Stewin Over the Hot Stove

Ahh -- The off-season is alive.

What does T think about the Twins this off-season? Here's her 'if I was in charge' to-do list:

#1: Re-sign Nick Punto
I understand that this idea might make me susceptible to fellow blogger bludgeoning but here's the deal; Punto didn't suck last year. As much as people want to whine about '07, '08 was good. Reasons why we keep Punto:
He's amazing in the infield
He can play anywhere
He can run and slide (even into first)
He has more heart than a Hallmark on Valentine's day.

Many will say that "heart" has nothing to do with the game, but with baseball that's not the case. Heart has lots to do with the game. That's what differentiates Twins baseball from other sports. A true Twin never plays for stats; they play for the team. They do the little things. They are NOT this one. It's about desire, teamwork and perseverance. Nick Punto defines Twins baseball; therefore, we must keep him.

#2: Sign Casey Blake. Blake is ready to sing a new song in his Twins uniforms. He's old; I get that. I'm not calling for a long term contract, but two years would be good. Let's, for the first time in years, stabilize third base. Plus another homerun threat will only help the Twin's stellar small game. I am a firm believer that we can win by scoring the majority of our runs with the small game. I also am a realist. The Twins will not score Beltre or Atkins without sacrificing our rotation.

#3: Give Majares the set-up spot. Crain and Guerrier tired too much last year. Our Venezuelan lefty looks like heat. Keep 'em in there. Rest up the GC squad. Make Breslow do some push-ups. Feed Boof more burgers. Bring up Humber. Sew up Neshek and throw him back to BP for the year. There-- our bull-pen is fixed.

#4: Sign Scott Baker for at least five more years. He's my second place baseball boyfriend. He's our strongest pitcher. He bleeds Twins baseball. He needs to be here well into Target fields toddler days.

#5: Begin Delmon's therapy sessions. Dr. Vavra must fashion a shock collar-like device. Then, every time he swings at a bad pitch, Mr. Young will be bolted with a bajillion watts of electricity. Every time he swings at crud when it's the first pitch, he'll get shocked in the junk. Dr. White must also use the device in the field. Every time a ball is to the left side, Dr. White will shock Delmon so he jumps off his arse.

#6. Let Casilla and Gomez build their card-house of craziness. Their crazy freakin man love relationship has provided some of the scariest, most hilarious and most effective base running and fielding ever. GoGo deserved the Go-Gold Glove.

Ok-- maybe Go-go can slow down at the plate a bit.

Nah -- let 'em sharpen his smelling skills. It'll pay off. How? I dunno. But it will.

#7. Michael Cuddyer needs to learn new magic tricks. He better learn them quickly or he'll be shagging balls with Ryan the ball-boy.

#8. Kubel, Nathan and Span should start a band. They could be called Project Twitchy Mo. Denny said Jason Kubel was in his Guitar Center a few weeks ago scoping out drum sets. I'm sure Kubel can bang a decent drum. Nathan just naturally looks like he could play guitar. I bet he could even play with his lips. Span would make a strong front man. I mean, who doesn't love to get Denarded.



#9. Mauer should move in with Morneau and his new wife. Then they can do another Sports Illustrated special on their living arrangements. Plus it might make for some marital conflict.

#10. Hope, wish and hope that Scott Boras leaves his job as an agent to build a floral business.

I am so freakin nervous

Tonight is the night

Nervous in a hopeful way

Make this Twins baseball

I can't stop

Last night was FREAKIN amazing! This week's baseball has given me highs I haven't experienced in some time. My body is exhausted but my heart won't let go. In fact, Ben and I are temporarily putting our relationship on hold so we can commit 100% of our soul to the Twins.

Tonight it's Lover-boy Liriano.

Show them how you took down Tommy John.

Matter of routine

Slowey's on the mound tonight. Gavin Floyd is also on the mound. Tonight's a big night-- it's like more important than seriously important. I could barely exhale last night-- tonight I won't suffocate. In fact, tonight I'm going to be at IHOP for the first few innings. Will be back before the closing. Will be watching closely on Iphone. Will put on my lucky autographed Morneau jersey. Will give Penny high fives. Will follow the new rule. will, will, will...

New rule in the Miller / Ptacek household

Rule: No bashing of any Twins player. If a player errors, we commend him for his effort. Lack-o-bashing is a terribly difficult thing for a blogger to do. Don't believe me, just search "Nick Punto" in the Twins blogs.


