Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Kroger all have their blogs, so why not us? And, in keeping with the very essence of this board, each blog should contain at least one reference to "Monk".

Here's innardamok's "blog" for today...

I know I haven't been posting much on the "board" lately, but I think I know why. First of all I had family visiting for three weeks... yikes! As much as I love my family, I'm sure somebody else loves them more! Then, of course there's the hiatus between seasons of "Monk" (and hence my reference to "Monk" in this blog has now been fulfilled!). Sure, the "Mystery" and "With Monk For A Day" posts have been fun, but my creative inkpot has been running dry lately. The "What Are They Saying?" post has been good for a few laughs as well, but, folks, how many more references to kiwi fruit can one make without wincing every time I see someone else taking a bite of said fruit? The "board" is home to a lot of creative talent, so coming up with a "new" idea has been a real challenge! We've covered letter and word association games, poetry and haikus. Limericks? Been there, done that. Licence plates? This "board" has a larger repository of licence plates than the entire state of North Dakota! (No offence to our friends from North Dakota. It's a nice state. I've driven through it once.) So, after many hours scratching my head, when I should have been mowing the lawn and attending to the other one thousand items on my wife's "to-do" list (actually, after reviewing the list, it is definitely my "to-do" list...AAARRRGGGHHH!!!), I came up with the "blog" idea. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be one of those posts with a thousand "views" but no other contributions. Any one else is more than welcome to add their "blog" for today. After all, I made sure NOT to call it "innardamok's blog for today", because that would be just plain selfish. I would like to end each of my "blogs" with a thought or question to ponder for the day. So, here's today's question to ponder: who would I rather mud-wrestle with? Sharona or Natalie? Hmm. The mind boggles!

innardamok

Well, I'll give this a try.
I also had company over. It was for a week, and it was my brother. He is mentally ill. He doesn't do much, but he does love to cook! The times that he spends here with me, I eat really well. He's a good cook.
My husband drove him back home today, and I am spending this day cleaning the house, doing laundry and I'm going to prepare a salmon dinner for hubby, for being so nice taking my brother home. (It's a 6 hour drive round trip.)
It's nice to have things back to normal around here, even though I did enjoy his stay.
I also managed to walk our dogs around the block. It's a beautiful, cool, sunny day here in Tony's home state!
Oh, and I did also manage to watch a Monk episode this morning. I watched The Captain's Wife. It inspired me to clean Monk-style (very thoroughly), with straight lines in the carpet!
So this is my blog. Such as it is!

Okay, I'll take my shot at this blog for today thread. We had a friend come over early this morning and hubby and I loaded our bicycles in their pickup. I packed up a cooler loaded with food for our picnic, sodas and lots of good water to drink. Wish we could find Sierra Springs brand. Of course, I couldn't forget the ingredients to make some smores! After all we are just kids at heart. We headed for our favorite park and bicycle trail...actually we rode 16.75 miles today. This is what we do for fun and exercise, today is the farthest I have rode my bike in one day. There is still one hill I can't seem to ride up all the way...my goal is to keep up with hubby by the end of this summer. Now we are quite ready to rest and watch an episode of Monk. I think "Mr. Monk Gets Cabin Fever" will be a good one to watch this evening.

Well I woke up, that in itself is an accomplishment for me on a Sunday. Put the dogs out while I fixed their breakfast then while they were eating I took a strole around the complex. I looked at the pile of dishes, checked the board and made a few responses and started a post then checked the TV Guide. Not feeling like I wanted to tackle anything too strenuous on a Sunday I settled down in front of the TV to watch the Brewer's finally whip the Twins then feeling alittle sleepy I took a nap only to be awakened by the ringing of the phone. I got up and put the dogs outside while I fixed their supper and now here I am.
I NEED A LIFE!!!

Yesterday was so much better. My daughter, her boyfriend and myself moved some furniture between houses then went flower hunting for our gardens, bought a few plants and containers, figured out how many pieces of my hosta they wanted.............I NEED A LIFE!!!

What a coincidence spinner, hubby and I watched Cabin Fever tonight too! I let him pick which episode he wanted to see, and that was the one.

