Fat Tuesday, Lazie Style

I love Lent. It reminds me of the first outdoor church service I attended in Grand Forks. I also love Lent because I remember the time Mom and Dad did that silly fast between Good Friday and Easter. They were so hungry on Saturday that they were eyeing my kibble! My final reason for loving Lent is the pack tradition of Fat Tuesday. While many people eat pancakes, our pack dines on chicken and waffles-- but this year, we had chicken and pound cake! As you can see from the photo, there was no chicken left after Mosi and I got done with it. Dad made the pound cake this morning, and I am so glad I got some. I love sweets. I love my pack!

Your pal,

Lazarus

With respect to my grandfather...

David Beard

b. August 1, 1912
d. February 9, 2009

David Beard, plant geneticist, died Monday February 9 in Adelphi, Maryland. He was born on the family farm in Portage, Ohio. He received bachelors and doctoral degrees from Ohio State University. In 1936, he married his high school sweetheart, Kathryn Gillian also of Portage. He taught in the Agronomy Department at OSU during World War 2, and accepted a position with the US Department of Agriculture in 1950 working at the Beltsville Research Farm in Maryland. As he developed expertise in bolstering forage crop yields, he was lured away from his government post by the Waterman-Loomis Company of Bakersfield, California. Dr. Beard was so instrumental to the success of Waterman-Loomis, that they established a Maryland branch of their company in Fulton, Maryland to accommodate him and his research on alfalfa. He retired in a gradual process during the 1980s and remained in Adelphi, Maryland.

David Beard is survived by his wife Kathryn Beard, his daughters Nancy Bell of Port Republic, Maryland, Joan Romig of Melbourne, Florida, his son Timothy Beard of Melbourne, Florida, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by three brothers and one sister.

Post-mortem arrangements have been handled by Upchurch Funeral Home of Cumberland, Maryland, and a memorial service will be held Saturday March 28, 2009 at the Adelphi Presbyterian Church.

Spring in Texas

On this blog, we have generally shared our landscaping projects from the back yard, but when we bought this house every inch of yardspace was an absolute mess. On of the first things I did was to clear out a small garden area in the front of our circular driveway. Everything was over-grown and in bad shape. I had to decide what should stay and what needed to go because not everything could survive in cramped conditions. One of the things I saved was a large mountain laurel. I trimmed it up and allowed it to have some room to grow by taking out some competing bushes. Well, now we are reaping the rewards. This mountain laurel is in full bloom and covered in purple flowers. Julie says that this is its way of saying thanks. The flowers are fragrant and smell like sweet licorice. Enjoy the attached photos.

Kevin

Volunteering

I am volunteering at the San Marcos Animal Shelter. My job there is to walk the dogs, love the dogs and cats, help socialize the animals, give treats, hugs and love to the animals. It is very rewarding and also difficult. I truly love these animals, and I wish they could all go to nice homes. Unfortunately, not that many people come to adopt. I try to give them as much love and attention as I can until they find a good forever home always mindful that it is, unfortunately, a kill shelter.

Today, I am happy because one of my favorite dogs was adopted. I know she is so happy at her new place. She was ready to go, and I know she'll do great. Please pray with me that all the dogs find great people to love and care for them. The shelter is a stressful place for the animals and they could all use your prayers.

Some of their stories are really heartbreaking, so if you think you might have a little extra love, and space for one more being, I KNOW a shelter dog would be grateful.

-Julie

Kevin Has Study Buddies

Here is Kevin with his buddies Moses and Grace. He was preparing a book review for our Fundamentals of Christian Spirituality Class at the St. Mark's School of Wisdom.

Aren't they cute!

MY PARTY!

From antiquity, we get the quote, "Carpe Diem." That was me yesterday, baby! So, I had this drop dead awesome birthday party. So many of my pals came over and it was so good to hang-- although I couldn't figure out why they all got some of my cake? I got kind of snarky about that, but most everything else was really great. I got to blow a lot of steam off with my neighborhood pals like Dinah, Lily, Nieve, Jakie, and my other GSP friend Leroy. I got to see some old friends like Schnitzel, Scooter, Hazel, and Barkley. Some new pals showed up like Cocoa, Puddin, Pie, Gracie, Bella, and Annie. And toward the end, I got to relax with my pal Jack.

