A Recent Ride

So, I realize that the scribe has been and is still preoccupied with this whole “March Madness” thing but he found the room tonight to donate some time to my interests…ME!   However, his attention span is more than lacking so all I got was this crummy little video from our last trip to Michigan – despite all the awesome footage of me and Snowy (and occaisonally even Sammy).   He promises to work on putting these pictures, videos, and, live photos in a future video montage but for now here I am enjoying my freedom!

Oh, I realized after posting my last story that the alamode or Alamo joke may have been lost on those not following the basketball tournament.  This year, and in years past, there has been an ad campaign for…something…featuring Charles Barkley (aka Barles Charkley), Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson.  These three are a hoot.  Plus my bro Sam is often referred to as Samuel L . Puppy when he is being particularly cool.  Here is the ad I referenced:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clkTHA85-1g

Sorry if my video doesn’t work.  Apparently, “Born Free” isn’t free so it might be blocked in certain countries.  I’ll try and remedy this soon.

The Tempest

4 x 4 = 15

This week was filled with a whole ton of action and significant moments for my family…but not many math lessons.

The first came on March 22nd when my big brother Sammy celebrated his 15th year living with Mom and the Scribe!  Of course we should have had a huge party to honor this anniversary but my parents were a bit distracted by work and the fact that Michigan was playing in the Sweet 16 (aka the NCAA basketball championships).  As it turns out, the basketball team put on quite the show to give their respects to Sammy and move on to the “Elite 8” on Saturday.  Although I knew the importance of the day to Sam (and my Mom, who told everyone), I also recognized that my parents were really into the basketball game so I huddled up with Dad to provide him (and by transitive property the Michigan team) the necessary support to advance.

Friday we had a day off from sporting events but my parents once again did not celebrate Sammy’s anniversary.   Instead, they went to the eye dentist and got new glasses.  I was hopeful that these new specs they picked up would give them a better vision of the importance of family….but as it turns out no party for Sam occurred that evening either.

Then on Saturday my parents were distracted not only with the Elite 8 basketball game but also the first round of the men’s college hockey tournament in which Michigan was also participating.   Sure we got a walk around the block on Saturday (even the long block) but it was disproportionately short relative to the time we spent watching the hockey team advance to the quarterfinals and the basketball team squeaking out a win over Florida State to make it to the Final Four in San Antonio.   This excited my parents and therefore myself and Sammy…although we were convinced all the jumping about was a delayed reaction to the 15 years + 2 days that Sammy had been living in our house.  All our efforts really wore us out:

Then today, we had to regain our focus when the hockey team was playing again for their chance to advance to the Frozen Four.   Thankfully, our parents were gone for an hour or two before the game.  However, when they got home they smelled REALLY good.  Seafood, spices, garlic…a boil party that we weren’t invited to!?!?!?!  Boy did this depress me:

Fortunately, the hockey team did win to advance to the so called Frozen Four which once again lifted the spirits of the entire pack.

So in summary, Michigan has advanced to the Final 4 in basketball and the Frozen 4 in hockey and Sammy just finished his 15th year in the pack…and we are both really glad we didn’t have to do any math problems this week (end) since neither of us are really all that interested in going to college anyhow.

With that said,  I am looking so forward to going to San Antonio where Charles informed me that they have a fort famous for their a la mode (with sprinkles) and then the following weekend we get to go to the city of with the giant cherry…which would go so well with our ice cream and sprinkles…just saying!

The Tempest

See you soon Red!

The Morning After

Exhausted.  Not only did we not get to bed real late last night because the Michigan basketball game lasted to almost midnight but then this morning we went on a really long walk waiting for a light bulb to be replaced in our car.  Well, to be completely honest, I did end up going upstairs and crawled into bed before the game was over.  This allowed Sam to get a spot on the couch with the other old guy.  Those of you who follow the maize and blue will understand the first photo is Sam’s incredulous reaction to the ugly ugly start to the game.  The second is once he realized we could win with the bench and the defense.

The good news, which I found out about this morning, is that Michigan won so they advance to play on Saturday.  The bad news is they eliminated Montana – which wasn’t their fault but the result of decisions made by the tournament committee.  Obviously Montana is near and dear to our hearts for multiple reasons – including their nickname which is the Grizzlies.  Bears look like they’d be fun to play with even though Stephen Colbert thinks they are heartless killing machines.  We don’t have any in our neighborhood so we’ll have to visit Missoula (where Grandfather grew up) to see any of these creatures.

Anyhow, after the late night and lengthy hike, we got a chance to catch up on our sleep during our drive to visit Snowy.

Toes and limbs are crossed that the Wolverines continue to win but I am not guaranteeing I’ll be awake for the next game because it is again starting after my bed time.

The Tempest

 

Defending the Groundhog

On February 2nd this year, Phil (of Punxsutawney) said we would have a much longer winter season.  So, you can understand that when I saw these harbingers of spring hoping around our front yard, I was quite upset that they were dissing my rodent friends.  Now, I am not completely biased against birds in general, but I also can’t say I am a big fan of these feathery fiends.

In case you can’t make out what I am growling at, it is a robin – the state bird of Michigan and the proverbial sign of spring (“spring is here I know, I know.  The redbreast robin told me so.”).

Now, to be clear, I am not opposed to spring coming, but come on folks.  Respect the hog!

The Tempest