Now if you look real close at these blurry pics, you can see the vicious mouse that is attacking Spike.
It was hard to get good photos, as the fight was fast paced and it was really dark outside. I'm sure this was a struggle of epic proportions.
In the end Spike won the battle. He ate the small beast, and threw it up the next day. Good boy, mighty hunter.
So one day last month I get this call from Chris. He and I work together (sort of) so we call each other throughout the day to complain about (aboot for you Canadians) traffic, our boss, customers, our boss...you get the idea. "Guess what just arrived?" he says "Our (special edition) Utilikilts for entering the mock-u-mercial contest." He's as giddy as a school girl. "But they didn't send just kilts, you won't believe what the sent."
So I'm sitting in my car, outside an account, and he goes over everything they sent. The kilt, a special edition hoodie, and a check for $150.00 in-store credit. "Holy crap" I said, "how come?" Well, it turns out the kilts didn't turn out the way they had planned. The silk screen doesn't adhere to denim very well so it just flakes off. The black denim bleeds into the white denim (on the pockets) and the thing ways about 5 pounds, maybe more (should I break that down into metric for our friends and family up north?).
Oh yeah, here is Taylor's golden snitch cake before I forget. The wings took Morgan and I about an hour to do and it's filled with chocolate fudge swirl ice cream. I also made cupcakes (because we knew that this would not be nearly enough cake) with an H, S, G,and R on them. The initials of the 4 houses. She had quite the haul this year.
So anyway back to the free stuff. Screen print, schmeen print... who cares it looks better when its all scratched up and faded anyway. And if I just keep picking at it, it will all be gone soon anyway. The hoodie is hella cool (that's right, I said hella, I'm from Northern California. Screw you) the stitching is all on the outside, so its super soft, and the hood is extra huge to fit my fat head. The in-store credit went to a new black workman kilt, now I have one for every day of the week. I just need a new job so I can wear it to work.
Step inside, Morgan and I made this path. Taylor and I planted 2 rows of carrots on the left and a row of radishes on the right.
On the left, I've planted some crookneck squash, dill, cucumber, cilantro, basil,and 4 tomatoes.
At the end of the path, I planted 2 red bell peppers, and an Anaheim pepper.
On the right, I planted pumpkins, zucchini, summer squash, yellow zucchini, and another crookneck, because Shannon likes them.
I just like this picture 'cause it looks like a face...or boobs depending on how much beer you've had. 
Taylor planted peas at the fence posts, and flowers along the fence line. That's pretty much the whole thing except for the hops, which are coming along nicely now after the initial shock of being moved. I'll take some pictures of those when they are a bit taller. 
This year I'm trying to get an early start on the garden. Most of the time I'm trying to plant it at the last minute. This year my friend Phil and I pulled out 3 stumps. Well 1 stump and 2 bushes, but we pulled them out the roots. Hopefully they won't come back.
Usually I just plant my garden in this small strip, but this year I want to move the hops over here.
This year I used Phil's rototiller and did this larger section. I amended the soil with horse manure from Elayne (she's got lots of it). 
Just look at that dirt, now I need to figure out what to plant.
This is the morning after the show. I asked Shannon to take some pictures so I could send them to Utilikilts for a contest (hopefully another free kilt, no I don't know what the other free kilt looks like yet).
Yes, these are my new cool Vans. I saw them when I was buying some shoes for Morgan, and had to come back for them.
I can't do my 'Brain Age' with you staring and taking pictures of me. Ya done?
look at that great smile, it looks sort of like her brothers.
which looks sort of like mine, but not as good.
AND ANOTHER THING!!!!!
This is my old school (Clifton), it has since become the "independent learning high school" (Redwood). They are tearing it down to build a new facility, because even the F--- ups need a clean state of the art place to learn.
This is the last remaining wing, I got in so much trouble here.
This year we had a party for Morgan during the day, and he had a sleep over that night. The party was good, and the sleep over was pretty good. Morgan had 2 friends spend the night, Kane (who was great), and Justin (who can be a total snotty little jerk). Justin brought his PS2 over, so the kids could play Guitar Hero. I was out picking up some Zachery's when they were trying to hook up the PS2, when I got home they were having some trouble. It turns out that when I hung the TV on the wall, and I ran a connector around (the connectors for our TV are all in the back) to the front, I hooked up the S-connector as well and it cancels out the RCA connector.
We could hear the sound but no picture. I realized this and said "I know why it won't work"
Here is Shannon on the computer (probably fixing my financial screw-ups). She's been having a tough time at work lately, and I know my overspending for Christmas doesn't help with her sanity. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, but you're worth it.
So I got my kilt back last week and I'm very happy to have it. I gotta tell you, I don't wear my tan original much anymore (it's a little big) so it seemed like I only had one kilt. They just stitched it up (which Shannon could have done) but it only cost $5 for shipping and they fixed it for free. Thanks to Joe at Utilikilts for all of his help.
