Remember the ‘A Hard Days Night’ poster?

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Wordless Wednesday: Nothing says ‘Go Hogs!’ like new valve stem caps for my Mustang

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Wordless Wednesday: the houseguest

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Angry cat

I posted a photo the other day of my cat, Pico, and figured I’d follow that up with a word or two about her.

Why? Well, I see all these posts out there on the blogosphere about wonderful cats doing things like hiding in boxes, sleeping next to children, mowing lawns, setting up Excel spreadsheets and other “cute” things. Pico isn’t a bit like that. She’s ill tempered, has a bit of ear missing from one of her many fights with our other animals, limps a bit (she broke a paw before we got her and it never healed quite right) and is rarely seen as she prefers to be alone.

Let me explain. We got Pico (a name which I believe is some kind of foreign for “I hate you,” “fussy,” “nasty” or something else equally awful) back in 2002 when she was approximately two-years-old. A friend of my mother-in-law claimed that she could no longer keep the dear, sweet cat because of an allergy. My wife talked me into taking her in as a merciful gesture and that’s what we did.

Pico settled in and started fighting with our other animals and hiding from the children. Her claws were removed as I got sick of being clawed by the thing and she attacked my daughter one time too many. We learned in a hurry that there was something fundamentally wrong with the cat. She hated other animals and, in fact, hated every soul on the planet except for my wife and me (and she barely tolerated us).

After we’d had Pico for about a year, we visited the woman who talked us into taking and noticed the lady had three cats living in her house. Oddly, she didn’t want us to return Pico to her. Obviously, we had been duped.

So, we’ve kept Pico all these years and she’s not going anywhere. I only see her for about five minutes a week as that’s when she’ll come out of hiding and demand that I pet her. After a few minutes of petting, she’ll try to bite me (she succeeds when I’m not quick enough) and then runs off to hide again. She lives under our bed and has a bit of a nest built in our closet where she’ll hide and screech like crazy if we find her and dare look at her.

Since the cat isn’t starving, I’m fairly certain she’ll sneak out from time to time and grab some food when she believes she won’t run across one of us or our dogs.

Oddly, I like the fussy old grump as she’s really not any trouble. She mostly wants to be fed, left alone and petted on those rare occasions when she feels like it. I’ll catch her sleeping next to me on my pillow about a half dozen times a year and it’s creepy to wake up with that thing glaring at me (she’ll run off as soon as I wake up and look at her, of course). There are even times when I’ve managed to pet her without her trying to bite me (she’ll still get up and run off as fast as she can after a time, however). Taking her to the vet once a year is a miserable experience, but she doesn’t require much of anything the rest of the time. As long as she’s got food, water and a clear path to our closet, she’s content.

So, there you go. Pico isn’t cute and cuddly at all. She’s mentally ill and rarely any fun. It’s a good thing she’s with us – other people would have gotten sick of her years ago.

Tell Me Thursday – Brenda and the truck

Tell Me Thursday is a pretty dandy idea, indeed.

The idea, see, is to come back after the famed Wordless Wednesday event and add some words (so to speak) to your post.

Yesterday, I posted a photo of my daughter, young Brenda SueCarol, behind the wheel of my new truck.

What’s the point? In addition to taking advantage of an opportunity to show off my new vehicle, I can admit that the Dodge Ram has converted me from a Toyota fan to someone who’s happy with an American vehicle. No, I never thought I’d see that happen, but there it is (you’ll find more about my renewed admiration of American auto manufacturers right here).

Oh, and this is the first brand new vehicle I’ve ever purchased. Yes, I overdid it. The truck is heavy (5,064 pounds), I can’t manage more than 22 MPG on the Interstate due to a thirsty V-8 and the thing cost too much money. Ah, but screw gas mileage – that truck is more fun than a barrel full of Brass Monkey, I can carry four adults in comfort in it and and I’m sick of four-cylinder engines, anyway (there’s no substitute for a V-8, kids).

Enjoy some more pics of my kid and my new Ram:

Wordless Wednesday: ‘I can almost touch the pedals!”

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Wordless Wednesday – moon ring

This submission is part of all that wacky, wacky Wordless Wednesday fun.

