..: beautiful breakfast ::..

Ahhhh! Finally! That's is what I'm talking about... it has been a while in coming, but finally the warm sunny weather is starting to return to Montana's frozen tundra.

Today I was able to enjoy my breakfast out on the back deck of my home, soaking in the warm sun and enjoying this beautiful view of the Columbia Mountain range.

You gotta love Montana in the summer time! I'm glad that it is just beginning, I am going to enjoy every second of it. Tomorrow I am planning another hike and bike ride up in Glacier. It is supposed to be pretty nice, like today was.

This is what MT livin' is all about!

..:: workplace?... zoo?... pre-school? ::..

Do you ever get the feeling that your co-workers are a bunch of preschoolers? I often do.

I feel sort of like the actor in the old Career Builder commercials, except I feel like I have it even worse, at least the "monkeys" that he had to work with were humorous...



Those monkeys I could deal with... I on the other hand have to deal with whiny little "pre-school mentality" co-workers who seem to have nothing better to do then complain about each other... cry about not getting their way... whine about how someone else in the office is not being fair to them... gossip about how they think so-and-so is not pulling his/her weight and needs to be fired.

And they all have to come spill their guts to me, as if I care. NEWS FLASH people...

... I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR INFANTILE OFFICE POLITICS!!! ...

Sometimes I want to jump up on my desk and yell that to the top of my lungs.

They just don't seem to get it... life isn't always perfect... life isn't always fair... deal with it... mind your own business and leave me alone, oh yeah... and read Luke chapter 6 verse 41 while you are at it.

Anyway, I don't want to rant too much about the matter. That would make me no better than those I am ranting about, so I will end this post here, but thanks for allowing me to vent a little bit... I'm feeling much better now.

Does anybody else have to deal with "pre-school mentality" co-workers, or is it just my crucible? If you have any similar experiences, comment and let me hear about them. Together we can make it through ;-)

..:: entertained ::..

I am a couple days late in getting this post up on my blog, but I still wanted to make sure I got it added.

The other night I had the privilege of attending a concert with some friends and family.

The concert featured two of my favorite Christian bands, the ‘Newsboys’ and ‘Rush of Fools.’ Both bands were performing at the Adams Center which is part of the University of Montana in Missoula.

This is my second opportunity to see the Newsboys in concert and I have just got to say... the “boys” put on one incredible show! They never cease to impress! Not only was the music outstanding, the message that Peter Furler (lead singer for the Newsboys) and the rest of the crew brought was awesome. The “boys” also incorporate an amazing light show into the performance which is fantastic.

These pictures do not give justice to how amazing the stage and the light show looked during the performance, it is kind of like trying to catch a photo of the setting sun with a cell phone camera… it is just not going to convey even 1/10 of the true beauty, but at least you can get a glimpse of what the night was like. Pretty cool…

Is that Jake Bramante singing into the mic just to the right of the guitarist? ;-)

Towards the end of the show, Peter Furler and the Newsboys drummer Duncan Philips got into a “drum war” where they both try to “one-up” the other on their own set of drums. Peter gave it a good shot… a noble effort… but Duncan holds the trophy.

I left the bleachers, scaled the wall and climbed up onto the rafters in the ceiling of the Adams Center building to get an aerial shot looking down on Duncan’s drum set… pretty cool huh? Then security came and arrested me so I missed the last part of the show.

Kidding… actually Duncan’s entire drum platform lifts off the stage and turns completely perpendicular to the floor and then starts spinning like a top… yeah… pretty crazy, and Duncan just keeps playing through the entire thing without missing a beat. Poor Peter how the heck is he supposed to compete with that?

Here are a few pics of Rush of Fools also… they don’t put on quite as extravagant of a show as the “boys” but I love their music. This was my second opportunity to see them live in concert too. I have thoroughly enjoyed them both times.

Honorable mention…

The opening band was a group that I had not heard of before called “Article One.” Having never heard of them prior to this concert I didn’t quite know what to expect, but they were really good. They have a violinist in the band who absolutely ROCKS OUT on the violin! In fact I enjoyed them so much, that I had to purchase two of their CD’s after the show. If you are looking for some new music to listen to check them out at www.articleonemusic.com

The fourth band that played was called NewWorldSon. Though I didn’t care for their style as much as the other three bands, they weren’t bad. There was one song where the lead singer played the harmonica and made it sound just like a train whistle… that was pretty cool.

