Warrior Dash 2011!

Warrior Dash 2011

Just finished Warrior Dash, first one ever for me and my wife, and boy it was great!  Here is a little back-story on *why* I did this and also the breakdown of our day (complete with pics).

First, a little back-story.

If you're reading this and if you know me at all, you're at least a bit familiar with my personal weight-loss journey.  The following is the short version, for those of you who may not know.  About a year or so ago, I started taking my health seriously.  Weight-loss was a good start, I figured.  And so I started.  As of right now, I've lost 70lbs but I still have more to go.

So there is that.

Also if you know me, you know that I promote the Body By Vi 90-Day Challenge.  I've used the convenient protein shakes for breakfast that have went along with, and helped me stay on track with, my primal nutrition.  Changing my mindset about food and it's roll in my life has led to the weight-loss success that I've had.  Primal nutrition and lifestyle has been my focus and the Body By Vi Challenge has provided the convenience for me to stay on track. 

So there is that too :)

Where does Warrior Dash fit into all this you may ask?  Well you may not be asking, but I'm assuming you did otherwise I couldn't continue this post and since I am, it must mean I'm guessing you asked :)

After losing much weight I just wanted to do "something" that kinda puts an exclamation mark in things.  My friend Fred, talked to me about Warrior Dash and I was immediately hooked.

Now Warrior Dash isn't really for the timid.  Its a 3-mile obstacle course with barriers that include cargo-net climbs, fire, mud-crawls and barbed-wire.  GREAT fun!  I highly recommend it.

So Rob, did you train for this?  Cause it sounds pretty tough.

Er, um ... ah .. yes and no.  I started training for it and then shiny things in life happened.  Before you know it, the day of the dash was here with me wondering if I was going to even survive this thing or not. 

THREE miles?  I'd never ran farther than a mile in my life.

But this isn't grade-school gym class I realized.  I didn't HAVE to run the entire way and my goal was completing the course, doing every obstacle .. sort of a scouting mission to see how much I liked this type of run.  I wasn't worried about winning it because a *win* in my mind was just getting through it.  And I have my friend Fred to thank for keeping me on track with that kind of thinking (thanks man).

Plus I got to go with my wife who surprised me by wanting to do this with me.

With my wife joining up, it DID cause us to do some training as a family.  Which led to games in our yard, more family and fun.  That's always a good thing!

All in all Warrior Dash was amazing-ubr-cool-super-fun with a generous dollup of mud!

For those of you still reading here is a breakdown of the barriers along with what pics we have of before and after shots :)



Barricade Breakdown
What this was:
This was a fairly simple barrier.  Four-foot walls that you jump/fall over, followed immediately by barbed wire that you crawl under.  Repeat about 5 times.

How we fared:
Pretty good.  We'd ran a bit over a mile at this point at had some water.  Running through the woods/fields over our first mile was fun and I think we were pretty jazzed up about our first obstacle.  I found that a jump-butt-down-spin-move on the wall was effective followed by much grunting as I lumbered under the barb wire trying to keep my butt out of it.


Chaotic Crossover
What this was:
The tension mounts a bit higher as we come up to a horizontal cargo net.  Climb up to the net's level, then crawl, roll and somehow get across.

How we fared:
Again really well.  Still fairly fresh (though I'm certain our armpits were a testament to the contrary) this wasn't bad.  Both my wife and I wear "those toe shoes" .. otherwise known as the coolest shoes on the planet.  I felt those gave us a significant advantage in mobility.  You could really feel the cargo neat beneath your feet and even hold on with your toes as needed.

Assassin's Escape
What this was:
This was basically run/climb up a set of stairs then slide down the fireman's pole at the other side.

How we fared:
Nailed it.  Heather and I both wondered why some folks seemed to struggle with this one.  Basically though we just stepped on their bodies and ran to the next obstacle (I'm only kidding, we didn't step on anybody, we just kicked them to the ditch).

Teetering Traverse
What this was:
Narrow ramps, up high.  Think ramps to a chicken-coupe but 5 feet off the ground.

