Bad Luck at poker

So, last night I decided it was time to get out and play some poker. Holy Crap was that a mistake. Not only did I loose, but I was the first one to go out... But worse than that I was only in there for 4 hands. The real kicker here was on my last hand I had pocket Aces! Oh, guess it just wasn't in the cards for me last night lol....

The Bakery Saga Continues...

I finally got around to putting together some more photo's of the progress we've made on the shop. In some very good news, Friday was Opening Day!! After a lots of hard work the Carrabelle Bakery (Cakes By Amy) is NOW OPEN!! Soon to come is a web site... Once the Website is online and up and running I will provide the link here.

This collection of photos is basically what the shop looks like now. With a few minor changes such as we have added Lot's of shelves, and there have been some minor re-arrangements in the kitchen.

So, what are you waiting for... Come on by and see us! :)

The Bakery Saga Begins....

We have not been very good at taking great photos of our progress on getting the bakery prepared, but I figured I'd throw together some slide shows of what we have done so far.

First we have the beginning...

Next we have our current progress up to now...

What we are missing is the wonderful 2-5 days of mudding and tapping that Amy did. It would have made a hilarious pic too since she came home each day looking like Casper the ghost..

Tail of the Rubber Pup

This past Wednesday while working in the shed, I heard the our dog Zoey yelping like crazy. I walked outside to find Levi getting out of his truck looking very concerned. Then the dog limped over to the shed, crawled underneath it and remained there for the next 30 min. Levi had explained that he did see the dog and was driving slow in order to avoid her, but that he knew for sure that he had run her over. My first though of course was that this was it for the poor neurotic ankle biter, and that she would soon be entering into eternal sleep. I contacted the vet in Crafordville and inquired about euthanization preparing for the worst. Before I left for the vet I decided it would be a good idea to let little bobby know what was going on:

Me: Son, I have to take Zoey to the vet because she was run over by a truck today
Bobby: Is she going to be ok?
Me: I'm not sure, that's why I'm taking her to the vet. I just wanted to let you know that she might not make it home.
Bobby: She looks ok..
Me: Yes, she does.. But if her injuries are really bad we may have to put her to sleep.
Bobby: For how long?
Me: Permanently.
Bobby: YOUR GOING TO JUST KILL HER?
Me: Well son, if her injuries insider her are really bad it would be better. We won't know until the vet checks her out. I just wanted you to be aware of what was going on and that she might not be coming back.
Bobby: Ok, I understand. She's going to be fine though.
Me: Ok. I'm off to the vet then..

After the physical exam ($30) the veterinarian stated she was unable to tell if anything was broken, but that it appeared there was not any internal bleeding. X-rays would be another $100. After the x-rays she found that her pelvis was broken, but not much out of alignment and he leg was broken but not out of place at all. The Vet had already mentioned that if her hip was broken there was not much we could do, but that it was a good sign that Zoey was active and moving around.

So, $130 later.... It seems that not only is our Neurotic Ankle Biter a mean little dog, she is also made of rubber. I guess this is the type of dog that simply refuses to be killed :)

Devil burns baby! WTF!!

Ok folks, I don't rant much on this blog... But what the hell is this bull shit! Not only is this incredibly stupid, but what is equally insane is that this "girl"/wife is trying to blame the DEVIL for her husbands actions!!! I seriously hope that not only are the parents rights severed, but that they are BOTH thrown in jail. Maybe they should be forced to spend 10-20 seconds in a Microwave!!!!!

(CBS) HOUSTON A woman blames the devil and not her husband for severely burning their infant daughter after the 2-month-old was put in a microwave, a Houston television station reported.
Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.
"Satan saw my husband as a threat. Satan attacked him because he saw (Joshua) as a threat," Eva Mauldin told CBS affiliate station KHOU-TV in Houston.
A Galveston County grand jury indicted Joshua Mauldin last week on child injury charges after hearing evidence that he placed his daughter in a motel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds.
The infant, Ana Marie, remains hospitalized. She suffered burns on the left side of her face and to her left hand, police said.
Eva Marie Mauldin, the girl's 20-year-old mother, told the television station that her husband is "not the monster people are making him out to be."
"That was not my husband; my husband is a wonderful father," she said. "Satan was working through his weaknesses."
Eva Maudlin described those weaknesses as an undisclosed mental disability, and that her efforts to get help for him have failed.
Police said Joshua Mauldin told them he put Ana Marie in the microwave because he was under stress. The family had arrived in Galveston the day before.