Lets give this a go.Today i woke up and went to visit and help care for my grandad who has altzeimers disease and spent twenty minutes whilst hoovering going over one area because he was convinced i hadn't got this tiny speck off the floor.I then sat and listened to him tell me how he and the dog go for wees outside in the garden(he's 77) at night and how he has to be careful not to get caught.After that i went to walk his dog...it's a mongrel called shadow.It was eventful as shadow tried to sit in the middle of the road and have a poo despite my trying to drag him away.Finally in the afternoon i arrived home and watched a Monk episode(season 4) sent to me by MonkFanToo(very nice of him and gratefully recieved)it was Mr and Mrs Monk.I cried at that...especially when Natalie told Adrian that she believed she had seen Trudy and he ran out and collapsed oh and when he cradled the woman who was pretending to be Trudy and had been shot...and he cried as it bought back memories.Now im off to watch more Monk.....Mr Monk takes his medicine.

I'm a Family Physician (aka a GP) in Small Town, Wisconsin. It was my turn to be "on call" for the local hospital this weekend. I started off today (i.e. around midnight) by ushering in a new life to the world. It's a beautiful sound to hear a newborn baby cry right away. How much longer the cry remains "beautiful" is a matter of opinion. I spent the rest of the night trying to sleep in an old recliner in the call room comforted by the fact that the Oilers were up 2 games to none on the Mighty Ducks in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I am Canadian, after all, and I haven't even used the word "eh" once in my posts! Well, except for now! Having spent the rest of the day in a somewhat semi-somnolent state, I am now ready to go home to try and spend a good night's sleep in the comfort of my own bed. I've probably washed my hands as many times today as Monk usually does. Here's my thought for today: no matter how bad it gets, there's always somebody else who's got it worse.

innardamok

This morning was a bit chilly so I dressed warm to make the walk to catch the bus to work. At work I thought about the commercial "Mans Law" for Miller Beer where sticking your fingers into the neck of a beer bottle meant you now owned that bottle and thought, Monk would approve of that. I fed the fish and pulled out the DOA's, sexed the guinea pigs to make sure no one had stuck a male in with the females or vice versa. I stocked a few items, caught about 15 dozen crickets without washing between, (Adrian would certainly disapprove of that) and several dozen feeder fish, answered the phone at least a hundred times and waited on Raven's hubby buying dog food. Couldn't resist telling him what a nice guy he was for taking Raven's brother home Sunday which made him blush. Finished my shift and caught the bus back home. Very uneventful. Tonight I'll be watching the Brewer's game while taping The Apprentice and Medium then off to bed.
Not as exciting or as fulfilling as delivering a baby but a good day in all---I did a full shift on a Monday which is a monumental moment after three months of medical leave.

Spent 'quality time' with son and dogs. He is out of school for the summer now (daughter had one more test to take today). 'Quality time' meant that since I wasn't trying to teach my son third grade level creative writing, I might take the opportunity to teach Rufus, the 80 or so pound wiemaraner, to shake. My son now knows how to shake quite well, Rufus not so much. Watson, the chihuahua, also shakes well, but not really on command, and not with his paw. My daughter delights in saying, 'Shake, Watson!' and when he just sits there shivering like he always does, she praises him for being such a good boy. My very old, very senile, and very blind standard poodle remembers all the tricks and commands I ever taught her, and tries to shake hands every time she hears the command, she's just usually facing the wrong way and waving her paw out at thin air because she's confused.

The cat merely looks on with 'Morons...' written clearly on her face. The cat may be right.

I hate the cat.

My son, tired of his hair touching his eye lashes, hacked it off with the kitchen scissors. I'm not going anywhere with him till it grows back out.

Found my missing Disc three, season two Monk DVD! It was in my computer! Go me! Now they are all together agin, in their proper places. It made up for son's self inflicted haircut, cat's condesention, and Rufus's stupidity, a little bit.

Had to go check in on my inlaws' dog while they were away, walk, feed and play with him, and then come home and wade through a crowd of my own dogs all vigorously sniffing my shoes and hands and giving me the stnk eye like I came home with the dog equivalent of lipstick on my collar. Then they gave me the cold shoulder for a while.

The cat approved.

I hate the cat.

Had headache and double vision much of the day, but not sure if it was from the noise my son was making, or trying to draw or what, exactly. Gave up drawing or doing anything else non-essential and spent as much time as possible in the dark with an ice pack. And I have the whole summer to look forward too.

