Astros Win 7 Straight????

Really??? Did the Astros just win 7 straight games while simultaneously having the Cardinals lose 7 straight games? Am I in a dream? If so, don't wake me up, because this is too crazy. Leave it to the Astros to make it crazy during the last week or 2 of baseball. It sure does make things interesting though.

Yesterday consisted of a lot of lounging on my part, since the clinic I was supposed to work at canceled on me at the last minute (they also canceled my Thursday shift too, bastages). I actually watched television, and it wasn't sports. I watched a 1 hour long documentary about hippopotamus. Pretty interesting.

After lunch, I decided that I'd probably do something productive, so I did a boatload of laundry. I even washed my bedspread *oohs and ahhhs*

Well, my dad and I didn't get TCU football tickets for tomorrow's game. Bummer. I was really looking forward to going too. Also, Annie and I didn't get the Cowboys tickets that we were hoping to get. Bummer II. Now we just need to see if we can manage to get A&M/OU tickets for my birthday. Hmmmmm.

I just had to Min Pins come in back-to-back with vomiting and diarrhea. Different owners. What are the odds? One of them is pretty sick, so I'm going to have to hospitalize her, but the other one is better off, so I'm gonna try to treat him and send him home today. Both of them are overweight, and both were eating more than their fair share of table scraps. Word to the wise: Don't feed your dog human food. You'll pay for it later.

I'd better go and save some more puppies.

Here's a quote from one of my veterinary notes:

"........ and even minimal anesthesia (in dogs with a certain disease) may result in...death. Not likely, but very noticeable if it happens."

No kidding? Death is very noticeable? Wow.

Keep on keepin' on.

No Trabajo Para Me

I found out yesterday morning that my Tuesday and Thursday shifts were canceled. Great. So now, I'm at home and not earning any $. I do get about $80 for a cancellation fee. Who-hooo! I'm a rich hombre now! It's better than nothing, I guess. I'll take what I can get.

Today is Annie and my 6th month anniversary. *Applause, Applause* We are going to go to downtown Ft. Worth and celebrate. Man, it's been a long 6 months. Just kidding Annie.

I've pretty much just done laundry today. I did manage to clean up some junk out of my truck too.

I don't have anything very funny to talk about now. I just calculated some figures on a time frame for my arse to get outta debt, and it's not what I thought it would be. Kinda depressing. Oh well. I'll keep on keepin' on.

Do The Astros Have A Chance?

Well, the Astros sure do have a way of making life interesting in September. They managed to sweep the 1st place Cardinals, to put them to within 3.5 games of first place. So the magic number for St. Louis remains 5, and the Astros still have a BIG hill to climb. But we can still hope, right?

Sir Toes, Bubba, and I all went to the last Rangers game of the season yesterday, and my pale-skinned arse got SUNBURNED! But all in all, it was a good day, and we all had a good time. We got to the parking lot (for free!) about 1 hour and 15 minutes early, so Sir Toes and I did what any red-blooded American would do......Drink Beer. We had a few beers whilst waiting for the game to start. Bubba managed to show up right on time too. Good job Bubba!!! I gave him a good belly-rub for that too.

Annie and I are deciding on if we should attend a Cowboys game or not. It's hard on a brotha to have to make such decisions. I like the Cowboys, but I like the Aggies much better. But you can't really turn down a chance to tailgate, right? I'm waiting to see if we can buy the tickets or not.

Thanks to Big R for helping me with a tough case of mine. Big ups man, big ups.

Thanks to my Smoochie Sister for letting me use her house and guest bed for my lunch breaks when I'm in Arlington.

Thanks to Cameltoes for....um....not showing his cameltoes yesterday. He has been kind enough to show them to Big Judy a time or two, which was pretty dang funny. Especially Big Judy's reaction to it.

I may go to the TCU football game with my dad this Thursday. We can get free tickets, and since it's Dad's birthday on the same day, it will be a good time (maybe I'll buy him a beer or two for his birthday present). Although I never attended TCU, I've always at least liked them. Go Horned Frogs! LOL. I'd really like being able to just hang out with my dad, and maybe even have a real conversation for once. Madness, I know.

