my Wife and I broke 7 of these 'don'ts' on our first date.

dogshit
http://www.digtriad.com/news/features/article.aspx?storyid=122929&catid=216&GID=R3WTUJ6Ws73ppjCc/QDLn5jgMFyZvRm167R3/QpPrFg%3D&provider=email

player for nothing
http://www.freep.com/article/20090422/SPORTS02/90422107/1050/rss15

pretty good website
http://www.babeslovebaseball.com/




Alyssa Milano is MUCH hotter than you think...

http://www.alyssa.com/

http://alyssa.mlblogs.com/

http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/baseball
(Alyssa does a podcast with the Fantasy Baseball guys)

Ladies and Gentlemen, May I Have Your Attention...

I'VE JUST BEEN HANDED AN URGENT AND HORRIFYING NEWS STORY!!!!!

This shit is about to get real....

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=938311

**Editor's Note- I would like to add that while at a recent Razorback practice and visiting with Hawgsports.com's (http://arkansas.rivals.com/) Publisher Trey Biddy there is no question that Mallett will be starting come fall. Unfortunately at the practice I was attending they were working on 5-wide formations and getting the ball out quickly. This only allowed Mallett and Wilson to throw the ball to short patterns.

Anything Under $500

If you don't check out the "Anything under $500" classifieds section in you daily newspaper, I don't know what to tell you.

It has made my morning on several occasions. Of course you can't go through them everyday, but you have to check out the Sunday edition at the very least. Why a comic hasn't made a million $$ off of just reading from this section for jokes is beyond me. I is another level of entertainment and as what Bill Simmons call "Unintentional Comedy." On a daily basis you can get everything from truck parts to trucks without parts, handguns and rifles on the cheap and don't forget the ammo, books to typewriters, golf clubs to guitars and handmade saddles to homemade biker jackets. Its a GOLD MINE!!!!!! Recently the Mrs and I bought 2 bikes for $150 together after we looked them up on the intraweb and found that both were going for more than that a piece online. Were they stolen? Repaired? To replenish lost 401k's? Who gives a shit! They would work.

I will say the best part about the experience was the trip to pick them up. I called and asked the gentlemen about the bikes he had in the paper, he was cordial and told me where he lived and we were off. Upon arriving there were 3 lil ones running around the fenced-in front yard while their 20-something mother, looking 40-something, puffed on an unnamed cigarette (but it was definitely of the 100-120 variety). They all ran up to me like we were in a 3rd world country and thanked me, weird.

So I walk up to the garage and the man, Ray, comes up and we introduce ourselves. He tells me, "Well, I lost the damn key to the shed." So I proceed, by request of Ray, to attempt to help him find them, they were supposedly on a red keyring. We tore apart his garage and went through countless toolboxes, storage closets, boxes and cars(he had 6 in the driveway). After about 15 minutes we decide to go with Plan B: Take all the extra keys we found during our search and a hammer in case none of them work.

Now, Ray was a nice enough guy, but I have to be honest; there were some concerns rushing through my head at that point. Rachel's in the car by herself, I'm really going in the backyard of this guy's with the hope of breaking into his shed? "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again!!!"? And he has the hammer in his hand and a halfway house for yard equipment in the backyard!

Walking around the house I notice (no lie) there are a combined 9 lawnmowers that are all in some stage of death or repair, I couldn't decide. So we get to the shed and check a couple of keys to no avail. Ray goes, "Well let me see if I can pop the lock off with the Hammer." To which I replied, "Man, I'd hate for you to break that lock." "No problem," Ray said, and WHAM! before I could blink he takes a swing at the damn thing! He hits it 3-4 times but it doesn't bust. I asked if I could try a couple of the keys I had brought from his garage and he decides to allow it. On the 2nd key it opens. EUREKA! But now I'm about to open the door and Ray is behind me, this could be bad, right? I swing open the door and to my relief and dismay I see 2 more FUCKING lawnmowers! Really? And I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 different bicycles stored for selling. I asked him, "You bike much?" To which he just nodded and added,"Well this is the 2nd and 3rd bike I've sold this week, not to mention the mower yesterday afternoon." How bizarre.

Ray was a very nice, laid back guy and I would refer him to anyone looking for a cheap bike or mower, I was just really amazed at the whole situation.

So, that was our adventure on Tuesday and you should know that on Wednesday we rode the hell out of those bikes without incident.

Now, if you will take moment to check these items available in today's Tulsa World "Anything Under $500" section.

First Ad!

100 Adult DVD's, all high quality. $195 (HA!)

Belt Buckle - OU Beaded, $40 (This item has surely been claimed by now.)

BIRD painting by famous artist $50 (Real Famous or just Kinda Famous?)

COAT - Full-length duster type, denim, decorative, M-L, $20 (What? Make a mark in the fashion world fo ronly $20, I'm in.)

PLAYBOY special issues, '76-'93 collectibles, $300. (Pretty good deal as long as you don't mind sticky seconds)

Pajamas (2) Victoria Secrets gown, cute, like new, lg., $3 (insert joke here)

There are also 4 prom dresses of varying sizes and prices of which I wouldn't ;et my daughter touch with a 10-ft pole.

And finally, to just show how far our civilization has come there are 2 tix for Jerry Seinfeld going for $240 and 2tix for the Jonas Bros for $325. I CANTSTANDZYA!

Links of the Day.

A little DJ Williams story for you.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/257873/

Some concern for the New Football King of Chicago.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/chicago-already-wary-of-jay-cutlers-partying-23460

Good News!!!

http://deadspin.com/5222730/cubs-fans-will-never-escape-their-terrible-destiny

Misisipppii Education at its finest.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090421/SPORTS030103/90421035/1287/sports

And one more time for good measure.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-usc-football22-2009apr22,0,3067676.story

My Morning Journey...

This is how we got down this morning...

Some French Fries Frying...

Draining a bit and seasoned to perfection...

A couple of over medium eggs...

Some Sharp Cheddar spread around...

And because I'm a health nut, something called vegetables on top...

That includes mushrooms, onions, red and green peppers...

Some fresh, hot coffee...
Wow, that really looks saladesque. Kudos to my healthy breakfast.

A little more setting for effect...

Haters...

My Morning Destination...

A good breakfast in the nook with the "Anything Under $500 section of the classifieds. Top-Notch... Top Notch...

And one more thing I think is funny...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-usc-football22-2009apr22,0,3067676.story

Its Opening Day!!!!!

Bitches! Hope Springs Eternal! Now warm the F&@% Up!