I Know That The Guy Is Funny...

..But this crap has gone too far. In the town where I live, you can pick up hats, shirts, bumper stickers and other auto details, etc. ad nauseum. People actually buy them! Too much! Once the weather stays nice, am I going to see 350lb sled necks wandering around wearing flannels with sleeves cut off, muttering the infamous phrase to each other between sips of PBR? Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

If the weather didn't stink, I'd be outside right now. Possibly trying to kill a gobbler. GitRDone.

Super Exciting Saturday Excitement!

The weather wasn't too bad yesterday, so's I worked in the yard. Here's a pictoriagraphical representation of my labors...


Hoed and rowed.


Complete with toad.


And now it's been sowed.


Was it someone's birthday? No, Cindy needed change for delicious lattes, so she bought a fake giant hamburger. Why yes, the middle layer was meat-flavored cake.


That damn troll that lives in the basement snuck up and took a bite out of it. He also ate all of the fake French fries. I've really got to get some troll spray to bomb the basement with.


The cat that's adopted us. I feed him, he poops in my shop. We've got a good thing going.


We may name it Dirt. Or Turd. Or Ash. If Cindy lets me keep it. Opinions?


If I knew people back here that threw dinner parties, they could sample my delicious tortilla soup and the famous giant pizza. Anybody want the recipes?


Here's the gumdrop tree in our backyard. Note the enclosed fire pit, Peter. Doesn't the yard look nice now that there are leaves on the trees? Oh, the raking I'll do! BTW - anybody care to guess the real ID of the tree? I can take a close up of the flowers and leaves to post.


I've been taking a few guitar lessons in my free time. But the instructor I have doesn't speak very clearly. And he doesn't seem to know how to do anything but bash the open strings. Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for...

Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?

I'm So Bad, I Make Pipes Sweat

We have the plumbing issues resolved. After twisting off a pipe, several trips to the local hardware stores, and attaching all of the necessary ingredients for the dishwasher, we thought we had it all done. Hah. Then the hot water valve broke - so no water to the kitchen. After several more trips to hardware stores, I finally cut the thing out, replaced it, and soldered it into place. Pipe soldering - ie "sweating pipes" - was new for me. It was kind of fun - capillary action is cool. I'd say I can't wait to do it again, but that would mean more broken plumbing.

A word of advice. People at hardware stores are @$$holes. Sorry for the language. But we were told several times, with much confidence by the "experts" what we needed, and it was nearly always wrong. We had to return several things. Bad advice really prolonged the process, I should have just done it the way I originally envisioned it. So if you work at a hardware store, have no formal education or wealth of hands on experience, STFU, I don't want to buy your crap. Sorry for the language.

Keep on rockin' in the free world...

Wednesday, 12:45pm, Where Is My Mind?

Busy times at my house. We're currently attempting to install our new dishwasher, but trouble keeps cropping up. First I twisted off a pipe and had to replace it. Now we can't get the hot water to flow into the kitchen again - a broken valve, maybe. And I've still got to figure out how to wire it. So that was part of last weekend that's still happening this week. Here's the rest...

I had to make a hole for the dish washing moo-chine to have a home:

Demolition is so satisfying! I'd totally do more of it if I could only afford that whole rebuilding thing.

I did some work outside:

I had a rock hauling competition with myself. I won.

I planted one of the garden plots in the Three Sisters Style:

I've got another plot that's *almost* ready to plant in a more normal style.

We got some potatoes planted - they're in pots with clean potting soil because I've heard potato bugs are a bit of a problem around here. That's Poe-Tay-Toes:

The regional pronunciation is "Buh-Day-Duhs," said really quickly. Try it.

Those two rocks at the bottom of the picture have fossils in them. That means my yard used to be covered in water and sea creatures. Here's some close-ups:

Neat!

What made the circular hole that the weed is going through? I hope it was some kind of prehistoric, stone eating moon snail.

The rhubarb's a growin' - so are the dandelions.

I'm going to attempt to make rhubarb wine. I think. I've got a spare carboy.

Finally, the frog likes Kleenex:
'
Mischievous grin...

Tee Hee...

I need pictures of E again.

This Post Has Been Edited For The Sake Of Not Getting Me Into Trouble

I'll keep you posted.

Here's the frog!

Just this mo'nin'!

Teef!

Hooray For Me!