I did get my keyboard cleaned though! It works better now, without the seed beads and dust in it, but I need to find a way to replace the letters on the keys, they are all worn off. I'm tempted to replace them 'Monk style' and see if anyone notices. I'm pretty sure my posts would reflect it though.

Liv...
I completely loved your narrative, what a wonderful writer you are. I look forward to reading more about "A Day in the Life with Liv."
Kees

Well, guess I have a very boring life compared to some of you.
I did my usual morning wake-up routine: sat at the kitchen table in a grumpy mood until I could guzzle enough coffee to be decent to anyone I saw.
Helped hubby landscape at the back of our home--putting shrubs and river rock from the foundation of the house to 4 feet out. Hauled my garden ornaments out of the shed to set out---an adirondack chair with gardening things on it, and an old wooden wheelbarrow. I'm in the process of cleaning years of rust off an old hand pump I found in the top of the old barn. Am going to put it and a tin pail hanging from it in the wishing well I have out in the front yard.
Spent most of the afternoon cleaning my house, then went to my 9-year-old granddaughter's softball game. Watched her hit her first-ever homerun. She was soooooooo excited, and I, of course, was cheering louder than her Mom. After tha game, we had cake and ice cream in honor of son-in-law's birthday.
Just a boring day out in farm country.

Meme

I feel like I've had a good day, like today, when I have all small dogs to groom, they are all relatively easy ones, no mean ones, and I finish up by 2:30. I love going home, shower, eat, feed various animals, visit the Monk boards. Soon I will be relaxing in front of the TV with Adrian and the gang. A nice finish to a low-key, low-stress day.
That has been my day today. A pretty good one.

Thanks, Kees.

I'm afraid I don't have much to say about today, except now my son won't leave the house at all because his bangs are uneven.

Oh, and my daughter left her Strattera on her desk, and Rufus likes to chew on things that rattle or make noice, so he got it and chewed the top off. We counted pills and at least two were not found, but if he swallowed them, they did not help his behavior. At all.

I found out that the cat who hates me will follow me around a lot when I am wearing this stuff for achey joints and muscles called Blue Goo. Apparently she likes the smell of it.

I really hate the cat but that's kind of funny. Kind of reminded me of Adrian saying he liked the smell of the morgue.

Also, I am expecting rain or a storm in the next day or so. Aside from my bones aching a little bit, my daughter's dog is walking around the house with his anxious look he gets on his face when he's dreading thunder. This dog is like Adrian in that he's afraid of so much stuff, but then, this dog is even afraid of bubble wrap. He usually knows there is a dtorm coming long before anyone else does and he's afraid of thunder. One day I was watching Cabin Fever while this dogs was asleep, and the scene where they are tryong to convince Grooms to check out the lady who murdered her husband came on with that loud clap of thunder. Stanley (the dog) was on his feet in a flash, looking around all wide eyed and panicky like he was thinking, '$*&+! I never heard that storm coming! How'd it sneak up on me?!' Stanley is a twit.

Today I worked at a continuing education institute my school hosted. My shift lasted 12 hours and I was so bored. It seemed like an easy way to make a little money before my summer internship starts. But I decided that it is better to have to do harder work than to have work that is too easy. I spent 1/2 of the time opening doors for people and 1/2 of the time passing out binders.

A funny thing happened on the way to the event though. It was held someplace I had never been, and I had to take a bus I'd never ridden before to get there. On the bus, this man kept trying to show me a card trick, but he could never get the right card to show up. After 1/2 an hour of this(my ride was supposed to take a little bit less than that)I began to wonder why my ride seemed to be taking so long and became afraid I had somehow gotten on a bus going in the wrong direction. So to make sure, I asked the bus driver and she told me I was going in the wrong direction and could catch the bus going in the right direction on the other side of the street.

So I got off the bus and went to the indicated bus stop. Fortunately it had a simple map and I managed to catch a bus going the same route that I'd been on. I hadn't gotten my directions mixed up, the bus driver just didn't know her route very well. So I managed to make it to the event on time, and I escaped the man who couldn't do a card trick. At least I think that might be funny. I'm not really sure.

And that was my day.

collateral

I thought that was a funny story. Esp. the man who couldn't do the card trick. At least the first part of the day sounded good.

