Drives me frickin nuts, this is why I hate all you m***erf***ers!

This one turned out nice and blurry. This was the tail end of my first day volunteering at the SPCA. The first half, well majority, didn't gets picturally documented because my phone was in the car charging, sucks too because my first job was to bathe this sweet boy dog. He was the easiest time I ever had bathing an animal. He tried, barely, to climb out of the big sink for aminal bathing, but after he realized, quickly, that it was pointless, he just slumped down and hung his head, as if to say, 'ok, fine.' Frickin sweetest dog I've ever seen, I think. He was a big-type dog, a mutt, of course, but a nice white with tan spots shorthair supm beautiful, but only four months old, so he was just this huge 5o supm pound puppy. 

Anyway, after that, I went to talk to the dog guys and I walked one hyper creature around the big trail out back through the woods. It was beautiful. This picture is near the end of the trail, where it opens to an overlooking point at the empty field next door.
The helicopter I was trying to capture dipped just below the tree line and hung there so as to obscure any photo opps. Anyway, you can just barely spot him right above and to the left of the light pole at the top edge of the tree line. Apparently, as we discovered later, they were looking for a downed power line that was right ovar about a mile. He was flying real low, though, as you can see, so even this little thing was kinda loud for typical neighborhood experience.
This is blurry, but a source of pride and thus worthy of elaboration. The past few times I went over to Shalane's to pick up the kids, this bookshelf was taunting me and I put it together so I figger I has a right, right?, so I turned all the pictures on this bookshelf over on their side. Well, this last time, I was feeling my extra-creative self so I invested some extra effort in doing it right and proper. I turned all the books upside down, too. I didn't want to be rude and mess up her order, so I didn't just grab the whole stack and flip them. I turned each book in it's place, well, except the Navy and Marine Corps books that I gave Neriah. I left them right side up. It was a joke I am quite proud of. Stuff like that really makes life fulfilling, well, fer me, at least.
Wow, this one turned out quite like something drug-induced, or so I've heard. I took Neriah to the doctor the other day, today it was Rhianna's turn. She is apparently different sick. This is her prescription and my Dum Dum sucker. Rhianna doesn't like Dum Dums. Can you frickin believe that? Weird child. I'll blame that part of her retarded taste on her mom, must be, pshaw!
So, we went to the Walgreens by her house where Neriah and I just went a couple days prior. We walked around waiting for our drug handout. I hate this store. There's always some cool shite that you don't see nowhars else and crap that you's been wantin to buy and hasta now because it's 75% off, ugh. So, after getting a couple must-haves, we stood in front of the over-the-counter drugs and joked about how all the Walgreens store brands were just Wal-supm, like Wal-phed or Wal-zyr or Wal-zan.
Ok, this is why I frickin hate people. This lazy m***erf***er in the Ford supm, 4 cars up on the right, just unloaded and did what too many people I have seen do, just pushed the cart off, not onto a curb or in between cars, which sucks enough, but right behing the frickin car next to them, oh my frickin god. I yelled, but was ignored, of course as they just got in a drove away. As you may or may not be able to see in this picture, the cart return was just on the other side of the car on their other side, aaaaggh!!! I frickin hate people! Their's was not the only one, as you can see. there was another cart pushed right behind someone's frickin car and two carts just pushed up to the entry to the cart return, wow, the pinnacle of halfassness. Then, as I walked over to the cart return with another stray cart, some lazy halfasser pushed their cart up 'to' the cart return and just left it 'near' it. Ya know, I understand, I am a full-time beach bum and have the extra time to do shite like this, but even before I was retired and managed over a hundred frickin people and was damn busy, busier, prolly, than these dumbasses, I still could spend a whopping frickin 20 seconds max to find the nearest cart return, even if the GD thing was a whole five cars away. Aaaaagh!!! I frickin hate people.

Disregard all my ranting. I love you guys. -insert big cheesy smile- Yeah, whatever, shut up.

Listening to: The cool, flying ace game music that Neriah's playin.

