Blink. Blink. Closed?!

Off to Colorado with Trevor and the dogs for two GLORIOUS, fun-filled weeks of hiking in the mountains.

Don't miss me too much!

Explosion...

Here are my pictures from this morning's gas explosion. They were all taken around 10:15 AM from the roof of the museum where I work.

Did anyone hear the boom or see the flames?

Just for laughs...

An owl 'dedicated fan' at the Harry Potter book release party on Friday night...

Reunion Tower built out of magazines (yes, I was bored)...

Trevor posing as Queen Latifah...

I know, I know. These pictures totally made your day, huh?!
:P

I love this cartoon...

Yep. That pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.
(As if I wouldn't AUTOMATICLY side with Snoopy, Scooby, Goofy, Underdog & the rest of the gang!)

A Series of Unfortunate Events…

So, there is a lot of bad karma going around lately. Why? Yeah, no clue. It seems to be contagious, though, and I’m kind of convinced that my bad luck has now rubbed off on poor Trevor.

I’m not really sure when my bad luck began, but it was sometime last spring (you may remember THIS POST and THIS POST). Since then things haven’t improved, only gotten worse. A LOT worse.

I’ll spare you the complete run down of all the “oh-woe-is-me” moments that have transpired over the past couple of months. Instead, let me sum it up with the following:

- I was almost fired for something I didn't do.

- There are about a gazillion rumors going around about me at the office. None of them are true.

- I was selected to sit on jury for a two day criminal trial at a time when sitting on a jury could not have been more inconvenient.

- I came down with a nasty sinus infection.

- My garage door came off its track and almost fell on me and my car.

- Fire ants got into my electrical box AND ate the wood-siding surrounding it.

- My neighbors have made my dog neurotic (a story I will tell at a later date), and Gypsy Kitty is now eating – yes, EATING – the front door.

Then, to make matters worse, I had three consecutive days of 666. This is NEVER a warm fuzzy feeling. Worse still: it all started on the 6th day of July! Coincidence? I think not!

DAY ONE: I was holding my portable phone under my arm when it started beeping at me. This was weird because I frequently carry my portable phone around under my arm, and have never had it beep at me before. Alarmed, I removed said phone from my arm pit and was horrified to discover that it was flashing 666 at me.

DAY TWO: I went to Jamba Juice and ordered a smoothie for lunch. My total? $6.66!

DAY THREE: While driving to see a movie, we were passed by a large pick up truck. The first three letters of the license plate: 666!

All this 666 nonsense was extremely disconcerting, and I was kind of convinced that something really bad was (or possibly still is) about to happen. So. Not. Cool.

Now, all the bad luck seems to have been caught by Trevor (like the flu, but different). Last week ALONE Trevor was:

- Stuck in a pretty dramatic hail storm in North Dallas.

- Left stranded at the Movie Trading Company after his car broke down.

- Evicted from his apartment.

It is important to mention that Trevor was only evicted from his apartment because the owners are planning on remodeling the entire complex. He isn’t a bad tenant. He just has bad luck.

Anyway, last week I went to Home Depot, and opted for self checkout. After completing my purchase, I discovered two things:

1. The person before me had forgotten their change (almost $20).

2. Some one had left an envelope with about 25 $20 bills on top of the register.

I was ecstatic. Finally! A way to appease Karma! I immediately turned both the unclaimed change and envelope full of cash over to the employee supervising the self checkout area. I felt sure that this act would help turn my luck around. Unfortunately, though, not much has changed. Just yesterday I managed to cut myself pretty badly with a dull razor while shaving my legs. Le sigh. Maybe I’m cursed?

In other news, I’m trying to find comfort in the fact that others have also had a streak of bad luck recently. After all, misery loves company, right? Alas. Maybe there is some sort of astrological trigger behind it all? Not that I really buy into that kind of stuff or anything, but I haven’t spoken to a Leo lately that wasn’t having a bad day, month or year. Grrrr…

~ The End ~

Driving to the ranch...

As you may remember, we traveled to Lampasas for my sister's confirmation recently. Here are some of the photos from the drive down:

Rain clouds + sunset = BEAUTIFUL

I love road trips with views like these…

The sun hitting the earth (at 70 mph)…

How AWESOME is this car?!

I love that it is “highway legal”!

~ The End ~

Things that make me go, "Hmmmm"...

Can we please take a second to discuss this picture?




Please note the three girls in the image. Yes, yes…I’m the one in the white sweater, but that is beside the point. Would you have ever guessed:

1) I am the only one of the three that has never been married.

2) The girl in blue has been engaged, married, divorced and engaged for a second time – all in substantially less time than Trevor and I have been together.

3) My father dated the mother of the girl in blue a couple of years ago, which was definitely interesting. Her mother is now a professional ballroom dancer, and knows all the people on Dancing with the Stars. She’s also had a lot of work done and smokes like a chimney, but that’s neither here nor there.

