So as most know I base my entire personality on my hatred towards Donald Trump. No surprised there. So while I was wrapping my brain around this whole Supreme Court thing AND dealing with three painful shots I got from the DR. Flu (a pin prick) pneumonia (a larger pin prick) and shingles (HOLY FUCK THAT HURTS - the kind where you leg straightens. BUT WAIT.
Dr Asst said - "my wife did not go to work for 2 days after her 2nd shot, the first was fine"
OH YEA, BTW it's the first of 2 shots.
The Doctor said "Yea my first shot hurt but the 2nd one did not"
THEN On Facebook
"My son got the shots two years ago and he got really sick from it. Hope you're still kicking tomorrow."
"I had a lot of side effects"
"10 hours after the shot I had chills for about 5 hours."
"definitely slow you down for about a day and a half"
"I had to stop working on the lawn the day after the second shot. I thought if I continued, I would get nauseous."
WELL LA DE FREAKING DA! (NOTE - I wrote that last night and had a HORRIBLE night with very little sleep)
SO - as I was saying the words just were not coming in complete sentences that had any meaning - so - a friend wrote this and it's MY feelings exactly
The single most incapable and incompetent person ever to sit behind the "Resolute Desk" nominates the single least experienced person to become the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and the single most partisan, obsequious, and hypocritical U. S. Senate has placed her on "The Bench".
Remember what you said, Majority Leader McConnell . . .
"Elections have consequences . . .
Remember - The Constitution does not Prevent increasing the size of the supreme Court and the Democrats will have 8 years. It's not illegal or illegitimate. It's time Democrats start acting like the neo-Republicans. If the neo-republicans who care absolutely nothing about being fiscally conservative want to play hard ball. Bring it.
Well, since Columbus seems to have it's fair share of white collar felonies I was not surprised at all.
It seems Mr. Eisenga went to Illinois (at least it was not Russia) to borrow $7 million claiming that the land he wanted was owned by Festival Foods which had a 20 year agreement which in reality I believe the City actually owned (not the first time he has tried to sell city property as his own).
WELL! - the documents were fake. Festival Foods had nothing to do with Columbus or it's property. Maybe a clerical error? OOPS!
Alliant Credit Union of Rolling Meadows fell for the scam and granted him $7 million . . . and then he defaulted on the loan.
"indicted" ??? what does that actually mean? Maybe the City Attorney or a different former mayor may correct me but an indictment is a formal accusation, based on available evidence, that a person has committed a serious crime. If there is enough evidence to prove a person has committed a crime, then, they're are indicted.
Federal Tax Fraud (something Trump will have to deal with when he loses)
I won't go into my personal grievances even though he has threatened me a few times (on this blog) but I will just leave it as a one word response
KARMA!
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8 days to the election
Biden has an 88% change of winning (not 100%)
Dems have a 74% chance of taking the Senate
Dems have a 96% chance of keeping the house.
Now I'm sure many people are saying that Clinton was up in the polls (54% at this time 4 years ago) Where the polls were wrong were at the State level. They learned that they did not take into account education.
Trump had large numbers of people voting for him that had no level of advanced education which undercounted his side. All polls have a lean and the polls that were saying Trump was doing well were being undercounted because of the lack of higher education.
If the poll people are explaining what went wrong I assume it's been fixed. The margin of error in all the swing states 4 years ago all went the wrong way.
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I completed Q-School in PGA2K21 and sadly I made it . . . . I was placed a little higher tour than I wanted. With 15 tours all with about 150 people I was placed in the Challenge G tour which is sort of in the middle. I think I will be a bubble boy hoping to make the cut every week.
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Got a trip to the doctor this afternoon. Worried/Not worried. Concerned/Not Concerned. It's a little lump right next to where I had a malignant melanoma 30 years ago. I would be less concerned/not concerned if I did not get an appointment so fast.
When I had my malignant melanoma I was having a thing removed from my shoulder and 2 days later I was having MOHS Chemosurgery (Dr. Mohs was in attendance). At least my appointment took a week to schedule and not 2 days LOL.
