When Harry Met Muffin

Wednesday morning I wake up to the sound of Kelsey yelling, "Aaron, come look!!" Seems that while she was outside this morning, a little dog came up to her and sat down. No collar, no id, and no microchip. Harry the Schnauzer is staying with us for a little while!A pretty cute dog, and very well behaved! Kelsey took her to the vet, and called a bunch more, unfortunately no one had reported a missing dog.
Even Muffin, who's terrible with other animals, is being friendly with the guest.
Look how well they play!

Update:

Pockets, as Harry is really called, has made it home safely! Kelsey saw a missing dog sign in the park when walking Muffin, and Pockets' dog sitter (the real owners were on vacation) came and picked him up. And Kelsey already misses him...

Jon is Full of Welts

Last weekend Mike and I headed down to Onalaska for Jon's bachelor party. The plan was to grab breakfast, head out to Ettrick, and play a little paintball! Here's the shirt and ears that Jesse got Jon before breakfast at (the former Marge's) Lakeview Restaurant. The ears would be Jon's downfall.Here is Jon after paintball. When playing, the ears would always give his position away, so he was frequently fired at. It certainly didn't help it was his day.
For the last use of our paintballs, Jon had to run from one barrier to another, while we opened fire. The aftermath? Some mighty nice welts.
Mike took some good shots too.
Afterwards, we headed to Jon's place to cook some bugers and brats and play some beer pong.

Tunes

Is it weird that I have an iTunes playlist of just depressing songs? On the bright side, said playlist is only 178 songs (yet growing), representing under 2% of my entire music collection. I also have a playlist for Odd Time Signatures, if that gives you some reference. Anyways, I was listening to the downer playlist tonight, because, well, I have no good reason. But I figured I'd list out some songs that you should all listen to when in a down mood.

Oh, these aren't "I'm down, what makes me feel better?" songs. But they're not "I'm down, I need another bourbon, a whiskey, and a beer" songs, either. There more just songs that make me introspective.


Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Soul To Squeeze"
An absolute favorite song. How this ended up on the Coneheads soundtrack, the world will never know. Yes, it doesn't fit with the rest of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Anyways, a classic song of not knowing where one belongs in this world. "Where I go, I just don't know. I might end up somewhere in Mexico."

Morphine - "Gone for Good"
Mark Sandman left too soon. Could be the anti-stalking song.

Phil Collins - "I Wish It Would Rain Down"
Maybe not that depressing, but the feeling that Clapton's guitar work adds is just awesome.

Simon & Garfunkel - "The Only Living Boy In New York"
I'm cheating. The first time I heard this song was during Garden State. An aside; has a soundtrack ever matched an movie so perfectly? I know that Zach Braff handpicked each song, but damn, what a good job. Although nearly the entire soundtrack could potentially make the list.

Chappaquidick Skyline - "Leave Me Alone"
A cover of a New Order song, the cover's actually better. The title's probably self-descriptive.

U2 - "With or Without You"
This song belongs up here no matter what. But I specifically think of a live version that Bono ends with the lyrics from Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
We'll shine like stars in the summer lights
We'll shine like stars in the silver light
One heart, one hope, one love and
Love, love will tear us apart, again
Love, love will tear us apart, again

Bon Iver - "Skinny Love"
A new addition to my collection. I only was introduced to this group a couple of weeks ago at a show. I told my friend that this was a depressing song when they played it in concert. It still is.

Sugar - "Explode and Make Up"
Introspective, but rocking. A definite head-nodder. Or even a sing-a-long.

Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"
Who doesn't think of John Cusack holding a boombox over his head for this one?

Weezer - "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here"
Again, not a slow, sad song. More of a thinker song. But it defaults to the depressing playlist, cause I can't have a thinking playlist too.

Magnet - "Where Happiness Lives"
The whole album is sleepy music. But this song really hits me for some reason.

Well, that's it. It's sleepy time now. And that last song is a good one to call it a night on.

Cabin Time

Last weekend we headed up to Kelsey's family cabin north of Siren, WI. The cabin has been in her mom's family since World War I, when it was purchased for a farming deferment. Not much of the farm remains, but it was a nice relaxing day.

Here's the lake. Not a big lake (no powerboats), but a good relaxing lake.Muffin absolutely loved it up there. I've never seen the dog so happy! She immediately ran for the water and jumped in!
The little amount of pasture left. The rest of the fields have been overrun by the forest. Lenny had a lot of stories about each trail and tree, which was quite interesting.
Muffin relaxing after another dip in the lake.
Siren had been hit by a pretty big tornado a few years ago, so all of downtown was new. This boat was a reminder of the tornado. It's wrapped around the tree.

Happy B-Day USA!

Kelsey and I hosted a Fourth of July party on Friday, which a bunch of out-of-towners were able to make it to. Unfortunately, the party was almost derailed before it even started. A cracked regulator valve was leaking LP out, so the grill wasn't working.Fortunately, a $15 part from Home Depot fixed it pretty quick.

We also put up the flagpole, left over from when we replaced the fence. And we got to run the flag up too! Aren't we patriotic?
Cindi and Steve were two of those able to make it from far away places. Becky and Matt and Jon and Danielle also made appearances.
No party is complete without Polish Horseshoes (or ladder golf).
No near misses this year, as the only fireworks were sparklers.
We did go down to the park to try and watch the Boom Island fireworks (somewhat succesfully). Interestingly, a cat was in the park, trying to stalk Muffin. The dog was pretty well behaved, although somewhat creeped out by a cat following her, instead of her following the cat.
Thanks to everyone for making it out and having a good time!