The Bone Yard

So tell me if this isn't in some way disturbing? This is the second time, I repeat, second time! that we have found bones in our front yard. The first time it appeared to be a deer scull, and now we have got what appears to be the spine. Possible culprit? 1. some scary pagonistic cult neighbor trying to scare us out of the neighborhood? Or 2. (and most likely) it is the stupid neighbor dog who is constantly running free and amuck around the streets. Anyway, what leads us to the dog conclusion is that there are dog foot prints in the snow surrounding the bones. But still, why our yard? TWICE! My only comfort would be to hear if other neighbors are getting ribs or femurs left on their lawn. We'll keep you posted if more deer remains appear.

P.S. one more thing to ponder.... If it is the neighbors dog that's doing this, what owner has a deer carcass decomposing in their back yard for their dog to plunder from anyway? Just shows you the kind of street we live on.

The Influenza / Conjunctivitis / Winter weather that stole Christmas

Very Memorable.....That pretty much sums up my feelings about Christmas 2008. As most of you saw from my last post, I got Pink Eye last week. I thought with great faith that it would be gone by Christmas, but sadly by Tuesday, it doubled its efforts and decided to infect my right eye as well. If that wasn't enough I came down with the flu on Monday morning. Needless to say I looked and felt like crap. At this point our preparation to drive down to Utah for Christmas pretty much came to a screeching halt. We came to the realization that we were obviously just not meant to go down to Salt Lake. Most of all I didn't want to risk the passing on of diseases to any of our Grandparents. Actually, it turns out that even if we wanted to make the trip, we couldn't have because the roads were closed due to the horrible weather.

And now to add a nice cherry on top of it all.... On Christmas Eve I was headed home from Hollywood Video where I was renting a nice two day supply of movies for Kimmi and I. Because of the horrible weather, our street was completely covered in ice, and at the very moment I tried to swerve around an oncoming car, I couldn't and chose to sideswipe the car instead. Yes, I crunched my jeep. Very sucky. Luckily the damage to my car is VERY minimal. The other drivers car wasn't so lucky and will need some good body work.

Kimmi and I spent Christmas day watching movies. It was quite relaxing but a tad boring. Kimmi and I chose not to get each other presents this year with the goal of spending that money on our kitchen renovation instead. We did have the classic yearly new pj's tradition to open, but other then that it was a non existent hall of gifts. So we sat around, made a good breakfast, then sat around some more until Kimmi headed off to work.

Well, this will go down in the history books as the worst Christmas the Dibbs have yet to experience, but in the end we believe it was all for the best. Its good that we didn't make the trip because of all the road closures. Kimmi had to be back to work on Christmas day, and we would have been stuck in Tremonton. Who knows what other kind of accidents may have been awaiting us. It was good just to spend time with each other as well. We don't get that enough with our weird schedules. Plus, with all my sleeping in I did get a break, I finally overcame all my nagging ailments. God works in mysterious ways. To bad it ruined our "wish list" Christmas.

EEWWW! Nasty Pink Eye!!!

So I woke up this morning and my left eye was sealed shut! Nasty I know! After cleaning it out my eye just kept watering, was all red, and it was kind of puffy. I looked on good old Web MD and looked up the symptoms of Pink Eye. To my dismay the symptoms matched exactly! Since I want to get rid of it ASAP I went to the doctor. He confirmed my fears and gave me some eye drops.

For your viewing pleasure, here are my eyes. As you can see my left eye is all swollen and red. Yummy!

As a result of the pink eye, I am not allowed to wear my contacts for a few days. Thus, I must wear glasses for the next few days. It's quite a weird feeling to wear glasses. I haven't done so for an extended period of time in years. It's sad cause my depth perception is severely hindered. I was at Costco and my hand kept missing when I was trying to grab stuff. oh well. I'm sure after a few more hours I'll be used to them.

Now for some good news. I was driving home from Costco and a closed down crappy restaurant was getting a make shift, temporary sign put up on it. It said: Coming soon.....

I am soooooo very excited! I love Cafe Rio and this just adds a fantastic choice to our slim eateries here in Twin Falls.

Beatrice the destructor!

I'll tell you what. For Basset Hounds being listed (in most dog books) as one of the dumbest breeds out there, our Beatrice is one smart cookie. For example she knows what phrases like "lets go get some food, it's bedtime, lets go outside." mean. She can catch a dog biscuit in her mouth from like 10 feet away! Plus, to be honest, she's better at playing fetch then even my childhood pet Australian Shepard was.

Tennis balls happen to be one of her favorite things to play fetch with, although if you let her keep the ball for to long it soon turns into confetti...as seen below.

Before



30 seconds later



Shes got some POWERFUL jaws!

Minor Regrets.....I REPEAT....minor

So as most of you know or might remember from a post I made last March, I bought a car in February 2008 that I'd been wanting for a long long time. It's a Honda S2000 and it's a lovely automobile as you can see from this picture. Needles to say, I very much enjoy driving this car.

Now you might ask. "Why would you own a car like that in Idaho? It snows in Idaho and the S2000 is an extremely light, rear wheel drive car." Well I'll tell you why. The interesting thing about Idaho winters is that when it snows its usually a light snow and by the time its the afternoon its all melted (again, look at the picture that was taken in February...no snow on the ground). This being the case it is not really an issue to drive this car on a day to day basis......That is except for about 5 days a year where it decides to dump snow on Twin Falls...... and today was one of those days. I woke up to about 4 inches + of snow on the streets this morning and Ill tell you what, my car was a tad tricky to maneuver to work (once again, let me emphasise, I don't regret my decision to purchase this fine piece of machinery but I am disappointed in its winter driving skills). You don't even have to give it any gas when you let out the clutch and the wheels start spinning. That's even with 120 pounds of sand bags in the trunk. Sigh.... oh well. If you see me you'll just see me cruising around town at about 8 miles per hour. How much longer till spring!!!!

This is a picture of Kimmi's Flamingo. Kimmis favorite animals are flamingos and her grandpa made this thing out of Re-bar, an old shovel, a crow-bar, and an old drill bit for the head. Very cool. Anyway I took this photo to illustrate the snow we have gotten today. It may not seem like much to Utah standards but to Twin Falls its a lot, especially since this town doesn't seem to own a snow plow, so the streets are always covered with a slick piece of packed snow.

Two Christmas Trees!

This year Mark was kind enough to buy me two Christmas trees. One for upstairs and one downstairs. Its something my family has always done and I am excited to have it happen in my home this year. We went out to our local tree lot and picked out two of the best trees. They are perfect for our house! We had to really look at the size this year (last year we bought a nine ft tree and didn't realize it!) to make sure they would fit in both areas. I am happy to say they fit perfectly. So here are some pictures! Enjoy!

At home with our trees

The tree in our front room

Another view

My mantel with my nativity

The tree in our family room downstairs

Another view

Mark's getting to know you christmas edition

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper, and if it wasn't sociably unacceptable I would use the comic section of the news paper

2. Do you hang mistletoe? No I never have. Kimmi will generally give me a kiss whenever I want it anyway.

3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever we get to it. We are most likely getting one today

4. When do you take the tree down the tree? Whenever we get to it.

5. Do you like egg nog? i love it! The best egg nog out there is by cream of weber! SOOOOO good. I wont drink any other brand

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably our first Nintendo system. I remember being pretty excited for that

7. Do you have a nativity scene? The wife does.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My grandparents.... pretty much impossible

9. Easiest person to buy for? Kimmi. I usually get lots of ideas throughout the year.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, The wife takes care of all that. I just have to write the little blurb about our year..

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I cant think of one....I guess I repress the bad Christmas memories.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf, A Christmas Carol (the one where scrooge is played by Patrick Stewart)

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sounds like something I'd do

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My moms Christmas dinner. SOOOOO good. my brothers and I always have a weigh in before and after the meal to see who ate the most. then usually I pass out on a couch in pain from eating too much...I love that feeling

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear

16. Favorite Christmas song? Baby its Cold Outside, Last Christmas by Jimmy eat World

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Its Off to salt lake!

18. Can you name all of Santa's rein deers? probably... I don't feel like it though

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Pajamas on Christmas eve, the rest in the morning

20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Christmas music starting in October! Call me a scrooge but I only want to hear Christmas music maybe a week before Christmas.

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? Whatever my wife puts together

22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? mashed potato's and turkey

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? A gun from Linda and Ken! (lets keep the tradition going! 3 years running so far!)

24. Who is most likely to respond to this? whoever