Tell me Thursday – Brenda spends a day at the office

Yesterday, I posted the photo over to the left as my “Wordless Wednesday” entry.

My nine-year-old daughter, Brenda SueCarol, wrote that last week when she spent the day at my office. Why? She wanted to spend the day at work with me (for some reason) and I didn’t object. I’m glad of that – she rather livened up the place.

I learned a few things from my daughter last week. For one thing, the kid can have fun anywhere. I’ve never thought of the office as much fun, frankly, but she found some ways to pass the time. She played on the Internet for awhile (of course), but got bored with that in a hurry.

What did she do to pass the time? Made snowflakes, drew a heck of a lot of pictures, spun around in a chair, ran in circles, ran around visiting with everyone who had some time to spare and sang to us over the intercom system.

She also told us one of the rooms in the building was haunted and wrote a two-page story about it. She took her place at the podium in the allegedly haunted room and read her story to a couple of us.

“How long has that ghost been here?” I asked her.

“For 250 years!”

“Brenda, the building is only a year old.”

“Y’all built around the ghost.”

Yeah, that’s my girl. She’s got an answer for everything.

And so it went. She had a great time going to lunch with my friend Dave and me, telling everyone that I was growing a head sideburn (which, evidently, is that strip of hair that circles a large bald spot) and generally having more fun than anyone’s had in that office (or probably ever will).

Another thing I learned about my daughter is that she has a weird energy reserve. She chattered and ran all over the place from the minute she woke up until we stepped in my car to make that 25 minute commute back home. Before we were even 10 minutes into that drive, she fell asleep in the car.

To be able to run all over the place like a wild child for about 10 hours and then fall straight to sleep when the fun is over must be a great thing. I’m looking forward to my daughter’s next visit and I hope everyone else in the office feels the same way.

This entry is part of the soon-to-be-famous “Tell Me Thursday” event.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday -- my daughter writes a note...

This post is part of the famed Wordless Wednesday event.

Wordless Wednesdsay -- bring your daughter to work day (sort of)

This post is part of the esteemed Wordless Wednesday event. Click here to see the other entries (or submit something of your own).

Wordless Wednesday – Merry Christmas, Michael and Brenda…

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It’s office photo time…

The folks in charge at my office went and decided that we should post bios and photos of all the folks in the business to our blog.

I established and maintain that particular blog. That being the case, I figure my photo should be extra special.

Now, I’m a former reporter, recovering lawyer and current public relations guy. In other words, I tend to only consent to my photo being taking when it’s necessary – like when I’m being interviewed by a local television station or something along those lines.

So my first choice for a photo of me is the one at the top of this post. That’s right – it’s Johnny Ramone. Not only was the man one of the founders of the Ramones, he was instrumental in defining what punk rock sounded like and he was a diehard Reaganite, to boot.

There’s a lot to respect there.

It seems my idea was rejected, sadly. The photo must actually be of me rather than just someone who is undeniably great. Fair enough. I’ll play ball.

So I came up with two more photos to post. Here they are:

Now, the first one shows my unwavering dedication to organizations as a whole. I figure that any company would be thrilled to have an employee who acknowledges the delights associated with slavish obedience to the selfish whims of the powerful.

Should someone be offended by the Hitler photo, I’ve put the second one together. Why? Because KISS is cool.

I wonder if either photo will be accepted. I doubt it.

Now, just for fun, here are the mighty, mighty Ramones in action:

Tell me Thursday – hearing aid

For my Wordless Wednesday submission yesterday, I posted a photo of my nephew, Willie, wielding a decorative paddle that his parents own.

What’s it all about? I’ll explain it all for Tell Me Thursday.

My wife snapped that photo of 16-year-old Willie and it pretty well sums up the lad. He’s a hoot, that one, and just tends to do stuff like that, you know?

I’m actually a bit envious of young Willie. He seems to be making plans to head off to the Coast Guard Academy after high school and is obsessed with one day owning a classic muscle car from the 1960s. I hope he succeeds on both counts. He’s at an age that’s perfect for coming up with obtainable goals and figuring out how to achieve them.

My wife took that photo last week when we were visiting her family in northwest Arkansas for Thanksgiving. It turns out that’s about her favorite holiday as she has a large family and they all get together for Thanksgiving. There are no gifts to buy, no real pressure and we all set a day aside to catch up with each other. Fun stuff.