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BUT THE GOOD NEWS - is we purchased a new car!! A 2021 Honda Passport
We sort of had to buy it as the 2016 Outback only had a towing capacity of 2700 lbs and with the 80% rule it was not nearly enough to pull a 2100 lb pop-up camper A Rockwood1910 ESP ESP = Extreme Sports Package
Orange Juice not included
The Passport can pull 5000 pounds. SO - that was OUR excitement.
I grew up with pop-ups (PUPs) and while it takes a little work to set them up. DJ and I set up Trim Line canopies which are MUCH more strenuous and confusing then a PUP. So we're good.
And with 5000 pulling if/when my knee blows out we can switch to a hard side.
Who the hell is in charge of who ever rents the pavilion. The Oddfellows, being smart people, canceled the Annual and HIGHLY successful Oddtober celebration with concerns of Covid.
SO - what does our City Government do? They decide it is a good time to have a 200+ attendance wedding in our pavilion and from what I have heard from multiple sources it was a Covid disaster.
I ASSUMED our city government had any brains and I was pretty darn proud when the Independence Day celebration was canceled with Covid concerns. But this? pure ignorance. It's like they are more concerned with money then health of its citizens.
Who OK'd this??? There HAD to be SOMEONE in our government that was informed of this moronic idea. Good God! How many people COULD have died from this decision!
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I was not going to blog today but that one REALLY bits my ass. I started this blog years ago when I thought our city government was full of shit. The Mayor was fine the city council was a bunch of do nothing cronies.
Since that time things changed I felt the city was in REALLY good shape. The budget which was completely a mess was stabilized and we started to bring back business.
Now with this? Embarrassing to say the least and I had to say something. Being a cheerleader is great but when stupid things happen . . . . . .
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Not being one that holds in his emotions . . . . . I purchased some smoked Provolone cheese and when I went to have some . . . it was not really smoked at all. I was very disappointed.
SO - I looked at the package and decided to write them a politically correct letter explaining my disappointment.
I'm REALLY disappointed in your Deli Reserve Smoked Provolone – I LOVE Provolone but there is no smoked flavor. If there is it's the lightest smoke in the universe.
We did a taste testing of non smoked and your smoked and the consensus was "maybe?" smoked?
SAD!
The next day I got a reply
Rod,
Thank you for writing Dutch Farms. Well….I have some good news and some not so good news:
The good news—you have a well-seasoned palate.
Unfortunately, we do not carry SMOKED provolone. This is why you didn’t detect any.
We sincerely hope you will find other Dutch Farms cheese varieties to try and appreciate.
All our best.
Karen Van Prooyen
Marketing Director
Dutch Farms, Inc.
Well i begged to differ and replied
Well then one of us are very confused. See attached photo LOL
I am waiting for their reply.
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Meanwhile - I played round 2 trying to get into a TGC tour playing PGA2K21. All was going not great. After 13 holes I was +4 and a little down. Then birdie, birdie, par, birdie and I'm feeling pretty cocky.
The 18th is a long par 5 and I had a 11mph wind behind me. I had been hitting everything to the left and aimed what I assumed was the correct side of the fairway. So what did I do. I hit it right . . INTO a trap.
Then, feeling confidant, I took out an iron that was a little to long and hit the lip if the bunker and the ball rolls back to my feet. OK - less learned - let's clean up this mess ASAP.
Next shot goes the correct distance but WAY right into a lake. F*CK as my controller is tossed on a pillow beside me.
Back the the bunker (I guess, no choice). I straighten out that shot which goes into a bunker on the other side.
Bunker to heavy rough next the the green, Chip shot and a 1 putt 8 to finish the round.
I'm +6 and I THINK about in the middle of the qualifiers so I'm still "good". with 15 tours and 150 people on each tour there were still about 10 openings on each tour. I think I'm still good.
My serious quest to gain my TGCTours tour card started yesterday. I tried a few weeks ago but was still not comfortable with Master difficulty. STILL not totally comfortable but I know what to expect now. One thing I have learned is that unlike Pro difficulty - EVERY shot demands concentration. Even 6 foot straight putts it seems.