What gets me the most about this shit, is that SHE KNEW her husband had a mental problem. Just think about this for a moment. This is how a microwave oven works:

A microwave oven uses microwaves to heat food. Microwaves are radio waves. In the case of microwave ovens, the commonly used radio wave frequency is roughly 2,500 megahertz (2.5 gigahertz). Radio waves in this frequency range have an interesting property: they are absorbed by water, fats and sugars. When they are absorbed they are converted directly into atomic motion -- HEAT. In microwave cooking, the radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules pretty much evenly throughout the food. There is heat everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together.

Basically, This 2 MONTH old baby was "COOKED" from the inside!! And NO I don't care that it was only for 10-20 seconds.... The fact is he placed this 2 month old child inside a microwave, set the timer and turned it ON! Imagine putting out a match on your cheek... Now imagine that flame being ignited inside you... probably starting with your eyes since there is more water there that would initially get converted to HEAT! This is a despicable crime against a child.... Mental disability or not this moron should never be allowed near a child again! Joshua Mauldin IS a MONSTER and his wife Eva Maudlin is just as crazy! This was not the "Devil" this was Joshua's immaturity and irresponsibility showing. What the hell kind of stress was he facing after just 2 months of having a baby he was this stressed?!?! There is NO Excuse for this type of behavior and it should not be tolerated! Blaming it on the devil is a very SICK joke, one that allows them to try and "Claim" he has been cured! It's utter bullshit and not worthy of another thought. This man is a sick person and should be committed at the very least, but imprisonment would be much more fitting.

You can view the news links here, and here

WildFires! Wow!!

Here is a snapshot of all the wildfires or wildfire "Incidents" that have been happening in florida recently. Click Here to check out the website directly.

Bird in Flight

The wife snapped this picture while on a field trip with the school to the Estuary with little bobby the other day.

Cool Carrabelle Sculpture

This was sculpted during the Seafood festival just a few weeks ago, figured I'd post a pic of it since it's pretty awesome :)

Bobby's Toy Box

This weekend we decided that the son needed a toy box that was not made from cardboard. Since our son likes to crawl into the cardboard boxes and they eventually fall apart and thus toys end up filling the entire room to the point where it is impossible to actually walk into the room. Our solution? Convert the entire bottom portion of the closet into 1 big toy box.

The top of the toy box has 1 inch foam covered in fabric we found at wal-mart. Because the lid is rather heavy at this point, my next step will be to add an actuator and/or gas springs to the lid so it won't smash little fingers. Trust me it feels like a 50lb hammer when this happens. All and all I think it turned out pretty good.

Lazy Man's Truck Loader..

This is what happens when your wife decides she wants something that's too heavy for you to lift by yourself and you have to drive out of town to pick it up.

Ingredients:
1 Truck (with large dent in the side)
1 Wench (harbor freight 49.99)
1 2x6 (scrap)
2 3 foot chains (about 10 bucks)
and a wife that really wants something (priceless??)

Here is the view from the back of the truck.















And from the side...


I also built a custom "cart" to load items onto that just does fit into the bed. It still has the oven on it, but I'll try to upload a pic the next time we go down to the shop.

Cbelle Football

Ok so it's a little late, but i found this on my computer. The Carrabelle High School football team made some local news here back in september of 2006. Just thought I'd post it up here if for no other reason than historical :)

Possible Earth like planet found... Cool!

Life-supporting planet a new Earth

This was just too cool!

Space the Final Frontier..... lol

Interesting....

You Grew Up In The 80's If....

I'm reposting this from You Know You Grew Up In The 80's If...

It's just so damn funny....
-----------------------------------------------------------

You Know You Grew Up In The 80's If...

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE".

