Out of state licence plates...

It is no doubt that our city more than triples for three-to-four months of the year--we have snowbirds ... lots of them.  In fact, sitting at a traffic signal just three days ago I saw plates for:  Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland and one for Florida.

One of the worst things is that locals can't get a tee time, or can they afford to golf as prices sky rocket.  During the summer, I can play for $10--a good 18 holes ... right now I'm lucky to get in for $39.  Grrrr

I found this simple graph on a blog that I read regularly, Indexed -- I liked it.

Wakeboards, golf clubs & the convertable...

Swedish Fish: A Christmas gift turns into life lesson #5,643

Laura's Mom sent our Christmas gifts to our house since we are here in FL for Christmas.  She only wrapped one of Laura's gifts with a bow, so of course she saw that they were Swedish Fish, and began consumption.  Being a bag made for like a small army of children, she was unable to devour the entire bag in one sitting (to my surprise however!)

Well, with about 1/5 of a bag left, we went to dinner (that could also be a blog post).

We returned this evening to a more-than-usual excited Malik... Ten feet later, we realized that he somehow got up onto a table and ate the rest of the bag...  Since he has had "pup-cups" from Dairy Queen, we figured he could handle the absurd amount of sugar that dogs usually do not eat.  We figured wrong.  Three hours later, Ian getting hit in the head by the wet-vac and our bed mattress being dried by a fan is enough details for here.

Moral:  Swedish Fish are the most awesome friends known to friendship, until they are eaten by your dog.

Ian's take on the kitten...

So the kitten was not Ian's idea--infact, I think that there was some rallying against her.  Oh well, come to find out she's not too bad.  

Yes, she runs around the base of the tree waiting for a 19-pound larger Malik to chase her around under it (YIKES), and she bites our legs, toes (and Ian's butt) in the middle of the night--but, at least she is fun to photograph.  Don't get me wrong, so is Malik (my boy!), but he is all black, and black is nearly impossible to photograph accuractely.  Enjoy today's photoshoot.

2 peas in a pod!

Thanks to our friend Lori for getting Laura and I's first ever "Ian and Laura 2008" Christmas ornament.  It's cool because"we are two peas in a pod."

Laura here!!  See!!!  I can take good pictures too.  Sorry we talk about our kitten like she's a baby, but here in Sebring, every little thing can make us excited.

Can I just say that I know why they don't make clothes for cats?

  When I put a t-shirt on Malik, he doesn't even notice...however, as soon as I put this beautful pink sweater on Maia, she acted as if I injected her with a  powerful paralizing agent....                       literally tipping over as soon as she tried to walk.  Please don't judge, I just want my children to be warm!!!!

So on with my stories about my "children."

We're sitting on the couch, and Malik is in the office                     barking his head off.  I think Maia must be behind the desk or something, but no, she's hiding on the second shelf of the bookshelf!!!  She's so smart she fooled Malik and was probably watching him and laughing the whole time he was looking for her :)

Then she walks herself over to Maliks food bowl and digs in!!!  I couldn't believe it!!!  

Kitten, 2.0

I put a few more photos on Facebook.  Enjoy.

Merry Christmas dear Laura

MEOW!!

MEOW!!!

 

Guess what?  Today I got a kitten!!!  Or "we" I should say, although I know if Ian had a choice he would go the non-cat route.  She's a girl, 1.4 lbs and she was born on October 4.  She is from the humane society.   She has a bit of siamese in her as you can tell, and her eyes are very blue.  She's as sweet as can be.  

Any ideas for names would be welcomed!  She's a very brave cat, she showed Malik who's boss!!  She crawled and explored the car on the way home.

Malik is just getting used to the idea of sharing his mommy and daddy with someone else.  I think he's doing better already!  Hopefully!!

Happy Howlidays

Here is Malik's new shirt:

Isn't it cute?  He loves wearing it!

No but really, he doesn't even seem to notice when he's wearing it.

DISCLAIMER:  No dogs were hurt in the photographing of this shirt.

And you don't want to visit us??

Tonight, and last graced us with beautiful skies---reason 492 you should come and visit us.  The last picture is of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.  You might not have known that we will not see the three so close again until 2052!  Here is an excerpt that I found:

Jupiter is headed down toward the horizon earlier each evening. On December 1, it is one day past its closest conjunction with the brighter Venus. The planets are still close together though and the scene is accented by a slender crescent moon just above them. The next time Venus, Jupiter, and the moon will be as close and visible as they were on December 1, 2008 will be November 18, 2052. Other close conjunctions occur when the sun is up and obscuring the view. But for now, the planets will slowly push apart as Venus rises and the moon quickly jets off higher into the sky as it waxes.