The pet toy industry is a multi-million dollar money machine. I think I may have missed my calling because if the designs of some of these chewables made it to the store, I *know* I could designed a few like these…with the help of illicit drugs maybe.

Here are two in a possible series where I share how and when, dog toys go bad.

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Not sure what this is or what it’s holding.

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My wife says this looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss nightmare. We now call it “Seuss”.

I’d like to give a little shout out to my brother-in-law Derek, whose birthday we will be celebrating tomorrow even though his birthday was last Thursday. Having birthdays on weekdays usually sucks gym socks. In this case his special “day” was on Thursday. Nobody’s paying attention because everyone’s at work and going about their weekly chores. We needed to decide whether to have a joyous time on Thursday or at the end of this week.

Tomorrow it is!

My birthday was on a Saturday this year so I got to spread out the good cheer over a couple of days. But poor ol’ Derek gets the ‘coin toss’. “When do you want to celebrate your birthday, Derek?” But look at this way buddy, next year you’ll be looking at a Friday night birthday party straight in the eyes!

It’ll be fun tomorrow when we get to see you and eat good food and pretend it’s your magical day.

My wife was picking out candles at the store. She picked up the kind that are actually numbers. Holding a “7″ in her left hand and a “3″ in her right, I said (as I looked over her shoulder) “Wow he doesn’t look a day over 32!”

I crack myself up. She decided on the regular, old fashioned candles. I think they should make question mark candles. That’s what I want on my cake. Next year on a Sunday.

Happy Birthday Derek!

Acorn: Friend or Foe?
Unless you need to store these up for the winter, feed them to pigs, wild turkeys or make acorn fritters, these are headaches with a cap on.

Don’t be fooled by it’s innocent look! They are not cute.

Now if I was an oak tree living my comfortable life span of 200 years or more, the last thing I would want is some little upstart oak trying to catch up to me and take away valuable sunshine. So why would I want to drop thousands of seeds at my base? To get back at all the naked oak furniture stores? To damn the homeowner who throws yet another log on the fire? To make a stand against tree swings? They’re up to something and that something is dropping seed-bombs on top of our HEADS. My wife has been pinged several times. Free falling from 40 to 60 feet up doesn’t make for a tingly feeling. These bad boys hit roof lines and make it sound like an amatuer fire-works display.

A Floridian blogger sums up his frustration about loosing sleep due to acorns falling on the metal carport roof outside his apartment.

Facts Facts Facts:

Acorn production

The oak trees produce acorns once a year during the fall. Acorn production varies year to year and normally alternates. Not even the healthiest and largest oak can accumulate enough food and energy to produce strong crops two years in succession.

HA! I beg to differ!

Mature trees can drop as many as 2200 acorns!

Obligatory Acorn Production Graph

My imagination takes me back to Hitchcock’s Birds. Acorns are slowly moving into non-acorn areas. The garage. The porch. This morning a warning sign found in the kitchen! An acorn CAP! AHHH! How did that happen. It’s not like these things easily get caught in your shoes. They move about on their own. One came down the chimney the other day! The house is encircled.

I’ve got to go. Must buy plywood. Must buy nails. Must change locks.

Interesting article over at The Slate. Jack Schafer pens some points to ponder in his September 7th entry “Don’t Refloat. The case against rebuilding the sunken city.”

Few uninsured landlords and poor home owners have the wherewithal to rebuild—or the desire. And how many of the city’s well-off and wealthy workers—the folks who provide the city’s tax base—will return? Will the doctors, lawyers, accountants, and professors have jobs to return to? According to the Wall Street Journal, many businesses are expected to relocate completely. Unless the federal government adopts New Orleans as its ward and pays all its bills for the next 20 years—an unlikely to absurd proposition—the place won’t be rebuilt.

An interesting read.

Want to find out who’s blogging about 10 ways to use old pantyhose? How about finding a blog about cooking, or someone who has a humorous blog (Wait! You’re here already!) Enter a subject, name or keyword and the results show strictly blogging hits. Enter your name and see if anyone is talking about you behind your back!

http://blogsearch.google.com/

Anagram: A word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, Elvis to Lives.

I haven’t been here in awhile, but if you want to get a snick out of what other words can be made out of your own name try the link below.

http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/

neadfiles =

deaf lines
fine deals
fleas dine (my personal favorite)

Yesterday was Mason’s 7 month benchmark. Here are a couple of pics I’ve taken over the last couple of days. [Clicking on a thumbnail photo will take you to a larger view...you may have to click your browsers 'back' button to get back here!]
He loves standing up – usually assisted – but if there is some good support or something to lean on he takes control. [thumb:114] He’s also very vocal when he wants to be (as most babies are) and lets out squeels, screams, cackles and gutteral grunts that can last for several seconds. [thumb:113] He enjoys being outdoors and spends time watching cars, trucks and tractors roll by the house. The rest of his time is spent plotting ways to escape his Pack ‘n Play in order to get into the grass. [thumb:112]