Some things just never get old
Thanks to Ron for the pic

The next national threat There really hasn't been too much to be happy about lately. We worry about insane hurricanes, gas prices, rising interest rates, and another season of 'Joey'.

On top of it all, we now have to deal with invisible dancing Japanese men. And we'd never even know they were here. BTW. Yes, that is real. Pretty slick.

Decorating decisions Did you notice in the picture below that the kitchen tile matches the dog? That's not exactly a coincidence.

My little conehead

Well, as you can see, Belle took a little step back over the weekend. We went to get her stitches out, turns out she ripped one and had an infection.

On top of that, the drainage system had to go back in for another week, and the cone had to remain on at all times. None of us slept very well on Tuesday night. We had to barricade her in the kitchen and she cried all night long. The next day we got her some sedatives. Poor dog was so drugged she was snoring with her eyes open. But she slept well.

Tonight she's doing pretty well. She played around with her ball a little bit. We tried to take the cone off for a bit, but she went right for the stitches, so back on it went. She seems to have stopped draining, and the stitches come out tomorrow. So hopefully she'll be back to normal like she was before.

Poor Puppy A few weeks ago, we noticed a lump under one of Belle's nipples. We weren't over alarmed, she has a lump on her chest, but it's just a group of fat cells. But hey, as concerned parents, we'd get her checked out.

So Beth takes her in and the vet pretty much says "I don't know what this is, but it needs to come out". OK, fine, we'll just bring her back in, do a little operation, and she'll be be back to normal in no time. Still, it is a little unnerving when your puppy needs to have surgery.

I took a day off last Monday, figured the operation would take a few hours and I'd pick her up after lunch. So I call back around noon and they tell me she's still sleeping, try back at 4:30. Ok, fine, I'll just go back to doing what I've been doing all day: laying on the couch in the fetal position staring at a blank TV screen.

So at 4:30, I burst through the vet's door ready to get my puppy back. Still no luck. They want to keep her overnight. You know, Maybe this story is better told from this point of view:

"Wait are you leaving me? I hate it when people leave. Oh wait, what's that? I that my leash? Is is walk time? Yesssss! I love walks. This is the best morning ever. Hey buddy, the door's this way. Whoah, wait, you're taking me to the garage? OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod, I'm going for a ride. I love rides. Ok ok, this is so exciting. Eh, I'll just lay down until we get wherever we're going. Oh, he's slowing down and turning! We must me there! Hooray! Where are we? What's that smell? It smells like the vet, but it doesn't look like the vet (We have a new one). Hey! This IS vet. You're killing me here. Hey the door's over there, I'm making a break for it. Ow, leash, leash, I keep forgetting about the leash. Ok, fine, I'll go with the lady, but if they stick a thermometer up my butt, I'm peeing all over the place. Hey, that kinda pricked a bit, Why did you do that? I didn't like that I...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

So she wakes up partially drugged alone in a cage in a strange room with a cut in her belly and a cone on her head. Yeah, she's seen better nights.

Tuesday morning, I rush to the vet. They bring her out with a pink bandage around her waist. She just wags her tail a bit and licks my leg. She again tries to make a break for the door, unfortunately, there was too much slack in the leash, and yes to a drugged dog, the door looked open. But hey, she's already on painkillers, so I doubt she felt it.

The first day back she pretty much slept. Didn't eat, but drank a lot of water. The tumor was the size of a goose egg, and thank god, benign. She's steadily getting better, but not 100% yet. She's supposed to get the stitches out tomorrow, but she's still draining fluid, so we don't know. But we have our puppy back and she's going to be ok.

that's a bunch of.....oh wait. So the Gators beat North Southest Louisiana Tech or whoever tonight. I had to listen to the game because of course, it wasn't televised. In fact, neither were the FSU or USF games. I guess the God of College Football Programming figured we'd want to watch Nebraska-Wake Forest or Alabama-Southern Miss instead. I have apologize for this. When I performed the usual morning offering to the GoCFP, I accidently did the dance of Reality TV Reruns. So no UF football on TV today. (BTW, the Apprentice marathon kicked ass!)

Anyway, so yes, UF is now 2-0, which given our scheduling policy, I mean, when was the last time we weren't two and oh? So I headed on over to Gatorsports.com to check out some of the articles, and there's Vince Dooly saying, "Dude, it's been a while since we've been 2-0".

Did you ever have one of those nights where the most famous columnist in Gator sports tells you that we haven't been 2-0 in four years? As in 2001?! As in Stever Spurrier?!?!

The old man is right. In 2002 & 2003, our second games were against Miami, both losses. Last year, the game against Middle Tennesee State was postponed to Oct 16th (our wedding day), making Tennessee the second game, in which we lost. So, yup, for the past three years, we were 1-1.

A family of leaders Apparently jealous of the plethora of insightful comments from her son, Barabara Bush states that the refugees in the Astrodome are "underprivileged anyway, so this is working -- hah hah -- very well for them!"

One would think that the Bushes, with all their money, could at least hire a few "discretion advisors" to follow them around, just for situations like this. "Psst, Hey Barbara, shut the fuck up!"

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