Bugs's Blog

Hey Guys! Sorry to be gone so long, but life lives me instead of me living life.

I’m going to be back on in a couple days to discuss this nasty election, but today I have another dilemma. 

A friend of mine is going through a nasty divorce where his soon to be ex-wife is violating a court order and forbidding him from seeing his son.

He can’t afford an attorney and seems to be pretty well screwed. She refuses to deliver his son as ordered by the courts and he doesn’t have a clue on what he should do.

Has anyone else here been in a similar situation or have any advice they can offer my friend? The court order clearly states she’s supposed to deliver their son to him every other weekend, but she just absolutely refuses to follow the order.

She’s even gone as far as to make false accusations and file a false police report.  I’ve cried a lot of tears for this friend of mine and especially his son. By the way his son is a beautiful perfect little six year old (I’ll tell ya’ll more about him in a couple of days).

So guys let’s heart it. He’s here with me now and we’ll be around for a little while, but any advice you can offer him would be appreciated.

Love Ya’ll

Wayne a.k.a. Bugs and Master Yoda

PS: The worst part of all this is the little boy is being put in the middle and his mother doesn't ever seem to care.

"MAX"

Hi folks!

Just dropped by to say “hi” and tell ya’ll I did it!

I know I shouldn’t have, but I did it anyway.  Late Saturday afternoon, just before closing time, I found myself parked in front of the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Cedar Hill.  The workers told me that there were no more adoptions for the day, but I was welcome to look around.

As I entered the room, the first dog I saw was a beautiful German Shepherd puppy around 4 months old.  It was love at first sight. I hadn’t planned on adopting a dog that day and I couldn’t adopt him even if I wanted to. I continued looking around the shelter and after a quick go-round, I found myself back at the Shepherd’s cage.  Much to my dismay, the cage was empty.

A man and one of the shelter workers had taken the puppy out to the play area. I could tell the man was already in love with the puppy.  I watched as the man and the puppy played.  Tears welled in my eyes as I relayed my story about losing Bugs to both of them.

The man wasn’t giving an inch; he wanted that puppy.

I obsessed over the puppy all weekend long, and so did my wife – and she hadn’t even seen him.  This morning we showed up at the shelter around fifteen minutes after they opened. I fully expected to see the man from Saturday, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Within minutes, I was filling out the paperwork and the puppy was on the way to being mine. Just as I was finishing up the adoption, the man from Saturday walked in. He took one look at me, grumbled something under his breath and left.

So here he is folks! The newest addition to the family is our son “Max”. His name on the paperwork was Phineas, but he didn’t respond to it, I can’t spell it, and he looks more like a Max. He was found roaming in a parking lot at around 12 weeks old and was quickly adopted. A few days ago the adopted family returned Max to the shelter saying their child was too rough on the puppy or visa-versa.

Max is beautiful and perfect in every way.  If he grows into his ears and paws, Max is going to be huge. Hope took a while to warm up to him, but they seem to be becoming friends fast. The cat just sits in the corner and growls;  Max stays far away from that corner.

Max loves being loved on and he’s fitting in perfect.

I hope everyone is doing well!

I only know one way to post pictures to the blog so if anyone has other ways or suggestions, feel free to chime in.

1. First, I went to photobucket.com and opened an account (it’s free).

2. Second, I uploaded the pictures that I wanted to post to my blog into my “Photobucket” account. Copy the “Direct Link” which appears just below the image that you uploaded.

3. Third, when I’m writing my post on the blog I place the curser in the text where I want the picture to appear and I select the “Insert/Modify Image” button at the top of the text window. (It’s the picture of a mountain with the sun coming up over it.)

4. Fourth, paste the direct link to my picture at “Photobucket” in the space provided in the “Insert/Modify Image” dialogue box. You can preview your picture to make sure the link is working and if it is, hit the “OK” button and the image should appear in your blog.

You can resize the image by grabbing the sides and corners of the picture with your mouse and dragging them in or out.

I hope this helps TM and if anyone else has other ways of posting pictures to the blog, let us know.

One of my dad’s favorite annual gifts was his “Word-A-Day” calendars. One of us would always get him a new one for Christmas every year. Each day of the week had a new word and the definition for that word. A new word wasn’t revealed until the previous day’s word had been torn off the calendar.

As if my dad wasn’t “loquacious” (one his favorite “new” words) enough, Dad loved using the new words he learned.

