Archive for May, 2007
May 30, 2007
Tonight Nokes met Christine, he was all over her and the girls. They thought he was quite the cutie though, and he is still, even as he gets more distinguished everyday in his looks. They brought him a new chew toy, a loop on one end and a squeaky firehose material on the other end.
30th May 2007
Tonight Wes, Kate and Paula came over. Wes and I took off for our first bike ride together. We went 10 miles, going downtown and past the stadium and then back to exchange a movie and deposit a check. It was a good first ride, I hope we can do it again.
We had an excellent dinner that Sarah put together and some wine. Wes got a flat on the way over, so he changed that, and then together we looked at the mower. After I tightened down the bolts on the battery we tried to charge it and it started! I ran it for awhile mowing a portion of the back yard. So hopefully it starts later in the week when I finish it up.
Wes and I played some video games in the basement, I showed him the Do! and then it was time to go. It was around 10 pm. Sarah and I finished off the night with a movie.
28th May 2007
We left not on time, which is usual, but not too bad I guess. We left about 6:50, and with one 10 minute stop to Chipotle which wasn’t open, and we still got home about 11:20, so we did really good. The roads were totally clear.
I didn’t do much on the day off. I played a lot of Mr. Do, and I worked some on the church website. I did watch two movies as well. So we just kind of took a day to ourselves, which is so rare, to regroup, and it was nice.
27th May 2007
Church took forever today, like usual. I wish Pastor would just record himself at home so he could listen to himself talk, and then give us the shortened version that the 13-17 minute attention span of the normal public can actually handle. On the way back we stopped and got Nokes at the Chapman’s in Hunter’s old crate and came back to my parents house for lunch.
We had some wine and talked, and then we had sausages for lunch and brownie sundaes for desert. Very good stuff. At about 2 we all decided to take a walk with the dog to get some of his energy out. Sarah called her parents, so they were going to meet up with us. We collided two blocks after the bayou and headed back. Emily and Andy were there, so it was a full circus. Nokes was jumping up on Hunter and getting tangled up with him, thinking it was a fun game. We had a hard time with him keeping up before, and I thought having Hunter around would help. But it didn’t, I just have to remind myself that he is young and has little strides. Soon enough he’ll be keeping up with us much better.
We walked to Pottawotomie where we found out you couldn’t have dogs at all in the park. After hearing my dad’s story from a couple years ago and the ticket he got for having Bowen on the beach, we were gunshy. So we all just came back to the house. Andy and I sat and watched the ballgame and other random tv, everyone else sat outside and talked. They stayed until about 6 before they started the walk home.
We headed over to Chapman’s just before 7. They were having some dinner, and we all sat down together and watched “Because I said so” (which was a terribly stupid movie), and then we all got sucked into Cast Away, always a great movie. Before we knew it, it was after 10 pm. Fortunately we already made the decision that we were going to pack up tonight and leave early on in the morning tomorrow. I checked out the family computer, the new speakers and some antivirus problems dad was having, and then we were out.
We got back and packed and went to bed. The trip seemed so terribly short, largely because Friday was so stupid. But, it was a good trip and I was glad we came.
26th May 2007
In the morning we hung out and talked with my parents. They got to meet Nokes and he was very good again around them. He did some jumping up, but he was quiet (which he normally is) and didn’t go tearing around through the house. He may have if they had carpet, but this was the first time that we saw their new wood flooring and it did look pretty fantastic. Nice and smooth, I was really impressed. I keep thinking it was nice to see it as it was done, because waiting for it to be finished and to have that much of the house torn up must have been extremely difficult. Mom Sarah and I took the dog on a short walk around the block just before lunchtime.
Then about noon we went over to her parents and took the puppy with us. For the first hour and a half all the siblings just sat there and tried to keep the two dogs off of each other. Hunter kept trying to pin Nokes down to sniff him, and Nokes kept darting around him, sniffing and playing. We had Nokes on a leash, which I think was confusing for him. It was funny to watch them, but stressful because you just wanted them to chill out. Andy was up for the weekend, so it was a full house. Amanda was working, but everyone else was there for lunch. We seperated the two dogs, and after lunch was over we let Nokes out and they just walked right past each other not at all interested. I think there is a good chance they could end up looking similar at some point. Hunter is a Lab German Shepherd mix that is about 75 lbs, so Nokes would be smaller but will probably have that long lanky frame.