It's been an exciting day. I gave blood for the first time. I was given two T-shirts and a CD player for the shower, along with all the pizza I could eat by the good people at Fisher Scientific. One of the shirts is hideous, though. Anybody want an XL "Fisher Athletics" shirt in awful early 90's purple? I'll sell it really cheap!

Can I Get A Tapeworm From A Tuna?

Inspired by the sushi feast of last Friday, we made our own a few nights ago, using only the freshest of ingredients. I'm still worried about worms and such though. Dr. Sayles, what say you?

Good Lo'd Tha's a Lotta Calliforny Rolls!

And here's some pictures of the squirt and me.

Guten tag!

Chubby knees rock!

Stay Classy!
Justin, Nick, Tammy, Will, Starr, Deena; I haven't been hearing nearly enough from you guys...

Ha-Ha! I've Got Moxie!

I remembered what it was I was going to add to my post!

I had my first taste of Moxie today! It was...Different. But hey, it is the State of Maine's official drink.

Yo La Tengo

Please pardon the pernicious pause parting posts. It was a slow week last week - no sorting = no time at computer = no blog posts. Then it got busy. Then we went to Plattsburg Saturday. Then I worked in the yard most of the day Sunday. So no posts. Sorry. Here's a run down of the last few days, in case anyone cares.

We went to sushi at Aki in Lake Placid on Friday. Simon graciously picked up the tab.
Saturday we went to Plattsburg, and now the lovely wife has some lovely clothes to look lovely in. It's her birthday Thursday - not to mention our anniversary(ish) so please send cards, money, flowers, and new cars to us. Sunday I dug, planted, burned, raked, sweated, toiled, etc. outside in the garden. Things are really greening up around here - the trees have leaves, the weeds are growing, the rhubarb is getting gigantic.

The plans have been finalized - I will be in the greater Seattle/Moses Lake areas between the 2nd and 16th of July. My wish is to relax, so I would encourage anyone that wants to see me to come out and see me - we're going to have a first birthday party for Connor over at my folks on the 4th. I'm imagining it'll be a barbecue. Bring beer. Connor loves it. Contact me for details - I may even be inclined to get off my lazy rear and go visit other towns while I'm out. But I'll just sit on your couch and drink Budweiser if I do.

Finally, speaking of barbecues at my parents place, and our anniversary, here's some pictures of people that haven't e-mailed me for awhile, at our "wedding reception" two years ago. I have such pleasant looking friends!


Will.

Twin #1

Twin #2

Seems like I had something more to say, but it was probably just dribble.
E-mail me, please. I need the attention.

Place Title Here

Another short post, unless I get to rambling. I stopped on the way home from work on Friday and took some pictures of a spot on the lake where Ethan and I have gone fishing before - a real pretty cove. My wife saved me from being devoured by a bear here last summer, and I also lost my wedding ring somewhere thereabouts.

Purdy the way the sun comes through the trees, eh?

I caught a few nice smallmouths around here. It's great fun on a fly rod.

This is either where the bear that tried to eat me comes to eat its seafood, or a raccoon enjoyed some delicious freshwater clams right here.

I pass a nice holey tree on my drive home every evening. It's marked and has a sign on it - I assumed it was to preserve the tree for animals. Nope. It's going to be cut down and put in a natural history museum. Also, no pecker jokes, please.

They took all the trees, and put 'em in the tree museum...

And finally, to end this episode, here's a picture of a varmint stuck underneath his toy.

He's a very mobile, wily child.

Monday, 1:00 pm, Where's my Dramamine?

Not much of an update today - we've had sick kids for the last bit, so not much excitement in the Sells household. I spent the weekend working in the yard. My lovely wife and I dug up some flowerbeds, I pruned some ugly plants back, and dug up some sod. We have a pseudo-half-assed walkway at the house that I've uncovered. And we now have half a second garden plot. And a cat has adopted us.

I took some pictures of lovely spring sights in lovely spring weather this weekend, but with the hecticness that comes along with sick kids about I haven't had a chance to upload them. Maybe tomorrow.

Back to my machine, don't forget to leave some comments...

It's Friday, and I'm Coming Down With Something!

The baby has a sinus infection, and now so do I. Hopefully it won't get to bad and I can still work outside this weekend. At the very least, I'm hoping to avoid passing it to Cindy. Why couldn't I have become symptomatic earlier in the week? I don't have to feel all that healthy to sit on my duff and sort cells!