2. You watched the Pound Puppies.

3. You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Belair " ...and can do the "Carlton".

4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.

5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.

6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.

7. "WOAH " comes from Joey on Blossom.

8. Two words: Hammer Pants.

9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock ".

10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and "spokey-dokes" or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect.

11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales ". (Woo ooh!)

12. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

13. When it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

14. You saw the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles " on the big screen... and still know the turtles names.

15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

17. You played the game "MASH ". (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)

18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.

19. L.A. Gear... need I say more.

20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM " in Kindergarten. (She's truly outrageous)

21. You remember reading "Tales of a fourth grade nothing " and all the Ramona books.

22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF".

23. You wanted to be a Goonie.

24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us... head-to-toe)

25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.

27. You took lunch boxes to school... and traded Garbage Pail Kids in the schoolyard.

28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.

29. You still get the urge to say "NOT " after every sentence.

30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.

31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.

32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hookup.

33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.

34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like #24, probably in neon colors, too)

35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"

36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"

37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.

38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.

39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.

40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.

41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.

42. You remember Popples.

43. "Don't worry, be happy"

44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.

45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do...getting yelled at by "younger hip" members of the family)

46. "Miss MARY MACK MACK MACK, all dressed in BLACK BLACK BLACK "

47. You remember boom boxes. and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.

48. You remember watching both "Gremlins" movies.

49. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!"

50. You remember watching "Rainbow Bright" and "My Little Pony Tales "

51. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.

52. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.

53. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool... and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB".

54. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By the Bell ", the ORIGINAL class.

55. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.

56. You just sang those words to yourself.

57.You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.

58. Homemade Levi shorts. (the shorter the better)

59. You remember when mullets were cool!

60. You had a mullet!

61. You still sing "We are the World"

62. You tight rolled your jeans.

63. You owned a bannana clip.

64. You remember "Where's the Beef?"

65. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' about Willis?"

66. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.

67. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head,aren't you!

Free tech advice :)

I've noticed recently a few people have had some issues embedding video's with the new blogger. From what I've seen this started because the new blogger is more strict on tags being closed. You should still be able to copy the "embed" html code and paste it in the the 'Edit Html' section just make sure there is an </embed> tag, if there is not a </embed> tag then simply put one in before </object> and you should have no problems publishing. Not completely sure why some videos would have the tag closed and others do not, but this is what I've found to be the culprit each time it has happen to me.

** Updated so you could see the tags, took a few min to figure out i had to use the escape codes for it.. if you ever need to do this they have a great list here

Formed/Defromed/Transformed... Informed?

At least where I live, I'm pretty sure these folks are getting the little comments for their signs from the same place. This particular one we saw twice in the same day. The first one i didn't have the camera with me, but the second one I snapped a shot of. As soon as we passed it my wife says to me, "Does that mean Darwin Informed us?" I love that girl! ;)

Slithering Encounter

This is one of the reasons I love this place. This is definitely not the first encounter, just the first one since I started posting to this blog. I have pics of white oak snakes resting intertwined in our 4 wheelers, as well as one that wanted to nap under the car on the muffler. Eventually, I'll probably post the Bear pic's that we have as well. But figured this would be a good start.



And yes, it was ready to strike. In fact right after snapping the picture it struck at our dog.

If you are curious, the snake was unharmed. I brought the dog inside and escorted the snake back into the wooded area of the property. Against the wife's wishes.. lol

Snakes are just so damn cool.

Chalk Up Another Win!

It appears some of my poker practice has been paying off... Literally! This time it was an excellent come back. Not only was I low stacked, but I came back by winning 2 hands in a row with a simple pair of 4's! Then got a full house with 7's over 8's... Just sheer luck in those hands, but it was enough to give me a fighting chance. My luck continued for the remainder of the game and we ended up splitting the pot 3 ways... Today was a good day for gambling lol...

Home Town News...