..:: avalanche hunter ::..

I guess you could call this the weekend of fire and ice. Yesterday's post told you all about my "burn session" -- setting my front yard on fire. That was fun in a devious, anarchist kind of way.

Actually it really is a good thing to do. A good controlled burn keeps the heavy under-growth to a minimum, minimizes future fire hazards and adds nitrogen to the soil, plus it make things look a lot better and saves me from having to do a lot of hard labor. :-)

Now, as fun as it was spending all of Saturday hanging around the house burning stuff, today I was ready to venture out and enjoy a little bit of Montana's stunning back-country.

This weekend was absolutely phenomenal! After eight long months of winter cold and clouds - (okay maybe we had a few sunny days in between there but not enough) - I had some serious cabin fever that I had to work off this weekend and what better place to do that then in stunning Glacier National Park!

My mission for the day is to hike as far into the park as my time will permit, with my ideal destination being Avalanche Lake. Avalanche Lake for those that do not know, is a beautiful little tarn tucked away in a monolithic corner of Glacier's breathtaking mountainous terrain. One of those magical little spots which makes you feel like a more fulfilled, enlightened and more complete human being, just for witnessing its beauty and magnitude.

I have made the hike back into Avalanche Lake many times in previous years, in fact it is one of my favorite hikes in Glacier Park, but I have never been back their this early in the season.

You see, today I am "Avalanche Hunting." I am on a mission to see some live-action avalanches up close, (well relatively close), and in person. I could not think of a better place to accomplish this feat, then the place called "Avalanche Lake".

Unfortunately after entering the park I discover that the road is still closed at the Lake McDonald Lodge gate. That means about a six to seven mile hike lies ahead just to reach the Avalanche Lake trail head. I only have a handful of hours available to me today, so Avalanche Lake is unfortunately not an option, but I am still excited to get out and do some hiking, even if it is just an afternoon stroll down Going to the Sun Road.



The sun is warm, the sky is blue, the surrounding mountains are like whipped cream and chocolate chips. The birds are singing and the conditions are perfect for avalanche viewing. Even if I cannot make it all the way back into the Avalanche Lake, the mountains at the Avalanche Lake trail-head should serve up some beautiful avalanche displays, so that is my new desired destination.

The hike down Going-to-the-Sun road to the Avalanche Lake trail-head is an easy one, but it does take a while. But who cares really, it is so beautiful today, where else would you ever want to be?

I didn't see too much wild life along the way, but I did pause to snap a few pictures of this beautiful little bright-colored moth.



Finally after about two hours of walking, gawking and taking pictures, me and my crew reach the trail head to Avalanche Lake.

Just as I had expected, the conditions are perfect for avalanches today, and Clements Peak is serving up a display.




If you have never had the pleasure of seeing or hearing the spectacle of a live avalanche, let me just say it is incredible. It sounds like a cross between a crack of thunder and the roar of a 747 racing down the mountain, amplified by a continuing ricochet effect as the sound waves echo off all of the surrounding mountains in the vicinity. It really is quite spectacular.



While kicking back and watching the avalanche action, I met an old dude who had trained his optical scope onto what appeared to be a petrified mountain goat standing high up on the side of one cliff. He was almost invisible to the naked eye, unless you looked really carefully. But the kind gentleman allowed me to take a peak through his scope and even take a picture through it with my camera.



The poor little mountain goat appeared to be scared stiff with all the avalanche activity hapening all around him. I wonder if he had a bad experience earlier in life. Perhaps he got blindsided by a
wall of falling snow once before and barely lived to tell about it, and now he figures, "during avalanche season, one can never be too careful."

I don't know what his story is, but he definitely didn't seem to want to move from his secluded little crevice in the rocks.

This post has grown into a much longer blog entry then I had anticipated, and I don't personally like REALLY long posts, so I better cut this off now, before it gets outta control.

But let me leave you with this... if you have never experienced the excitement of "avalanche hunting" up close and in person, I highly recommend it. The sound alone is something that will echo in your memories for a life time, and if you can manage to do your 'avalanche hunting' on a beautiful blue-bird day in Glacier Park Montana... well consider yourself blessed.

..:: burn session ::..