Meme

I like to play chess. I'm not very good at it, but the fun is in the challenge of the play. I usually play games over the internet. I hear through the grapevine Tony also likes to play chess. I wonder if he also plays over the internet? If he does, I should challenge him to a game. I suspect he's quite a good player.
I was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia over three years ago. As a physician, it's no fun being a patient; you know too much, especially when it comes to complications and prognosis. If I weren't a physician, I know it's no fun being a patient either; you know too little. That can be a double-edged sword. Thankfully I'm now in remission, but those first few weeks after chemotherpy left my mind sluggish. It would take me forever just to read one paragraph in a newspaper. A friend suggested I start playing chess again, after not having played it for many years. He suggested I find a site where games could be played over the internet, which I did. After playing a few games I found my thinking becoming clearer. That is a good thing, because later that year I had to take re-certification board exams in medicine, which I passed. So, in many ways, chess holds a special place in my heart because of the role that game played in my overall recovery.
So, Tony, if you're reading this blog, please send me a challenge; I'm not afraid to take you on!
Having leukemia has its positive aspects. For me, as a physician, it gave me an even greater appreciation of what my patients go through, even with concerns of a far less serious nature.
Oh, in case you hadn't noticed, watching "Monk" and contributing to this "board" has also been very therapeutic for me, something I know holds true for a lot of you other "board" members. Keep up the good work!
Here's my wish for today: "Have a great day!"

innardamok

innardamok...

My husband and I use to play chess alot then I started beating him and he quit playing. I have the entertainment package so play chess against my computer, won a few lost alot, dang computers are too smart. I play cribbage too against the computer, win that one quite a bit. Hope Tony takes up your challenge.

Sorry to hear you have had a bout with leukemia but glad to hear you are in remission and passed your re-certification - a good GP is hard to find. This Monk Board has been helpful for me also. I have regained my touch typing skills, challenged my mind in ways that keep those 'senior moments' coming less frequently and by that pretended visit from Mr. Monk during my recent sick leave I have increased my stamina enough to jump from 2 shifts to 3 shifts a week in the month of May and will be adding a 4th the first of June.

I like to say, "my body took a licking, but Monk kept it ticking."

Today at work I walked into chaos, a situation which Raven and I got dragged into, one not of our making nor for us to solve - we could have used Natalie with her practicallity as the arbitrator. All in all, it was a good day and I was welcomed back by a few customers I hadn't seen since I got sick, priced in a few orders and remembered the mark-ups. Took the bus both ways so had a nice long walk to and from the bus stop.

This evening I plan on continuing obedience training with Jetz, my sheltie pup - Liv, you are welcome to join in, he likes to bark - doorbells and knocks on TV really set him off and when I put him out he somehow got himself tangled up in the fence and scared the daylights out of him! Then I'll get all of us fed, even the small animals I raise and finally settle down in front of the TV and try to finish up a antimassacar I'm crocheting for my youngest daughters' new condo. Then off to bed early to prepare for a busy day at home Thursday cleaning all the small animal cages, the bird cages, the yard and dragging all the trash curbside.
I NEED A LIFE!!!!

Today has been rather slow going for me. I much prefer to keep busy as the time passes faster that way. I woke up way too early this morning and around 2:00 p.m. it was a struggle to keep my eyes open.

Stopped by my folks on the way home...they were okay so I played a game of cards with them after getting them something to eat. My mom won the card game. Their little dog is also afraid of storms and last night was no exception for her. Liv, I can almost see the expression on your dog's face when the clap of thunder sounded from the Monk episode...what a shock for the dog!!

Now I'm home and checking to see what others have posted. I know for myself this board is a good thing! It's great to hear that Monk and this message board has been therapeutic for others, too. I so appreciate the people here on this message board.

If I lived in your town, innardamok, you are the kind of doctor I would choose. You definitely know how it feels to be the doctor and the patient. Sorry to hear about what you have been through but am thankful,too that you are in remission now. I'm sure that I am not alone in looking forward to your posts.

If you and Tony play against each other in chess...let us know who wins. Here's ehe thing I'd be wanting both of you to win!

Well, its time to think about cooking our meal so I'll get off here. Then later make time for watching Monk. It has been a slow day but a good day!!

I like reading everybody's posts. I think one gets a sense of people's personalities from their other posts, but this fleshes out a person more. I hope even more people decide to post to this topic.