Stay black, and keep hope alive*. Keep on keepin' on.

*Sorry for the Jesse Jackson ripoff. I couldn't resist.

It Was Fun

Big R came up this weekend for our vet conference. Here's a quick breakdown of our weekend:

Wednesday, Big R and Cameltoes went up to Winstar to play poker. I, went to Annie's to be with her after her surgery (She's recovering well, fyi).

Cameltoes and Big R were greeted to a big puddle of nasty diarrhea, courtesy of my dog Earl. Sorry 'bout that Sir Toes. Thanks for cleaning it up.

I got up Thursday morning to go to work. Fun, I can assure you. After work, I went out to dinner with Annie, her mom, and her sister. I managed to embarrass them too, with some pretty funny comments. Annie said that they were over the line, but I think that it's pretty dang funny.

I made a comment about how that night we were going to play poker at my house. I mentioned that we were going to drink a few beers, and have lots of strippers and whores too. I then paused and said to Annie's mom, "But don't worry, we'll use condoms."

Funny, I know.

We then played poker at our house. I lost $14, most of that was on one hand versus Sir Toes. Big R lost $26. Poor, poor Big R.

Friday consisted of heading to the conference. Loads of fun, I can assure you.

We headed back home to change clothes, and head to the Rangers game. We had a great time at the game, and the Rangers even pulled out a win. A moot point, since they aren't going anywhere but there homes this October. After the game, we met our friend Cocktail at a hangout and had a good time. Sir Toes and Big R wanted to head to Winstar, but since it was pretty late, I politely declined. Sorry guys.

Now it's Saturday, and Big R left here around 11 this morning, so he can make it to the A&M game. Sir Toes and I have hung out at the house today, watched some football, and played some online poker. I managed to finally book a win at Poker Room. As soon as I can clear the bonus, then I'm finished with online poker. *Sniff, sniff.*

At least my Hawkeyes won today. If only the Cyclones can beat the hell outta t.u., then I'd be a very, very happy camper. Not likely though.

I've got a free steak dinner and drinks ahead of me tonight. Tough, I know. We are going to learn about Laser surgery. Fun, I know, but I can't pass up $40-$50 of free food/drinks. Cameltoes has politely declined. He's trying to lose the weight he gained whilst on his cruise. Pobrasito Cameltoes.

Keep on keepin' on.

Good News

Annie made it through her surgery free and clear. The great news is that they didn't have to remove a critical part of her anatomy. The bad news is that she has to be on medication for a long time, maybe even for life.

She sounds pretty loopy now, but that's good to know. She does kind of sound like a drunken sailor, which is pretty funny (without all of the cursing though).

She did get some good drugs for pain though, so I'm sure she'll be feeling a little more loopy in a little while, just in time for me to get there, I'm sure.

Keep on keepin' on. And thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Pray for Annie

Well, Annie is going to have surgery today. They are going to "explore", which is always fun, because you never know what you are going to find when you "explore." I know everything is going to be alright.

My family all ate dinner together last night (Dad, Mom, Annie and I, my sister, Bubba, and his girlfriend). It was very nice for all of us to be together. We kind of celebrated Dad's birthday a week early, and guess what? He got to pay the tab. Unfair, I know, but he's Dad.

Big R comes up today. I'm not really gonna see him though, because I'm going to be at Annie's house watching her recover from her buzz. I hope they give her some sweet pain pills, because I know how interesting she gets when she's had a few drinks, so I can only imagine how she'd be while under the influence of some sweet pain meds.

So Cameltoes, Big R and I will have to find out what we are going to do on Thursday night. Option 1: Play cards at the house.
Option 2: Go to a bar and hang out.
Option3: Go to Winstar and play poker.

I know you are on pins and needles waiting to find out what we are going to do. I'll tell you all about it though, so don't worry.

I worked on finishing off my Poker Room bonus yesterday, which will be my last adventure in online poker *sniff, sniff*. Net result: -$93, playing 3 tables of $2/$4. So now, in the process of chasing a $180 deposit bonus, I'm down $333. Nice. Now I'm trying to decide if it's even worth continuing on, because I can't exactly reload. It didn't help that I started off the site going down $170 on 2 tables of $3/$6. That didn't tickle.

