The Draft

I went to Dallas last week and this is the view, looking towards the Dallas skyline, from the grassy knoll from the Kennedy assassination. I have pictures of the knoll itself, but thought that this view was more appropriate. I am sure that on that day there were only trees and not the mirrored buildings and Reunion Tower that you see here.

I do not believe I will ever forget that magical time when Ben, Bob, Joe, Gabe and myself watched the entire NFL draft one Saturday. I had slight interest in watching, and the morning started much like every morning in law school. I got up early and made coffee for everyone who wanted it. We had planned a long day of studying in the school library, but much like things happen in life, we were quickly distracted by Chris Berman and Mel Kiper. What was thought to only be 10 minutes of coverage quickly turned into an all afternoon affair. I believe the only break we had was to go to McDonald's for dinner. We normally had really good intentions and in fact, we normally did study all day, however, this day was different.

Now, this year's draft is almost upon us and instead of firmly planting myself in front of a television on Saturday morning, I will be planting the sod that I ordered last weekend. As you well know, there are certain portions of my yard which desperately needs turf and this is the time of year to do it. It's not as hot, won't require as much watering, and there's hope that rain will help that issue too.

I also remember, that it was only about a year ago that I was finally able to move into my home. Me and Rage. The trigger that sparked my memory was watching the Mavs on Sunday evening and thinking about the last time that I watched the Mavs in the playoffs. Last year I wasn't able to watch any games in the second round unless they were on without cable. That's right, for a very long period of time, I lived without cable and solely relied upon "rabbit ears" to satiate my television experience. I distinctly remember listening to the game on the radio when they were on cable television. So much time has passed in-between now and then.

Easter and Working

Miranda, Ashley F. and Justin F. spent Easter with Miranda's parents. A nice relaxing Sunday. I spent most of Friday working on the house, continuing to caulk. Although I have no evidence to prove otherwise, I truly believe that it will make my house most energy efficient. Laugh if you wish, but there were a lot of spaces where cool air could escape in the summer and warm air in the winter. I have officially put a stop to all of that escape. Don't get me wrong, I still have a little bit more to go, but I have gone through 3 boxes of caulk and I'll probably need one more for the front porch area and the garage. Actually, I should probably purchase two boxes since I believe that caulk will solve most of my home's problems, kind of like duct tape.


Flowers on the front porch.


Flower at Miranda's parents' home.


Flowers from a hanging plant in the back yard. As you can tell from the previous three pictures, there's quite a few from home. I haven't been anywhere in quite some time. Actually my little trip to McKinney was the first "trip" which was more than one hour away. I am getting restless and it stinks. I really need a vacation.


I've lived in my home for almost a year now and through all this time, I've never noticed this carcass of a tree that grew into a chain link fence on the side of my yard and then, obviously, what's left of the tree has slowly worn away. You would think that with all of the mowing and yard work that I do that I would have noticed something like this over the course of a year, but I didn't. It's pretty amazing to think about it. A lot of things had to happen over the course of time to make this "tree" look the way it does, time, sunlight, water, heat, etc.

There's a couple of reasons why we may be delaying a vacation. First off Miranda has school obligations which keep her from getting away right after school is finished. Secondly, Miranda is thinking about going back to school and becoming a nurse or something else in that field. I truly support this decision and I want her to go. This will mean very lean times for myself and my beloved, but it will eventually provide a better life for the two of us. Not only from a monetary standpoint, but she will have days off that she would not have now, it would allow her to essentially be a stay-at-home mom when that day comes. It's not happening anytime soon, but eventually.

Figuring Out Close-ups

This weekend I finally figured out how I need to take close-up pictures. I know that this is slightly less than manly, but as I've said before (at least in my head), I love taking pictures. It makes me happy and it doesn't seem to cost me any money, just time. Running around my backyard and frontyard with my camera makes me feel less than cool, but it's my thing.

I am very much looking forward to the long weekend. I plan on finishing the calking job that I started two weekends ago. It is a boring and laborious process, but I keep thinking that it will help with the cooling bills this summer.

