Summertime

There's a old saying: "Love is blind." I don't know who said it (Ray Charles?) but I've realized it must be true. Case in point. You all know our beloved rottweiler, Auburn. To me, she still looks like a puppy, her face unchanged since the day we got her when she was six weeks old (well, she has started to gray around the whiskers, but that's not point). Could this dog really frighten anyone? Evidently, the answer is, "Yes, that beast can scare the p*ss out of people." On a recent Saturday morning, Ashley and I decided to take Bode and Auburn for a walk. It was still early--to give you an idea how early, only fishing shows were being shown on ESPN. Anyways, we headed down to the garage because that's where we keep the stroller. Auburn is with me, and Ashley is carrying Bode. I go to get the stroller while Ashley hits the garage door opener. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a van in our driveway which I find curious but not alarming. Then, I see Auburn bolt out of the garage, running like she'd just seen a cat. I then hear two of her deepest, "Protect house!" barks. I go flying out to the driveway and see Auburn standing between this van and the very frightened newspaper guy who was delivering our paper to the front door. The fur on Auburn's neck was standing up, and she looked upset; damn she has some big teeth. Anyways, this poor guy was not moving an inch. I don't know if he was frozen with fear, or if he simply had the sense enough to remain still and hope the dog lost interest. I apologized and tried to laugh it off. The newspaper guy didn't find it funny because our paper is no longer delivered to our front door; every morning it now gets only as far as our driveway.

Last night, Ashley and I went to dinner at the MCL cafeteria. To give you an idea of the patronage at this establishment, if one were to go eat dinner at 4:30 pm, the line would be huge. Anyways, lots of "elderly" folks there. Well, everyone was extremely nice to us, and they all loved Bode. However, at least five people said, "Boy, he doesn't miss a meal does he?" At first, I thought it was funny; after awhile, I started to think, "These septuagenarians are calling my boy fat. The nerve!" After we left, I asked Ashley if Bode is "a little on the heavy side." "Oh yeah," she replied. Well he may be tubby, but I don't know a lot of fat people that can do this. Mmm, mmmm, feet. Also note the tree trunks for legs. He's got the makings of future linebacker. Here are some pictures of Bode's trip down to Florida. He loved hanging out with his Nana and "Papatank," which is Granddad's new nickname. Why Papatank? Well, his first name is Frank, and JoAnne and Frank have been foster parents for a number of years to a number of children. One of them, Cherry, told her Mom she "wanted to go see Papatank." Cherry probably needs a phonics lesson, because she meant to say, "PapaFrank." We think Papatank is much more fun.
Next, we have a cute one of Bode and Mommy. Neither one of them really got a tan; Bode is kind of a bone-white while Ashley is a cream-white. Of course, there's nothing wrong with fair skin...We've had a busy weekend. We hooked up our tailwind, which is a stroller that we can attach to my bike. We tested it out and took Bode around the neighborhood. He seemed to like it, and Ashley seemed to like it. Did I like it? Well, it was fine except I get the joy of hauling around fifty more pounds (the tailwind is 30 pounds and Bode is 20). Actually, it's really not that bad, except for the hill near our house. Next weekend we plan on taking a nice ride and maybe a picnic. We also shot some baskets on our new basketball hoop. While Ashley was away in Florida, I successfully installed a new backboard and rim (the old one had fallen off during the winter). You'd think maybe I could clean myself up a bit for a picture...
After doing some chores, Ashley tried to nap. Auburn had something else in mind...Bode is changing every day. He can't yet sit up on his own, but he rarely topples over and he even seems to understand things. He doesn't quite yet having the drooling thing solved, but that'll be soon enough. We imagine he'll start crawling in the near future, so we better start baby-proofing the house.
Pleasant day.