I prefer Christmas to Thanksgiving, but I do see Marci’s point. Christmas is expensive and requires a ton of work – shopping, putting up decorations and everything else. Fortunately, my wife generally shops through the year for gifts and trimmed down our list further by hitting the “black Friday” sales after Thanksgiving. So we can just sit back, relax and enjoy the season (I’ll get my shopping done for her this weekend, but that’s not big deal – I know what I’m getting her and know which stores to visit, so it shouldn’t take long).

I wonder if that “hearing aid” paddle is something that will be passed down from generation to generation…

Wordless Wednesday -- Cornpone and Mud Flap

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Welcome aboard, young Samuel Kirk Nobles!

Well, my little brother Zack and his wife Alev now have two children running around the house.

Well, their oldest son – Isaac – is running. Samuel Kirk was born just this week, so I doubt he’s doing much of anything other than crying, eating and being – well – a baby.

The little nipper was born at 4:16 a.m. on Oct. 26 and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces (he was a few days early). Oddly, my brother and his wife didn’t name the kid until about Wednesday and that came after months of struggling to find a name.

We’re glad to see young Samuel and – as you can see from the photo above – he seems healthy enough (and notice how tired my brother looks). With Alev and Zack in charge, I have no doubt he’ll grow into a fine young man before long. Those two can take care of all problems from “A” to “Z",” after all. Heh. “A” to “Z.” Zack and Alev. Funny stuff.

It’s late and I’m tired, so have a little mercy, huh?

A fascinating thing about this kid is that my brother and sister-in-law opted to have him at home. That sounded a bit on the pioneerish side, but the child was delivered with no problems and Alev got to rest comfortably at home instead of in a hospital. Perhaps those two knew what they were doing.

I love the middle name of “Kirk,” too. Every time I hear that, I’ll think of the Spizzenergie song in the below video:

Wordless Wednesday – Hendrix College Pet Blessing

This post is part of the time-honored Wordless Wednesday event. Head on over there to check out the other submissions or (better yet) send in something of your own.

Wordless Wednesday – this will all be explained later…

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday event. Why not check out the other entries over there or leave one of your own?

Tell Me Thursday – Michael’s broken arm

Welcome to the “The Hawg is a moron” edition of Tell Me Thursday!

Why is The Hawg so dumb? Because I lost track of the days somehow and put up my Wordless Wednesday post on Thursday and am now writing my Tell Me Thursday post on a Friday.

Works been, well, slightly hellish as of late and I lost track of the days somewhere in all of that. Perhaps just a nice, relaxing weekend will help set things right. I’m also using my fall-back excuse – I turned 40-years-old this year and I’m inclined to forget things as a result (that’s the only thing I like about turning 40 – I can whip out the “old, tired man” thing from time to time).

At any rate, the lad in the picture I posted above (and in my Wordless Wednesday post) is my 12-year-old son, Michael. The poor fellow broke his arm at school while (apparently) goofing off. He’ll have to stay in that cast until sometime in October and the thing itches like crazy every now and again. I feel bad for the boy.

Still, he has learned some valuable lessons from all of this. For example, casts are really hard and can do some damage when you hit people with them. Also, just because you’re sporting a cast does not necessarily mean you’ve gotten out of mowing the lawn (hey, I’m not going to do it – that’s one of the things I love about having a son who can mow it for me).

Michael’s been a trooper throughout his broken arm ordeal and will, hopefully, heal up just fine so he can get rid of that cast next month.

As for me, something I learned years ago has been reinforced – when it comes to kids, you just never know what those little rascals are going to do.

This post is part of the famed Tell Me Thursday event. If you participate in Wordless Wednesday, then you should certainly consider taking part in Tell Me Thursday so you can tell the story behind that Wednesday post. Head on over to the Tell Me Thursday site for more details.

Wordless Wednesday – poor Michael!

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Wordless Wednesday – back to school

Well, my entry is a bit late but I figure it’s Wednesday somewhere, right? This photo is part of the famed Wordless Wednesday event, so click the link and head on over there to visit some of the other participants, huh?