Well, I'd better get off to work now. Time to make some money for da man.

Keep on keepin' on, and keep Annie in your prayers.

God bless.

Doctor los Dedos del Camello

Sir Toes (a.k.a. Chief Pounds on Toes) is coming back home today from his cruise to Mexico. Good for him. Now back to the real world for you Dr. Toes. Well sort of, because this week is a veterinary conference, and neither one of us will be working this Friday or Saturday. And Big R is coming up to hang with us too. Boys will be boys!!!*

We are going to go to a Rangers game this Friday, so that will be nice for all 3 of us to go to a game. It's been quite a while since that has happened. Although, the game will be moot, because there is a better chance of me streaking across their ballpark, then the Rangers making the playoffs.**

I am officially ending my run at online poker very, very soon. I officially got burned out of $600 that somebody stole from me. Neteller will not refund the money (which I understand) and I don't really feel safe using any other method of payment, because there is no reason that they couldn't get that info too. I'm pretty upset about this entire thing, but I can't risk getting more $$$$ jacked from the $#%%**#(@$ that took it. I hope that they put the money to good use too. Whatever. Like that will happen.

So it's kind of an end of an era. I will officially not talk about online poker anymore. I won't have a lot to talk about, since I won't exactly be playing anymore. *Tears shed. Sniff, sniff*

Keep on keepin' on.

*Boys will be boys is a loose term used to describe how the 3 of us will act this weekend. This will include reading, talking intensely about what we will have learned at our conference, and will certainly NOT involve any drinking of beer.

**I know that any ladies reading this are now disappointed that I will not be streaking. I'm sorry for the let-down.

Poor Brandi

Annie's dog Brandi has had a rough couple of days. Here's a rundown:

Monday: I performed surgery on her to remove a bunch of bladder stones

Tuesday: No problems.

Wednesday: She chewed out her stiches, which made her insides come out. Not good for those of you keeping score. I called my future boss, who lives about 5 minutes away, to see if he had any materials. He did and so Annie, Brandi, and I drive to his house. I then perform an emergency surgery on her dog on the garage floor.

Thursday: Go back into surgery to repair everything.

Friday: *Fingers crossed* She's feeling much better. She's wearing a lampshade to keep her from chewing out her stitches.

Gonna eat some fajitas now.

Keep on keepin' on.

Sorry

I apologize to my 1 reader out there for not posting, but we have been on vacation, and since I've been back, I've been one busy tall, skinny, white guy.

I'm not really sure how many people actually read this anymore though, so I may not be disappointing too many of you.

I did surgery on Annie's Lhaso Apso mix dog on Monday. She had numerous bladder stones that needed to be removed. The surgery went well, as did Brandi (her pooch). We even cleaned her teeth. Exciting.

I am working on my journal of Annie and my vacation, but it's still a work in progress, so don't hold your breath.

Annie's version is pretty good, but she only has 2.5 days written, and I'm trying to get her to keep writing.

Poker Content:

I just got an email from Littlewoods Poker that said that they will not longer be accepting U.S. players. Methinks it's only a matter of time before more sites continue that pattern. I think that other Crypto sites will soon follow suit, considering that a lot of their players are from outside of the U.S. We shall see what soon follows.

Neteller is waiting on my call to figure out the details on my newest adventure. I got $600 stolen from my Neteller account. This time, somebody hacked into my Pacific Poker account, and withdrew money from there. Not cool.

Keep on keepin' on

Wow, Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Here it is already, Thursday. The last days have flown and I'll give you a quick rundown of the events.

Monday, September 4, 2006:

I woke up Annie at about 7:00 A.M. She wasn't really that thrilled.

We had one heckova breakfast at the Super 8 (cereal and toast). They really went all out for us then. Although we did see an interesting group of people, who were all eating together. We had the token 2 big women (for Big R, of course), complete with trashy tattoos, and inappropriate clothing for a public outing (one of them was wearing a lingerie top. *Vomit*). With them was a Mexican girl about 20 or so. Then, the weirdest of all, there was an oooooooh sooooo Asian couple with them. One big happy family, I guess.

