- July 5, 2010 -

Fourth of July weekend! Saturday I went home with Carrie & Jason to eat out with the parents at Boomer's; Mom said she's now been running the shelter for six years in April, and so far she's worked seven days a week, 365 days a year for over six years and has only taken three days off in all that time! She mentioned it because a KU student interviewed her because she had to do a paper on volunteerism- she was pretty surprised anyone would devote that much time and effort to something they didn't get payed for. After that we had a good Dannenberg 4th, Dad, Carrie and I loaded up the '56 Chevy convertible with our pups and went out the Banner Creek for the fireworks show.

Sunday was the actual 4th of July- Teresa came back from her parents and we had Bob & Nikaela over for a VERY rainy BBQ- it was difficult to keep the grill hot, but it worked out okay really. It seemed to stop raining at the right time and we headed out to the show at Lake Shawnee. With both fireworks shows it seemed like there were a lot of people who decided to stay home, and it made it pretty nice- it was a little cool even, but I took Shug to both and cuddled with her.

- June 13, 2010 -

What a great weekend! Teresa, Bob & I loaded up Saturday morning and headed for the heart of Missouri to the Ozarks and Bridal Cave. Teresa has a great love for caves and I do love rock formations.... so we set forth on a 3.75 hour drive Camdenton, MO. Bridal Cave was much larger than what I thought it would be and took about an hour to walk though- there were a variety of interesting formations and it was pretty active with dripping, some people managed to get dripped in the eye when looking up. Going through the cave made me wonder just how many more caves there are out there that nobody knows about. We went to another cave after that, but they had the tour times wrong on their website and we missed one by 15 minutes... we didn't really want to wait around. We did wander a nature trail for a few minutes, but it was really hot and we just wanted to be underground where the weather is always 60 degrees. It was a great trip, and now we're fathoming a more extended stay to take in more of the sights.

- June 13, 2010 -

It was a busy weekend of hanging out with Teresa. Today Shug got a lot of attention with a three and a half mile walk to Washburn and back, and after that we went to Petsmart and got her a new tag. It's really an interesting process; first you got to the register and buy the style you like, and then you go to a kiosk and scan it so it knows the shape... then you put it in and type in what you want it to say on the front and back... and then you can see a laser etch it onto the tag... it's pretty neat.

- June 8, 2010 -

I was in a year-long relationship with a guy named Ray that ended a month ago..... I've found it so difficult to to deal with the breakup, I had gotten so very attached.

- May 22, 2010 -

It's a warm muggy day... Yuck. Teresa woke up not feeling so well, so we've just been hanging out around the house. We're a Nielson family so sometimes it's important to just watch TV. I went out and did some more planting in the flower beds and I picked my first pepper from the garden- not sure what the heck I'll make with it yet.

- May 18, 2010 -

Shug got a cupcake this morning.  We'd put a couple in the trash, and though she's been a good doggy about not getting in the trash, I had taken it out of the can, and put the bag by the door to take out when I left for work- I guess it was just too inviting because I found the paper cup on the floor where Shug was sitting.  She did a good job in getting all the cupcake out of the cup though.  She was okay at lunch, so I guess cupcakes aren't too bad for her.  Nekochan and she have bonded some- he enjoys a good place to nap, so he'll camp out on her bed and then she'll join him.  It's so cute to see them sleeping together.

The thing Shug loves most in this world is going out the front door and exploring.  She goes berserk when her leash comes out- Teresa walked her every day last week when she was on vacation and it seemed to win Shug's affection.  Shug will follow her around and lay on the floor outside of her bedroom... I try to make sure that she see's I'm putting her on the leash now when we all go out for a walk to try to get her to love me equally again.  I also take her out for jogs, normally nine blocks over to Lou's house and back.  She seems to enjoy it, she leads most of the way, but it doesn't afford her much time to stop and sniff, and that's what she really likes about walking- I think she's pretending she's on the hunt.

- May 17, 2010 -

Over lunch today I caught Shug and Nekochan taking a nap together... thought it was cute that the kids are finally bonding.

- May 13, 2010 -

Six months of home ownership! To celebrate I had a mess of people over and barbecued! I took off from work early with Teresa and we started to get stuff ready. This morning Teresa managed to collect a few images and videos together into a slideshow covering the move in, events held so far, and project before and after shots- the videos were the best part and made everyone laugh. We ate burgers... chicken... gosh, what didn't we eat? There was a lot of food, most of which will fill the refrigerator for a week. It was a great night.

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