How we fared:
Again we nailed this one.  I'd seen videos of this on YouTube and clearly too many city-folks have never climbed around on the farm.  This was easy and we simply jogged across it.

Great Warrior Wall
What this was:
A vertical rope climb wall with some footholds.  We were concerned about this one.

How we fared:
This took some strength out of us but was still doable.  The knots on the rope weren't very close together so you had to have some grip strength to get up that wall.  The footholds made it much easier.  Not being a *huge fan* of heights though, flipping over the wall at the top to grab the ladder rungs on the way down was a tad unnerving.

Storming Normandy
What this was:
Military styled "X" barricades with barbed-wire.   Basically barb n' weave is the ticket here.

How we fared:
Starting to feel the course at this point.  Basically bear-crawled most of the way through this one.  Picture guy at the end, so make that exit from the barbed-wire count!

Giant Cliffhanger
What this was:
Big wall.  Climb hard or go home.

How we fared:
We climbed hard. This was a big wall .. just big.  Probably 25 feet or so.  Again our Vibrams gave us fantastic feel/traction on the ascent.  Other regular-shoe-wearing folks were slipping back down.  We ambled right up it though, gingerly flipped over the top, and climbed down.  Tall obstacle, not for those with serious height-issues.

Satan's Steps
What this was:
Sheets of plywood, centered over 4x4 posts which were loosely set in the ground.  You had to jump from post to post, landing as close to center as possible, so you could stay stable.  Jumping near the edge of the plywood might make you fall 5 to 6 feet to the ground while being scraped up by the plywood as you pass it.

How we fared:
Not bad. This was a mental thing really.  Though if you have short legs like my lovely wife, it can be a challenge to leap that far. The guy who nearly ran her over though (jerk) didn't seem to have a problem with the obstacle.

Deadman's Drop
What this is:
Big ladder on one side, splinter-laden plywood to slide down on the other side.

How we fared:
Not too shabby.  The climb up was easy enough.  The slide down the other side, well you just had to be careful.  I held on with my hands, facing the plywood wall, for as long as I could, bunching my feet up under me.  Once I got low enough I just kicked away from the wall, spun in mid-air, and landed.  My coolest move of the day so I had to outline it here :)

Cargo Climb
What this was:
Big, big cargo net climb.  Up one side and down the other.

How we fared:
This is the first of the last three obstacles.  Finish line is in site at this point.  So the energy comes rushing back.  Once again, the ability to feel things with your feet is awesome with Vibrams.  Someone ran past me saluting the Vibrams even and he was wearing some too.

Warrior Roast
What this was:
Fire.  Jump high or chestnuts roasting comes early this year.

How we fared:
You're breathing hard and there is a good deal of smoke.  Other than that, this was easy to do.

Muddy Mayhem
What this was:
Very large, deep, mud pit.  Crawl through it because the barbed-wire over your head give you no other choice.

How we fared:
Not bad really.  The mud was deeper than you'd expect.  Just kinda crawled/swam through it all.  Was COLD though :)  Also this is a capped off by a small mud-hill where, for the spectators amusement I'm sure, you can attempt to (unsuccessfully for most) climb the hill without falling on your tookus. :)

Bonus pics of the aftermath!

Conclusion
Warrior Dash is a MUST do.  You don't have to be in ubr-shape for this.  And if you, like me, want to either kick off the last leg of your weight loss or just start a challenge, then Warrior Dash is a great way to go about it!

An update, a post, what next!?!?!?! :)

Though you may not have realized it, the heartbeat of Horton Hollow is still strong. That is to say, I'm still kicking. My posts have been sporadic I realize but my heart remains, to write for those that will read my virtualized scrawlings. I'm still getting my feet under me, not being one that adapts quickly to large, sweeping changes in the schedule.

I am ramping up to start back on this blog as well as starting on a business blog of my own. Additionally, I'm beginning a joint-venture business blog wherein some partners and I will be sharing some things about business-building, investing, technology, etc.

