Weekend Warrior's

So this weekend is Memorial Day weekend and we are in the mood to work on the front yard. Of course the weather is not working out too well with it raining but I guess it will make it easier for us to pull up the grass and get ready to build our fence.

The little boy is almost back to new. He is still wearing his cone and will get his staples removed sometime next week hopefully. He is not too excited about staying in the house and keeping his actions to a minimum but he will get over it.

Well I will post some pictures of our progress on the yard when it stops raining and hopefully it will be a fun weekend.

Rockhound

Well I just wanted to post a quick note. Puma ended up not getting the rock out of his stomach so he went in to surgery yesterday. The doctor said that it was a 90% chance that it wasn't coming out on it's own and that it could have long term affects if it stays in too long. He says that he has done this many times and specializes in this sort of surgery. So everything went well and now he has a long recovery to come. They removed the rock and stapled him back up but now he is one unhappy boy. I am hoping last night was the worst of it because he pretty much cried all night and can't lay down so he tried his hardest to sit up and fall asleep(photo explains). Today he finally waged his tail at me after going outside so a little of him is there behind all the effects of the drugs. Needless to say that any rocks that are in the yard are going to go!! Not sure if he will do it again but I don't want to increase his odds. Not the best birthday present for Emma and I!

Playing with rocks!!

Ok so yesterday I was in the backyard with the pup and he was playing with a rock that he likes to role around in his mouth. He looked up at me and POOF, it was gone. Yep that's right, down the hatch it went! It's a pretty good size rock but at least it's a river rock so it's smooth. I called the vet right away and they said to wait it out and see if it passes. He seems to be doing ok for now but if it doesn't come out then he may have to have it removed. Crazy kid!!

So yesterday I took off work to go in Jury Duty for the second time. I originally went in a week ago and they had about 200 people fill out a long set of questions and then took our picture. They called us back in groups of 8 to be interviewed. They started us out in a group and then individually spoke to us later on. I was picked to be on the panel of 50 and then once they decide to pick the 15, 12 jurors and 3 alternates, they will call me and let me know. I doubt I will get picked but who knows. The trial is supposed to start on the 30th of this month and last for 3 weeks. It's a murder trial so that will not be too fun but interesting for sure. Some of the people that were in my group drove me a bit nuts since I was the only one who brought anything to read and they had to make small talk. Hopefully I won't get stuck with any of them if I am on the jury!

The rings and other news!

Ok so it's been a while since the last post. I have been a bit busy at work and at home.

So the plans are still coming along for the wedding. Emma sent out the "Save the Date" cards which she worked very hard on. It was a long process but fun as well. I couldn't help much since I don't have too much creativity but I did get to help on the design. But all of the credit goes to Emma. She just loves doing that stuff even though she has very little time to work on them. Of course she already has plans for the invitations so that should be fun.

Sunday we purchased our rings for the wedding!!! It was a lot of fun checking out all the designs and styles that were available. The pictures above are pretty close to what we picked. Emma found just the right wrap or whatever it's called for her ring to go with her engagement ring. It turned out really nice. Too bad we have to wait so long to wear them but time is flying by. Some of the arrangements have been set up including location, who is going to marry us, an idea of who we want for the photographer and who will cater the festivities. I will post more about that once it's more final.

This weekend Emma's mom and Abdel are coming to visit!!!! Should be a great time. It will be nice for them to see the us and the house and to show them around the wonderful city of Portland!! Emma has all the places picked out on where we should go and what we they should see. Plus this Sunday is Mother's Day which worked out nicely. I don't want to jinx it too much but the weather has been really great lately so hopefully it will continue for the visit.

Mom and dad are at the Grand Canyon this week. They are taking a fun mule ride down into the canyon for the day and then back up. Should be a good time and maybe after they return I can get some pictures to post of the trip.

Well that's it for now. I will try and take some pictures of the visit and post them when I get a chance. Oh and thanks for all the comments that everyone has been posting. It's nice to know I am posting stuff that does get read. At least I hope it's a bit interesting. I will try and post more often.

Neighborly Introductions

So we have finally met some of our neighbors. Since the weather is warmer more people are out and about which has led to a few interesting introductions.

We were working on our fence to take it down on our own since we couldn't find someone to show up and take it for free and that's when the introductions began. Tom came over to ask what we were doing with the fencing and we said we were going to sell it. He asked how much we wanted for it and we asked for $200. He said he would think about it and get back to me. Shortly after that he came back as I was digging out the first post, and said "If you stop what you are doing now, I will give you $125 and pull out the rest of the posts". Needless to say the shovel dropped from my hand to shake his and say "It's a DEAL!" He pulled all the posts yesterday and the day before and took all the rest of the fencing as well. He introduced me to our other neighbor who we had never even seen once. He never leaves the house and Tom says he spends most of his time in the garage smoking and drinking....NICE!! He was nice but I forgot his name which won't matter much since I don't plan on venturing into his haven.

Another introduction happened when we were getting rid of all the bark chips in the front yard. An old man...and I mean old, stopped his car across the street and walked right up to shake my grimy hand, "I'm Kermit King" he said. We introduced ourselves and he stated that he was the landlord for our neighbors next door. He wanted to let us know that if we ever had an problems with them we could contact him to let him know. Of course I didn't mention the many items that get thrown into our yard nor the incident of the urine filled condoms that were thrown into the yard and into our house!!! Yes one of them made it into our window when it was open!! I had a talk with the father of the little hooligans and he said they were sorry and even later on wrote us letters to again say they were sorry.

Finally Tom got to talking, which he does very well, and ended up inviting us to the Big Pig Roast this summer. He said they have been doing it for 3 years now and it's supposed to be the best Pig Roast in all the land! He told me all about how they cook the pig and what is all involved. This will surely introduce us to more neighbors and all of Tom's biker friends!

That's all for now. Pictures to come soon of the front yard transformation from "Front Yard State Prison" to "Country Garden Pathways".