The first round had 13-18 mph winds which is a headache and I decided to use a smaller driver as the par 5s were not really reachable anyway- Hitting the fairways was very important as the rough was pretty heavy.
So in round 1 I was missing the fairways all day but just like real life I was doing well on my recovery shots - lots of practice LOL For every 2 bogies I would get a birdy and as I was finishing with a mildly disappointed +4 I came to the par 5 18th. Hit the fairway but the pin was 275 away.
So what did I do? Took out my driver of course LOL My driver hits about 285 but off the fairway about 80-87% of that and my 3 Wood only would go about 235. I hit the ball and it's going to the right and ends up about 25 yards and 4 feet above me and I'm feeling good. Birdy range.
If I deloft my lob wedge AND close my club I can get close I I'm pretty sure. It's a good range. Longs story short. EAGLE for a +2
This morning I see I'm in 20th place. Not sure where that puts me for a card but I'm happy thinking top 50 might get cards.
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Last Monday on a Fanduel Facebook page they posted point spreads and were asking opinions on this weeks NFL. I mentioned that with Tampa Bay being -4.5 fav's my 25 year old system had Tampa Bay as a Triple 5 Star Game of the Decade play and was 60-13 in the system.
When a team is CRUSHING the spread is playing a team NOT crushing the spread and the "bad" team is at home AND a favorite. Play the Favorite. EASY MONEY. I've made a bundle on this one.
A few people made comments and we moved on.
The next day I see the PACKERS are now favorites - so ODDLY - the bet is no longer a TRIPLE START GAME OF THE DECADE but a common boring "D" play which was 64-58 a 52% a NON-Play.
WELL - we saw what happened. The linemakers were correct (as they normally are) and Packer fans and all the rest of America moved the line. Anybody that was silly enough to place a wager from a random guy on the internet won a ton of money.
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I ended with 96 wins in Strat-o-matic and waiting for the final standings - I BELIEVE I had the best team in the NL. Aloost had 4 guys with 100 RBIs and 100 Runs Only 2 though as Danny Santana had 99 runs and 99 RBIs and Mancini was in the middle 90s on both.
Trout had 53 HRs and Yelich 47. Yelich had 113 runs and 117 RBIs and Trout had 117 Runs and 113 RBIs WEIRD!!
My SUPER EXPENSIVE Free Agent Verlander was 17-11 with a 3.20 ERA and 315 Ks SADLY he pitched 6 innings in real life this year and probably will not pitch next year so I spent a LOT of virtual money for 1 freaking Season.
I also signed Mancini to a long term contract last year and he did not play with colon cancer. Two other Free Agents totally sucked. My combined returning pitchers have an ERA of 6.32 and I LITERALLY have no 1B 2B or SS as two became free agents and the other, Santana only played 7 games before he was injured for the year.
CHAOS next year.
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Let's see what else - LOT'S of people getting COVID in my universe from school teachers to boy friends from other friends parents. WHAT FUN!! So far none have been in contact with ME! WHEW!
A family member in Texas is having a knee replacement in about a month? ME? - have not even thought about my knee for a few weeks - well let's say 6 out of 7 days a week it's a total non issue - seriously - Glucosamine??? Maybe. Who knows. All I know is 6 out of 7 days I don't even think about my knee. Not that I would go biking or jogging anything. LOL
My prednisone dose is now down to a daily 2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1mg a day which started as 5mg a day 1 year ago. Maybe I'm becoming less cranky? Maybe Trump is wearing me down? Maybe seeing the blue wave is real? HECK Joebiden can't even find places to spend all his money. They out bid Trump in most TV ads and they are being forced to put ads in Gas stations.
They literally are running out of places to spend they hundreds of millions.
As of this morning with 40,000 runs of a simulation Biden won 88% (which is NOT 100%) of the time and the left won the Senate 74% of the time.
I read an interesting article about Trumps two economies. The first one was not as great as Republicans say and not as bad as Democrats say. The PROBLEM is that it was OK as long as nothing bad happened and THEN - no safety net. It;s easy to "fix" a great economy to make it better as long as there are no National Emergencies - WELL - as we see something bad happened and the economy SUCKS!
It's like when Trump got rid of the National Pandemic Response team. That worked GREAT . . until it didn't. Like almost everything he has done as long as there are no hiccups it's fine. But everything he does is walking the edge of the swamp land and if you step in the wrong spot . . . . .
As the BBC noticed. The only place in the world that is having large mass gatherings is are Trump rally's for his cult.
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OMG - Star Trek Discovery Season 3. I was not THAT excited about the first 2 plodding seasons that barley held my attention but S3E1 OMG - DJ and I both clapped at the end. Elwood and I watched the episode and he said WOW tha twas GREAT!!
It's like they rebooted. With Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels) as Captain Pike in Star Trek :Lost Worlds coming soon which is 100 years before caption Kirk. Here Discovery is now 930 into the future (they had too to save the universe - long drawn out story in Season 2 )
WELL - the Federation is no more. All Dilithium exploded in the entire universe. ANYWAY - BRAVO Discovery. I am REALLY pumped for the New Discovery season
So exciting - DJ purchased a ticket to watch a live Glass Animals concert - I guess it was a pay per view concert - never done that before. They were actually doing 5 concerts a few hours apart around the world last night.
Glass Animals are an "English psychedelic pop band formed in Oxford in 2010" and were really starting to break out until one of their members broke her leg in 2019. They canceled all of their tours and were ready for a world wide tour in 2020 . . . and then . . . . we all know what happened.
SO - for $17 we logged into the East Coast version of their live concert. Things started poorly as the screen was blank for 10 minutes and people in the chat rooms were FREAKING out. As long as others were freaking out it was all fine . . . except DJ and I kept typing the concert was "GREAT CONCERT - SO AMAZING". LOL
So anyway - the screen comes back on and they are chuckeling and "live TV" and all that! The concert starts and it was REALLY REALLY good. Neighbors probably heard out two 250 watt sub woofers :-)
I tell ya - this band LOVES bass.
All was going well and we were rockin with our Glass Animals t Shirts and beer and then BROWN SCREEN about 45 minutes into the show!
CHAOS ENSUES in the chat rooms - 20 SECONDS OF CHAOS!
Nobody notices the "We are experiencing technical difficulties"
Luckily we can see the entire concert in a link they sent everybody this morning.
I tell ya - DJ comes up with the most amazing group alt-J is another group that has gotten our attention.
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One of the reasons I became an alderman was to get a bike trail . . yea - weak reason but hey - I was asked. It never happened as I was told a bike trail was a bonus "we" could not afford. I begged to differ but . . . .
So after I was not an alderman anymore I formed the Columbus Cycle Club which was gaining members weekly and then I immediately blew out my knee AND Covid happened so biking was no longer a thing for me.
Now the city got a grant and will move ahead with a bike trail. I'm not sure what I think about the trail as my vision was to have something where you can do a round route around the city.
OOPS FONT change warning LOL
My vision when alderman was to get a trail that circumnavigated around the city. Sadly this does not. While I LOVE the new trail it just goes back and forth - not a real route a family on bikes would take - it's just back and forth not around.
NOT complaining . . much. But a "round" route would be so much better
just sayin'.
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I'm really messing up this year on Bridgejumper - with no pre season games I'm just behind on everything. Bridgejumper is 3-1 this year and I missed 3 REALLY solid picks! sigh!
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I had my first sub par round playing Master difficulty yesterday in PGA2K21 golf sim - still not good enough to get on the TGC Tours but I'll keep trying. I'm ranked in the 40s (out of 500) in the Beer League that uses Pro difficulty. I only make like $600 virtual a week so I can't afford a drop dead virtual girlfriend. Long are the days when I earned $1 million virtual dollars on tour. Back when this was a smaller game and not a world wide phenomenon.
My NFL football system (Bridgejumper) now in it's 28th year of existence is 1-0 this year and 434-277 overall. No complaints EXCEPT I missed the one victory this year while up north. SAD!