Breaking of this rule with result in the breaking of my spirit and, consequently, the perpetrator's flanges.

Go Twins!

If I write it...

They will win. They will win. They will win. They will win. They will win..........

As a fan, I often think that if I concentrate on a situation hard enough, I can transfer positive energy to the player of my choice. Honestly, I sit, sometimes close my eyes, and concentrate on transferring something like 'good karma' to players. Sometimes it works; most of the times it does not... but I still feel like I'm offering something to my boys by concentrating on their situations.

I think I'm transferring myself into a mild dumb-down tonight.

Sometimes our superstition is all we can offer.

Go TWINS!

Let's Bake 'em (sorry for stupid pun... but I had to...)

Alert Alert!

The stache is gone. We are rid of the creepiness once exemplified in the Giambi-monster.

Here's a new observation... Adam Everett has an unnatural color of hair. It bugs me to death. I want to crawl into the TV screen (although I'm not quite that thin any more!) and dye his hair blue. Yes, Twins blue.

I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid...

The Yankees are visiting the dome. They've had a worse week than the Twins. We should win.

The key to this series is evading the stache....



If we can escape the wrath of creeperton; we'll sweep.

That's right-- I said it -- SWEEP.

__________

In other news we are revamping the house and getting ready for our new room-mates. Teens and Bucketman are moving into our basement in September. We are moving our bedroom upstairs in order to give the mini-fam some semblance of privacy.

It feels good to throw tons of stuff away. I hate feeling like I have a cluttered house. I have boxes that are ready to go to 1/2 price books. I have furniture that Tanner is taking off my hands. My garbage can is overflowing. Man, how do we collect so much junk.

______________

I went to FL a couple wks ago. It was pretty sweet. The beach is the best. We played catch in the water for hours using oceany-green-bean things. I still am more two-toned than ever. I guess playing in the ocean only further darkens my shoulders-- legs remain pale.

_____________

Finally, it is important to point out that summer is indeed winding down. This makes me sad and excited. I feel useless sitting at home cleaning all day. But, the beginning of the new year can be rough. I hope I'm lucky and get great kids again this year!

Sheddin those Yankee Blues

New Song (sing to the tune of Camptown Races)

Yankee Stadium's falling down - boo yall -boo yall
Yankee Stadium's falling down - ahh the heck with them

______
That's it -- I really don't have much more time to think up child-friendly lyrics to a song about the destruction of the Twin's worst nightmare. Truly - I think there's got to be something about that stadium that keeps the twins quiet. Bat Girl blames our lack of activity at YS on Mike Trombley.

I blame it on Giambi's mustache. It is so creepy.


Oh sooo creepy.

Molester-style creepiness.

How can we beat that?

Word has it that Nicky Punto is growing a mustache. Somehow, I don't think Punto-boy can hardy grow a mustache, yet alone grow one that would compete with Giambi's utter creepiness. Thinking more about it... I don't know if even half of our young bucks can grow a mustache. Morneau, even in all his Canadian-ness, grows invisible mustaches. Mauer grows hair on the side of his face, but it seems to end there. All of our younins grow baby-face-peach-fuzz. hmm... Rick Anderson sports a decent stache, but not the creepy-creeperton stache that throws other teams off balance.

Who can we make creepy?

wait.. I know

Jason Kubel!




He grows hair like a bear. He's already bordering on creepy with the beard-o that he sports. Our creepy-creeperton must be Jason Kubel. Who's with me on this one?

We were heard!

Souhan must be reading my blog-- In his column today he shares my sediment involving the whole josh hamilton hype.


So -- bottom line: the Twins players are more admirable and to the public, that's just boring. -- Hard work, good decision making, dedication and life-long learning is not the story ESPN or the national media wants to tell. This is why Morneau, although he earned the 2006 MVP award, still isnt' recognized as a great. Heck, Kare-11 did a special where they followed Morneau around as he visited sporting good stores in FL. No one even recognized Morneau until he told the footlocker dude that why he gets a discount on Reebok. This is why Nathan and even Lil Pink Mauer, also are ignored. ARod has infidelity. Bonds has steroids. hamilton has addiction. Ramirez has an ego. Papelbon runs his mouth. There's nothing exciting about a team full of guys who just do their jobs.

Myrrrrneau?

Yeah -- It's been a splendidly-rough week for Twins fans. To an inhabitant of Twins-Territory, this week can be compared to having someone purposefully toss your absolutely all-time favorite flavor of ice cream (for me it's Coldstone yellow cake batter with fudge and brownie) on a seemingly clean floor. The ice cream is just too good to go to waste. Still, there's something oddly repulsive in Sanitation Station USA about eating anything off the ground.