I suppose I could write something poetic as Ben did in the previous post. Something like, bluebonnets are the lavender buoys in a sea of spring green. Sprouting from nothingness and surviving for only a short while, they bloom to please parents who must take pictures of children on the side of the highway, taking time out as people in other cars think how silly they are for stopping and taking the time to make a memory. The bluebonnet retreats quickly, at least until the next year.

More Puppy Dogs

A happy Puppy Dog Blue.


Zoey will never stand still.


This absolutely has to be my all-time favorite of Blue. Her eyes say it all.

Beautiful Oak Trees

This tree is on Daniel's parent's property. Really pretty.

This is Ben's comments, very nice:

Which tree? I mean there are two. You wonder, has it always been like this, you know, one tree vying for all the attention and accolades, while the other takes the back seat. One wider, one taller.

Who gets more sap? I see them as two kings, setting alone in their throne-meadow, watching their fiefdom. In my part of the world, single trees standing in the middle of a field are very odd. How do they get survive without the companionship of other trees? How did they avoid the endless attacks of livestock, equipment, and agricultural blitzkreig? Tornados, lightning, etc.

They are greek gods that defy mortality, and their names are William "Willie" Golden and Duane "Big D" Allen. You will figure it out seth. OR, they are reincarnations of traveling salesmen, who in life were always moving, and never able to put down deep roots, but who good and righteous, and this is their reward.

Conclude the Monday rant.

Dantastic Turns 30

Miranda, Courtney and Ashley F.


Greggo, the Birthday Boy and Justin.


Stetty and Daniel.


K. Mitch's kid being funny.


Richie and Justin.

Daniel turned 30 and after and difficult start to the day, very windy and cloudy, it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. To me there is really nothing better that friends hanging out, enjoying the company and talking. It truly makes for a very stress-free life, a simple life.

Catching Up

Years of paint on an old chair. Luckily, I was given the task, two weekends ago, to sand this son-of-a-gun down. After putting two coats of paint on it someone doesn't like the way it turned out.


Olive doing what she does.


Puppy dog Blue.


My wife and I spent last weekend gardening. We actually had a really good Saturday together and I think that we got lots of things accomplished. We bought bluebonnets and once I get around to taking some good pictures of them I'll post them. I really like the idea of planting bluebonnets, I don't know why, but I do.

Zoey taking a little time to pose for a pictures.

I admit I haven't written as much as I would like to recently. I really haven't been in the mood to write, but I know that this is not an excuse. When I first started this thing (I think it's been 4 or 5 months) I posted links without much content. Now I feel like that I don't need to post links, but instead should focus more on content. And let's face it, content is hard to come by, by. This may mean that there will be fewer posts, but that will also mean that there will be more to each post. I know that this doesn't satisfy those of you who expect 3 weekly doses of PuppyDogBlue and I'm sorry. Maybe things will change. There are a couple of things that have been on my mind recently.

This past Saturday I calked almost the entire back-side of the house. I've been meaning to do this for a really long time, but due to cold weather and more importantly, laziness, I'm just now getting around to this task. I know that this will require yet another coat of paint, but I've got all summer to get it done and I'm not under any sort of rush. As I was calking my wife went with one of her friends to First Monday and I was left to my own devices. Spending the entire day without your buddy stinks, it's no fun, I don't like it.

Sunday I helped Justin and Ashley F. move into their new home. Really there were only about 4 or 5 items that Justin needed help with and Tony and Greggo assisted as well. There is something that I realized, I am a weakling. I haven't worked out in a really long time and the past 3 weeks I've been trying to get myself back into some semblance of shape. I started out doing as many pull-ups and push-ups as possible. Now that I've worked out the soreness I've got some starting numbers. My goal this week is 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups. These are not done all at the same time and in fact it takes 4-5 sets, but this is my goal for this week. Yesterday I did 55 pull-ups and today I did 107 push-ups. Baby steps.

I don't know if I've ever given the proper shout-out to Tony and Leslie for their help on my and wife's home. We never could have finished without them. Really what they did was above and beyond, it was completely selfless and incredibly appreciated. They spent numerous weekends helping when they had their own projects to complete. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.