Dad and this day have inspired me to post a word every now and then. Here is my word for the day. - Déjà vu

“The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". - Wikipedia

"1. feeling of reliving something: a feeling of having experienced something before, although in fact it is the first time that it has been experienced. 2. boredom: a state of boring familiarity or repetitiveness." - Encarta

I don’t know what made that word pop into my head today (teehee), but I thought I’d just toss it out there and wondered if anyone else has ever experienced “Déjà vu”.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Bugs

One morning a man woke up on his birthday and rushed down to the kitchen expecting a special breakfast and warm birthday greetings from his wife and children. Instead, he was met with the usual drab “good morning” and dry bowl of cereal.

As his children walked out the door to go to school, neither of them mentioned his birthday. His wife also breezed out the door without saying a word about his birthday.

Although the man was disappointed his family had forgotten about his birthday, he looked forward to getting to the office where he was sure his co-workers would have a huge cake and throw the usual pot luck birthday lunch like they did for everyone else’s birthdays.

Lunch came and went and there was no cake, no pot luck, and not a word about the man’s birthday. He didn’t even receive a telephone call from his parents.

Around 5:00 someone slid an envelope under his door. Excitedly he retrieved a card from the envelope which read, “Happy Birthday! Want to come to my place and have a drink?” The card was signed by his sexy secretary.

The man told his secretary he’d be happy to have a drink with her after work.

After they got to his secretary’s apartment, his secretary suggested she slip into something more comfortable and that he make himself at home while she was in the other room.

As she walked out of the room she lowered to lights to where he could barely see. He quickly stripped off all of his clothes except his socks and underwear and sat down on the couch. From the other room his secretary cooed, “Are you ready?”

Proudly spreading his arms across the back of the couch he answered, “Whenever you are.”

About that time the lights came up and “Happy Birthday” echoed throughout the room. There in front of him stood his entire family including his parents, wife, and kids, all of his co-workers and most of his friends.

I hope you had a better birthday than this guy did.

Happy Birthday I_S!

Bugs

Footnote: This is an old joke so don’t be surprised if you've heard a different version.

Just thinking out loud....

God’s Greatest Gift

by Bugs for the FOX4 blog, Keller, and Aunt Bee

And a bright shining star arose in the sky,

Bringing with it hope for the world, for you and I.

The shepherds quaked in mortal fear,

Until voices of angels they did hear.

“A prince is born unto you this day;

He comes to love you, to teach you and show you the way.”

To the stable beneath the bight shining star,

People did flock from near and far.

Wise men journeyed to reach the manger,

Bowing before a King who is no man’s stranger.

They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh,

To give to Mary and the child born unto her.

And there on a fresh clean bed of straw,

Laid the son of God sent to save us all.

For this is the day we celebrate with joyous mirth,

The birth of God’s greatest gift ever given to earth.

I wanted to share a Christmas story with you guys, but it was way too long for the blog so I posted the first paragraph and a link to a “geocities” page I set up just for the blog.

Times were hard and I wrote this story as a Christmas gift for my family. I hope if you take the time to read it, you enjoy it as much as they “say” they did.

My Christmas Present to You

Snow fell silently around the tiny shack.  Smoke bellowed from the chimney and a warm orange glow filtered through the thin curtains hanging in the windows.  A deer nuzzled a barren bush as the gripping wind whipped a bitter cold chill around him. Inside, an elderly man sat alone rocking back and forth in front of a blazing fire.  His saddened face was worn and wrinkled; his hands tough like leather and his eyes were soft bluish gray clouds. In his lap sat a faded picture of a young man and woman standing in front of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. As a tear found a path down his cheek, he lovingly and gently stroked his hand across the photograph. Leaning back in his rocking chair and closing his eyes he drifted into an exhausted sleep.  The fire began to fade and cold quickly filled the room.

Continued…

Use this link: “My Christmas Story”, to read the rest but be warned, it’s about 6 pages long. Oh yeah, it has that version of “Silent Night” which I love that I was trying to share with you guys as the background so you might just want to listen to the music.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

…and as they say in the mountains,

“May Those ‘Infernal Revenuers’ Stay Away for Another Year!”

Bugs a.k.a. Wayne

As I’ve indicated several times, I’m no Martha Stewart in the kitchen, but every once in a while I come up with some pretty tasty meals.  Usually these savory concoctions are created out of necessity.

I’m sure everyone, maybe not, has had those days where they go to the cabinets, fridge, and nightstand to see what kind of ingredients might be lying around for diner.