It's an exciting time for me! But busy too. Horton Hollow is where my heart is, where I can be "me" and let my (remaining) hair down and write about whatever we like. Before I sign off, let me share some updates:

• Weight loss: still a struggle but I've plenty of fight in me and I'm far too stubborn to quit.
• Business: well see above you silly-head! :) I've lots to share there and things are going well.
• Our out-building: honestly I tried to break this deal and not get it after all. Turns out though, even though I "could" get out of it, I think it's prudent to go through with it. So things are moving there. We have some plans
• Isabella and Josh: well I'm sure you'd not recognize either of them. Josh has quickly become a young man, no longer a child to be sure. And our little Isabella is crawling and trying her darndest to say something we can all understand. She turned 10 months yesterday. The times, they do be a flyin!

You guys are all awesome! Thanks for reading! Keep up the CPR with comments, it helps the writing heartbeat stronger!

One Night Inn Baymont OR The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Hortons

So this past weekend I got to spend some time with my lovely wife; just me and her. After 14 years of marriage we spent our first night away from our son Josh.

More on that in a moment.

Heather had a class reunion of sorts, in Iowa, to attend and dragged me along and kindly asked me if I would go with her saying we needed to get our freak on in a major way during our night away spend some quality time together. I happily agreed being the adorable husband that I am.

As stated, Iowa is where we were headed. This is a 5 ½ hour trip, 6 ½ hours (or more) with a pregnant woman. I made the trip in 5 hours flat. Hey we had “plans” right? [waggles eyebrows]

So we arrived at the Baymont Hotel. Very nice place we found online. We are not exactly globetrotters we Hortons, preferring mainly to stay in our hollow with our cats, our weapons, our food stores, and our giant, human-consuming-canine.


So seeing as how we found a deal on a really nice hotel, we were quite proud.


So after we arrived at the hotel we scouted the place for amenities cause everything is always different in real life than it sounds when you read about it online. The place was nice though. Very good rooms, free high-speed internet, the works. And no I’m not tossing out the innuendos here but omg the beds were amazing .. I told Heather I wanted to take one of them home. Super comfy beds. Baymont, my well-rested backside salutes your choice in sleep furnishings!

So after we unpacked, we didn’t immediately get ready to leave the room again, we didn’t watch TV, we didn’t do crossword puzzles, we didn’t catch up on the news or anything of that nature. Ahem, THERE was your innuendo.

Soon however it was time for the other festivities and we did get ready and left for the restaurant. It was just a short drive from the hotel. And it was Mexican food, which is all I knew we were having. I was very much looking forward to some traditional Mexican vittles. Just the names, the sounds of the words made me hungry.

So we pulled up to a little place called Carlos O’Kelly’s??!?! HUH?


I immediately nearly fell down laughing in the parking lot. Making all kinds of jokes about “they’re always after me lucky burrito” whilst at the same time likely causing my bride to wonder at how the evening was really going to go. I mean here I am, her trophy husband, and I’ve essentially collapsed into hysterics upon seeing the sign of the restaurant. She had to be nervous.

I pulled it together though. Until we reached the gigantic entry doors which were painted shamrock green .. laughing I turned to Heather and said, “if the servers in here are wee folk, you’re on your own, I’ll wait in the truck”. You don’t get a husband much more quirky more understanding and supportive than me.

So we get in there, do the meet-n-greet. Friends and neighbors, I’m not very good with strangers. Don’t expect me to hold the conversation together k? I’m THAT guy. I can talk and be cordial, no problems there but I’m not the go-to-guy when you’re looking for someone keep things rolling.

So I was nervous. Always am in a situation where I don’t know anybody. How very unmanly of me you say? Bite me I retort.

Without dragging you through the entire evening, let me just say it went quite well. I found, as I always do, someone where I can attach my sense of humor to theirs and relate to them. So I had a good time. Was it the most awesome of all times to be had or that I’d ever had? Um, heck no. But you do things for your spouse that you normally would not do for most others. That’s part of marriage. The important part to me was that my wife got the support she needed so she wouldn’t be there alone, that she got to reminisce with old friends, reconnect and generally have a great evening.