As the pictures show, I was very interested in the cake as was Leroy. And you thought Labs liked to eat-- let me tell you Pointers don't turn away cake. I want to thank all the people for coming to my party and for making me feel so special as I turn 3.

Mosi

Moses' Party (Lazie's Version)

WOW! I had so much fun! There were 46 people and 20 dogs at my house, and I loved every minute of it! There were so many awesome people here to throw my ball, my frisbee, and other toys. We got to eat two cakes, treats, and even my super friend Rocky the Mailman came by to see me (and Moses). I was totally the best ball player and got to show my skills to all my friends. Did I mention that I got to eat cake?
You know what else was great is that it was an excellent temperature outside. It was about 45 degrees with some wind-- perfect weather in my book. I got to run, jump, play, bark, eat-- all without getting too overheated! I better wrap this up because I am tired from all that excitement, but I wanted to give a big shout out to all my friends who played with me yesterday like: Matthew, Caelie, Grant, Laura, Ginny, Rachel, and Marcus. You all are the bomb and come on back anytime!

Your pal,

Lazarus

Moses' Party (Grace's version)

Moses had his party yesterday. It was a lot of sleeping in the bedroom for me. I kept hearing all these dogs and people coming in, but I was hid safely away. Then, about an hour into the party, Dad had the bright idea of bringing me out. At first I was kind of into it because I wanted to know what was going on, but then we went into the back yard and I thought, "Good catnip, that is a lot of dogs!" Dad is so nice and he held me the whole time so I was not mauled or harassed, but I was happy to be whisked back to the bedroom. A few minutes later, Jane and her granddaughter Laura came back to visit and play with me. They came back another time too! All in all, I got some napping and play in-- not really such a bad afternoon.

Meow,

Grace

Lazarus Loves Going to the Vet

Have we ever explained just how much Lazarus loves going to the Vet? He LOVES it! Barks to get out of the car, visits everyone behind the desk, loves seeing Holly and Carrie...and Dr. Long! He even wags when he has his temperature taken!

It just so happens that they are doing an advertisement and asked if they could use Laz' profile picture. (The picture they have of him on file for his records) Can you find Laz in the new advertisement?

-Julie

Obama's Presidential Appointments

Well, I had a slight glimmer of hope that Barak Obama would change the neoliberal trend in the USA and move away from having a cabinet full of stiffs and cronies. However, my hopes were crushed when he selected Hillary Clinton as his nominee for Sec. of State. I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I think I have more in common with Condi Rice than Ms. Clinton. While this crushed me, I was flabbergasted when I heard he wanted Sanjay Gupta to be the Surgeon General. Yes, Sanjay Gupta from CNN and "Paging Dr. Gupta." Now, I realize that the Surgeon General is not a critical position, but the USA faces major credibility issues in the world after 16 years of ineptitude from Clinton and Bush2. Anyway, I decided, in honor of this great choice of Dr. Gupta, to create a list of other celebrity cabinet positions and justifications to be made for their nomination. Maybe Tyra can look into her crystal ball to help him out?

Sec. of State: Matt Lauer
Justification-- he does that cool where in the world is Matt Lauer bit on the Today show and has been all over the world.

Sec. of Interior: Paige Davis
Justification-- she really knows a lot about interiors and remodeling. That's what this office is about, right?

Sec. of Treasury: Suze Orman
Justification-- she's on TV and talks a lot about money and credit.

Sec. of Health and Human Services: Dr. Phil McGraw
Justification-- Oprah told me so

Sec. of Defense: Rex Ryan, Defensive Coordinator of Baltimore Ravens
Justification-- Would he come with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed?

Sec. of Justice: Nancy Grace
Justification-- Uh, duh; she has her own show???

Sec. of Agriculture: Willie Nelson
Justification-- His bus runs on biodeisel and he grows things on it.

Sec. of Labor: Donald Trump
Justification-- Our economy is so bad, we need someone who can fire people well.

Sec. of Transportation: Howie Long
Justification-- He's on those ads that run during the BCS that Obama wants to change

Dept. of Housing and Urban Dev.: Ty Pennington
Justification-- Simple people, he builds houses on TV!