MEANWHILE - I'm part of the BitCoin generation. When I was contacted by 5Dimes that they were closing to Americans and my Presidential picks (+350) of Biden would be canceled AND I had to get my $70 out ASAP and the ONLY real way to do it was BitCoin (free) or pay $50 WELL - - - Since I had no clue about BitCoin what would you do . . I bet it all on The Packers . . . and won . . . . then I bet THAT "all" on the Packers and won AGAIN!
So now I had $340 sigh and I guess I needed to do SOMETHING. So I called and I guess I had a 1 hour window each day to get a $$ wired to me. Since I was on hold for an hour I missed my chance - SO - I explored BitCoin.
I went through CoinBase who manages about 24 other cyber currencies which I still cannot wrap my head around. I spent a morning figuring it out and finally got an account, checked out of 5Dimes and waited. A few more verications and I was the proud owner of 0.03467957364593 BitCoin.
I received it in CoinBase the day we went north and by the time we got back that $340 in BitCoin was now worth $351 - SWEET!!!! BitCoin is fun! I go to transfer the BitCoin to the bank and of course there is an issue. Trial and error I had to convert the BC into US Currency and THEN I transferred the $350 LESS a $10 charge to the bank.
I feel so proud. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
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Door County
After our hike in the woods it's getting close to lunch. The original plan was to go to Not Licked Yet the ice cream place that has fantastic food and plenty of outdoor seating. CLOSED ON WEDNESDAYS
OK - How about the Bay Side Bar and their really good burgers. WELL - they only had like 6 tables outside and were full. OK THEN - let's go get a beer at One Barrel in Egg Harbor as they have Red Tomato Pizza.
One Barrel is the same building I used to sell artwork in before the art place went belly up.
We are outside and DJ is drinking a Kolsch and I had a dark dark porter and we are eating an appetizer and Gus was getting pizza bone (crust) and there are 5 or 6 other tables full of people outside and I feel something on my neck and brush it away.
STING! - Holy shit a wasp stings me on the neck and worse the ass hole critter has fallen down under my sweatshirt AND under my tshirt and is stinging my arm pit F*CK!!
DJ is oblivious to my agony as I jump up screaming and am ripping off my clothes. Gus is now jumping on my leg trying to hump me in excitement and there I am in the middle of One Barrel wearing nothing but my pants with a dog humping me!
DJ is now laughing hysterically while I have a red welt on my neck and my arm pit! SIGH!!
That was exciting!
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This is from Peninsula State Park looking over Green Bay
Gus and I in Fish creek
On the way home we stopped at Cave Point County Park and I took this of DJ and Gus relaxing looking at Lake Michigan. Gus LOVES looking at the oceans. Seriously, I just stops and sits and gazes at the water. Dogs do see beauty just like humans
One of the reason the Republicans are so anal about getting a new Sup Court judge is that know they will not have another chance for a decade and Clearance Thomas has said he wants to retire.
With JoeBiden (One word) now having an 87% chance of winning and the Democrats with a 69% chance of winning the Senate the left could have 8 years minimum of a super majority (Thank you Donald for your incompetence). So the yare passing as much as they can before it's too late.
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SO - in camping news - we are BACK to the Rockwood 1910 ESP. Just more room in it then the Little Guy Mini Max for 2 people. Yea - seems strange a pop-up would have more room but we have been obsessing over this for a while and it's an awesome rig. It takes 2 people who know what they are doing 13 minutes to set up.
DJ and I constructed a Trimline canopy which is MUCH more difficult and the need for muscle so we are not too worried about set-up time.
But this trip we stayed in a cabin literally across the street from The Coyote Road House in a densely wooded area. Could not see the Roadhouse but it's a hopping place at night I tell ya! It's an A frame with another A frame sticking out it's side.
Getting us back out in nature was such a joy. No longer excited about sleeping on the ground BUT want to be outdoors - THUS - a camper. My parents had a pop up that we took down to Florida and when my brother purchased a used one a few weeks ago . . . . here we are.