Morneau achieved great feats this weekend. He'll eat his ice-cream -- but not in a comfortable position-- and most certainly not with a spoon.

Go figure...

All-Star week served as nothing more than a PR campaign to create a new image for MLB in this post-steroids era.

Here's our narrative. Let's conjure history. Remember baseball is the most patriotic game -- and as of this week, I guess it's the most christian game too (quote ESPN's Joe Morgan: "It's a lousy night to be an athiest").

Lets find ourselves a poster-child... ah! Josh Hamilton... heroin, crack, unknown substances, tatoos, rehab, old man, dreams, jesus and redemption -- He's packing a complete case of legos. Metaphorically he is Major League Baseball.

Set this mother of a week in Yankee Stadium-- the house the Ruth built -- blah blah blah.

You see the PR stunts?

Anyways, are Yankees fans sooo stupid? If this is such a historic ballpark, why are they tearing it down? Shouldn't they rehabilitate it-- or would that be too reminiscent of the work they are doing after Clemens was poked in the can? Guess the corporate dollars behind "Mcyankee stadium" were too much for Mr. Steinbrenner to pass up.

No-- really. Yankees-- think about it. True baseball fans, the kind that plan vacations around visiting stadiums, want to be part of history. Instead of rehabbing the house the ruth built, you are tearing it down and building NY McStadium across the street. Meanwhile, your arch-rivals, those dreaded BoSox, keep rehabbing Fenway -- a stadium that has outlived yours by nearly 20 years. My point is-- after five years, baseball fans will tire of McYankee Stadium. They'll start their summer time migrations with only two stadiums in mind: Fenway (built in 1908) and Wrigley (if it doesn't meet its doomsday in the next few years).

Anyways -- back to All Star week as a Twins fan -
It should have played out like any pseudo scripted reality tv program-- but it didn't.

Let's just say that a the big Cannuck was not written into the script. But, he tiptoed out on stage -- blowfish cheeks and all.



MLB and ESPN tried its darndest to keep him from finding any kind of spotlight. Jason -- Marneua -- Myrrrno -- Merlot?

I guess some things never change. Small market teams and their players will always be the illegitimate step-children who are supposed to keep quiet in the nook underneath the stairs of McYankee Statium.

-- on a sidenote, i googled "all star morneau" to find an image for this post and the second image is of Josh Hamilton.

I should be packing...

We leave for Lake Tahoe early early early tomorrow morning. I'm pretty excited but a little nervous since it seems like the place might be fancy schmancy and fancy-schmancy's not my gig.

At summer school today I told my classes I was going to Lake Tahoe. Not one student even had even heard of Lake Tahoe. One kid responded saying "man, why they always hatin on the shawt-hoes."

Mom took my stitches out today. I'm thankful to have a mom who can save me a drive to Plymouth and a $20 copay. She's the best.

Not sure what's going on for the 4th yet. We are going to see Goldfinger on the 3rd -- should be a blast. We normally go up north for the 4th but Grandma just landed herself back in the hospital last night. I hope her heart starts beating normally again and she can come up to the cabin as was planned. Mommy-T needs a break.

Still don't know where to go on our real vacation at the end of july. We were thinking San Diego but I honestly dont know how much money I'll have with all this stupid gas / food increases. My eyeballs nearly fell out of my head last time I visit the local grocery mart. I honestly think our wallets might be better off if we continue eating out every night.

Speaking of -- I had DQ last night. DQ gives me a perma-grin.

Man this blog shows my indecisiveness...


Here's what I know for sure:

Twins have won 7 in a row (not a jinx)
Morneau is on a 12 game hitting streak (again not a jinx)
Lake Tahoe is one the border of CA and NV
My dogs are the cutest...

TMill 0 , Hedge-trimmer 1

So, I'm supposed to read this book for 9th grade summer reading. I set up shop outside on the deck, grabbed a coffee and began reading. The reading was going so awesomely that i decided to trim my hedges instead.

In the earlier hours of the morning my hedges were sporting the side-show bob look.

Unfortunately, the road to trimness was not without casualty. As I manicured the fourth of five hedges lining the north side of my house, I hit a rough spot. There stood a twig, fatter than his brothers, hindering my trimming. So, like any strong midwestern lass, i wasn't about to let the branch win. I squatted down and starting taking whacks at the branch. Soon-- it fell. I won.

