The blind-side and the great kidnap conspiracy

Cookie Monster

What's in a cookie? Well that's a confusing question, just ask my friends Steve and Debbie.

Steve was getting ready for a big day in his prestigious-level job, meeting with various mucky-mucks surrounding a project he was working on. It was a big day.

He decided to eat a few cookies he had found in his wife's car, because she is an equally good citizen and what's in Debbie's car must be a-okay. After dunking the cookies in his coffee, Steve went to shave and shower. As he looked at his face in the mirror it started to distort. He shrugged it off. After a while his perception led him to paranoia, and he felt like he might be having a panic attack. He called out to Debbie. She asked the right question, "What did you eat?"

"A cookie and a half from that baggie in your car."

"Steve, I have no idea where those cookies came from."

 It got worse. He was confused and was wondering if it was PCP or some other evil in the cookies. The meeting was in a half-hour. Calls were made to buy Steve a few hours. Calls were made to their daughter who had used the car earlier in the week. She had visited their son at a mountain resort. Did she know where they came from, what was in them?

Yes, it was determined a friend of their son had baked some pot cookies and it was some pretty good weed. They tossed a few to the daughter as she left, she was apathetic, didn't want them and tossed them under the seat and forgot about them.

Steve finally got it together enough to go into work and make it through the day. He said he finally felt "normal" around 4:00 pm.  Funny enough. Of course we are still laughing at the circumstances.
Editor's note: The names were changed to protect the innocent and the not-so innocent. Also the conversation was paraphrased because I could.

Kidnapping Carlos

This past weekend among other things, some of us in the neighborhood group to a road trip to Craig-a-palooza, a birthday party for a guy we all know as Craig. It's his annual birthday bash and no pictures can do this house justice. I did not bring my camera in the party and that's a shame cause I missed out on some classic photographs, ie,  a large ass, literally speaking, a Jenga game played with foot-long wood pieces and an absolutely beautiful house.
When we were leaving, Char insisted on taking one of the mariachi band cut-outs decorating the place.

 

This is a ugly cell phone photo of their kitchen. It was beautiful.

 There must of been over 200 people at this party.

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"Little D" got us home safe in the Shaggin Wagon. For some reason we were compelled to sing Hot Child in the City to her.

 The Mexican dude is safe with us until Cyn's party Saturday. Then he will be returned to Craig and Stephanie, unharmed.

Because we are very cultured folks, we did have a wine tasting before hitting the road.

The sisters looked pretty refreshed for day two of Cyn's week-long plus birthday party.

Day one Friday night: the crowning of her highness on her 50th birthday

Come to think of it, the grocery store does play some cool music nowadays.

I am backing up a bit here by throwing these two photos in here. I got confused, sorry. It's one of the many hazards of aging. Order of historical facts.

 

 Iowa friends of Jones and Tamara stopped buy a few weeks ago. We had a raucous time.

  Visited with Bud's folks at their campground. We had a splendid time. Always thinking of Bud Noel.

There's gotta be a part two to this post as it is long and I am tired and confused. Taker easy...cal, you can call me cal. I meant to write csl but I typed cal twice so it must be.  Cal

The lack of money is the root of all evil

Isn't that the truth. Gotta feel lucky to have a job, I suppose. Can't remember the last raise I got. I think it was way before the 10 percent pay cut I and others took a few years ago. Corporate management and board members that hold our company were lining their pockets with six-seven figure bonuses. Just the way it goes. It would be refreshing if a corporate big-wig or such would speak up and say, "You know I have plenty of money, couple mansions, yachts let the workers split up my share...", then all the others would do the same so they won't appear greedy. I know won't happen. It seems the more money you get the more you want. And if you get enough money you set up philanthropies for third world countries. Sometimes people forget where they came from. Reminds me of this funny from List of the Day.

Did I mention I got a stellar review from my boss at the Academy. I hate to be bragadocious. But as you well know, it's about time things started to look up for moi. He said they are "thrilled to have me as their design person." Thrilled is good.

The Selfish Gene

Figuratively speaking, of course. I think your at the wrong web address if you were hoping any information about gene-centered evolution. However, I have surprised you before. Maybe bored, instead of surprised, it's a fine line.

     No, I am not going to lecture about how some people are so selfish, blah, blah, blah, and drivers on I-25 drive like they have blinders on, that's just too easy. I have been selfish myself, plenty, and no one wants to hear that. Just think of this next time your unsure how to act on something. Put yourself last. It will amaze you.
     This weekend was Neil's fiftieth birthday and his wife Shelley's fifty-something-ieth so we went over and ate, drank our share and more, had fun and hopefully were as entertaining as we were entertained. Here's some snaps of the birthday bash.

The Stansberry Family. The camping group cleans up nicely.

Wendy and Megan in from Salt Lake.

Janie shakes it during the Zumba dance she did with KJ and Tamara.

They did a really good job.

Hugs after.

The cakes by Janie.

The birthday boy and girl.

Glade and Dick had their cake and ate it too.

Fifties were in the air. Along with rain and lightning.

Rhianna played with the kids.

G2, Jimmy and OT

KJ and Janie watched Neil unwrap his Snuggie. He was thrilled. I think he liked itt as much as the predictable Depends and Ben Gay.

He even tried it on.

Noel showed Neil how the hood works.

Crazy Bob and Blair.

Joe is an awesome player and singer, and driver of revelers. Thanks for the ride home, Joe.

Senior Bob and G2

The big toast at the dinner earlier in the week for the Thompson clan all the way over from England. Can't wait to see them again.