And she did. So I did good – and that folks is what being a husband is all about. Learn it, live it, love it.

So our evening ended, we said our goodbyes .. I nearly left our new camera behind but someone there saved me from being a total dork and pointed it out to me. (Thanks Shawn).

On our short drive back to the hotel we stopped to pick up Tylenol. I had a stress headache from “keeping up the shields” for 3 hours or so. Maybe that sounds odd to you all but its how I am. I’m very watchful. And a sustained effort at social interaction of which I’m not accustomed takes its toll. I’m a nerd what can I say?

We decided we cap off our frivolity by taking in one of those new fangled moving pictures you hear so much about these days. “The Proposal” was playing. So we zipped in to the parking lot, hopped out of the truck and I promptly locked my keys in it.

Sigh.

Movie plans cancelled.

Now we had to contact a towing service to come rescue me, The Duke of Dorkshire.

About 40 mins later, what appeared to be a tiny, under-aged driver shows up. Fantastic. I was to be rescued by someone who made Doogie Howser look like Moses. I’m getting old. After about 5-10 minutes Tom Thumb jimmies the lock on my truck and forces me to pay politely robs me charges me $53 for the indignity of having a school-boy rescue my old arse. Good times. When can we get together again Tiny Tim?

So by now it’s getting late. We skipped the movie having no real desire to spend even more money at this point. Besides, I had my laptop back in our room and we could stream movies from Netflix for free. Back to the hotel it was for us then.

So we stayed up talking, eating some late-night (overpriced) pizza, and talking. Soon it was time to turn in. And there was an odd feeling to that. It was, as stated, our first night away from Josh. We called him on our webcam to talk for a bit. And that made things easier. But it still wasn’t the same.

It’s weird being away from your kid for the first time. Possibly harder when they are older and it’s the first time. We are rarely apart.

Yeah laugh if you like, about this being our first night apart, but we’re sort of that way about family. We do everything as a group and rarely do we part ways. Some may view that as unhealthy or whatnot but it’s worked out very well for us.

We’re an “I love you” kind of family. Often we reinforce it by saying “I love you” even when someone is just leaving the room. Not all the time mind you but it’s not uncommon. Reminding folks around you that you love them isn’t a bad thing after all.

So I have to admit it was odd to be going to bed without two cats, a dog and a 13 year old son about the house, making racket. The normal bedtime noises were gone. The beds were super-comfy though and it was good to know, having talked to Josh and saw his face that things were ok. It’s not like we sat there and wrung our hands with worry.

So all in all, it was a good time. We had fun. It was great to have some adults-only time. Talk about everything on a 5 hour drive (each way). We got to stop to do some shopping on the way home for Thing Two even.

So. Good trip.

A good time was had by all.

Successful mission, family.

Next time though, we won’t wait so long to try this.

What are "you" looking at .. OR ..The Lounging Linguist

My son comes up with great words now and again.

He’s really coming into his own with the sarcasm.

I couldn’t be prouder.

Much like me, he’s shy around new people but man once he gets comfortable, watch out. I can totally relate. He has this raw talent to be a real smart-alec.

Ever see those trick shooters? The ones that can shoot a playing card and split it in half? Or they can light a match, firing a bullet from their gun?

His talent with sarcasm is just like that, only he’s using a shotgun to light the match. Oh he hits the target all right. But um, precision and control will take some practice.

But I for one am so excited that things are turning out this way. Though raw in form right now, this opens up a whole new channel of “guy communication” that over the coming years will allow us to develop a closeness that may not have otherwise been possible.

It’s a big deal.

I’m a huge fan of this type of getting along too. If I can’t joke around with someone well then I usually don’t have much time for them in my life and I tend to drift away from them. He seems to be that way as well.

His sarcasm, as I alluded to when this post began, really allows him to come off with some zingers. Today was no exception and worth writing down.