We took off for my old hometown that morning. Wow. Some things never change.

I got to see the 2 one room schoolhouses that I attended for 5 years. They are now hunting cabins, because the schools closed down a few years ago, due to lack of kids. What a surprise, because there is absolutely nothing out there. Nothing. Grass, grass, and more grass. Sprinkle in a few cattle here and there, and you have South Dakota. But I digress.

We made it to my friend's house, where we were going to stay for the night. She is a very nice 70 year old widow lady, who lost her husband about 15 years ago. Very sad, but she is a very nice, and funny lady. I got to see some people that I haven't seen since we left 16 years ago. I didn't get to see any of my old friends though. And I didn't really care. I mainly wanted to see my old house, and the schools.

Annie and I got the grand tour of the small town (which has a total of 4 houses in it). We even got to see the fire trucks for the volunteer fire department. That was actually kind of cool.

Annie and I took pictures of a very, very small Lutheran church, located by itself on a hill. It does have electricity, but no running water. Where do people go to the bathroom? In a fully-functioning 100% pure outhouse. Seriously. The church has, if everybody attends, 15 people in it. WOW.

We did get to see my old church, which I was very glad. It hasn't changed one bit, except they added on a small part, that has 2 classrooms in it. Since nobody locks their doors around there, we got to go inside the church. Annie was quite impressed. It's kind of sad, because the church doesn't have any kids in it. None. There are two age groups: those that are in their 70's and 80's, and those in their 40's and 50's. No kids. Sad, really.

Tuesday, September 5:

I woke up Annie at 7:45 A.M. She wasn't really that happy.

We got up that morning and went into "town". That's what they call it there, because the closest town is about 15 miles away. We got some more supplies, and I showed Annie the old place. Interestingly, quite a bit has changed there. It was good to see it though.

We reloaded on supplies, and gas (the next closest gas station was going to be about 80 miles away) to head out for our next adventure: Spearfish Canyons.

But on the way, we decided to take a trail that I happened to see. It took us to nowhere, which was exactly where I wanted it to take us. On the trail, there was a large mesa, or butte as they call it there, that Annie decided to climb. She got about 1/2 way up it, and I decided to catch up to her. We eventually made it up it, with a little encouraging from me. She did a good job of climbing up it, and avoiding any rattlesnakes that might have been lurking. The view from up there was breathtaking. We even saw a herd of cows.....not that we'd ever seen those before. I even did the last scene from "Dances With Wolves," where the Indian (feathers, not dots) friend calls out to Kevin Costner's character. (As an aside, we actually saw the place where they filmed that scene in Spearfish Canyons. Pretty cool).

You have to see Spearfish Canyons. Seriously. Just head south our of Spearfish, and you'll drive right through them. It's breathtaking. I had been there twice as a kid, and I remembered quite a lot of it too.

It started getting late so we decided to find a place to camp for the night. Now mind you, Sweet Annie has never been camping before. Ever. Where do I take her for her virgin camping experience? To a "primitive campsite." That means there is no running water, no showers, no electricity, and you get the privilege of going to the bathroom in an outhouse. Annie really loved that.

But to Annie's credit, she did great. She even liked the experience. We met a really nice couple that was in the campsite next to us. They let me use their axe, gave us lighter fluid, and even let us use there mad crazy fire/lighting thing. Let's just say that it ran on diesel fuel, and would stay lit for 40 hours. Pretty cool.

I made a campfire, and started cooking our dinner of cheeseburgers, hash browns and green beans. We then proceeded to enjoy some S'mores, which are almost required eating, whilst camping.

That night, the temperature got down to 38 degrees, so needless to say, it was a tad chilly. Annie made it through though, with minimal complaints. It was pretty cold though, I have to admit.

Wednesday, September 6:

We got up that morning and took it nice and easy, although Annie wasn't really thrilled at the time we woke up (around 7:00 A.M.). I cooked us breakfast burritos, and we broke camp, which actually didn't take us too long.