     I was thinking (but not just about myself, selfishly) but kinda. I think I like to watch Intervention and Hoarders because it allows me to feel better about myself. I don't have any real claims to accomplishment, but I have managed to keep the house tidy and out of rehab. But like Noel says, I too would be an over-achiever if I didn't drink, and I wouldn't want to be that selfish. eh?

We, the jury, find the defendant....

I know I am sick of it too. Especially after watching the trial from the comfort of my treadmill. I know they couldn't fill the gaps to say there was definitive proof she did it. However I am damn sure Casey Anthony is guilty. Now jurors want big money to talk to the media. That's justice in America for you.

This photo, from sometime in high school, surfaced on Facebook today. I have no clue where I was or what to hell I was doing. However, I believe this was my Prince Valiant hair cut courtesy of my sister Ellen. I think I chased her around the house to hit her because she was laughing after she cut it. I am in the middle.

Monday was  the Fourth of July. So I went to Ron and Charlotte's and did my best to stay somewhat sober. Why? I had to work Tuesday. I am still not over the short week.

Ron's cock was dressed for the occasion

I made a strawberry rhubarb buckle. It turned out great. Rhubarb, not so great on it's own, but nothing a few cups of sugar and strawberries can't cure.

Miss Nina is getting prettier every day.

Dr. Sarah Coakley stopped in.

Washers action.

People watching people playing washers. The husband and wife winning team of G2 and myself were very OFF. Well, we can't win all the time or people wouldn't want to play with us.

Denise. 

Fireworks to the east. What can I say, I had a short lens. We've all seen fireworks before. We've all seen a good firework's photo before. Well this ain't one of them. Can't be on duty all the time.

After a week of planning, I have my tickets purchased and I'll be back in New York state the second week of August. I hope to see everyone I can during the trip because the older I get the less and less likely it is that I get back for a vacation if you know what I mean.
 Hey chin up okay, I know you're not guilty.

Fresh start

Good morning, hope you don't mind I did a little cleaning of the old site. Really it's a work in progress, so please step around the mess for a while.

Since I haven't written in awhile, I'll have to use my memory to catch you up on my mostly mundane existence. I will skip the mundane parts so with my limited memory, it should be a brief post, ha ha.

Took a drive to visit my old friend Pam in Morrison last week. She is not old, nor am I, but we have been friends since we were five, so do the math, she's an old friend.

The Hood

We also had a few small dinner get-togethers, the first of the young summer.

The bar was open to a cast of usual suspects

The dog will stop a nothing to get a bite of food.

Nothing, and nothing says dinner party like a chocolate lab up to the table.

Greg made a beautiful roast. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Don't you love lemonade in the summer?

Neil is recovering from knee surgery. Cyn is recovering from me taking her photo so much.

We finally got to celebrate KJ's birthday.

Thursday we went to the Perran's and caught up with their daughters who were in for a visit.

Denise proves she still has the disco dance moves. Her kids were impressed.

Noel sat outback with the jet-set

The island dweller's are proud to be American.

At the bar table, Cyn is, yet again, thrilled to be photographed.

Mags. My loverly daughter.

Cyn insisted Maggie do the bump with her. Mags was thrilled.   

Denise had a chocolate 'tashe

Noel poured some spirits and some drinks too.

 The Moose and a half Camp Trip..."take off your clothes and defend yourself!"


Here's some scenes from the weekend camp trip, went to a spot off Cottonwood Pass, we call Moose and a half, because there was a cow moose and her baby living in the area. However, I never saw said Moose and baby, but I did see photos.

Do you see the moose in the woods? Me neither.

Dave and Sue came with their dog Pepper. Their four youngest kids were visiting their oldest kid in Detroit. They both grew up in inner-city Detroit and had some pretty interesting stories to tell about growing up there. Mostly about teen angst, then dodging bullets and moving to the suburbs, then moving to fuck out of there. I find it totally interesting and could ask questions about it all night, but then they'd get sick of me prying. However, they both thought that the plowing over of the miles of old burned-out neighborhoods of Detroit into farm land was a good idea.

A flower in the woods. Or is it wood?

It has rained so much in Gunnison County that there's no fire band. But lots of mosquitos.

So we had a great fire. This is the first night when I looked back to the fire when going to bed.

The twins, Kesha and Grace. I am so bad at spelling names, forgive.

Cutie pies.

Mark loving on Pepper.

Pookie getting Greg out of the mud. They thrive on helping each other which is a very good thing.

Top of Cumberland Pass.

Sweet Jesus. Why we live and play here.

Rachel leads the pack.

G2, Mark, Neils's folks,Glade and Richard.

Eileen's ATV shoes. She totally pulled it off.

Neil's brother Keith and his wife Eileen. They are visiting from England along with their folks for Neil's fiftieth.  We have known them for years and never tire of seeing them and hearing them talk. " We fired our guns and the British kep' a coming, there was quite as many as there was a while ago..." Happy fourth of July.

Greg cooks and Max is interested.

These were the best ribs I have ate since the last time Greg made ribs.

Building a proper fire takes effort.

Rhianna is Eileen's daughter and claims to be as big as a nerd as Bryce and Mags. She even has the Kindle to prove it. They are excited to meet her.

East side of Cottonwood Pass.

Okay, about taking off your clothes and defending yourself, that's what Sue was saying around the fire. Must have been a survival technique from the Detroit ghettos. She is one of the most funniest ladies I have ever met. Did anyone take off their clothes... next time you'll find out.

So stop back by, it'll be worth it, I promise. I swear, I will try not to swear so much.  But I am not making any promises.

Take off your clothes and defend yourself.