Hey, been a while, thought I'd say "hi". Got some cool stuff going on and some uncool stuff, but no time right now so I'll get back at you later!

Bird Cam

Water

Gratitude

O.k. so you've heard me complain about the snow, the rain, the cold. Ive whined about unemployment..
I forget...
It's all in the viewpoint, I tend to be a glass half empty sort of a person, so it comes out negatively.
Sometimes a few moments of reflection can change what seems to be a totally bad situation to a relatively positive one.
Without a rehash of the details I can say my life is a little better off than those in Japan, or on the coast, or one of the countless families who have someone in the military. For those people times are tough!!
Let's face it times are challenging, either you will step up or crumble and fold. A lot of the time I feel like folding but somehow I always find one foot moving forward on the other. I've heard folks say that they're tired, I am, my wife is, aren't we all? Yet when I lay my head down to sleep I can't, they call it nervous energy. My mind just spins looking for options, a better, a easier way. Know what that means? It means I still Hope...
And for that I thank God..

Bulldogs

To be exact, they are American Bulldogs. Lizzy with her sweater on and Ms. Trinity on the right.
I've shared photos of my other bullies, but never told how we got into bullies.
Not a long story, My daughter Britt started asking for a dog when she was about 4. Sometime around the time she turned 6 we finally got a place where we could have a dog, so we went to the Humane Society. They had a litter of 12 of these little brown and white dogs that were solidly built, Britt instantly fell in love. Only one of them wasn't definitely spoken for, so we left our name and number and the next day they called and said the puppy was ours. So Britt got her pup! The papers the H.S. gave us on her had her as a mix between a Australian shepherd and a bull dog, hmmm..
At the vets for a puppy check, the receptionist said, "wow, that's a really nice American Bulldog pup you have." What? I'd never heard of a American. She was very healthy, however, I was going to need to socialize her because Americans are fighters. Well that's a different story, suffice it to say Lizzy turned into A very sweet family dog, so long as you didn't let any of the other family dogs around her. I still loved her!!! So years later when one of our other dogs had to go, Ms. Lea asked me what kind of dog we wanted to get to replace it with, I said " A bull dog", and so started this families love affair with our bullies. When Lizzy died about 5 years ago, we had 2 Olde English Bulldogges, so decided to get another American and socialize her with them, thus, Ms. Trinity! She's 100 lbs of rambunctiousness, so much so that the smaller OEB's get mad at her and get on her, but I'll tell you right now, 100 lbs of big old tough American bull dog or not she's the sweetest dog anyone could ever own!!
I LOVE ALL OF MY BULLIES!!
MR. FREEWAY, MS.MAZY, MS.TRINITY.

They're the best!!!

Hen House

I build chicken coops. I build lots of chicken coops.
For many years when the weather got really bad or I had to spend all day tying rebar with my hands at my feet, (back pain) I would swear that I would someday find something I could do at home in a nice warm comfy garage. Well I found something to do at home, only I don't have a nice warm comfy garage, I still freeze when it's cold. Now don't get me wrong, I've found something to do that I'm very good at and for the most part I enjoy, I thank god everyday for the money that gets us by, but... well at times I get tired of building the same coops over and over. It has to be done that way in order to be cost effective but it gets boring doing my designs over and over, so sometimes I take on a coop that's a little different.
About 6 months ago I was contacted by a guy from Crescent City Ca.. Yep, the very same CC that was just hit by the tsunami last Saturday, any way he wanted one of my smaller coops but with some alterations to the original design. Treated 4x4's, expensive plywood, drop out ladder, corner trim, etc.
It was fun to build and to be perfectly honest with you I'm pretty damn proud of the finished product!! What do you think?

Driveway?

This used to be the back drive way to the back door of the garage, and access to the wood shed. It seems to have turned into a creek this year! Last year it was merely a little wet out here, if you drove in it the vehicles tires would spin, I think now if you drove in it you'd probably need a tow truck to get you out, if it didn't just wash you down stream into the river.