We then hiked down a trail to see a beautiful waterfall. We took a few pictures down there and then headed to Hill City, in the Black Hills, to make it for our 1:15 steam engine train ride.

We had a little time to blow in Hill City before the train, so we had lunch of sandwiches (for about the 5th meal of the trip) and other assorted food items. It was actually pretty nice, as we found a little picnic table near the train station.

It was a good thing that Annie made reservations for the train ride, because it was very full. The trip was 1 hour in each directions, with a 15 minute stop in between. I'm very glad that we went on it, because it was pretty relaxing, and it's a very interesting way to see the Black Hills. Going at 10 mph is a nice speed when you are enjoying the scenery. It was so relaxing, that I even took a very short nap on the way back to Hill City.

After the train trip, we headed to our cabin, which was at the Rafter J Ranch. I highly recommend it if you ever go to the Hills. It was there that we encountered a little rain, which lasted just long enough to get the ground wet, and then it stopped.

By the time we finished unloading the truck and getting things in order, it was dinner time. I made us a nice batch of sausage and sauerkraut. Mmmmm. We sat in front of the campfire that night, and had another round of S'mores.

We did manage to hear every word of a girl's conversation with her new mother-in-law. They were 2 cabins down from us, but considering how loud people talk on their cell phones, it seemed like she was right next to us. We had a good laugh though.

Thursday, September 7:

I managed to let Annie sleep in that morning (7:45 A.M.). Again, she wasn't exactly thrilled about getting up that morning. We showered, and packed the truck up again, for the days adventure.

We decided to see Mt. Rushmore first. I have seen it twice before, in the late 80's, when I was a kid. A lot has changed there (the monument hasn't, of course). They have some very nice buildings and other assorted architectural things now. You can even walk down on a trail that leads you "right under their noses." Annie even picked George Washington's nose. Figuratively speaking.

We finished that up pretty quickly, because there is only so much that you can do there, and continued on the day's adventure.

Next up: Bear Country. Bear Country is a wildlife park that you drive through. It was really pretty cool. We saw quite a few different animals, and of course, plenty of bears. They even had a Grizzly pair, (the male's name was Tank).

I met the man that wrote the biography of the guy that started the park. The author was a very nice man, and he even baited some of the animals so that they would come up close to us. I got a bunch of really good pictures of the bear cubs and wolf pups. Awwwwww. Annie had a great time there, as that was the place that she MOST wanted to see. It was nice to see her so excited and happy. I really enjoyed the experience too. It was a nice change of pace.

After that, I decided that we might as well see Crazy Horse Mountain, since it was on our way to the campground. I guess it's good to see, but I don't necessarily recommend it. The monument is barely finished, and I figure that it will take about 100 years more or so to finish. Seriously. They only have 5 people working on the mountain currently. FIVE FREAKIN' PEOPLE!!! To put the mountain into perspective, the entire Mt. Rushmore monument would fit into Crazy Horse's head. It's that big. Only now, you can only see the face. That's it. One dude that worked there said that it will take about 8-10 years just to finish blasting away the bulk material away from the horses head. Then, I can only imagine, it will take about 15-20 years to finish the horse's head. Then they'll have Crazy Horse's face, and his horse's head finished. Wow.

We paid $8 to take a bus ride close to the base of the mountain. That was pretty neat though. You could also pay $125/person to take a van ride up the the top of the mountain. Right under his nose. Annie and I thought that was a bit much, so we decided to decline.

While we were stopped on the bus trip, Annie and I saw 3 doe, which were completely content to munch on assorted shrubbery about 20 yards away from us. That was pretty cool.

So I'd see it if you have extra time in your Black Hills extravaganza, but only if you have the extra time, although the museum is pretty cool, if you have the time.

We then found our campground, and decided to stay in a "sleeping cabin." It pretty much consisted of a bed (which was a bunk bed) and a very small table. That's it. We took it because it was only $30 for the night (it did have electricity and a/c so that was nice.).