My wife is very pregnant right now. She and I were swimming/lounging in the pool today, talking about life in general and the impending birth of Thing Two. Josh walks out on our little dock and is talking to us. Heather my wife, slipped off her raft and begins to swim a bit.

She struggled at first to get her balance cause hey, she’s preggers. There are a lot of adjustments to be made, with nearly every movement she makes during the day. I can’t begin to imagine. But she righted the ship … ahem … and was swimming nicely.

Josh, ever the diplomat, says “Wow, I didn’t think you’d be able to swim that well. Looks like being pregnant has made you more FLOATACIOUS”.

I immediately lost it and snorted pool water, laughing as a new word at Castle Horton was born. And yes we were all laughing about it, not just me :)

P.S. – I asked Josh for a pic today to post with this. He immediately broke into a polite smile, ready to be immortalized on Dad’s blog. Instead of taking the polite pic, I asked him for the teenager look of "what are you doing bothering me again you big dork”.

I love this kid!

It's Burgertime ... Can't Touch This!

Apologies to M.C. Hammer for my post title. And now on with the show.

Last weekend, Storm (our dog) and I were alone here at the house.

It was a good time, filled with too much TV, too much eating, video games with friends and playing ball outside. Every time that the family is away it’s generally on a family night – aka Friday – so I get Storm a special treat to enjoy while I take in a movie on DVD.

On more rare occasions, I will take Storm out for a cheeseburger sometime while the family is away. No she’s not spoiled at all and if she is it my wife’s fault, not mine … ahem.

So last weekend we jumped in the van to head to McDonald’s – land-of-all-things-you-shouldn’t-eat-but-you-want-to-so-badly.

The drive-thru line was packed.

That was odd for the middle of a Saturday afternoon. Particularly here in the small town in which I live. Oddly enough for a town of 5000, we have one of those double-lane drive thrus. Apparently the folks here really, really like their Micky Ds.

So Storm, during the drive-thru experience was ogled by passersby cause hey she’s a pretty dog. People like to throw some love her way. She barked at a few .. one of those barks that says, “Hey I’m not serious here, just letting you know I’m around and that the distance you’ve got between you and my van, it’s like McDonald’s ... I’m lovin it.”

Eveybody knows that particular German Shepherd bark right?

Now that bark, for the uneducated, generally makes folks begin gathering their undergarments between their hindquarters at a geometric pace but to those of us who know the breed, we’re all just like “Oh you silly thing keep a lid on it”.

So we order our food and pull up to the window. I was driving – just so we’re clear.

There is a cute young lady there to take our money in exchange for food. Now I’ve been talking to Storm the whole time through our wait in line. I talk to her a lot. We have great one-sided conversations. Actually she does kinda talk back sometimes – GSDs have very expressive faces. One of my favorites is when they cock their head to one side while giving you that laughing look they have. It’s so, so great.

While we are waiting on our food Storm is watching this girl. The girl says something to me though I can’t remember what now. Storm gives her the same ‘woof’ that she gave the person that had walked by the van earlier.

The girl lied and said, “Aw, how cuuuuuute!” while managing a strangled smile. I just smiled back while putting a hand on Storm's chest to calm her and said thanks.

The girl left to get the rest of our order. I turned to Storm and said, “Well nice job with that. Now she’s NEVER gonna run away with me. Sheesh”.

Storm just cocked her head and smiled at me.

Exactly.

A fun (and cold) night ...

Last night we got to meet up with some friends of ours and hang out for some good times and family fun together. It's always good to see our friends Brian and Jenn even if its for some online gaming. We got to play some good game time and chat a bit. After our game-time was up, and we'd all said our farewells, the hour was later than we normally would have headed to bed - but hanging out with good friends is worth the occasional loss of some sleep.

My wife and I went through our bedtime rituals and slipped under the covers. I should note at this point, my wife takes endless trouble from me about her hands and feet being like total and complete ice-covered appendages. It's like she wears mittens made of pure frost to bed - also shodding her feet in tundra chilled skins of some sort.