I decided to do a controlled burn on my property yesterday. This is the first dry-sunny weekend that the valley has seen over the last month, and I really wanted to clear out some of the the old grass and weeds that had grown long in and around the creek bed that runs trough the "front yard" of my property.

The seasonal creek that flows through my property is an overflow from Trumble Creek that flows north to south down the Flathead Valley and eventually empties out into the Flathead River. Trumble Creek itself runs all year long, but the little overflow portion that flows through my property usually only lasts for a couple weeks in late spring and early summer.

This year I am expecting a better than average flow with all the snow we have gotten in the surrounding mountains and it would not surprise me if it stayed around for several weeks this year thanks to all the runoff that is expected for the valley. I remember one year, several years ago now, when the creek lasted for something like four to six weeks. That would be cool if that would happen again, that is what I am hoping for anyway.

The creek looks so much nicer when the grass and brush that lines it's bank is kept short, but it is a pain in the neck to try and cut all of last years over-growth of grass and weeds by hand, or even with a push or riding lawn mower. It is so thick it just bogs the machine down. So this year I decided to conduct a little controlled burn on my property.



I think things went pretty well considering this is the first official controlled burning I have ever taken part in. All total I probably burned about 3000 -4000 sq.ft. of grass and brush on my property, (the seasonal creek runs the entire width of my property).

It was a perfect day... warm, but not too hot... dry, but not too windy.



In a few of the places where the grass was long and thick, the flames would leap into the air six or seven feet at times... it was a bit intimidating, but I always had things under control. ;-)



I cannot believe the amount of heat that comes off of even a relatively small grass fire like this one. There were a few times when I was in the midst of the burn area, making sure the flames stayed under control, when the heat was so intense I could hardly stand it. In fact I incurred a few minor burns on my face where my skin was exposed. Nothing serious, just like a really bad sunburn, but it hurt for a little while.

I have a whole new level of respect for my Uncle who is a retired firefighter out in Orange County, CA. He put in over 30 years on the force out there... my hat is off to you "unc". Also to all the men and women who fight the forest fires up here in MT every season... the intense heat... the smoke inhalation... it is not fun.



Anyway, I dont want this post to run too long, but , the premise is, I have successfully completed my first controlled burn on my Montana acreage, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Also, aside from the black charcoaled grass and ash that will fade-away over the next week or so, the property does look infinitely better now that all the dead brush and long grass has been burned away, and I am now ready for the river to come. Bring on the snow-melt and bring on Trumble Creek!

PS... Stay tuned for tomorrow's post ..:: avalanche hunter ::..

..:: symphony of the sun ::..

I read this article a couple months back and I thought it was pretty awesome at the time I first read it. Writing yesterday's post reminded me of it again, so I searched through my computer files and tracked it down.

Take a moment to read it over. It is pretty cool stuff and another testament of God's glory.

Here is the article in it's unedited format:

The Sun's Atmosphere Sings:

Astronomers have recorded heavenly music being bellowed out by the Sun's atmosphere.

Snagging orchestra seats for this solar symphony would be fruitless, however, as the frequency of the sound waves is below the human hearing threshold. While humans can make out sounds between 20 and 20,000 hertz, the solar sound waves are on the order of milli-hertz--a thousandth of a hertz.

The study, presented this week at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Lancashire, England, reveals that the looping magnetic fields along the Sun's outer regions, called the corona, carry magnetic sound waves in a similar manner to musical instruments such as guitars or pipe organs.

Making music...

Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Center at the University of Sheffield and his colleagues combined information gleaned from sun-orbiting satellites with theoretical models of solar processes, such as coronal mass ejections.

They found that explosive events at the Sun's surface appear to trigger acoustic waves that bounce back and forth between both ends of the loops, a phenomenon known as a standing wave.

"These magnetic loops are analogous to a simple guitar string," von Fay-Siebenburgen explained. "If you pluck a guitar string, you will hear the music."

In the cosmic equivalent of a guitar pick, so-called microflares at the base of loops could be plucking the magnetic loops and setting the sound waves in motion, the researchers speculate. While solar flares are the largest explosions in the solar system, microflares are a million times smaller but much more frequent; both phenomena are now thought to funnel heat into the Sun's outer atmosphere.

The acoustic waves can be extremely energetic, reaching heights of tens of miles, and can travel at rapid speeds of 45,000 to 90,000 miles per hour. "These [explosions] release energy equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs," von Fay-Siebenburgen said.

