A Secret

I can't hide it any longer.  The truth has to come out.  Although I'm not sure how or why it started and even though it pains me to say it, I have to let you all know that we do, in fact, brush our dogs' teeth.  

Here's the proof:

This is what happens when your wife is a vet student...



AND in case you were wondering, a doggie (or kittie) dental costs a LOT more than the copay for a cleaning on my dental insurance!  That's a good reason to keep on brushing!

Good Ole Redneck Fun

Alex and I are not good, ole, redneck (this might be debatable) or fun but we did have some the other night. We went to the Champaign County fair's demolition derby.

I think Alex is slightly more redneck.

Neither of us had been to one before, and Alex was thinking that old beater cars would be running around the race track trying to run each other off. Turns out he was wrong. It was more of an adult version of spectator bumper cars-try-to-beat-the-lights-out-of-everyone-else's-piece-o-junk-car.

There was a lot of wham bam thank you ma'am going on. 

Not very polite. 

Survivors were few.

It was fun. That redneck side of me liked it. 

As for some non redneck fun, we got to hang out at Six Flags courtesy Ephraim and Amy's bring a friend pass and spend all day with this little dude

And some dudettes, who I didn't really get a good picture of due to leaving the camera in the car before the water park and also all the signs saying you will be kicked out of the park and sent to jail if you dare pull out your camera during a ride. So, no ride pictures. 

Except for this one. 

Six flags was a lot of fun!

A few other random pictures.

I bet someone in my reading audience of two or three knows what kind of flower this is.

Everyone have a happy and safe rest of your summer!

And please be lazy. 

(Disclaimer: If anything in this post didn't make sense, had bad grammar, lacked tact, or was stupid, it is either because a) that is normal for me or b) I was up until 3:00 am flushing bite wounds on a Schipperke that was attacked by a Rottweiler and that was also trying to kill everything it laid eyes on. Thank you for understanding.)

Home Away From Home Part I

My husband "works" in an interesting place.

Looks normal enough...

But then you start reading all the signs.

This obviously didn't keep this from happening. Woops.

But what if someone was coming behind me that I knew had caught on fire and needed to get outside? Could I prop it open then?

This place is weird.

Weird.

Just weird.

Things start to look familiar. I think I have seen this calendar of parasites before. You know, the one with the bizarre techno flea and the dog trick or treating as a hookworm?

As we delve deeper into this bizarre place, we find that at least someone knows how to do dishes. 

And keep their counter clean.

There are weird devices.

And people doing strange things.

Someone does a lot of Sharpie math:

And it looks like someone has a secret admirer.

Whoa! Too much information!

Someone has a scrupulously clean desk:

And there are notes! Lots and lots of love notes.

Lucky man works here.

Lucky

lucky 

lucky

lucky man.

I wonder if he knows how lucky he is?

WHOA! That would make a ton of liquid nitrogen ice cream!!!

Bacon on the brain

You know, there’s this pervasive idea in biology that I think is wrong. It goes: we humans are at the pinnacle of the evolutionary tree, and as you get up that tree, brain size must get bigger. But a fly is just as evolved as a human. It’s just evolved to a different niche. – Jeremy Nivan

You can just keep that in mind.

Here is what my highly evolved brain thought of this week: Bacon + chocolate. The inspiration was the candied bacon recipe I found. The candied bacon was pretty good. Then I slathered it in chocolate. Why wouldn't that combination work?

Post candying.

The verdict? Here is what Alex thought:

I like posting pictures of Alex. I also like his shirt. He was ambivalent about the chocolate covered candied bacon. It was just okay. To tell you the truth, I never thought I would say this, but I think there was too much chocolate. It smothered the delicate candied bacon flavor. If I were to do it again, chocolate would just be a side note. 

Answers to the questions in a previous blog post: In the picture, I was getting ready to practice rectal palpation in some cows (to diagnose pregnancy, corpora lutea and all other manner of great things) and the thing my colleague is holding in her hand is a broken antler. The buck on the deer farm had broken it somehow but it was hanging on by a thread of skin and had to come off. 

Blessings

Things that make life worth living:

Your entire apricot harvest in the palm of your hand.

Having your own blackberries in your yard.

Having your own blackberries in your kitchen.

Flowers...

...especially ones that turn into this:

Baby eggplants (also growing in your own yard).

Cilantro (even if it does think it's time to bolt).

Growing your own dinner (beet greans, beens, and cherry tomatoes).

Growing strange plants you've never tried but want to (Garden Huckleberry).

Raising rabbits.  (Juno's getting bigger.)

Owning an insane cat.

Having two tired dogs.

Craigslist (1.5 year old kenmore freezer for $80).

Having your own home.

Homemade peach freezer jam.

Homemade bread.

Having a wife that is an awesome cook (chocolate loaf cake).

But most of all, having a super buff...

...and....

...super beautiful wife.