Anyway, I have to give you a little history before I can go any further. For as long as I can remember, Spam, the canned meat, has been a staple at our house.  Dad kept no less than half a dozen cans on the shelf at all times.  We ate Spam, just spam and mayo, sandwiches for lunch, on fishing trips, and just about any time in between.

They were great and I wanted to share one of my own Bug’s original Spam recipes with you.

Several years ago on a night when I did not want to go to the store (3ft. of snow), I managed to round up a can of Spam (no bread or mayo), a bottle of Honey Mustard BBQ sauce, and a bottle honey.

There are the ingredients:

1 can Spam

Some Honey/Mustard BBQ sauce (favorite brand)

Some honey

CAUTION: WHEN OPENING SPAM, DON’T GET CUT ON THE LID!

Pre-heat a medium sized well greased NON-STICK skillet to warm and slice the Spam into thin (aprox. ¼ in.) slices.

Using a fork, mix a several (aprox. 4 tablespoons) of each the BBQ sauce and honey in a small bowl. Keep the bottles handy because you might need more.

Dip each slice of Spam making sure the entire piece is coated in the mixture and place the Spam in single layers in the skillet. Pour any remaining or mix up another couple tablespoons of mixture into the skillet over top of the Spam.

Do this as quickly as possible and begin turning the Spam slices frequently. As soon as (within a just few minutes or less depending on how hot your skillet is) the glaze begins to brown, remove the Spam from the skillet.

Believe it or not, if you cook it right, to me, it tastes just like a honey baked ham, but if you don’t use a non-stick skillet, well, we had to throw ours away.

Do ya’ll like Spam? Have you ever eaten Spam? Do you have a favorite Spam recipe?

Ya’ll Have A Great Day!

Bug’s

Does anyone ever get the feeling like they’re banging their heads against a brick wall?

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Mathew 5:9) I’m sure that means “daughters” too.

By the way, what’s all this fuss about baseball players and hemorrhoids?  I can’t possibly see how hemorrhoids can enhance a player’s ability to play baseball.

OPEN THREAD! All who come in the spirit of peace, joy, and laughter ARE WELCOME…WOOHOO!

This is the first in a series of 14 cartoons on this web-page called “Happy Mr. Bigpants” by Jim McGinley. 

Enjoy!;)

I’m just thinking out loud, but I’ve noticed a horribly excessive use of the term “village idiot”.  I thought I’d help out by thinking up a few inspired replacement phrases for “village idiot.”

Replace “village idiot” with any of the following and see how much more colorful an insult can be when given a breath of fresh air.

Dummy’s disciples, brain-dead dopes, intellectual infants, asinine association, mentors of morons, and incest-related relatives (no offense to inbreeds, but ya’ll are not pretty sights).

I’m sure there are more, but these were just a few off the top of my head. Good fishing!:)

Bugs

I hope everyone has a great…err…good…err…well make the best of your day Monday!

Don’t forget to dive safe, arrive alive, and cuddle with a co-worker. Well maybe not that last part, but try to make the best of it.  Bugs

I’ve talked about my rock retrieving dog Hope and I ran across a couple clips in mpg format.

Hope is obsessed with retrieving rocks. We didn’t teach her this trick; she taught us. When we first introduced Hope to the creek she immediately started searching the bottom of the creek with her paws. She stuck her head underwater, pulled up rocks and placed some of them together up on the creek bank. Before long she had quite a pile of rocks.

We made the mistake of tossing a rock and now she thinks God created us for tossing rocks. She can pick out exactly which rock we throw and bring us that rock. Throw two rocks and she’ll retrieve one and go back for the other. We’ll get tired of throwing rocks long before she gets tired of retrieving them. If we stop throwing rocks, she’ll delightfully search the bottom of the creek looking for her own rocks.

We’re EXTREMELY careful not to hit her with a rock and, so far, she appears to know not to get in their way.

Bugs (my dog) couldn’t stand to see the camera pointed at Hope without him being in the shot, but I wanted you to see how she puts the rocks in a pile.

Everyone have a nice night/day/life…oh whatever. Bugs

Something got me thinking about my last trip to Houston; in another lifetime I spent almost every weekend in Houston.

We had gone to “Rock Fest” out at “Texas Motor Speedway” and after an adventurous day at the track, we were more than ready to get home to Grapevine. The traffic jam out was worse than the jam getting in. All the highways and access roads were bumper to bumper long before the parking lots begun to thin out. We decided to wait out the morning on the hood of our car.

Around 2:30 AM we noticed a young man wondering aimlessly through the fields used for parking. He wondered off and about every half hour or so we’d see him go traipsing across a field towards some of the last groups of cars left, scratch his head, throw his arms in the air, and traipse off to another lot.