I'm slightly nervous about my internship coming up. I am not one of those people who adapt and adjust quickly to a new situation if I don't know much about it. I had some idea of what the internship involved when I applied for it and my future supervisor described it a little for me.

But I've been nervous just the same. So I decided to call this guy I met who had the same internship a couple of years ago to get some advance notice of what to expect. It sounds like I will be working with some good people (good character type of a way) and there will be a lot of opportunity to learn.

For my internship I will help homeless people clear up their criminal records to help them get back on their feet. They get citations for sleeping in public and stuff and it makes it harder for them to find work. It starts in 5 days and I'm really glad I got a chance to talk to that guy tonight. I feel a lot calmer. Does anybody else get very anxious when they don't know exactly what to expect?

Talking to the guy was the most productive thing I did all day. Earlier today I mostly walked around and ate some chips. OK, a lot of chips, but they were Munchos and I couldn't help it.

As quoted from collateral's most recent blog:

"Does anybody else get very anxious when they don't know exactly what to expect?"

Fear of the unknown! It happens all the time! Nobody can predict exactly what's going to happen in the future. Not even Dolly Flint! All we have is now. The past is in the past. Ok, before I go totally Zen, let me commend you, collateral, on undertaking what is sure to be a difficult, but hopefully rewarding internship!
kees_lady and spinner, thanks for your kind remarks! kees, if Tony doesn't challenge me to a game of chess, perhaps you will? spinner, if Tony does challenge me, perhaps the game will end in a draw, and we all win!
I totally agree with collateral; sharing our blogs gives us greater insights into the personalities of the members of our "board" family. Let's just hope "board" doesn't become "bored"! (And I speak here mostly for my own blogs!) Keep up the good work, everybody! The more contributions, the better!

Here's one of my favorite "Zen" stories about "letting go":

Master and Grasshopper were out for a walk when they came across a beautiful girl trying to cross a stream. Even though it was against there way of life to be tempted by the ways of the fairer sex, Master saw she needed help, so he picked her up, carried her across the stream and safely put her down on the other side. She thanked him and they parted ways. A little while later, Grasshopper had worked up the courage to ask Master: "Master, why did you carry that girl across the stream?" Master replied: "Grasshopper, why are you still carrying that girl? Didn't you see me put her down a while ago?"

innardamok

I get very anxious in situations where I don't know anybody or what to expect.
The thought of meeting new people makes my anxiety level skyrocket. I wish I wasn't like this!
I want to go to the Monkfest next year, and even though I sort of "know" many people here, I don't really , and so there goes my stress level. But I don't feel as stressed as if everyone were total strangers. Does this make any sense?
The drive to the Ozarks to get there is an obstacle that I have to deal with too. I am too comfortable in my safe zone here at home. New things, situations, bother me more and more as the years go by.

I have the anxiety/panic problem where time is my enemy--if I have to wait too long I get anxious, Xanax can't get me pass that one. On an upnote tho, I started taking the bus to work which I haven't done in over 30 years, from a whole different part of the city and have to transfer. The first time I shook all the way, now it's a piece of cake. Strangers don't bother me much - I deal with lot's of strangers all day at work and can start a conversation with just about anyone, I think I have even gotten over my fear of speaking in public (just so long as I have my index cards ).
My motto is: If I can make it through the first of the anxiety why keep diving back into the water to retrieve it? Or to put it more simply, when I took the bus to work and made it, why worry about taking the bus back home again, even if the stops were different.

innardamok, if Tony doesn't challenge you to chess, we can try to set a time to play, I'm not real computer literate so you'd have to tell me how it works.

All-in-all, I had a good day at work but in the least Monkish way I forgot my 2 litre of Coke and with a holiday coming up I need that caffeine! note to self, call work just before closing and have the employee/neighbor drop it off on his way home, that should do it.

A gentle bump is all you need
So now this post is Not page three.