The Apalachicola & Carrabelle Times

I actually seen this guy playing down at the Restaurant when I went to pick up some food. Also, bumped into him again when I went down to the docks to check out a computer for someone. All i can say is he has a very ambitious plan that's for sure. Seemed like a nice fellow, and i might check out his web page every now and then to see how he is doing. Here is a direct link to his page Some Guy On a Bike

YADBGAG #1

The above title stands for : "Yet Another Difference Between Girls And Guys"

Lavatory Activities when doing #1:

First for the Girl:
A girl will quietly enters the bathroom, possibly even turning on a fan or something to make more noise because she doesn't want anyone to hear her. When finished she will wipe, but will wipe in such a way that it's a one way trip.. meaning no up and down motion... its one way and let go as soon as possible cause this is gross! Now that she is yucked out, she will flush hoping that no one hears the toilet.. while toilet is flushing is when she gets re-dressed then she washes her hands with both water AND soap. Dries hands and TADA elegant and clean. As she exits the bathroom, fan goes off, light off. Done. PS. If this is Public location, addition step includes hovering... A task that can only be thought of by a woman, and is not even known to most men. I would attempt to enlighten you on this, but I'm pretty sure you can picture it... LOL

Now for the Guy:
Enters the bathroom possibly while finishing a conversation with someone in the other room. No need to worry about a fan or even a light for that matter, it's not going to take that long. Stand in front of the toilet usually using the knee or shin to make sure we aren't too close. At this point is when the difficult decision comes, lift lid or practice aim? This is typically a 70/30 choice... 70% of the time we practice aim, 30% we will lift lid. While peeing, make circles in the toilet because this is taken longer than we had thought and there are many other things we would rather be doing. Next, flush toilet because we find it fun to try "race" with the toilet to see who will finish first, this is usually when the fart gets released for that extra boost! Next, shake to make sure most of the liquid has made it, occasionally this is where the uncontrollable shoulder shake happens. Finally, flush again because the toilet won the race and deserves a victory lap. Next steps may vary depending on situations. If we are alone or with other guys, close shop and continue doing what ever we were before... If drips actually hit our hands, then wash but just with some water and dry on whatever is handy in following order: towel, dirty clothes, jeans, shirt, or shake hands vigorously. If girl is in another room, run water to give her the impression that we are clean.


This is the first post in a series of post that might include more of the differences between men and women :)

Letters to the Editor in "The Times"

Ok, time for some Carrabelle news here. Last week I noticed the following 2 letters sent to the Editor of "The Times" and it seems that no one submitted a rebuttal to this so I decided to :) :

1) There Ought To Be A Law

• "To the Editor: Hi, I’m not one to write letters and have them placed in the newspaper for everyone to read, but this time I can’t keep quiet. At last night’s Lanark Village Water and Sewer meeting, a member of the audience said that his son has been buying pornographic movies from a store in Carrabelle owned by water board commissioner Sharon Thoman. He was upset by this and asked why this was being done in the city limits of Carrabelle. Commissioner Thomas said that she had recently stopped doing that and had taken all of the pornographic material out of her store. The gentleman who brought this up then asked if he could bring all of the materials that his son had bought and rented from her and get the money back. She agreed. My god, what’s going on! Is this the kind of activities that our elected officials should be engaging in? Isn’t this against the law? Doesn’t this break some kind of ordinance in the city of Carrabelle? I have not heard of any arrests being made and Commissioner Thomas readily admitted that she had been selling pornographic movies. If it is not against the law, it should be. We should all call our local law enforcers and lawmakers and ask them to keep this kind of immoral filth out of our county. After all, it might be your child that gets corrupted.
  Sincerely,
  Bonnie Arnold
  Lanark Village"

2) Pornography Bad Influence on Our Children

• "To the Editor Hi, I’m writing today to talk about an ugly situation. I was at a water and sewer meeting in Lanark Monday the 22nd of January. At this meeting a man asked everyone in the crowd if they had children. Most raised their hands. This man then made the statement that his son had been buying filthy movies from a store in Carrabelle owned by the Chairman of the Lanark Water District Sharon Thoman. Chairman Thoman told this man that she had stopped selling pornography recently and had taken it off of her shelves. I guess it is not against the law or she would not have admitted it. To my way of thinking it may not be illegal but it certainly is immoral. Maybe our local pastors and church leaders could step up and ask that this not continue to happen in our community. Our children have enough trouble growing up without this kind of immoral influence. Who knows what this does to the minds of the young and vulnerable. Thanks for listening.
  Peggy Kight
  Lanark Village"

