Grand Photos

Wintry Night at the Dog Park

Yesterday I returned from my trip West to the Grand Canyon. It was exciting to see all of the snow on the ground. Kona had been staying at Howladay Inn and while I was away stole the hearts of the entire staff. She may be large, clumsy, excitable and partial to licking faces, but she will eventually win over most people if given the chance. Kona's first order of business upon seeing me was to barrel toward me with no regard to our physical well-being. As a reward, I took her to the completely empty dog park and let her chase me around. Winter with my dog is a great time.

Pumpkin Stroll

Downtown Midland hosts annually the Midland Pumpkin Stroll. Daniel and I decided to help host the event, which means handing out candy to thousands of tiny ghouls, ghosts, princesses, and ultra sneaky ninjas. Star Wars outfits were popular, there were more than a few Iron Man costumes, and plenty of Batman impostors. We went through $300 worth of candy! Daniel's kids even came out to help us pass out candy.

Now you see it, Now you don't!

The newest addition to the house is a vanishing waterfall. As you can see, it magically flows from the side of my deck and the water vanishes into a stone pond. The noise of the flowing water in my backyard is very relaxing. It's not very large, but the amount of rock it takes to create and decorate a waterfall is ridiculous. I've started stopping on the side of roads when I see a nice rock that might complement the waterfall. This is the "me standing over waterfall" view. There were no birds around to take photos for me.

Really?

Is it really possible that Lego and Kellogg would team up to create a Lego fruit snack? Hopefully this will turn out to be a joke.

http://www2.kelloggs.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=8213

Crime Scene

I decided to stain the beadboard in my kitchen. Instead of the natural wood color, I've decided to use a red stain. My trip to pick up the stain began at 8:30 pm on Friday. I spent some time with the Home Depot paint department, and they color matched the stain to the red in my living room. They packed my quart of stain in a thin plastic bag along with a couple cans of spray insulation, paintbrushes, etc. I pulled into my garage, parked the car, exited the vehicle and just as I picked the bag up the bottom fell out and the stain hit the floor forcing the lid open. My concrete was covered with a huge red puddle of stain. For the next hour I was spraying red water down my driveway and scrubbing my floor in red stained clothing. My neighbors haven't talked with me since.




Home Depot did replace my stain free of charge, and even gave me rags and some cleaning solvents to remove the red tint from my garage. I give them an A+ for customer service. Sorry, Lowes, you still lose.

Home Improvement

I replaced two doors on my house this weekend. See: