Bigfoot Lives!!!!

And his name is Frasier! Bill got home shortly before I did. He let the dogs in. And within 30 seconds, there were huge dirty prints all over the floor! I can see where the dogs slid all around the kitchen floor, and it's very easy to follow their path in the rest of the house. The living room seems to have gotten the most of it. Otter found a spare blanket to spread over her bed so that Maggie wouldn't mess up her bedspread. Both dogs are about to get attacked with wet towels, Frasier first because if we do Maggie first and he sees it we'll never catch him. (Froggy, remember Maggie's bath last year and Frasier running?). Or maybe I'll just send both of them to the taxidermist! Later on when it's had time to dry, I'll drag out the vacuum. Which will send Frasier back outside, probably to go find more mud to play with. And as big as that dog is, and he's not small, he should have been even larger judging on his foot prints! (Actually, foot size doesn't really have much to do with final size of dogs).

I went to vote this morning. The polls opened at 7:00, I was there about 7:02 and I was already # 27. The man running the poll handed me my ballot, I went to the first station, marked my choice and turned the ballot back in. All in less than a minute. He remarked that I must have known my choice already, I said I did and he gave me my "I Voted" sticker which I've had on all day. My political leanings are never secret - I don't see any reason for them to be. I voted for Huckabee. If he does not win the nomination, then I've still voted my conscience and it's not a wasted vote.

It was in the 70's yesterday. We actually had to turn on the a/c last night for a few minutes, it was so stuffy inside the house. Then I had to turn the heater back on this morning and it's been in the 30's all day. And rainy, which is probably obvious because of the bigfoot prints. It could snow tonight, but it's not supposed to be much. However, the forecasters in this area couldn't predict a hole in the ground if they dug it themselves! (That's a quote from Bill).

Otter will test for her next belt in karate on Feb. 16th. The January test was put off because she was sick. So her instructor rescheduled her and it's in a week and a half. She has to work really hard between now and then, but she always works hard in karate. There was a small class today, only about 11 kids and most of them were younger and smaller. For some reason, all the bigger kids & teenagers skipped class. Which probably made the instructor happy - it was his birthday on Sunday and the class tradition is that the birthday kid gets "bootie kicks" at the end of class. Even when the birthday kid is the teacher!

Otter had an interesting day at school today. In Oklahoma History class, the boy that sits behind her apparently did something to attract the teacher's attention because the teacher asked him what was in his hands - of course the boy said that he didn't have anything in his hands. Very shortly, the teacher left the class and went to the attendence office which is across the hall. Then when the teacher came back, he sent the boy out into the hall. Then an attendence person AND A POLICE OFFICER showed up, the teacher pointed out the boy out in the hall and they hauled him off. A couple of the kids in the class said they thought they smelled "something" that maybe the kid had smoked just prior to coming to class, they noticed it shortly before the teacher was checking the boy's hands. Since he was behind her, Otter said she didn't see anything but she really couldn't anyway because she was sitting in front of him. But she said it was a surprising thing to happen.

Lent starts tomorrow. Even though the Baptist church doesn't recognize it in the same way that the Catholic and Methodist churches do, we observe it. I'm giving up chocolate, coke (which is Texan for soda) and alchohol. The last two won't be hard, I was never a big drinker anyway but since my gall bladder removal I drink even less and I've pretty much cut out cokes since I started my weight loss. But chocolate is going to be very hard! I had a pack of M & M's after lunch today and a cup of hot chocolate this afternoon. I had several small chocolate pieces yesterday, I had to clean it all out of the freezer and I just couldn't let it go to waste now, could I? Of course not! So I ate it. The Methodist church observation included Sunday's off from the restrictions but I'm going to try to skip Sundays as well. I've given up different things for Lent, cokes are frequently what I choose and sometimes alchohol. But giving up alchohol is for me a no-brainer - almost like giving up cigarettes would be because I don't smoke! So I chose a hard one this year. I told Bill that I really feel sorry for him, since he'll have to put up with me not having chocolate for 6 weeks! I briefly considered giving up coffee, but that would be tantamount to a death sentence for me and I'm not quite willing to go that far! :) Actually, it would probably be a death sentence for Billyboy, if I had to go without my caffiene...

If you post a comment and don't see it immediately, it's because I'm testing an option where I have to approve comments before they post. I don't think I like that option and probably won't leave it on there, but it's going to be there for a while. I am also considering adding music to the blog, so if you read my blog and your speakers are normally turned up all the way, consider yourself warned in case I do add music.