We assumed he had lost his car.

He didn’t look threatening to us and the more his predicament became obvious to us, we decided to offer the man help. As he passed close to the front of our car I asked him if we could be of any assistance.

He explained to me he had come to the concert with a group of friends; apparently they left him stranded. He said he was a college student and he looked and acted like a typical college student so I believed him.

Remembering some of my college antics and wanting to help him out, we offered the man a ride home.

He was ecstatic.

I asked, “Where do you live?”

“Ah…Houston.”

My wife who is not nearly as nice as I am spoke first, “We’re not driving anyone to Houston; sorry.”

We knew we wouldn’t feel right abandoning the guy so we offered him a ride to a hotel. “I don’t have any money,” he replied.

Knowing what I was about to say my wife blurted, “And we’re not paying for any dam hotel room either.” It was late; she was tired.

Against our better judgment we offered to let him come to the house, get a bite to eat, some rest, and use the phone. He was an extremely nice young man.

The next morning after a hardy breakfast the man began making phone calls. Most of them were to Houston to cuss out the people who ran off and left him. I really didn’t blame him.

To make an already too long story short, after a day of trotting this guy all over Dallas so he could barrow a few bucks from the few acquaintances he knew in Dallas, he barely managed to get up enough for one way gas money to Houston.

We were hoping for a bus ticket.

I suggested he call his parents. He gave me some mumbo jumbo about being 20 years old and didn’t call his parents for money to get out of tight spots. Roughly translated I think he was saying if his parents knew he was stranded in Dallas, they’d chew his butt out.

We finally gave in; we wanted him gone and decided to drive him to Houston. My wife made him to agree to pay for the gas there and give us money for the gas back when he got home. He assured us this would be no problem.

We started late and got there late; my wife and I were exhausted and he slept soundly in the back seat. By the time we reached his apartment complex he was wide awake and rearing to go. He jumped out of the car and said, “I’ll be right back with your money.”

After waiting an hour my wife looked at me and said, “We should have bought him a bus ticket.”

I agreed and asked, “Want to spend the night on the beech?”

Refastening her seatbelt she smiled and said, “Sure, why not?”  We spent a wonderful night on the beach.

Is there such a thing as being too nice?

Ya’ll have a nice evening. Bugs

A member of the forum once likened the FOX4 blog to a zoo with no zoo keepers and all the animals running amuck.

I totally disagree with his analogy of the blog as being like a zoo.  I see the blog more of a wildlife park or a Safari.

Chances are that sooner or later you’re going to encounter some form of native wild life.

Perhaps the encounter will be a pleasurable experience such as being slimed by a giraffe or having a group of curious primates climb all over top of the car.

At other times the encounters with the wildlife might not be so inviting or pleasurable. 

Angry baboons feeling threatened by encroachment into their territory might thrust themselves fiercely towards the vehicle or the sight of a pack of wild jackals howling and laughing as they savagely rip the meat from captured prey might make you reconsider what you had for lunch.

Yep, the FOX4 blogs is much more like a wildlife adventure than a zoo.

Ya’ll try to have a better tomorrow than you did today. Bugs

A traveling ventriloquist happened upon a farm one evening close to dusk. He asked the farmer if he could bed down for the night in the farmer’s barn and the farmer agreed only if the ventriloquist agreed to help the farmer feed his livestock the next morning.

The next morning while feeding the horses, the ventriloquist thought he’d have a little fun with the farmer.

The ventriloquist asked the horse, “Does this old farmer treat you good.”

The farmer scoffed, “Fool, horses don’t talk.”

Suddenly from the horses mouth came, “Yeah, he’s not bad, keeps me clean and well fed, I have no complaints.”

Scratching his head, the farmer said, “Well I’ll be.”

Moving onto the pigs, the ventriloquist asked the pig, “Does this old farmer treat you good.”

The farmer listened in amazement as the ventriloquist threw his voice to pig and said, “Yep, he’s a pretty good guy; I can’t complain.”

The ventriloquist repeated the routine through the chickens, the cows, and even the farmer’s dog.

All of them said the farmer was a good owner.

As they were walking towards the herd of sheep up in the pasture, the farmer grabbed the ventriloquist by the arm and said, “Before we go up there to feed the sheep, there’s just one thing I want to say.”

The ventriloquist said, “Sure, what is it?”

Intensely serious the farmer said, “Sheep lie.”

I hope Herman isn't the only person who gets this.