We had just enough time to drive through Needles Highway, before the sun set. It is a very pretty drive, and we had a good time driving through the wicked, twisted road. We drove through 3 one lane tunnels, but we didn't get to play chicken even once. Bummer. I did get to give Annie a scare or two by pretending to almost drive us off a cliff. Good times.

After our Needles Highway experience, we decided that we hadn't had enough of Crazy Horse, and opted to see/experience the Laser Light Show. It pretty much consisted of some lame graphics shown up on the mountain, backed up with even lamer music. All in all, Crazy Horse gets a thumbs down. Sorry. It could be so much more, but I think that it's lacking soooooo much.

So after experiencing that wonderful light show, we headed back to our "sleeping cabin." Long story short: I cooked tacos (NOT fish tacos), we ate, and we passed out.

Friday, September 8:

We set the alarm for 6:30 A.M., which Annie was REALLY thrilled about (I wasn't really thrilled about it either). We got ready, packed the truck, and headed out to Sylvan Lake, to walk along it during the early morning light. It was very nice, and very peaceful. I talked to a couple of retired men that were fishing. They weren't catching anything, and they were just fine with that. I think that they were just plain happy to be alive and fishing. Not a bad way to spend a morning.

The lake was glass, and I got some pretty cool pictures of it. There was even a wedding going on in an old church along the lake. Awwwwww. Big R, you're next.

We then drove through Custer State Park. Let me just say that I saw one of the coolest things I'd ever seen there. We were driving along, when all of a sudden we saw an Antelope buck, all by his lonesome. Only this one was about 75 yards from the road. I stopped the truck and shut off the engine. We waited and he proceeded to come to within 30 yards of the truck. Truly amazing. For those of you that don't know, antelope are very nervous. Before that day, I had never been closer to them than 100-150 yards or so. This was very, very cool.

We continued along and came upon a herd of asses, and I don't mean Big R and his friend. It was a herd of donkeys. Annie made me stop, so I did. She practically ran out of the truck, when she suddenly stopped. She stopped because an ass was rapidly walking up to her. She got pretty scared and started backtracking, with the ass continuing along toward her. She looked at me with a look that said, "Help me!" when I told her that they weren't gonna hurt her. She calmed down and then proceeded to make friends with all 15 or so of them. It made me laugh watching her with the donkeys. She was like a kid in a candy store.

I finally coaxed her from the asses, and we continued on our journey. We saw two pretty large bison herds, and we stopped and watched them for a while. There is something calming and nostalgic about watching those animals. It kind of makes you wish that you lived 150 years earlier, to witness the HUGE herds of them, tatanka that is.

Annie was quite thrilled at the sight of them too, as was I. We then proceeded to finish the tour of Custer State Park, which pretty much consisted of lot a pretty scenery.

We then set out to see the Badlands of South Dakota. I have one word to describe it: Beautiful. It was truly amazing. We spent about 3 hours touring the Badlands, stopping randomly to see/shoot pictures of it.

Along our drive, we came upon a very large prairie dog town, which Annie just LOVED. She even managed to get one of them to come right up to the truck. I mean right up to it. So close that if you opened the truck door and stepped out, you would have squished the little guy. It was pretty cute to watch the lil' varmet as he stood on his hind legs.

We then traveled along the road seeing a lot more of the Badlands then most people normally see (Because of my stellar map-reading skilz, I inadvertently sent us on a backroad tour. Exciting.).

Since all of this was so beautiful, and that all of our pictures were faded because of the harsh lighting, I really wanted to stay to see the sunset. We had finished touring the Badlands by 4 P.M., and that would mean that we would have about 3 hours to blow before sunset. I asked Annie if she would mind if we stayed until then, and she, like the doll that she is, said no. You see kids, we were supposed to head back to Texas that day, and by staying until after sunset, that would put us about 4 hours behind.

I even bought her dinner at the local diner, where Indians (feathers, not dots) served us a good, "just like Mom used to make," dinner. We then prepared for our hike into the wilderness for our photo shoot.

Long story short, it was awesome. We were in the middle of nowhere, just the two of us and 6 deer. It wasn't long before 3 of the does walked to within about 20 yards of us. It was surreal. Then the sun started setting, throwing reds, pinks, and purples onto the sky and the Badlands. We shot a bunch of pictures and had a great time. Until Annie saw the rattlesnake skin.