Damn, it's hot.

I have been slow in finishing this one, but no slower than most, I guess, since it was only from yesterday. Well, It's not as hot. It was earlier today, whew, but just a bit ago it started raining, a good hard rain, the likes of which we don't often get here. It rains all the time, but it's usually nothing worth not wearing shorts and flippers fer. It's usually over a few minutes after it starts with the sun once agin blazing in the sky to dry up any evidence of the rain's existence. So, here I sit on this wonderful screened porch listening to the raindrops pelt the roof as I wait for my tea to steep while I further the completion of this entry.

Yesterday, I went to the other Starbucks, which I've decided I like better. It's about two miles further toward downtown with a much more comfortable atmosphere. Another experience that I was stunned and thankful for was when the guy who brought my decaf coffee out to me said he wasn't going to charge me because I hadta wait for it to brew. Woot! That's cool enough, but that was my third, I repeat 3rd cup in a row that was on the house, frickin awesome.

As I was sitting there, letting my coffee cool, reading, I caught a whiff of something that was almost a whole memory. I'm not really sure what it was, but it made me think of sitting at some cafe's table on the sidewalk in some country (not really important which one, there were several with awesome cafes.) Like I said it was almost a whole memory, but not really specific beyond the feelings of it.

After I left Starbucks, I decided I wannid to go check out the library downtown. This first picture is of the road leading from the main street through town down to the road that runs around the lake that's right by the libaree, one of the lakes that Lakeland is so named for. 
Wow, I love this town. I'm sure Emily thinks that I moved back to this area to get back together with her. Admittedly, that was part of the reason, before I discovered that it was not possible. I really did want to try and salvage a year-long investment, but her new beau makes that impossible. However, I love this town regardless. Florida is not my favorite place, which sounds strange for a full-time beach bum to say, but this is definitely a primo spot to be. I can’t say ‘the’ primo spot because I dunno there may be others, but I really like this one. It’s very immune to bad weather, traffic is ok, population is just enough to father things like Starbucks and much shopping to be had, such as Target, Super Wally World, PetSmart, and all the other conveniences that spoil us city-dwellers without the insane congestion of places like Tampa or Atlanta. 

Damn, this rain sounds really good.
Frickin wow, after I check out this libaree, I think I'm gonna sit upon one of them thar benches.
Oops, blurry. This is truly one of the coolest libaree's I've seen. It definitely rivals the one in Athens, GA that was the best yet I think. This picture just shows one small piece. This area is special because, like a few other areas, it has those huge windows, that don't look blurry in real life, that hold a breathtaking view of the lake.
This blurry picture is of the Sumbuddy Intial. Sumbuddy Sailing Collection. I think I will be coming back to this one.
I didn't get a picture on the way in, so I gots one heading out.
This, I believe, is the spot for me.
The picture makes it look all grey, but it was not, far from it. It was a beautiful clear day that had a sky full of puffy cotton ball clouds.
This one's a bit closer to reality.
This was as close as I could get before this guy hissed and growled at me. Frickin awesome bird. The picture lets someone easily discount this as just some bird. However, this is a huge glorious creature. It was bigger than most Thanksgiving birdies by far.
This guy came up to investigate what kind of food offering I had. Sorry, feller, nutn from me today.
The spot where my book stayed the whole time because I was too captivated  by the sensory overload from every angle.
I tried to capture it, but it was a bit too much for my cell phone camera to do. There was a flock of prolly a hundred of these small birds that flew around back and forth in my view. As I followed them a bit, I began to notice the profusion of birds, and of so many varied types. Wow.
This guy would rouse from his slumber whenever I would eyeball him too much, which really means I had to get too close to do so.
As I sat and marveled at the awesome spectacle that I felt so fortunate to be able to experience, thinking back to the places, culture, and cuisine I was fortunate enough to see and experience overseas, this guy came by with a castnet. He wrangled with it a bit and produced a large fish of some kind, threw it to the ground and proceeded to cast his net over there. I tried to get a picture of him casting the net, but he left after catching one very large fish that he threw back in. Not a desirable fishy, I reckin. So, I only caught him walking away, leaving me with the responsibility of recounting this memory with no visual aid to assist.
There's my bench ovar. I parked on the street of this lazy, quiet, 25mph street.
On the way home, it can't be deciphered here, it started to rain. I had the windows down, so I got the full effect of the smell of fresh rain as I neared the end of my journey.