Then I moved on to my last shrub. Things were looking great-- I was almost done when, again-- I ran into a freak-tasticly fat branch that froze up my electric hedge trimmer.

Again-- squat down and hack -- hack -hack -- nothing. I apply more force-- hack hack -- oops-- hedge trimmer comes up a bit to high and now my finger's a bleedin. alot.

I drop the trimmer and pull my finger back so quickly that blood splatters all over my face. I then move my hand out as far from my body as possible noticing the death of my new white tank top. finally i make it to the bathroom and there I run my finger under water and bandage it with gauze left over from penny's toenail incident.

done.

now lets return to my day- i still have to read that awesome book-- so i go back outside -- I finish my trimming and rake up my mess.

the bushes look nice and clean-- like leafy ice cream cones. no more sideshow bob business.

an hour passes-- my finger still bleeds.

another hour passes -- i undo the bandage and see that the cut is still bleeding.
ok i better call mom.

ring ring--no answer

ehh -- it's just a cut. I go online and learn i should hold the cut up over my heart to help stop bleeding. now i'm walking around pledging allegiance to everything in my path. mom calls -- tells me to go see the urgent care. I call the healthcare plan -- they tell me i have to drive out to robbinsdale - i call robbinsdale and they tell me to drive out to plymouth. so, nearly 4 hours after the cut i find myself feeling like a wuss sitting in the waiting room of north clinic in plymouth.

I go in-- they weigh me (wii fit has yet to help me lose my 4 lbs). the dr looks at the cut and tells me i need stitches.

Cool.

so i got me four crusty stitches. now instead of pledging allegiance to all in my path, it sorta looks like i'm flippin everyone the bird.

ben's never going to let me live this down.

Ow-eee

Penny's toenail drama continues. Today I brought her into the vet for the third time in the past three months. This time her right dew-claw's toenail was not growing in properly. Three weeks ago Penny tore most of her toenail off while frolicking at the cabin. When I brought her in, the vet decided to just clip most of the nail off. Now, three weeks later, the nail started growing back into Penny's skin. So today I bring Pen in for round three. This morning the Dr. decided Penny needed to be put under and her entire toenail was removed.

I picked her up a few minutes ago. She's still pretty knocked out. I got her to walk from the car to the house and she made it up about 2 steps before she totally collapsed. I carried her to the couch where my sweet baby now sleeps.

Poor poor Penny. When will she ever get a lucky break?


In other news I finally got a Wii Fit. It pretty much rocks. More on Wii Fit will come in later posts.

Tmill doesn't normally hate on humanity

but there are douche-bags in my neighborhood.

neighbors can suck.

one day i hope to learn otherwise.

i really hope.

until then... sigh....

at least i'm buildin me a fence

blah blah bla

My Canadian comrad disappointed me last night.

I have started a covert mission. It is covert and therefore, I speak no more-

My lawn sucks dandelion balls.

Literally.

Memorial Weekend isn't shaping up as we had hoped.

Last weekend rocked.

Twins keep me up too late.

So it goes...

Gripe #1

I hate when managers reprimand their employees in front of customers. It's terribly uncomfortable-

Here's the story:
I enter 50's Grill and ask for one banana malt and two coffee-carmel-cookie malts. New girl, dressed in the customary pink top and poodle skirt, begins punching my order into the computer. After a few seconds she halts, looks blankly at the computer and realizes she does not know how to add 'cookies' into the order. At this time two customers are patiently waiting behind me to pay their dinner bills. Now enter brawny-faced, dim-witted blondy manager. In another life he probably bragged about how many keg stands he could do and now he's bossing around a service staff composed of 100% females under the age of 30. He approaches the girl and sternly says, "Brraahhh brahhhh youstupidgirl brahhh you-hold-up-line brewlll." I just stand there and watch as this stupid moron admonishes this girl for trying to do her job correctly (perhaps not efficiently but correctly).

I start to feel guilty for my order. In fact I almost change it and ask to forget the cookies... but gosh darnit -- I don't get around to 50s grill as much as I used to and I want my signature malt.

Eventually dumb broad-headed manager dude steps aside and enters the order for girl and then also clears out the other two customers waiting in line. As he deals with the customer's he acts like a perfect gentleman. Once the line disappears, he walks away from the girl and proceeds to yell at the laborers behind the malt counter. He does not show the girl how to enter cookies- he does not give her any constructive criticism, instead, he just walks away without a single word. The girl is left looking at me, ashamed.