"These energies are plucking these magnetic strings or standing pipes, which set up standing waves--exactly the same waves you see on a guitar string," von Fay-Siebenburgen told SPACE.com. The "sound booms" decay to silence in less than an hour, dissipating in the hot solar corona.

---------

So do you wanna know what melodies and verses the sun is singing? Science can't answer that for you, but I can...

It is written in Psalm 148...

¹Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights!

²Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts!

³Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars of light!

⁴Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens!

⁵Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

⁶He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].

⁷Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps!

⁸You lightning, hail, fog, and frost, you stormy wind fulfilling His orders!

⁹Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!

¹⁰Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!

¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers and judges of the earth!

¹²Both young men and maidens, old men and children!

¹³Let them praise and exalt the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted and supreme! His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven!

¹⁴He has lifted up a horn for His people [giving them power, prosperity, dignity, and preeminence], a song of praise for all His godly ones, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord!

..:: let there be light ::..

Have you ever considered the complexities in the semblant “simplicities” of the world around you?

I’m afraid that most of us take for granted the incredibly intricate and complex design of the nature that our creator allows us to live in.

Take for example the simple yet miraculous concept of vision and light.

The complexities of the human eye and the behind the scenes processes that make vision possible are mind boggling in and of themselves and, in my opinion, provide irrefutable evidence that God exists. But what about the light spectrum itself?... the remarkable element of nature which gives us the ability to see things in the first place.

Many people fail to realize what a miracle the concept of light is. I can’t even begin to explain in this short post, all the complexities of how light works. Like how it can have both wave properties and particle properties… how it possesses mass when it travels which disappears when it stops, (allowing it to produce electricity from certain crystals and travel through a vacuum)… how it is one of the earths greatest and most enduring sources of energy… or how it serves as a catalyst which sparks life into a tiny seed and gives it the power to grow into a hearty plant which produces fruits and vegetables - the very foundation of our entire food chain.

Moreover, consider all the brilliant colors that we take for granted everyday? Did you ever wonder why you are able to see different colors? Humans are able to see colors, because our eyes have special structures called cones which allow us to differentiate between different light energies -- most animals do not possess this ability (outside of a select few such as birds, some insects, and apes). You and I are able to see different colors because light has different energies -- red light being of a lower energy than blue. The cone in your eye membrane is able to differentiate between these varying light energies and thus interpret different colors to your brain. The beauty of our world can be seen because of the different energies present in the light that surrounds us.

Amazing as light and human vision is, the invisible aspects of the light spectrum might be even more impressive yet...

The spectrum of light goes way beyond what your eyes are able to see. The full spectrum of light includes things such as radio waves, x-rays, infra-red… even music is a form of light.

The reason our eyes are not able to “see” things like music, or radio waves is because these “light waves” have a much lower energy level than what our eye is able to perceive. This lower energy allows radio waves to pass through things like the walls of our homes which visible light cannot do. That is why you are able to turn on electronic receivers inside your home and pick-up the radio waves that enable your televisions and radios to play sounds and images.

Microwaves are also a form of light -- again outside of our ability to see. These micro-waves cause water molecules within an object to pick up energy without changing anything else within the object. This allows us to cook our food, and pop our movie-snack popcorn.

X-rays are an even higher form of light energy which is beyond the realm of what our eyes can see. The energy in X-rays allows them to pass through our bodies and show us things we cannot see with our naked eyes alone. Infra-red light rays heat things up… ultraviolet light rays allow us to tan our skin and provide our bodies with life and health, and still other forms of very long light waves can be used for communication purposes.

Part of me thinks it would be awesome to be able to actually see with my eyes what some of my favorite music would look like, or to see through walls with infra-red vision. But God in his infinite wisdom has sheltered our eyes from these extremities in the spectrum of light. If our eyes could receive all of the light that exists around us, it would be impossible for us to find any peace. Even with our eyes closed, we would see a jumble of light waves piercing our eyes all of the time, including radio, TV, X-rays, microwaves, etc.

Isn’t it awesome how God created the human eye to only be perceptive to the band of light rays that allows us to see things and distinguish colors, etc. He also created our ears to pick up on the lower energy light rays which allow us to hear voices, music and the ambient sounds of nature.