Dept of Energy: T. Boone Pickens
Justification-- Those TV commercials were great about wind power. Hey, what ever happened to those? I guess the problem is solved? What was the problem anyway?

Dept of Homeland Security: Lou Dobbs
Justification-- How can this be explained any further, he talks about this stuff on TV!

Kevin

BCS to the trash

Well, another college football season, and another disappointing finish. The BCS is totally crummy and it continues to solve no problems. What it effectively does is ruin the bowl season by dragging it out way too long and awards a bogus championship. Many of you are probably thinking that a rant about USC is coming, but it is not. Their heinous loss to Oregon State is too much to overcome in a year when Utah went undefeated. However, this team who beat Michigan, Oregon State, TCU, and Alabama was left out. This is an absolute travesty. Their non-conference schedule was far superior to Texas who is crying foul. Hey Longhorns, shut up!

Now, there seem to be two popular solutions to this continual BCS mess. First, the Plus 1 format. This is a total joke. You'd have five BCS Bowls and the best two teams after those games would play. Hmm, how would this solve this year's problem...The Oklahoma vs. Florida winner would play?? Texas, Utah, USC??? This is a half-assed solution. Then there is the 8 team playoff that even Barak Obama has suggested would work. Hell, if Obama says its so-- then it must be the solution. This would solve nothing this year. How do you choose the 8 teams? Based on BCS rank? Let's see, this would mean that Texas Tech and Boise State would have been left out. Boise was undefeated, and Tech beat Texas and had only one loss. But, the 8 team playoff really means that the super-conferences would each get a slot. This means that the crap-assed Big Ten and Big East would send a loser representative and Virginia Tech would get in so it would bump Boise, Tech, Texas, and either Alabama or Utah. The 8 team playoff solution would only entrench the power of the super-conferences and solve very little.

Thus, there are really only 2 options.

1. Just go back to the way it was before the BCS. All bowls were meaningful and played before mid January! So what if the championship was split or controversial. It just gives sports radio more to talk about.

2. Go to either a 12 or 16 team playoff. This way, you can have the super-conferences get their automatic bids and have enough open slots for the smaller conference teams and others who had perhaps an unfortunate loss or two early make it in. There would still be some controversy about the at-large bids, but it would be from further down in the polls than the top 10.

If you feel strongly like I, please refrain from watching the lousy Fiesta Bowl and the phony BCS title game this year. Instead, end your college football season the right way, with the memory of Utah kicking the pants off of Saban and Alabama even when the refs were trying to give Bama the game. The season should end with a decisive victory by an undefeated football team walking off the field.

Kevin

ps-- pitchers and catchers will be reporting soon.

SNOW in Texas???

A few weeks ago, we had a breif snow event here. I haven't been able to put up the picts until now. Laz LOVED it... Moses thought it was too cold!

-Julie

Once a geographer... always a geographer

This is Kevin, Joan, his Mom, James, his cousin, and Poppy, his Grandfather. Notice that Kevin is reading a National Geographic. Who'd have known that he'd become a Doctor of Philosophy in Geography! Way to Go!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Man have I had a great week. Grandma came to visit from Florida and I have gotten some awesome leftovers including such delicacies as: salmon from Palmer's, steak from Texas Red's, and chicken fajitas from Mamacita's! Last night may have been the best haul though because we celebrated her birthday and I got a whole piece of HUMAN cake! Here is a picture of me with frosting all over my snout and ears. Both Grace and I were very excited when the candles were lit, and I love cake. I am also enjoying more time with Dad since he is not going to school as much this week. Take it easy my friends, and I hope your advent season is a time full of happiness and meat!

Moses

Tree Triming

Mom and Dad have put fun bursts of light onto a tree, and they have also put shiny toys on the branches. Naturally, these are for me to play with, and I love this fun tree idea. Moses seems to be more interested in the packages under the tree. Lazarus wants to make sure the tree doesn't get any of his food.

I am doing well, I enjoy playing in the dirt, digging, hunting bugs, and chasing Laz' big red ball! I haven't got it yet, but I'm planning my strategy.

-Meow
Grace