Listening to: I wonder, by Blind Melon.

Another bonus day I am so thankful for

Ok, for those who may be reading that haven't read all of this dynamic life documentation, and for my own recollection because it's nice to remember the life I once had, which is basically mostly what I thought about today, a 'bonus day' is every day for the past 3+ years since my 'slowing down'. Why?, because I accomplished and acquired far more than I ever dreamed possible before my 'slowing down'. Therefore, every day since then is a bonus. I have already done far more than I imagined possible, so now it's a bonus every time I wake up and get to experience anything, good or bad.

Oh yeah, today's entry begins with a trip to Starbucks for a decaf coffee as I read and enjoy the frickin awesome sky. Well, until I could no longer handle the middle aged twits sitting next to me doing the 'I'm so cool, dating ritual.'
Then, I decided to leave my once comfortable spot and head for one of the lakes that 'Lake'land is named for.
Wow.
I went downtown and decided that I wanted to go to that awesome shopping area that Emily and I used to go to. So, I turned around and found this beautiful little cobblestone road alongside this small lake complete with the awesome sky on the way back to the way over there.
Downtown Lakeland is sweet.
Sitting at the light, I noticed there's a Starbucks on the corner, hmm, I didn't know.
Heading into the shopping oasis.
This is one of those tucked away shopping communities that resembles what most towns were in the fifties, I imagine.
This roundabout, in front of the Books-A-Million, on this here bench, is where I will sit and read, I do believe. Oh, it's so nice.
The way home had the same amazing sky, who woulda thunkit?
It is warm enough, sorry all you yankee peeps, that I feel compelled to go sit on the screened (Damn, I hate bugs) porch and drinks a beer while I read this book that Rhianna gots me hooked on. She had an extra copy for me after I gived her big book back, cool. I won't hasta gits my own until I get to book two.
Mmm, this beer's so good.

Listening to: The way you move, by Outkast.

The last Sunday

...in Jan 2009, eh, didn't have a good title. That damn head cold really kicked the shite outta me and zapped my energy banks, so I guess my wit is impaired. This picture was taken last weekend. The kids and I, I had them stay seated in the car so they could be in my picture. However, I don't think my cell phone camera captured their sweet faces. Regardless, this was an awesome little (well, big, actually) park that we found on the way out to investigate a flea market in Lakeland. It had prolly a hundredd small lakes. I just hadsta stop and take a picture by one of them.
This is another one of those 'cell phone camera didn't accurately portray the target, but I will remember'. We were coming back, kinda the long way, and I was just having a moment of 'wow, Lakeland is such a beautiful city.' So, like I said, I tried to capture that to no avail obviously.
Thw kids and I took one of our refreshing walks around the neighborhood. Well, I walked. They have their Ripsticks, which are quite the awesome toy, another thing that makes me think 'wow, that woulda been awesome when I was a punk kid.'
One of the cool benefits of giving this Suburban to me madre, I gits to drive it once in a while. She let me borree it the other day to go git a chair from Shalane's. It was a chair that I originally bought for myself anyway, but when she leaved, I gived it to her, so, now that I have a use for it again, it is pretty cool to have it back. Her boyfriend is buying her some new furniture, so she doesn't have room fer it anymore. Coolness for both of us.
Zoee is such a sweet baby. I love her. She is a funny story that I don't know if I's ever included in here. She was given to Shalane, out in California, by a lesbian that was in love with her. This is important to the story because of the lesbian's dislike of arrogant prick types like I was. Well, Zoee is very snobbish and requires some serious gettin-to-know-you time before she is ready to have anything to do with you. When I met Zoee, however, after one of the last times Shalane left, when I was returning from a deployment overseas, she lept into my arms and we have been in love ever since. So, she is Shalane's dog, but my girlfriend.
Another memory, the back porch over there at Shalane's/my ex-girlfriend's town house is breathtaking. I love to sit out there and just breathe it in.
I went to my interview at the SPCA the other day, which was really just a more detailed follow-up to the information session I went to. It was more for those who actually show up to volunteer and buy a shirt and get/give and idea of the jobs they can/will do. Well, I was early as I usually am, so I walked around and visited the aminals. This dog was one of the frickin cutest I's ever seed. Fortunately for me, it was about to go home with the peeps that just adopted it.
Then I looked at the cats. I have actually been considering a cat lately, so much less maintenance. I really liked this one.