When the Creator said, "Let there be light," it was a powerful statement and the start of a truly remarkable creation which sustains the entire physical cosmos in which we all live.

Praise God…the light of this world and the one to come!

..:: blogger blues be gone ::..

I think any one who has maintained a blog for more than a week can identify with this little comic strip. Thought you'd enjoy.

I am having fun as a blogger, but I must admit, it can be a bit overwhelming at times trying to update the ol' blog, even on a semi-daily basis, much less a daily basis. I strive to provide my readers with a perpetual flow of fun and interesting new information, each time they visit my site, but unfortunately some days it is hard to come up with anything "blog-worthy" to talk about.

The only thing worse than having a stale blog is making posts to a blog which only serve to bore your readers into a coma. I hope none of my previous posts are guilty of that.

I read an article in the newspaper the other day that the stress of blogging is actually hurting peoples health and in some extreme cases has led to massive heart attacks. That is just ridiculous if you ask me. Blogging is supposed to be fun, not a tempest chore. If it ain't fun stop doing it. I don't want to lose any of my close friends into the blogger black hole!

Anyway, I guess my parting advice is to always keep a vigilant eye out for the unusual, but most importantly, lighten up, have fun and stop stressin'

Blog on fellow bloggers... blog on!

..:: hacked! ::..

Today was a crazy day. Someone hacked the hosting server where my companies web site is hosted and attempted to use our server as a spambot to mail out their filthy spam messages to poor unsuspecting guys and gals around the world.

The evil little parasite snuck in through a 'hole' in our software somewhere, deposited a bunch of spam garbage into our server hosting space and then attempted to blast a bunch of messages out using our mail server. The tech team that monitors the servers usage (our site is hosted with a third party company) noticed the exploit and shut down (froze-up) our email capabilities, which made my afternoon a headache-and-a-half.

The manager of the reservations department in my office was upset (understandably so) because he wasn't getting any of our online reservations. And I was working furiously to get all of our email passwords changed, and all of our potential security holes plugged so that the hosting company would clear our email server account to go active again.

Although it was a bit of a disaster, I tried not to get too shook up about it. I mean I was upset that some nasty little parasite spammer hacked our account, and that obviously made me feel more vulnerable than I did prior to today's mishap. But as far as the stress of trying to get us back online again... in a situation like that, you do what you can do as efficiently as you can, and the rest... you just have to let it roll, like water off a ducks back. You know what I mean?

One thing I do find a bit annoying, but mostly just hilarious is the way that "customer support" at the hosting companies, much like "customer support" in virtually every other industry in America seems to have little to no interest in actually providing any support to the customer. Their primary goal seems to be to sit back, do as little actual work as possible, collect their hourly rate , and offer vague rationalizations to whatever problem their customers are facing, and to point their finger at anything or anyone else other then themselves as both the problem and the cure to the issue. I really don't even know why they are there, much less why I still call them when there is a problem. I guess it just makes me feel better to be able to tell someone that there is a problem, even though I know that they are not going to do a thing about it.

..::uncle sam and a mexican cow ::..

I finished figuring up my taxes today, and just as I feared, I have to fork out more money to old uncle Sam again this year. It seems as though he robs me blind every two weeks throughout the year dipping his grubby little hands into my paycheck before I ever even see it, but apparently ol' Sam still doesn't think he has gotten his fair share, and wants me to send him more money still.

It is depressing, however, last October I promised myself that I would no longer get too worked up over our "high taxes" here in the good ol' US of A. You see last Oct. I had the opportunity to go down to LaPaz Mexico in Baja California Sur to do some deep sea fishing with my boss, who owns a condo on the beach down there. The trip was amazing, and the resort and marina where my boss lives is beautiful, but the public highway between Cabo (where my plane landed) and LaPaz, (where my boss' condo is located), was a complete NIGHTMARE!

This major highway was nothing more than a tiny, two-lane, pothole-ridden, little roll-a-coaster track through a free-range cattle field where 500+ pound cattle would wander out onto the road without warning and whenever they pleased. Along the way I passed several construction zones which my boss later told me had been "under construction for as long as he had had his vacation condo down there which has been several years now.

The three hour drive from Cabo to LaPaz was the scariest part of the entire trip. There were spots where road work was being done where the construction crew didn't have any signs posted in English or Spanish and the road would transition from two-lane to one-way in an instant and you would have no idea until you found yourself playing a game of automotive-chicken with some beat-up old truck being driven by a angry little Mexican dude with his middle finger in the air.

