weekend of sports.

Deemed a weekend of rest by the Cougs, I breathed deep in relief. My hands were sore and soul tired.

I did find the drive to work all day Friday on cleaning out his workshop, or as it has been deemed, "the man space." Filled up half a dumpster of junk and sawdust that had been accumulated over the last few years. I spent a good hour afterwards just admiring the extra space and organization. A few boxes to still go through and a tool rack to hang, but that'll probably have to wait until after hunting.

The Packers had a game this weekend against the terrifying St. Louis Rams. Did I say "terrifying," sorry, I meant to say "terrible." Woke up early and with the help of Seafoam hurridly we made these delicious jalepeno poppers. Turns out the game wasn't on a station that Dave gets so we had to drop by the Tamarack. We returned to Daves after to continue our sports watching marathon that enveloped all of Saturday and Sunday. By the time the 9th inning of the Brewer game rolled around on Sunday night I was ready to be done with sports for the week. Oh, and Cougar made a tasty broccoli and cheese soup.

Today I spent the day getting my chainsaw in working order for hunting season. I'll be gone all of next week so please invite Cougar to do things, as he'll no doubt be lonely. Anyway, bad news and good news on the chainsaw front. Bad news - Homelite isn't made anymore and no one in western Montana works on them or stocks parts. Good news - I was able to fabricate a linkage rod between the trigger system and throttle out of a coat hanger. I even made an extra one. It's working swell! Off to Ace to pick up a few spare bolts that hold the saw all together.

Anyway, a nice weekend even if it was rainy. It's sure nice to see the sun out now.

The Playful Otter and Diligent Cougar Pub

I must admit, I am a little nervous writing my first post to this blog that is likely being read by thousands of people. I would like to welcome the many fans of this blog to my life. As you may know, I am the working adult in a domestic partnership with Otter Pop. As I was told yesterday, I am the person that does things, Otter is the creative force behind all of our great ideas. As such, I am sitting at work making money and writing this article as my boss looks over my shoulder laughing about Otter's and my relationship. As she laughs though, she has a great idea: The Playful Otter and Diligent Cougar Pub. What a great name! How could we not do this? Starting tonight, we will be serving homemade moonshine, cherry wine, apricot wine, and whatever is left over from James' liquor cabinet out of my garage. Come on down, we hope to see you soon!

last nights dinner and my pretty bacon

Last night I made us a lemon-pepper and herb halibut steak on the grill. But most exciting was that I made a shredded zuchinni and squash stuffed roll. The stuffed roll was awesome. 1/2 part zucchinni/squash mix and 1/2 part homemade marinara sauce. Oh and CougsMcGoogs volunteered some of his Mozza cheese to the dish! What a nice guy! But after all my hard work, he tells me he doesn't like squash or zuchinni! Geesh, no wonders the guys all ribs. Jamie Starks would not be happy with you're picky eating habits.

On a food related note, this is my 3rd day in a row of having bacon for breakfast. It's appeal is olnly growing. It slightly scares me that I may be addicted. But really, who am I fooling? I've always been addicted.

Oh, and Sea Foam was there last night too.

Cougar worked his fuzzy little tail off making a counter last year. He got a truck load of old gym floors for $25 or something. A picture of the counter being glued together. And a picture of the same counter today. Amazing!

A before and after...

Here's a pic of the house before the scrapping started. Oh, the solace days. Also included is a current pic.

Day one and I'm already behind

What this blog will actually serve as is anyones guess. A place for Cougar and Otter to bitch and moan about who bought beer last? Probably. A place for us to document the work done and being done on the house? I like to think so. But most visions don't actually accure as would like them, so I'm just giving this one a wide path to begin with. Seems safer that way. And we are safety first.

So I'll play catchup later, if I get the time. For now, let's follow the dalai lamas advice and be in the present. Now onto where we are at the present. Well, we're in Missoula, MT fixing up the house. Today was a milestone like no other for me. I am officially done scrapping the house and the first coat of paint has been added. We did the primer last weekend. Cougar went with pumpkin orange with a solid dose of brown. He's outside now putting on the second coat. I think it will darken up.

I told him we need to have a big pumpkin patch outside so in the fall, the patch will match the house. He doesn't seem convinced. He's not utilizing my creative talents. Typical.

Want some pics? Yeah, pics are always juicy. Here we go.