Broad-headed manager is a gross human being.

At any rate, this same thing happened a few months ago while Ben and I ate at a Pizza Hut... Arrogant male boss reprimanded two young female employees as we stood by and watched. It was even grosser then because the boss aggressively insulted the girls. ewww.. That kind of behavior is unprofessional and gross. It makes me want to kick people in the genitals.

Beatin it down

I'm sick of hospitals. I'm sick of gray. I'm sick of pot holes. I'm sick of never-ending paper loads. I'm sick of fat men with basset hounds. I'm sick of chapped lips. I'm sick of The Family Guy. I'm sick of ego-wars. Most of all, I'm sick of crappy things happening to good people. when you can't blame karma, who can you blame?

Still... there's much more that I'm not sick of-- I need to remember that.

I'm not sick of my cali or penny; i'm actually not nearly as sick of that boy i live with as i probably should be after 8.5 years (in fact he got a way decent haircut last night-- i approve with oggled-eyed nodding). i'm not sick of cookies or coffee or cookies and coffee. i'm enjoying the presence of 15 year olds (only now should you be concerned about my mental well being). i like the smell of the cedar that pleasantly commandeered my driveway. finally i enjoy the new / used pair of jeans i bought from the second hand store last weekend.

I like malts. I'm going to try and talk that boy i live with into going to 50s grill after visiting the hospital. i don't know if he'll jump on it -- but malts from the 50's grill can not be beat!

NA (netflix anxiety)

I discovered this week that Netflix makes me anxious, crabby and a little insane. In theory the service is awesome. The price is unbeatable (especially since bfingp pays). Plus Netflix has a vast selection offering anything from Fraggle Rock to nerdy LOTR documentaries.

Here's the problem: Netflix pressures me. The company hired a secret voice and sent it to me in some snazy reverseable red envelope. The voice crawled into my psyche and now sings me sob stories of unwatched movies. The voice tells me to add movies to my que and when they come, watch them quickly because there are many other valuable movies that I should see before I die. All these movies I receive must be watched ASAPLN (as soon as possible like now) because more movies are always coming out which I will also need to watch and will therefore place into my ever-growing que. In the end, the voice tells me that I'm a sub-par human being because I haven't watched the newest 20th century historical piece that I'm supposed to love because I liked Back to the Future parts I and II but not III. Anxiety-- see?

Now that baseball season has finally arrived, I don't want to watch movies as much. Baseball, even mediocre 2008 Twins baseball, engages me more than most movies nowadays. The problem is I feel like it's my duty to watch these movies. I mean, there are movies waiting to be delivered to me like yesterday.

Wait-- there is more.... Netflix plays games with me. For the last three weeks I've had I Am Legend at the top of my que. The last four times I've sent movies back I've hoped and dreamed that I am Legend will be shipped. I still don't have it. I sent three movies back yesterday. Tomorrow I'm getting the movie that sits 2nd, 4th and 5th in my que. Netflix is like, "Yo Miller, you want I am Legend???-- well guess what I'll send it to you .... after like a super-long-like-one-no-two-no-three-maybe four week wait!"

Take that...

Morneau is 0/8 this season. My theory is that he's suffering from NA or consumption of too much Mississippi water. I mean look at him when he's up to bat. He's shed his Canadian confidence and replaced it with nervous penguin.

It's beginning to look alot like... easter?

The Shovel
is coming out of retirement today. I have been a striking against winter for a month now and today I concede. Winter, you win. I will shovel my drive-way today.

Edu-ol-it-ics
The state is gushing red. Our state's constitution condemns the red. I'm not talking about communists, republicans or Target employees (at least not today); I'm talking budgets. According to the state constitution, the government must balance its budget every two years. Today we stand roughly 935 million in debt (priceless, huh?). This means our fine legislators must take out their, knifes, scissors and hatori hanso swords and begin cutting because lord knows any more taxes* will lead to an increase in aneurysms.

One issue apparently not on the cutting board: education. Good for Minnesota. In fact, education is expected to increase funding (not enough to keep up with inflation though). Now, you might ask, "gee golly, why is state funding for education so safe?" The surprising answer: Q-comp! Who knew... According to Norman Draper's report for the Star Trib, "DFLers ... are still hopeful they can get a modest funding bump this year. One proposal would raise that 1 percent in additional funding -- about $49 million -- in part by spending unused funds sitting in the state's Q-Comp fund, reserved for districts that want to overhaul the way they pay their teachers."

