Hey.
whoever reads this.
Spread the word that we're still in need of a futon....
Holla' Back!

...hell...a full sized or double mattress would work too.

On Pandora

The songs that play on my Pandora John Prine station...
These are the songs, and in this order, that they played today...

John Prine - Back Street Affair
Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain
Tom Petty; written by John Prine, featuring J.P. - Picture Show
Slaid Cleaves - Broke Down
John Prine - Some Humans Aint Human
Todd Snider - Statistician's Blues
Dan Reeder - I Don't Really Want to Talk to You
Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Don't Think Twice its Alright
Steve Goodman - Blue Umbrella (song written by J.P.
John Prine - The Great Compromise
.
.
.
yeah, you know you would play this station if you had it.
*siigh*
i sure play it a lot.
but hey, don't think twice...its alright.

On Luda

You know what I LOVE about my dog?
No matter how long I step out,
5 minutes to run to my car
30 minutes for a run
3 hour bike ride
5 hours at work
A weekend trip...

The minute I come in the door and he sees me
he shakes his tail and it goes all the way down through his hips and makes his little hind end wiggle
His tongue hangs down to the side of his mouth and eyes GLOW!!

Every time.

That's pretty cool.
Also, he's hilarious to try and nap with. I recommend trying it sometime, he's really a decent nap buddy...he even spoons. He rolled over the other day and slept on his back with my arms wrapped around his two front legs that were basically up in the air. His head tilted back so he could see the world upside down. heh.
I would have tried taking a picture, but it would have ruined the moment.
:)

I would have to confess
that Todd Snider
is one of my new favorite musicians.
Lyrically, instrumentally, everythingally.

This song is called the Ballad of the Kingsmen...
You don't have to think too hard to figure out why I love it...

"The Kingsmen came together in a garage,
They could hardly even play
But they practiced night
And day pretty soon they got to where they could really play that song Louie,
Louie
So, they saved up all the money from the shows,
Went in to one of them studios and gave their version of the song a try

Now, I don't know the words to that song Louie,
Louie and I'm pretty sure the singer for the
Kingsmen didn't know ‘em either,
If he did know ‘em he didn't get ‘em right on the record
Cause on the record they sound jumbled in his jaw? It says,
Me think of me girl oh so constantly
Ahmayaaah makaaaah aahh ooohoooh aaaaah
Well, that last part scared everybody from the PTA to the FBI
You see, the kids had been going kind of crazy lately
And it seemed like nobody could figure out why,
So they decided to form a coalition,
Launch an investigation, you know for the children, they at least had to try
To figure out the words to Louie, Louie


Chorus
It's the feel good hit of this endless summer
It gets these kids out of control
Singin along to that star spangled bummer,
Hail, hail rock and roll

Marilyn Manson’s real name isn't even Marilyn Manson,
He's a skinny public high school Kid from Florida,
Not some monster from out of this world and like of a lot other skinny long hair public
High school kids he was sick of getting
Beaten up by the pulling guard all week only to go out on the weekend,
And watch the Quarterback get all the girls so,
He formed a band man
Now' he gets all the girls,
A few years later a couple of latchkey kids go tragically
Mad and everybody's standing around the television store at the mall trying to figure out what went wrong,
This guy says,
You think the life of a kid going to high school could've gotten so bad this other guy says nah,
It's just the words to one of them goddamn Marilyn Manson songs,
You know the one

Chorus

You know, every ten years or so our country and some other little country,
We start firing all of our newest weapons
At each other for some reason or another, right or wrong,
Like it or not, it happens, and when it happens
People get shot and when people get shot,
They show it on tv a lot every night at six o clock
And you don't even have to be eighteen to see it you don't even have to be in first grade,
First grade where they teach the kid pride
They tell him he'll need to thrive,
In a world where only the strong will survive,
So he's taught the art of more
To compare to and to keep score Monday thru Friday while
He stares at the floor til' Sunday they make him go to
School once more only this time they make him wear a suit and a tie
And listen to some guy who claims to know Where people go
When they die tell him that only the meek are gonna inherit the earth Well shit,
By this time the kid doesn't know what anything
Is worth, now brothers and sisters I am only one guy
And I don't even know the words to that song Louie,
Louie but I can tell you right now without batting an eye
That the next time some latchkey kid goes wrong
It aint gonna be cause that Eminem gets to say the word Fag in his song
And I'm not trying to preach to ya either,
I'm just trying to sing to ya too, you know string a few words together

Hey kids...
Lets get it on,
Lets get it on"



Its a funny thing that he mentions Marilyn Manson...
I've never been a fan of the music, but I saw in an interview with him once
where he was being questioned about ...stuff
and the interviewer asked "if you could tell the kids one thing, what would it be?"
(this was in response to school shootings)
and Marilyn's answer was "That's exactly the problem, we need to stop telling them what to do, and start listening."
...I may never listen to or enjoy the music,
but that statement is enough for me.
Fair Enough Manson, I hear ya.