She's very cold about the hands and feet.

So as we slipped under the covers, one of her hands *accidentally* made contact with my hind parts ... yeah sure it was an accident. Well I froze, near literally. I'm fairly sure my right butt-cheek has frostbite although I haven't checked it today. I lost feeling in my right hip. It was cold people.

So the laughing and snickering ensued.

She commented to me, "At least I didn't grab sometime else."
And I replied, "Yeah you would have cold-cocked me."

We spent the next few minutes laughing at our own goofiness. And thus was born a phrase which I'll probably never think of the same way again.

The End :)

New kid on the block: Baby update

Well my darling wife went to the doc yesterday for a checkup and an ultrasound. This was the big one - to determine the gender of el-kiddo ... or ... Thing 2.

We will be having a girl!

Right now we have her name set as Isabella which I really really think is quite lovely. Good full name, good nicknames - Dad is happy with that. I skip the middle name revelation because it just occurred to me that Wifey may not want to divulge that info until later.

So now we let Isabella percolate until the timer dings. At least now though we know what colors to buy for the room, clothes, etc - I enjoy knowing that part ahead of time, being the planning kinda guy that I am.

Okay back to work for me - just had to write a quick few lines about our new family addition! Laters!

Of guns and geeks

On Saturday we attended a local gun show in St Charles. It was a pretty good time. Much to see and much to buy. Remember when in Return of the Jedi, Luke was separated from his lightsaber and wanted to use it so badly? It's kinda how I felt with my wallet at the gun show. The wallet nearly trembled in anticipation of being used to buy a handgun on Saturday.

And yeah I came close to um .. pulling the trigger. Oh come on! You can't write a post like this about a gun show without mentioning pulling the trigger. Moving on :)

We did get to look at several guns, hold them, talk about them, etc. It was good for Heather to get a feel for some of them, the weight and the grips.

But there were a LOT of people there. Thousands. The show was in this huge convention center, recently built; it was jam-packed- ubr-crowded with folks, guns, knives and swords. My kind of place really. And although we didn't buy anything we learned a lot, had a good time.

And darn it I forgot the camera though .. ah well, next time!

Memories .. packed in a time capsule

I'm kinda at a loss for words really. Usually I can think of just one word to describe an experience but not today. Today was a very good day, most welcomed, after a string of very very bad ones.

It's hard to separate the personal feelings from the "bloggable" ones after today. But it was truly a day of reflection. Going back to whats most important, where did I come from, and where am I going now and why? Am I making the right decisions? It was *my* kind of day to be sure as there really is nothing I enjoy more than reflection. I love to think.

Why was today so special you may ask?

Well, today we opened our time capsule that we *buried* nigh on 22 years ago while in our Youth Group at Cobalt Village General Baptist Church. Yeah. It's as quaint and "Andy Griffith" as it sounds. And if you make fun of it, I'll tear down your website and replace it with random pictures of cows or something.

There were a lot of no-shows for the unveiling of said time capsule. But that's to be expected. I mean not everyone looks as good as I do after 22 years - I can understand their hesitation. Ahem.

Actually, I think the most awkward part of the day was when I was telling Heather and Josh about certain sites on the way to the church. I said, "in that house right over there across the street from this church I had my first kiss and her name was Dawn Rehkop." (Dawn if you happen to read this I'm sorry.)

Immediately after I said that we kinda laughed and I saw my friend Ed strolling across the parking lot. One of the FIRST things he said to me was "Dawn's here."

Oh great.

So while I attempted to locate my foot which was lodged somewhere behind my tonsils, we made our way to the little country church. It was right after service had ended.

All of us from youth group had wrote "prediction" letters. They were read aloud for all to hear although we were late to the actual reading due to some miscommunication on the start time. So after we got there I read through them all. True to Rob-form, I said nothing incriminating in my letter. Dear lord was I relieved. Back then, even at 16 my powers of self-preservation had not let me down. It's sometimes REALLY cool being this big of a geek. The ability to plan ahead rocks hard.