Rugh row shaggy. She hasn't spent a lot of time in the "wild", so she didn't really realize that the snake wasn't still attached to it. About 10 minutes later, I finally convinced her that they weren't gonna kill us. She did realize that snakes shed their skin, but this particular one looked really life-like to her. Poor Annie.

We finished our photographic safari, and started heading back south. We made it about 2 hours before I couldn't drive anymore, because I was about to pass out. We ended up staying in the Comfort Inn in Valentine, Nebraska. Sweet, sweet loving was had there, I can assure you.

Saturday, September 9:

We left Valentine, NE that morning around 9:15 or so. It's a long drive to Oklahoma City from there, especially when you are anxious to get back home. Long story short, we made it to Oklahoma City around 8:00 P.M. that night. We found a nice hotel that was off the beaten path a bit, but it was nice. It was nice to take it easy for a night, and not have to worry about anything, and just relax.

Sunday, September 10:

We got up that morning and headed out to the OK National Memorial. It's amazing. Very sobering. The memorial is really well done. They even left the plaza of the Federal Building, which was on the other side of the bomb blast, so it was left unscathed. It's surreal. You end up seeing door and staircases that lead to nowhere, because the building simply isn't there anymore. I HIGHLY recommend going to see this.

We then went to the museum there. Unbelievable. It's pretty hard to not shed a few tears there. They start you out on that day, before the attack, and then proceed to take you throughout that day and the years after that. It's amazing.

We made it back to my house by 6:30 P.M. What a trip.

Happy Manuel Day!

I realize the official name for today is "Labor Day", but I figure since I do live in Texas, and since I've been working with a lot of Mexicans, I felt that it is a little more appropriate.

As of right now, we are in Sturgis, SD. Home of the HUGE, REALLY FREAKIN' HUGE Sturgis Rally and Races. For those of you that have been, you know what I'm talking about, and for those of you that haven't', it's pretty hard to describe in mere words.

We left Wichita, KS at 8:15 in the morning. We went up central Kansas, and then went up to the northwest corner. I have never seen this part of Kansas, and it's really beautiful. We went up the western part of Nebraska, and that too, is really beautiful. I had never been to that part of the state either.

I'm a bit of a shutter bug, so we stopped a few times on the side of the road to take pics of something I found interesting. We even stopped at the Kansas/Nebraska border, and the Nebraska/S. Dakota border to have our pictures taken in front of them. Corny, I know, but Annie has never been to these states, and I made her do it.

We did manage to stop about 2,534 times for bathroom breaks though. Annie has a sore throat, and to ease the soreness, she drank fluids. A lot of fluids. Poor girl. Now this morning, it's worse. I feel bad for her. On a good note, I feel about 85% now. I still have this freaking stuffy nose. Oh well.

Back to the photo talk. While we were driving up the western half of Nebraska, I stopped suddenly. Annie was wondering what I was doing, but she soon realized. I have a thing for barns, and windmills. Well, before our very eyes, was a beautiful wind mill with wild yellow clover growing all round it. I took about 15 shots of it, from various angles. I really, really hope that 1-2 of them turn out very well, and that I can make a poster-sized print from them. I bought 4 rolls of slide film for this trip, and along with my digital camera, I am.....um....well armed.

When Cameltoes and I went to Utah and Wyoming 3 years ago, I shot 33 rolls of film! So this new digital camera will save me quite a lot of money.

We stopped at Wall Drug. Wall Drug is a HUGE drugstore with just about everything in it. It would take 1-2 hours just to see it all. We spent about 30 minutes there. Annie got a "sparkly" belt, and I got a sweet, pearl snap shirt (Aren't you glad Big R?).

Gas prices are about $0.35 - $0.50 higher up here. Ouchy on the cho-cho.

We have gotten pretty lucky as far as getting fairly cheap hotels goes. A total of $130 for 2 nights in 2 different hotels ain't all that bad.