Let me start by saying in response to Letter #1 from Bonnie, There is a law against allowing minors to purchase pornographic material and since these young men were simply exercising their rights as young adults, what is the problem here? If I read the reports correctly these men were 18, hence the reason no Laws were broken. The Business that Sharon Toman is involved in really has nothing to do with her being an elected official, So what she owns a movie business and she is now forced to limit that business because you thought she sold porn to children???? As for corrupting our children; again since these gentlemen were of age according Law, it can't quite be considered corrupting our children now can it? All we can do is raise them to the best of our ability and hope they make correct choices later in life.

To Peggy in Letter #2, My issue with your statement has to do with the fact you bring up the issue of morality. You state that our local clergy men should get involved to set laws. I simply can not agree with you here. You've heard of the Separation of Church and State right? Hey, lets not stop with porn, lets get our clergy men to outlaw drinking too! Next, I suppose we could create a law to force people to attend church as well? That should do wonders to help our community as well as take some more of our Freedom away! I do agree with you about our children having enough problems growing up, but given this situation it pales into the comparison with the other issues like racism, free thinking, and rigorous tradition that they will have to also overcome on their way.

Just to make myself clear here, I do not support pornography. However, I do support our laws. And the law states that pornography can be purchased/rented by adults. It's also stated that a rental business can sell/rent porn to those of age. I'm sure these concerned citizens might have thought these "children" were actually children and probably reacted in writing their letters to the editor before getting the full story.

I'm done ranting for now ;)

Finally!!! I WON a Game!!

Since building the first poker table on 9/30/2006 and playing the first game on it 10/1/2006..... Today marks the First time I have won a game! Waahooo.. The cool part is not only did I win, but no one at the table even came close to having the chip lead i had :) Of course... that doesn't quite make up for the fact that i have lost every game since 10/1... that's alot of games lost... hehehe. maybe this is a change in luck? We shall find out next Sunday!

Cat's in the Cradle?

The other night as we were preparing for bed time... We walked into our bedrooms to find our wonderful kitty cat lying comfortably...

Comfortable there Cozmo?

Props for Originality!

I must give my wife big props for this one. Being a smoker, I have for quite some time heard every reason in the book. Everything from each cigarette takes 1 day off your life, to the descriptive black chunks of tar that are building up in my lungs, to the awful smell it produces on my clothing, and that I'm killing the ones I love with second hand smoke... the list goes on... But never has a phrase caught my attention as what I heard this past weekend.

I woke up the other morning and began my morning ritual of brushing teeth, taking a shower, ect.. Once dressed and ready for the day I moseyed on into the kitchen for a glass of sweet tea. It was an excellent morning, Not too cold outside, got plenty of sleep, I was feeling wonderful. Then I began to step outside to enjoy the freshness of the outdoors... and of course to have my morning smoke. Just prior to stepping outside the wife and i had said our good mornings and were just chatting about typical stuff... She looked up at me as I started to head for the door, and just as I opened the door to let out the dog she began with "Baby, What would it take to get you to quit smoking, Cause Ya know...... I really like the way you smell when you get out of the shower, so fresh, and clean; (insert momentary dramatic pause here while she puts her thoughts in order) But when you smoke did you know that your not very edible." Yup, it took me a few moments to process that as well... lol

Now I have been accused of many things, but never did I once consider the palatableness of myself very important, of course I also never realized the carnivorous nature in my wife! (ok, so maybe i might have had a clue about that one) but with this new knowledge, and after hearing the rather "tasteful" concerns of my wife, I've decided that it might be time to start seriously considering the edibleness of myself. Therefore from this day hence I shall strive to become smoke free in order to attain that pinnacle of delectable pabulum she so desires. On that note I bid thee a "Scrumptious" afternoon.

Hell Yea!

The new year is here, and i have to say... I had one hell of a 2006. Hope everyone else had a great new year, and I look forward to another awsome 2007