Now here's the burning question: what would happen to those schools running q-comp programs?

TO BE CONTINUED....


*unless new tax income will be spent on more stadiums, preparation for the republican convention, or fighting the growing insurgency from canada.

Wheww

Some Serious Stuff
So mama T, the most amazing woman alive, is mostly alright. I can't even explain how relieved I feel. Turns out the owie in her lower innards is in a pre-cancerous stage. In a few weeks she'll have a section of her lower innards removed and will be in the hospital for 3-7 days. Luckily, no more cancer treatments are necessary. We are terribly lucky.

Twinkies and Haiku
Lavelle had the brilliant idea to have the Twins players attempt to read haiku and then film it. This is hilarious-- probably more so to an English teacher than to anyone else. Mike Redmond cracks me up, TK's haiku about Cuddy is a knee-slapper and Morneau, he's just so canadianly cute :)
Here

Chuck and Dons
I'm going there shortly. I will spend way too much money. At least I'll feel okay when I get my chuck bucks this quarter...

Fencing settled

After two days of in depth research and various powerpoint presentations, Ben and I have decided to go with a cedar dog-ared style fence. Thanks to photoshop I can already imagine what it will look like...





Note: we actually didn't choose this style because it's name references dogs.


Twins stuff
Lirano threw buckets of crap yesterday. Morneau still did not hit. Reusse thinks this team will be luck to finish 4th in the ALC. I don't care. I still can't wait.

Here's an interesting side-note from LaVelle's blog.

"... we started talking about bats. Morneau likes maple bats with thin handles. The others prefer ash bats with thicker handles." (March 11th)

How Canadian is Morneau? So loyal to his homeland that he even swings with their national symbol. Unfortunately the Twins promotions dept has finally taken our Morneau's Canadian-ness to an all-too-cheesed-up status with their new radio ad. Come on, Dudley Do Right and Justin Morneau...




Finally... Did you know...
that treating cancer can cause cancer-

Beginning to Thaw

Today we walked. We did not walk for 20 minutes; we walked for slightly over an hour and at the end of our walk, we were not numb. Mind-blowing.

On our walk we met a portly young man trying to walk two English Bulldogs. This must be what an Iditarod participant looks like Eagan-speak. As these two beasts lunged towards my Penelope, I instructed her to sit and stay -- guess what? She did! The portly fellow scolded his dogs (who he could only try to drag away) and looked in awe of my mild-mannered bully- I feel proud.

This thawing means that tomorrow I can continue Yard Clean-up V. 2.0 -- Not looking forward doing this, but I am looking forward to having it done. I'm also meeting T-Diddy for breakfast in Uptown. MMMmmmmm hashbrowns.

Morneau sucked today. I'm disappointed in my Canadian lust package. He's not faring so well in the pre-season. Punto's still lackluster in the batter's box too -- As much as people hate the Punto, I can't help but cheer for him.

At least Morneau's not sucking at poetry reading... Check out Boof-burger trying to recite a poem about the Twin's new HWP (heavy weight pitcher) Livan Hernandez-- here

Fencing

Penny tells me it's still to cold to walk for more than a half hour at a time.

I agree with her. She may be stubborn but I'm tired. Mostly I'm tired of worrying about who's going to yell at me next about my dog's mad jumping skills. I'm pretty sure my wacko neighbors are just jealous that she can jump nearly three times her height. I mean, dude-- who doesn't want to be able to jump three times their height?? If I could jump 15 feet, I would jump onto ceiling fans and throw popcorn at people from above. Then again, many of my neighbs just suck-- Eaganites seem to think my angel and her mad jumping skills are potentially dangerous. The only way to totally, 100% alleviate these worries and the neighbor's suckiness is through... Fencing.

Today I went fencing. I started by measuring the perimeter of my yard. My fits the shape of a quadrilateral. It has four sides, none of with run parallel nor have the same length. I spent the morning trying to draw a scale images of my yard. This was not an easy task, so I settled for 'close enough.' (see image and hold a mirror to it to decipher my code) http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

I took my measurements to my local HD. There I priced out a number of wooden and vinyl options. Looks like wooden fences will run 2-4 thousand, where vinyl will run 3-6 thousand. I'm not picky-- I just want 6 feet of non-see-through material that will block out my yuck-ball neighbors and allow my babies to run freely but not jump freely.

Now we have decisions to make... oh ... we also have to wait for the winter to leave--


One more thing... Boof blew yesterday.

TMill