Other Todd Snider songs of greatness:

On a Photo Vaca

Here it is foolks!
The photo run-down!

Those up above there are from when Jared and I couldn't find a campsite.
We settled for that Motel 8 with mr. Luda pants.
We ate bagels out of the back of my car...

Then up in MN
we...had some beers


I'm happy to point out that I have larger arms than Jared
;)
don't mess w/ me BOY!

There was AMAZING people-watching
Example 1: this cute cute girl and her tongue sticking out



-------------------------------

Then, Just as I said, I headed home!
Amie moved into her house!!
My mom and I helped her paint her room (blue)


She really likes bright things.
Plus her new bedroom furniture and bedding and such is a neat brown. So it all looks great
and the blue really helps everything come to life.

Her gutters and such ...well decomposing is...the best word for it.
So Cousin Bob came over and cleaned that Out.
Uncle Joe came and edged her sidewalk and such. Such good family.
My grandpa gave her a cherry tree as a gift - he helped her plant it, too.


Its a really really cute and awesome house!
I'm super proud and happy for her!
Yaaaay Amie!
Luda already pooped in her bathroom while she watched him...and I went to Michigan.
bwahahaha. ...he ate the roundup she sprayed on her weeds.




-------------------------------


The Off to michigan I went!
First:
my room:

Jared, Kris, Mickey... I love to cuddle with you guys...
but oooooh a nice big bed all to myself...maaaagical.

I had a blast taking pictures



One of the evenings, down at camp,
there was a kids carnival thinger where they ...play games and get tokens
and turn the tokens in for ...prizes (sugar and such...)
These are my cousins Keenan and Sierra,

Watching their brother do some rock stacking.
Trevor came Really close (by 2 rocks!) to getting the record in the Rock Stacking competition...
he won free ice cream, anyway.


After the events, we had Ice Cream in the wig-wam.
Yum!!!


And I took pictures


The next day, we went sight seeing!!!

This is the view from the scenic lookout down to our beach area

We went and saw a lighthouse, too
we even got to take a tour of the inside!


I took more pictures


But being me,
I liked the outside area of the lighthouse MUCH better:



From there we headed up to Sleeping Bear Dunes!!!
First we did the big dune that you can run up
Hence...my cousins taking off together to go tackle the climb

The fam:


We made it to the top!

We also made it safely down
and I apparently felt the need to ...show my musCles.
I am a freakin' Tigress.


We drove through the National Park part, too and ...I took more pictures
;)
I think that I am going to frame this one ...something about it:


This was the sunset.... From the bench at our beach area...
magic:

And...just another view of the beach
*mmmhm, bet you're wishing you were there...I wish I was there again...already...*


These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip
Thanks mom for posing!!!






Soon enough, I took off for a bike ride!!!! I did on Thursday, the day we drove up,
but Saturday rolled around and....I needed a REAL ride...
like...sickening long and REAL...

So that's what I did
108 miles later
a few NICE climbs
(okay, I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd make those last two home...
they hurt. Hurt like a mo' fo')
But in the end, my tan lines are Great
and ...I even felt great the next day! It wasn't too bad, at all!
It was ...amazing. That riding is...damn hard to beat.

The parts that were along lakes or the coast line were just...
mind blowing. You have GOT to try it sometime...



And this was my sundown.
It was some AMAZING alone time watching it.
I couldn't help but sing Jimmy Eat World's "My Sundown" in my head...






Yeah,
My Sundown.

On Minneapolis

Hi.
I can't currently find my camera cord whilst I'm on vacation,
but I can tell you that its amazing here.

All I do know is that last weekend...
I was up in MN for the weekend
Myself and Jared tried camping
...we failed.

I blame the Garmin:

it ran us all around town.

We wound up at a Motel 8 the first night

where we literally had to sneak little (errr...or not so?)
Luda into the room...
that was right across from the reception desk.

It made us feel very 007ish

Luda even barked ONCE in the middle of the night.
we thought we were done for.

The next morning we got up and tried the camping thing again.
Of course it was a downpour of rain
and the camp site was about a mile walk-in.
hmmmm.

We stayed on the floor of Mickey/Kris/Robyn/Marissa's room
yeah, imagine that.
Good thing I brought the Thermarest

...which I let Jared use.

The things you do for the right people...

Anyway,
I'll post pictures soon,
as well as pictures from Michigan. You just wait. Just wait.