Another 'memorable spot' was an over-pass style bridge that was being built, but was not yet connected in the middle- picture the climactic scene in the movie "Speed" where Keanu and Sandra Bullick jump the missing space on the freeway over pass with their 50 foot buss - that's kind of what this unfinished bridge was like, on a slightly smaller scale. The bad part was, all that marked this crater of death was one tiny - almost invisible little sign written in Spanish telling you to turn off the road onto a little dirt detour - that was it! No no flashing lights... no bold-letter 'Caution-Sign' warning you that if you keep going straight you will plunge 50 feet to your inevitable death... just one tiny little detour sign in neutral monotone colors telling you to exit onto a dirt road. Miss that and it's 'Sayonara' for good.

Fortunately by the grace of God I did see the puny little detour sign and didn't have to pull out my Keanu stunt-moves. And thank God - all free range Mexican cattle must have been too busy chewing their cud that day to wander out onto the highway in front of my car, (although I saw several that looked as if they had done just that at some point earlier in the day).

But anyway, to make a long story short, my Mexico experience gave me a new appreciation for our "tax dollars at work" here in the good ol' USA and I promised myself that I would not be so quick to anger toward old uncle Sam in the future.

..:: dogs life ::..

Would you trade places with this little gal?

I'll tell you what, some days I sure think that I would like to.

Do you think that sounds stupid? Well, hear me out first...

Let me give you a brief glimpse of Chonte's typical day:

1. Sleep in till 9:00
2. Get picked up and carried outside to take care of necessary business.
3. Get picked up and carried back inside after necessary business has been taken care of.
4. Get lavished with praises, petting, and tasty treats simply for taking care of necessary business.
5. Take another 15 minute nap on the couch.
6. Get picked up and carried to comfy bed, which has been carefully prepared on back porch where you proceed to nap comfortably in the warm sun for the next 4 hours and stare at the beautiful mountains while master goes to work to slave away for money to pay bills and put food on table.
7. Awake from nap to the sound of master entering house for lunch break.
8. Get showered with more praises, petting and more tasty treats simply because you did such a good job of lounging lazily in the sun for the past four hours.
9. Get fed a tasty mid-day meal.
10. Get another tasty treat treat for finishing your tasty meal.
11. Get carried outside to take care of necessary business.
12. Get carried back inside and showered with praises, petting and treats for taking care of necessary business.
13. Switch comfy bed from back porch to front porch because that is where the warm sunshine is shining in the afternoon.
14. Wave goodbye to poor unfortunate master who has to go back to work to slave away for another 4 hours of grueling work to pay bills and put food on the table.
    
15. Spend next three hours watching attractive neighbor dogs of opposite sex strut their stuff up and down the block and barking ferociously at the competition who is vying for "alpha dog" title.
    
16. Chew on beefy barbecue-basted, chewy treat master has left to help you pass the time.
17. Daydream until you fall asleep in the warm sunshine.
18. Wake up to the sound of masters car pulling up the driveway after a long hard day of work.
19. Get showered with praises, petting and tasty treat for doing such a wonderful job of relaxing in the sun all afternoon.
20. Go on a stimulating walk around the block a few times to get the heart pumping, and maintain that shapely figure.
21. Wag bushy tail, and bat eyelashes at sexy dog next door.
22. Pee on every fence post, tree stump, and un-mowed blade of grass in yard of evil competition who is vying for "alpha dog" status and the love of sexy dog next door.
23. Return home happy, invigorated and ready for another nap.
24. Get showered with more praises and petting... just because "your so cute"
25. Nap on couch until dinner is ready.
26. Get served tasty dinner from master.
27. Get showered with more praises, petting and tasty treats for finishing dinner.
28. Relax on couch while master cleans up and does dishes.
29. Get carried outside to take care of necessary business.
30. Get showered with... well, you know the drill.
31. Have a stimulating game of "get the doggie" before bedtime.
32. Take position in customary spot at foot of masters bed for a good nights sleep after a hard day's work.

Now do you see what I mean.

Trading places with "the Chonster" doesn't sound like too bad of a deal to me... at least for a day. Unfortunately Chonte doesn't seem to be quite as excited about the idea as I was.