First glance...what is it?

Shadow wanted me to go outside with her this morning, so I did. Not that I really do anything out there but watch her run around, but I went out. Shadow was running around snooping in everything, and started looking disappointed. Her friend was not in his backyard yet. She had no one to play with. As I sat there, I decided to cut down some more trees by the fence. I grabbed my ratcheting clippers and off I went. I wanted to get at least the privets that were growing in the concrete by the pool. As I was cutting, I noticed something in a pile of wood. It gave me a startle at first until I really looked at it. I couldn't believe my eyes. Was it really what I thought it was?!? Judge for yourself. I had to take a photo of it! Can you tell what it is?Okay, now don't tell me that you didn't think it was a RAT!!!! I thought wow it's either dead or trapped because it never moved!! Now I know why. It was a piece of wood!

After I ran back inside to grab the camera and took the photo of my "rat", I sat back down and watched Shadow play. Her friend finally came outside and she waited so patiently for him to come to the fence.
They wiggled and chatted through the fence for a little bit and then you could tell that he went and got one of his toys. My heart sank and swelled at the same time. When Shadow's friend got his toy, Shadow ran over and grabbed one of her toys and took it to the fence. Man I'm tearing up just typing this. Did I do the right thing and not get her a friend, or not push more to socialize her. It's times like this that I feel like I have failed her as an owner. I know she has love, food, toys, and all of that, but does she have everything she really needs.

We came back in after awhile and Shadow came up and nestled down next to me. Almost in saying, mommy it's ok, I have what I need. What I need is you.

Father's Day

We didn't do a whole lot on Father's Day. I got up and made Jim breakfast of biscuits and gravy with smoked sausage and eggs, while Shadow gave papa his card and gift. We sat around most of the morning just relaxing. It was kind of nice for a change.

A couple of days before, we had just gone out and bought me a new grill. My old grill, the rack was all rusty and gross. Hee hee, a new Halloween prop eh?!?!?! Anyway, Father's day was the day I broke in the grill.

I had made myself some turkey slider patty's that actually weren't that bad. Of course my portion size was four of them!! LOL.Yep I ate them with no bun, mayo, nothing. Surprisingly they weren't dry either.

But here is papa's dinner!!! Yep you can see my mini turkey burger down on the coals basking in the fat and juices of Jim's steak. This was actually a beautiful piece of meat. I got this for our anniversary dinner but then ended up not cooking it. So I used my foodsaver and froze it. There was no freezer burn or anything on this wonderful rib eye. I didn't do anything fancy with it either, just salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder.As you can see the steak came out fantastic!! And of course, I had to throw in a lobster tail too. Not like Jim was complaining at all!!! I got a couple of bites of the steak just to taste it, I didn't want any more than that. Honest!!! It was very good. Tender, and juicy. All in all I think it was a good Father's day for all, especially Jim. He deserves a day at least once a year! LOL

6/20/09 At the gym with Mom & Kelly

Kelly had a dentist appointment on Saturday, and I had my self defense class to go to. So I thought to myself, how am I going to get all of this done. Then it came to me. If I take mom and Kelly to the gym with me, they could work out while I go to my self defense class. I got them a one day pass and here they are proudly showing them off in front of Gold's Gym.

Kelly has that wild eyed look of I'm going to do this! The funny part of all of this is that she is lifting 5 pound weights. Hee hee. She didn't want to work out with the 17.5 pound weights I use.

I know it's hard to tell, but Kelly really isn't falling asleep on this....at least I don't think she was. LOL. I had both her and mom set up on pushing 40 pounds on these leg presses. Mom was surprised that she could do these and it not hurt her hip. That's a good thing. If she breaks her hip one more time, I'm going to have to kill her.

Here mom and Kelly are working on the backs of their arms and shoulders. I had them set up at 10 pounds, and they couldn't believe how hard it was. We only did about one set of these before it was time for my class to start.

This had to be the funniest photo of all!! I set both of them up on just a flat surface going at about a 40 minute mile. Mom keeps saying that she would like a treadmill but after walking on this one for awhile, I think she may change her mind. I don't know how long they actually stayed on the treadmills because I was in class, but they were huffing nicely. Hee hee. They sat and watched me finish out my class and I introduced them to my instructors Carl and Adrian.

Mom was so proud that she worked off 86 calories!!! I didn't have the heart to tell her that 86 calories is barely her coffee. LOL.

They seemed to have a lot of fun, and I was able to get them to Kelly's appointment on time. They got to see what I go through for strength training and what one of my karate classes looks like.

By the way, I haven't heard anymore about working out or wanting a treadmill or exercise tapes...hummm. LOL.