4) The girl in red (who I’ll refer to as “R”) is now retired. Yes, retired. Whereas most people wait until the age of 65, “R” was well ahead of the curve when she comfortably retired last summer at the ripe old age of 25. I’m not sure if I should roll my eyes or be impressed.

Similarly:

1) Why don’t I have a crayon?

2) Why does “R” have three?

3) Did “R” steal my crayon?

4) What is up with our facial expressions? None of us look even remotely amused.


Anyway, this post doesn’t really have a point. I just found the picture and thought I’d share.

The end.

The Tail End of the Tail Tale...

Just incase anyone was wondering about the state of Haskell’s tail:
both dog and tail are doing much better now.

I know everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.

(weird dog...)

For anyone who missed the fireworks...

(Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!!!)

Like Tennis Elbow, but different...

It’s true. Haskell broke his tail.

Well, I guess his tail really isn’t broken-broken. Just paralyzed-broken. He can’t move it at all. Not even a little bit. It’s pretty pathetic.

I first noticed the problem on Sunday night. We had just returned from a weekend at the ranch, and I was getting ready for bed. All of a sudden, I heard this panicked squeaking coming from the living room. Concerned, I immediately went to the source, where I found Haskell chewing frantically on his tail.

My initial thought was that there must be some sort of biting insect on him. So, I bent down and tried to find the culprit. However, Haskell was having none of it. I barely even touched his tail when Haskell let out a howl of pain. He’s normally quite the drama-king, but this sounded serious.

It was about that time that Haskell stood up, and I got my first good look at his tail. Normally, Haskell holds his tail straight up – prominently waving what Trevor and I refer to as his “white flag” (see picture below). Conversely, the tail I was looking at was, well, limp. Completely limp, actually. I almost mistook it for “scared” until I realized that his tail wasn’t tucked between his legs (classic sign for “I’m scared” in Dog). Instead, Haskell’s tail just…hung there. No wag, no nothing. Something was definitely amiss.

Tail = Normal

Tail = Not Normal
(he was walking forward in this picture, which is why his tail looks raised a bit)

Again, I tried to touch his tail to feel for swelling, puncture wounds or something of that nature that would account for Haskell’s limp tail. However, he didn’t want me anywhere near it. Every time I tried to touch it, Haskell would squeak dramatically and spin around to face me – putting his whole little body between me and his ailing appendage.

So, not knowing what else to do, I decided to let him outside to "use the facilities”. I kept waiting to see Haskell’s tail return to its normal upright position, and was disappointed. I wasn’t overly concerned, however, until I watched Haskell try to…uhmmm…well, poo. The poor, little guy couldn’t move his tail out of the way! This especially bothered Haskell who tried to fix the problem by spinning in circles and biting at his tail – all from the classic pooing-dog-squat position. Under different circumstances, I’m sure I would have found the situation humorous.

Alarmed, I briefly considered rushing Haskell to the emergency vet. Then, I remembered that I still had one of his pain pills left over from his shoulder operation. So, I found some cheese in the fridge, rolled it into a ball and hid the pill inside of it.

Standard giving-of-treat procedures require my dogs to assume the “sit” position. So, it was no surprise for me to turn around and find Haskell trying to sit down. I say “trying to sit down” because he wasn’t successful. His tail kept getting in the way. Every time he attempted to sit, his tail would ram into the floor instead of wrapping around his body like normal. It was so painful to watch that I finally just gave the dog the cheese. I just couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

Anyway, after administering the cheese/pill ball, I put Haskell in his “box” (a.k.a. crate), before going to bed myself. It took awhile to get to sleep, however, because poor Haskell kept crying and squeaking from the other room. Finally, though, the pain pill started to work its magic and my little dog fell asleep.

The next morning I found myself hoping (against hope) that Haskell’s tail had repaired itself over night. However, this wasn’t the case. So, after getting dressed, I took Haskell and his broken tail to the doggie doctor.

The vet, after a very thorough examination of Haskell’s spine and tail, diagnosed the condition as "Swimmers Tail". That’s right: My dog that does NOT swim has a problem called SWIMMERS TAIL. This is like having Tennis Elbow and not playing tennis, in my opinion. Just my luck.

Apparently, Swimmers Tail is common in Labs (of which Haskell is presumably half), and occurs after a dog overexerts either himself or his tail. In the case of Haskell, it was probably both (we did spend the weekend at the ranch, after all). Anyway, what it comes down to is that my dog managed to temporarily paralyze his tail. A feat previously thought to be impossible (at least by me).

Hopefully, after several days of “box rest”, anti-inflammatory and anti-pain medication Haskell’s tail will return to its normal, upright, wiggly self.

Until then, though, I have a dog with a broken tail (who has proven once and for all that it IS possible to have too much of a good time). How ever did I get SO lucky?!

See?! No tail! How tragic!

Stupid Tail!

Another "gnome quote", if you will...

On driving to Lampasas to get confirmed at the family church:

My sister: “You have to drive safe, Trevor. My soul hasn’t been saved yet.”