When I went to pick them up on Friday, I was stoked to discover that Neriah had gotten rid of the two C's he had gotten on the last report card. He also made it onto the Honor Roll. Hells Yeah! Anyway, that is what was keeping his Christmas gifts in jail at my house. Yesterday, we went out to shoot his new bow and arrow. Unfortunately I have (still, dammit!) misplaced the bb's for the bb gun. 
As he was looking for the arrows that can be sneaky hiders, I came over here to take a picture across the car. I really like this little car. As I've said, when Emily was in it, I hated this car. Again, not talking shite about her, she was just very sensitive to noise and acceleration, so I was constantly very uptight and uncomfortable. Now, that I can rolld the windows down, open the sun roof, crank the radio and just drive, I frickin love it.
This is one of those funny memories in life. We thought the first arrow had been lost because, even though we both watched exactly where it went, it simply vanished. I concluded that it musta skimmed across the ground and went into the brush ovar, so we gived up on it. Then, the second one vanished a while later and it looked like quittin time. Then, I just happened to look down at just the right spot and holy crap, lookee there, they were both not only buried the same way, but parallel to each other. Wow. It looks a lot more visible in this picture, but in an expanse of this greyish-brown grass, they were quite hidden.
This is another memory that words will describe better than a picture. Neriah looked up this morning and spotted these four peeps skydiving, prolly into the airport right behind us. It looked really cool.
This morning, after getting some damn replacement bb's, because I still ain't finded the original bb's, gumble, grumble, we went to shoot his new Red Ryder bb gun. My brain wasn't working this morning, so I just grabbed the same target we used for the bow and arrow, a lawn bag of leaves. We agreed, however, that his slingshot target practice items would be much mo betta, cans, etc. Well, next time, mom was coming to get them in minutes, so this morning was just to do it, ya know.

Listening to: Christian Woman, by Type O Negative.

I was just thinking about this today

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I just watched this and thought it was quite the interesting observation, which goes along with my idea that Obama is an awesome orator. I'm sure that had a lot to do with his popularity. I just hope that his skills and abilities will be comparable. We shall see. 

Listening to: The Daily Show.

Inauguration 2009 - I hope...

I am suffering through this head cold that my darling daughter shared with me. It really sucks because I haven't been sick in over a year and a half thanks to the healthy way that I've been eating and hydrating. Recently, however, I have been eating crap because it was available and I was too lax in my commitment to eat decent foods. I have been exposed to sick peeps in the past year and a half, but remained unaffected. Anyway, such is life, this sniffly crap sucks. This is why I'm not feeling like using any real pictures for this entry. 

It kinda works actually. I am sitting here watching Springer in between inauguration preps until it actually begins. I didn't vote for the guy, but I still want to hear what he has to say. I really am not averse to the idea of a democrat. I had just preferred the idea of Mrs. Clinton being the democrat that we could actually use to straighten out our economy. I think her husband did a good job, especially for the economy. This Obama guy seems to be 'too popular', but I hope that he proves my apprehensions wrong. He does seem to be a positive potential.

On another very uplifting note, the vehicles you see in the procession of the most prominence in our country are GM products, such as Chevy and Cadillac. #1 in the world, woot!

Listening to: Springer.