The letters were great! I mean a bunch of kids wrote them, some of us approaching it as a gag, so they weren't great literary works. But they were though provoking in places nonetheless. And some were heart-wrenching since one of the kids has passed on since writing his letter. It was sad to read but beautiful at the same time. Jeff, I miss you man. I hope I get to see you again someday.

After the letters were all done we moved our little gathering to the "chow down" area and commenced in fine Baptist tradition to "fellowshipping" which is a Christian term meaning "eat until you're in risk of commiting one of the seven deadly sins". We walked a razor's edge and had a great time! It was awesome seeing everyone. The dark side of me really liked the looks on the faces of those who didn't know us all - they looked like we were gonna come back and take over their church, haha (maniacal chuckle)

AND I got to talk with my old pastor. I was a deacon of his at the time when I wrote my time capsule letter. But he and I got to share a discussion about things I'd wanted to ask his opinion on for a long time. It was a good talk- not to be written here - but it was so, so good to see him. And a relief to hear his answers to my questions I'd had for so long. Other than having white hair as opposed to black, he really hasn't changed a bit. And I've missed him.

After we'd all said our goodbyes, I took "the fam" on a tour of my old hometown. Showing them where all I used to live, where I rode my bike as a kid, and yeah ... where all my old girlfriends used to live. Hey might as well go for broke right? My family was so cool about it all. They were patient with me while I drove them around all my old memory lanes.

It was a great, great and powerful trip :) I'm gonna be thinking about this for a long, long time.

Our zoo is a trip and we took one to it

I've been having trouble sleeping so I thought I'd get up early and get this long overdue post out to my dedicated readers :)

This past Sunday we took a trip to our marvelous Saint Louis Zoo. It started out as touch-n-go because of the weather.

The ol' weather-man was saying there was a good chance of rain that day but we risked it. And the gamble paid off .. now where are those lottery tickets again ... it turned out to be a great day for the zoo. Started off just a little chilly, 40-50 degrees but by the time we traveled to the zoo, it was near 60 - the zoo is a little over an hour away from us. Then later in the day it was sunny and 75! Nice job weather-dude. :)

There is tons to see at our zoo, a train to ride, shows, indoor and outdoor exhibits.. the works. Tis a very big place and they are always expanding on it to be sure. People come from all over the U.S. to visit this zoo and I think in 2007 or 2008 it was rated the best in the nation.

We were only there for about 2 1/2 hours but with travel time and a doggie at home waiting on us, we can't be away much longer than that. It was still a blast though. We had our usual Dippin Dots ice-cream and spent a bajillion dollars on very small lunch (whoo-hoo, zoo food is expensive!)

We took lots and lots o pics and I've shared some of them below complete with my new (and FREE) captioning/framing tool by PicNik. We also may have been able to catch a Madagascar penguin at the zoo .. something odd came out later when going through the digital pics using the x-ray/night vision filter .. you guys all do that right? Right guys? Guys?

And finally on the way home, we spotted another oddity on the highway. I think you only see these in Missouri ... well, maybe Texas too :P

Anyhoo ... enjoy! We surely did. Wish ya could have been there!

Darn my sock

Ok yes I know that darning a sock means actually repairing a hole instead of creating a whole sock ... I mean all guys know that ... right guys? Um, guys? Harumph! How about we go play football and then chop down a tree?

Ok so I know a bit of how to sew but just the basics. I'm nothing fancy as I believe this pic proves, lol

But I wanted to post a couple of pics to show off my Christmas stocking. I'm kinda proud of it really :) See woodworking is my normal thing, and I really should post some project pics, but I loves to create and sewing this was fun too!

Aren't I just the domesticated one? No this isn't my head photoshopped onto somebody else's body that knows sewing either, lol Dats the real, super-casual me.

And here is the completed product! Alright it didn't win any awards but I did have fun doing some hand sewing although it took me like an hour to make the darn thing :)