I am going to ask you to imagine two middle aged people ( hubby and I) on an adventure at a nearby lake. We arrive and proceed to unload the kayaks. Now we have no experience whatsoever at this sport although we were more than willing to learn. We put on quite a show for the onlookers just trying to get ourselves in the kayaks. It was fun learning how to maneuver around on the lake. As time went on it seemed to be easier to steer going backwards for me. Hubby came alongside me and said "why does this not surprise me". I figured I'd be the one to tip over but hubby was while trying to splash our friend. He got carried away with that project! Got him to shore and back in the kayak so on with the show. The water was still cool even tho' the air temperature was almost 90 degrees. We still from time to time would splash each other gently to cool off. Now getting out of a kayak is yet another experience which was quite funny but I'm learning. After spending the day there...we left sunburned and extremely happy!!

It's so great to have someone like our friend who wants us to share in their adventures. Just before we left this friend said, "I knew there was a reason I had bought three kayaks".

Hope our day at the lake brought a smile to your face. Perhaps you would had to have been there to fully appreciate the sight.

Today we learned over here that 25 people had been injured in our annual cheese rolling event.We climb to the top of the steepest hill in Glouceschester and roll 9lb cheeses down it and then run,jump and tumble after them.The winner firstly got knocked out and then quickly recovered and went on to win.The winner takes the cheese home and after we scatter sweets for the children to collet.A few years ago a spectator got knocked out by a bouncing cheese....something you don't see everyday...oh how i love our kooky traditions.

Spinner and Jaime...

It sounds like you all had a great time. Loved your story Spinner, but really there is no such thing as middle age. Hope hubby was wearing his kapok when he tipped over.

Jaime..

The quaint old customs and games are the most fun - like the potato sack race at our old county fairs.

My week end was the usual. I watched a little TV, visited with my son, turned down going to the Brat Fest with my daughter and her boyfriend but did go our stores' annual Memorial Day party - where I ate like a pig then woke up this morning with something resembling a cold/bronchitis/asthma attact -- could be any combination thereof, and spent today sleeping on the couch, woke up to watch the Brewer's get whipped again by Pittsburg then decided to check in on the board after my son left for Milwaukee. He helped his ex-wife empty out her apartment - I now have a sofa in front of the sofa and miscellaneous other things stashed in all the corners I just got uncluttered. Tomorrow, Friday and Saturday I work.

WORK, anykind of WORK, is a four-letter word!

As you can tell, I am a mostly stay-at-home person.

Post deleted by MONKobsessed

Jamie...it sounds like you had a good time, too.

Thank you for the comment on my blog, kees! I had typed it out once before and was pleased with the content. Then one of one my fingers landed somewhere on my keyboard while previewing it and away it went, never to be found again!! So I had to try once more. I was just wondering, if there's no such thing as being middle aged...hmmm then what are we? I remembered that Monk wasn't mentioned before in what I wrote so I'll add this right now. When our water jug fell into the lake along with hubby, there was no way I was gonna drink that water after that. I think Monk would have felt the very same way! He might not have been on the lake in the first place.

Collateral...I tend to get quite nervous about the unknown. I wish you all the best in what your're about to do.

Monkobessesd...what kind of fish do you have?

Post deleted by MONKobsessed

It seems like everyone here lives such interesting lives doing fun things or at least having fun while doing little things like filling a fish tank. Isn't that water carrying a bore and a chore. I have a 38-gallon sitting empty in my basement I'd like to get set up but I'd have to put it in the middle of the floor, I have furniture doubled up against every wall. Today I spent my second day sleeping off this nasty virus waking up to watch the Brewer's get beat again, put alittle time in on the board then off to bed. My son is bringing a third load of household stuff tonight - where to put it? Monk, could you come solve my organization problem? All this dust accumulating around so much stuff is probably so full of virus's it's what keeps me getting sick. One month back to work and now I'm missing time again.

Spinner, so glad to hear someone else has had that same problem, get a response all typed up, hit a key and lose everything. I hate start-overs. My PC has been freezing up on me - the mouse and keyboard lock and I have to unplug the tower - can't even turn it off by hitting the off button. Time for another PC repair.

Haven't watched a Monk rerun in the last few weeks...been taping them but have been watching things I don't usually watch when MONK is on. Summer is here and I'd rather go outside and play in the little garden I have.

Jetz, my off-the-wall sheltie has a new game, I toss used tissues in the basket, he dives in after them and leaves a paper trail for me to follow.

One of my guinea pigs had a litter of pups on Memorial Day, alittle too young to sex yet, and a second one is expecting soon. Never hurts to have that little extra $$$ coming in.