No pictures this time, sorry. Maybe I'll post some this weekend.

Mike sent me an e-mail with some wacky alphabet, fill in the blanks type thing. Inspired by his humorous answers, I responded in kind. For your viewing pleasure..


Okay, normally I detest these things, but just this once...
A - AGE: 26
B - BAND LISTENED TO MOST RECENTLY: Supergrass "Life On Other Planets" on the ride to work, right now...Boston "Boston" - Su-weet. (Okay, now it's Miles Davis "Kind of Blue")
C - CRUSH: Uh, my wife
D - DOG's NAME: I'm the one in the family that cleans my plate, eats table scraps, and craps on the lawn.
E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: That voice in my head that grows louder every day.
F - FAVORITE BAND: Zepellin? Mahavishnu Orchestra? Vivaldi?
G - GUMMY: Gummies have always made me feel ill after more than about three of the little bastards.
H - HOMETOWN: Now - Somewhere in the Adirondacks, upstate NY. Then - Kent/Auburn, WA
I - INSTRUMENT: G-Box. My Axe. My pig. My bitch.
J - JUICE: Fermented fruit of the barley, with some hops thrown in for good measure.
K - KIDS: You've all seen them...
L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: Seattle to Yellowstone, probably. Although I;I've taken several others that seemed longer. Did I mention that I;I've taken the train cross country?
M - MOM'S NAME: Actually, they forgot to label the Petri dish...Okay, it's Carol. Hi Mom.
N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: Zwei, Ich bin die mittler kinder.
O - ONE WISH: A perfect socialist society - I'm f-in' tired of being broke!
P - PHOBIA(S): Ummm, mild claustrophobia?
Q - QUOTE: I don't have a cellphone, or a pager. I just hang around with everyone I know, constantly. If someone needs to get ahold of me, they just say "----" and I say "Yes?" and turn my head, slightly.
-Mitch Hedberg
R - REASON TO SMILE: Silence - Anyone who has children knows what I'm talkin' about!
S - SEXIEST FEATURE: Eyebrows. Definitely Eyebrows. Or armpits.
T - TIME YOU WAKE UP: Before daylight savings - 6:30am. Post daylight savings - 7:30am
U - UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I'm not as smart as most people think I am. Either that or I'm just way smarter than everyone else. Hmmmm....
V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: Rutabagas? Parsnips? Turnips? Not all roots are good.
W - WORST HABIT(S): Ask my wife...
X - X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD: You name a part of my body, and I've probably seen what it looks like under the skin.
Y - YUCKY FOOD: See above.
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius. Which is either a dude with lobster hands, or a woman with big jugs...Of the water holding kind! Honestly, get you minds out of the gutter!


Tune in next time, same bat-time, same bat-channel!

Return of the Giant Pizza

I must be a full fledged adult, because the most exciting thing that happened to me last weekend was that we baked another deep dish. This time with some avocados and bacon thrown in for good measure. Just to remind you what these things look like...

That's at least four meals worth o' pizza!

Mmmmmmmm...Come to my house, and you can gain 10lbs too.

With skinny blinking white kid for scale.

I also made some delicious teriyaki chicken burger at one point - man, I need to find some more exciting things to do on the weekends...

We watched some movies, and Ethan had to fight Connor off of the popcorn...




And then some ninja's attacked, and I had to break a leg off of the table to fight them all off!

Myeh.

Monday, 2:15 PM. Where's My Seatbelt?

The goods on the bads from last week:
The car had to be towed (bad) to Plattsburg (bad) but the problem was with the crankshaft (bad) that isn't unique to us - the car was recalled (good) and all we have to pay for is towing (good).
The sorter - the laser wasn't putting out the power we needed. Now that Simon's back we opened up the laser (fun - high voltage rules), cleaned some optics, burned a pinhole in our cardboard shield, and now it works better than it has for months.

Too bad I was too fried from last week to post or even take some pictures this weekend. We did get out and do a little yardwork and a little shopping.

Blah.

Here's some pictures!

Cindy moved Ethan into the Connor's room about a week ago...


So now the crib's in our room, and Ethan's got a very cool bedroom.

We did all of this so we can tear apart the room he was in and get a fix on where the roof is leaking. I've got my work cut out for me!