Dad, Mom and I went up to Muskegon right at the end of lunch to look at some items that would soon be in an estate sale. A guy was selling a riding lawn mower, bought new for $1400, he wanted $500. It was a good deal, but not a steal, so we passed. The guy was not the most friendly for a couple of people up there looking to buy stuff. He seemed protective of what he wanted to sell. I asked about a couple of things and got some weird body language, so I stop asking. There was a stepladder, but figured it wasn’t worth my trouble.
We came back, Sarah and I left the dog with the Chapman girls and we headed out to Jessica and Ryan’s.
Mom and Dad were already there, so for a little bit we all hung out. Then Ryan took me out to the car and within 20 minutes he had put in this FM modulator. I couldn’t believe how fast it went, and overall, how simple it was, and it worked like a charm. Having this put in was one of the reasons we came up for the weekend, and now I can rest a little easier. After getting the Zune last Christmas with intentions of using it in the car on long trips, a number of long trips have come and gone without a good solution for using it. Now I can play crystal clear music through the stereo without any problems, just a simple cord to plug in and I am ready to go. I am really glad Ryan helped me out with that.
After we finished we all sat down and had some dinner. Then Sarah and I taught our family how to play dice. It was fun, but not nearly as aggressive as the way we play with friends. Everyone was so nice to each other, but whatever, still a good time with the six of us. Ryan and Jessica showed some of the stuff they were working on for the house and for their bathroom, sounds like they are going to be doing a major project there in the near future. There sitting with that stuff in the basement were the monsterous 21″ monitors for me. Excited, but unsure how I was going to get them both home, we tested them out and then I packed them up. They took up the whole back seat, so more than likely one will stay with Mom and Dad for awhile.
The parents left to go to a play and then the four of us sat around for awhile and told stories about foot injuries and other stuff. Then we finished off the night there by playing a whole bunch of Mario Cart on the game cube. I loved that game on Nintendo 64, so it was cool to play it again, but embarrassing that my sister wasted all of us. I used to be so good. One of those games where you memorize the courses.
We came back to the Chapman house and spent a little time there. Apparently Nokes didn’t sleep at all while we were gone, but he did alright for them.
25th May 2007
I went over quickly after work to Kenny’s to borrow his saw on one of those long pole meant for trimming trees. It had been something on my to do list, but now the branches in the trees were getting unbearable for mowing. Without a step ladder, I didn’t have another option and fortunately when I asked if he knew anyone who had one, he did. I spent about 45 minutes when I got home doing that in the front and back, mostly the back.
Late in the week Sarah figured out that she had to stick around to sing at the 8th grade graduation. She had totally spaced it, and we had made these plans to get up to MI. I no longer like driving that long at that late of night, so for our safety, she was going to check into leaving early. That was not received well, so we stuck around. I think we eneded up leaving at about 8:50. I was in charge of the puppy. It was rainy out but I still walked around with him outside at the church while I waited for Sarah.
I drove most of the way, but we switched around 12:45 am and Sarah drove the remaining 40 miles home. Nokes was such a good puppy, he slept or sat calmly in the back the whole ride, we were very impressed.
May 24th, 2007
Got the game into the basement tonight, for it’s final resting place for awhile. The monitor was great in the garage until I moved it around, and then when we moved it into the basement it got better again. Was a ton of work though, figured out that we can’t have a game facing out with it’s back against the window. The back really has to be against the guest room closet wall. But it works.
May 23, 2007
For two days now Nokes has been sleeping on the floor in our room. He was sleeping on the bed on Sunday and Monday, but I didn’t want to make the transition harder. Sarah was just having problems sleeping with him on the floor because he moved around so much and she couldn’t sleep. He has done really well actually, hasn’t chewed up something he shouldn’t, has been quite, and hasn’t made any messes. Seems to like to hang out under the bed and sleep instead of his box tipped over. That is where he runs to sometimes anyway when we are home.
Yesterday Nokes met Sierra, which was interesting at the start. Sierra is pretty much a spaz Husky anyway, so I was nervous, for both of them. But after some initial signs Sierra chilled out and they both went on a walk together, Sierra in front as the alpha dog of course.
We have gone back to the can for teaching Nokes “bad”. He really doesn’t like our pop can filled with pennies, and wouldn’t go near Sarah for awhile yesterday, so hopefully that helps.
Oh, and almost forgot. The other little trick we found out about tonight. Apparently Sarah found Nokes laying long ways on the second to bottom stair last night. He had his head in his lap looking at something. Right in front of his nose was a spider, that Sarah thinks he killed either by stepping on, or biting, and was guarding the body. Very very odd thing for our puppy to do.
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