Time to go check on other posts. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week and a fun week-end coming up.

kees/sue

MonkObsessed, I was wondering what kind of critters you were keeping in that new tank. Hey, how do you weigh a goldfish??
Spinner, I loved reading you kayaking adventure! I'm glad hubby fell in the lake and not you! lol...I have never been kayaking and I can believe that getting in and out of it would be um, difficult!
Jaime, I've seen that cheese rolling thing on TV here. That certainly is an unusual tradition! Do you know how and when it got rolling? (Haha, excuse me, couldn't resist it.)
Well my day at work yesterday wasn't too great. I had a chow chow to groom and it was so thick, it took so much brushing, I couldn't finish it in the time I had. The owner has to come back another day so I can bathe the dog. I think I brushed for about maybe 3 hours on that dog! If there was something I could eliminate about grooming it would definitely be big monster brush-outs.
The good thing was it was a very nice chow. Her name is Cha-Cha.
I came home, took some ibuprofen and relaxed with my dinner and Monk. He always calms me down and makes me feel better. I decided to watch Bumps His Head. That cheered me up! I love that episode!

Pets:

I grew up in a home with no pets. My folks weren't "into" them, and my brother and I knew better than to ask otherwise. There was one exception, however. My brother had a pet turtle called "Marty". He came from the pet store with his own plastic bowl and plastic palm tree. He required very little maintenance but, as you can imagine, was not a very interactive pet. He seemed even less interactive during those first Winter months, so much so he was pronounced "dead" and unceremoniously tossed out with the garbage. Many years later while reflecting on Marty, clearly with nothing else better to do, I wondered if the poor wee sod wasn't just hibernating? Hmm.

Many years went by before the next pet came into my life...a Calico barn cat. She came with the person who would later become my wife. She started off being a bit leery of my presence, occasionally giving me the cold shoulder, but over the years she warmed up to me and now will even sleep next to me in the bed! And boy, does she love to eat! But, enough about my wife...let's get back to the cat.
The cat has become increasingly disenchanted with her lot in life. Things were going swimmingly well until I arrived on the scene. She was no longer the sole object of my wife's affection. Unless, of course, my wife isn't around and it's her supper time, then, she absolutely loves me to death. Then, along came our daughter. At first, there wasn't a whole lot for the cat to readjust to, until...our daughter started to crawl, then walk, then run, then chase with a baseball bat...Our daughter now affectionately calls the cat "grouchy kitty".

We had a couple of parakeets, but now we only have one since the other one died from multiple closed head injuries sustained while enjoying a few minutes of accidental freedom from its cage.

We've had more fish come and go than a Friday Nite Fish Fry in Wisconsin. The aquarium is now in storage.

Which brings us to the newest member of our pet family...the dog. He's a Bichon-Yorkie mix and is just happy to be alive. When we brought him home from the pet store I'm pretty sure the cat heard her death knell. Hardly a day goes by without the two of them going at it like two seasoned boxers.

The dog, and barely our furniture, have survived his "puppy" years. The cat now spends most of her time on our bed, out of harm's way. The remaining bird sings happily to himself, day and night. The aquarium remains in storage. My daughter hasn't asked about a pony...yet. There's still hope.

No chess challenge from Tony yet, but kees_lady and I are battling it out on the board...the chess board, that is!

Today's observation: "pets" anagrams to "pest"

innardamok

I'll try and find date of when cheese rlling started Raven and will let you know.....Well today was interesting for England....Our goverment...The Mr terrible Tony Blair has now told us all that when we die and get buried we will have to double and even triple up with other corpses.....because we have little burial spaces left we will end up sharing with strangers...there aint no way im sharing my eternal grave with some wierdo i have never met no way.....also today i had a good look around the fmous London shop Selfridges and spotted the worlds most expensive sandwich.........£85.00 what a crazy world... and it didn't even look appetising.

There's plenty of burial space in the wide-open Canadian Prairies!

I couldn't bring myself to eat a sandwich for which I had just paid 85 Pounds! (Sorry, no "Pound Sterling" symbol on US keyboards!)

Here it is:

So what all is in this expensive sandwich??

Quote:

---

So what all is in this expensive sandwich??

---

According to the description on their site: Wagyu beef, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, roquet, and red pepper and mustard confit with English plum tomatoes on a sour dough bun.

But do fries and a toy come with that??