This is me and Taylor in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle (yes I wore a kilt). We had a great time, and learned a few things too. Such as; Sleeping Beauty's Castle was not wheelchair accessible and there was no way to put in an elevator, so they had to close it. The Monorail is a very complicated system, and it's not easy to pull off a train to work on, so in the off season (now) they only run one train. Also, those damn pins cost too much. When you buy 1 or 2 it's no big deal, but when you walk around the park and see more and more. That crap adds up, and you don't notice until later and you have no money for food.
This is California Adventure in the day (well, dusk).
This is California Adventure at night (well almost night, Ca Adventure closes at 6pm in the off season).
Yes, we do the character breakfast for my benefit not the kids. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a breakfast buffet. I like to see the kids (not just my own kids) reaction to the characters walking around and coming up to them at breakfast like it was normal. So cut me some slack, this is where Disney magic really happens. Oh yeah, some rides are hard to get on when you're wearing a kilt. 'Nuff said!!
It starts with this washing machine, never buy this "Kenmore Elite" no matter what the fuck Consumer Reports says about it. (BTW they rated it #1 for 2 or 3 years, bullshit!) I loaded it this morning and set the timer, so it would be done before I got home. When I opened the door I knew something was wrong.
I saw my brown Workman kilt in the front but it didn't look right. I pulled it out and saw a huge tear. Right across one of the pleats. This is not the first time this washer has torn our clothes. We had 2 of Shannon's shirts torn and 1 of the sheets for our bed.
This is Morgan and Taylor handing out candy to our first trick or treaters of the night. After this was taken, Taylor and I headed out and Morgan stayed home w/Corinne. Taylor had to pee about halfway through so we came home. Morgan went out with us the rest of the night.
Morgan wore the same costume as last year, but I don't think it will fit him for long. I wore them out, I asked them if they wanted to keep going but they said they were tired.
Taylor was Catwoman. She looked great, and for the first time I can remember she was warm. Shannon made her boots and hood part of the mask. Look at her belt, its a whip (nice touch).
These were our pumpkins, Morgans on the left, mine in the middle and Taylor's on the right. We carved these on Saturday night. we normally carve pumpkins at our friend Ryan's house, but this year he couldn't do it. So everyone came over here, and we carved them downstairs. The tile was easy to clean and everyone had a good time. I wish Shannon was here to enjoy Halloween with us, but we'll just have to have a bigger Halloween next year.
Shannon's out of town, so I took the kids out to D&E's for the corn maze. When we got there we found this. Apparently, they bought a manure spreader. WOW!!!! is all I can say. A whole machine dedicated to spreading shit.
So Taylor, Morgan, and I jumped in the back of the truck. Darryl hooked-up the poo thrower, and we drove out to the field. Darryl hops out of the truck and flips the handle. He climbs back into the truck and off we go.
Look at that poo flying through the air. It has these tines on the back, so you could say that the shit really hits the fan. I swear monkeys at the zoo are jealous. It's quite the sight, I have to say. It will save them a lot of time cleaning up after the horses. Lets face it there is nothing like flying crap. It's craptastic.
These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at Steve's house. We had another crab boil for his birthday. No crayfish this time, as they to much work and not enough meat. We had a ton of crab, shrimp, clams, and 1 lobster. delicious.
This is Peter, Steve's brother-in-law, I had him try on one of my kilts and he wore it all night. He said "I thought it would be comfortable, but it's more comfortable than I thought it would be". Steve's brother Philip tried it on later, and his girlfriend looked at him with pure lust in her eyes. I've actually never seen anything like it. Peter's wife Jen said he would be getting one for his birthday or Christmas. I'm not exaggerating about the lust thing, she almost needed a drool cup.
Well, the crawl is next week, and I am looking forward to it. I will drink to Becky's memory, and finish someone elses drink in her honor. Shannon might not be able to come because of work. But she said she might try to trade days or shifts with someone. I hope she can because I like to have her around. Sometimes she says she feels like an outsider because she doesn't get to hang out with the group (because of work), and I understand this (I used to work crappy shifts too). But when she's not there, I think of her constantly (maybe not constantly , I sound like a total PW sap, but a lot). Hope to see you at the crawl next year Kelly.
This is my new 'Workman Utilikilt'. Pretty cool? Yes, thank you. Shut up, it's been years since my legs saw this much sun. It's gonna take some time to get them tan. My new kilt is an early Christmas present (I know it's reeeaaalllyyy early) and it has some nice features.
The hammer loop is adjustable. So it can hold my 2nd favorite tool (shown), or a Dewalt drill. It's made of 100% cotton duckcloth, so it's nearly indestructible (Superkiltman). I plan on wearing it to work in the yard tommorrow, hopefully it won't be as hot as today but at least I'll have A.C.
Two fat back pockets. Which kilt should I wear on the crawl?
So ever since we got back from vacation I've been looking at real estate prices in Seattle. I know we can't move, I think Shannon's mom might kill us. (I live in fear for my life, really) I was just interested how much a house would cost. Well then my friend Steve told me it rains like 300 days a year (oh yes, I forgot). The only reason is to be closer to the utilikilts store (I'm so selfish). 
Maybe I should open a store in town? Utilikilts has a wholesale program. I could sell boots and kilts and belts and kilts and shirts and kilts and stuff and kilts...Another pipe dream. Oh well next week I'm back at work, in pants.