Well, Annie and I are off to get some world class Super 8 continental breakfast. Then we are off to my old hometown, and to visit a few old friends. Ah....Memory Lane.

Keep on keepin' on.

We Made It To Wichita

Howdy folks! We done made it to Wichita, KS. It's 7:25 in the A.M., and Annie and I are getting ready to hit the road for the next section of our journey: Sturgis, SD. We decided to stay in Sturgis instead of Rapid City, because we found a better hotel deal there. And there's an added bonus: we will be 45 minutes closer for tomorrow's drive.

We left Ft. Worth at about 5:45, and it only took us about 13.25 minutes to make our first stop to Sonic for some raspberry sweet tea - make it a Route 44, please; so then I can go potty every 5.2 minutes. I'm just giving you a hard time Annie.

After our "Sonic Good" break, we continued North. It wasn't long before some much needed rain started falling. Good for the land, not so good for our stuff in the bed of the truck. We eventually found a Wal-Mart off the freeway in Oklahoma. But, of course, the Okies have to make things very, very difficult and it took an Act of Congress to get to it. Long story short, we had to take a few residential roads to back to the freakin' store.

Twenty minutes later, we were in Wally World and bought ourselves some big plastic containers for our stuff. We get our stuff loaded in said plastic containers, and then the rain proceeded to stop. Thanks.

When we finally reached Wichita, by around 10:30 or so, we found an exit with no less than 5 hotels on it. Three of them were booked, one of them was gonna be about $100........So no. I was pretty much ready to call it quits and continue on, when Annie had us try the last one. $54 for the night. With free wireless. And a king size bed. And the room is pretty dang big.

So with that free wireless connections, I booked our hotel for tomorrow. Here's where Annie and I differ. She likes to have things mapped out, and the schedule pretty much planned out. I, on the other hand, like to keep things open. I would be just fine with not booking the hotel for tomorrow, but it think that we will save a few bucks by doing it Annie's way. Awww Sweet Annie.

Well, I'm off to spend the next 15-20 minutes repacking the truck. Which is my Dad's. Which has a sweet ZZ Top style paint job on it. Which makes people think that it's a Mexican truck.

Keep on keepin' on. Or Keep. Keep truckin'. I'll post again when I get a chance.

Someone Wake Me Up From This Nightmare!!!

The day started out innocently enough. Traffic was unusually light for a Friday. When I walked into the clinic, I saw that I wasn't going to have any patients to see for a hour. But all good things must end, I'm afraid.

Around 8:45 this morning, my phone rang. It was the mechanic, who is fixing my truck. I brought it in there Thursday evening because of a "whining" sound I was hearing.

Well, I answer the phone and he said, "Well, Double D, it's not good."

Rugh, row Shaggy. No bueno. Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

He continues, "It seems that the seal in your rear differential disappeared and all of the fluid drained out. That caused catastrophic damage to the gears and other assorted parts. So to fix it, it's gonna be about $1900."

I almost fell over.

He continued, "You also need new shocks, (at $275), to replace some parts on the front axles (@ $350), and a few other small things need to be done."

MOTHER TRUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So by the time it's all said and done I'm gonna owe da man about $3,000 and it won't be finished until late next week. Not good since I was going to take it on Annie and my trip to South Dakota. And we are leaving TOMORROW!!

I'm resting now as my heartrate drops to below 200 beats per minute..........

There. Oh, but it gets better. But at least we still have Annie's car. Right???

Annie's car is also in the shop. With major engine problems. She was informed this morning that her car won't be finished until next Wednesday.

Did I mention that we are leaving for South Dakota tomorrow?

But da man says, "Good news. You can rent a Ford Taurus for $14 per day, since Ford will cover $18 per day."

Great. Annie asks, "We are going to South Dakota. Is that O.K.?"

Da man says, "No."

So now were are stuck with no vehicle.

Enter my parents, stage left. They said that we can use my dad's GMC truck. Whew. Thanks Dad and Mom.

I told Annie that we are going to have to pan for gold. She laughed.........I was being serious. We only need to find a small nugget. Just one.

Keep on keepin' on. And don't let da man bring you down.