Back the the "vacation". I took this the first day we were there from the Kangaroo Lake Causeway (a 2 minute walk from the cabin)
I wanted the trees but at that time of night the shore was all shade. We know Door County like the back of our hands as it would be my 60th ( O M G ) year going up there. My parents owned land on Moonlight Bay but had to sell when the new owners required a bigger house print then they could afford. DAMN IT!
We considered buying a cabin but camping is WAY cheaper and we are not locked into one location. Like being a member of a golf course - WHY. Then every time you golf somewhere else you feel guilty as you are paying for a place you are not using.
ANYWAY
This was the image I was looking for that I got the next day.
Since this was Gus's first real road trip overnight we just drove around and went for hikes. We wanted to take him for a hike in DA WOODS so we went to Peninsula State Park and wanted to see if the tower was still there.
WOW - a new tower is in place with a handicap ramp for the ages. It's almost like a zip line as it goes through the woods in a long long arc.
You can see the entrance on the far left - People will want to walk this as it slowly goes above the trees - I say a half mile walk? if not more.
We are on our hike and Gus is just in a happy wiggle with all the smells. He loves it.
The next day we were driving around going north and the clouds were coming in. The trees were magnificent and one thing I have learned is if your eyes see something DON'T BE LAZY. Stop the car and take a photo even if it might not be great.
Stopped and took this - yea - not as perfect as it was driving by at 30 mph but at least it got my photo juices flowing.
Then a while later we drive by this guy and I turn around and get a few photos
That first night we ate outside (all restaurants have outside seating) at the Coyote Roadhouse and Gus was VERY good. He sat beside us and was a good good boy. Of course the waitress was all bonkers about him and he got treats.
OH - we had lunch at Not Licked Yet the ice cream place in Fish Creek who have OUTSTANDING food. They have these tables that are metal mesh and Gus sat below and was so surprised when he look up and THERE IS MOMMY AND DADDY. There was literally a look of surprise LOL
We walked around the piers in Fish Creek. It was a beautiful night . . . as long as Gus didn't jump into the water . . .we have to be careful as he LOVES swimming, not baths but swimming is awesome.
Nuff said for today. More tomorrow.
OH seems the weather people at WKOW are Gus the Weather Dog fans.
WELL - I was going to have a blog about the Door County Adventure which was probably one of my best photo shoots in a long time. SADLY in order to get to my photos I have to download them one at a time which is taking FOREVER.
SO SO many great (even I say they are) shots . . . for instance
BUT - it's one at a time and with many clicks in between - So I will be spacing them out for a few days
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BUT the FUN news is we are seriously looking at purchasing THIS. A Little Guy Mini Max and LOOK - It's a subaru pulling it . . . Probably a Turbo as a standard Sub won't haul it.
ANDY!! We might become hard side campers JUST LIKE YOU!!. No more living our lives through you!! A few logistic things we need to do first so looking at NEXT summer and since masks and outside restaurants will be a "thing" for a couple more years . . . it's time.
The original plan was for this outstanding pop-up A Rockwood ESB 1910 but it's only 200 pounds lighter then the Mini max. so . . . . . .
Our trip to Door was actually a test for Gus to see how he was on a vacation. OH! we WERE going to Door in June but we felt it MUCH better to wait for the virus to get REALLY get bad and THEN go up.
For Gus it was a test for outdoor restaurants and losing all the comforts of home and so forth.
We gave him an outstanding "A+" . . . but then moved it back to only an "A" after he was not too excited about campfires and how boring they are.
Our only real problem with him was EVERYBODY had to stop and pet the doggie and scream and giggle at his smile and asked all sorts of questions.
LITERALLY in Fish Creek 5 woman literally screamed in delight when they saw him and all they could do was go ga ga over his waggy tail and smile.
It was like that everywhere. He even got free food in restaurants. Constant questions but the only issue was him hiding in the woods in the dark playing a joke on us.
Lesson learned. Luckily his harness had reflector tape on it.
SO - More photos coming as I DL them one at a freaking time. Stay tuned
