Cartoons

One of my good friends from high school tracked me down on Facebook and asked me if I am still into cartooning (I had done a couple of little drawings for him back in the day). I scanned in a couple of drawings and sent them to him. Then I figured, since they're already scanned in, maybe I should post them. After all, what's the point of having a blog if you can't inflict stuff like this on others?
(You can click on the picture to see it full-size)

This one came to me while I was working on a Sunday School lesson a couple of years ago...

This one struck me as funny as I was reading...

Because I'm warped, this is what came to mind when we sing the hymn...

Click here for PDF file (637 KB)

This was one that I was working on for a while then put together for my brother before he went on his mission...

Inner Redneck...

Yesterday was the annual branding party out at the grandparents'. It's too bad most of you would not appreciate how much better this year was than last year. And I'm not just talking about the 4 applications of SPF 45 sunscreen that kept me from turning into Lobster Man this year. It was actually organized! No, that's not the heatstroke talking. The calves were actually calves and not small cows. Apparently regulating conjugal visits can help prevent 1-yr old calves at branding time. The biggest shock was walking over to the arena and seeing the new sorting pens with fully functional metal bi-directional swing gates. Slap me and call me Bessie... that made life so much easier.

For those more intimately acquainted with the proceeding of previous years, here's a quick overview of the layout... click here for the video (approx. 1.4 MB)

Gone were the shouts from Grandpa, "Get the big one.... No! The big one! The big calf!"... The calves with horns as long as my arm were but a memory (which was a good thing because Grandpa didn't have a de-horner)... No more calves big enough to force their way out of the squeeze, sideways. Just 120 calves, started at 10 AM, finished at 3:30 PM.

Mom was a little disappointed that we didn't get any video of her roping, but we did get a picture of it...

(click for full-size image)

The highlight of the day had to be as we were heading back to the house after it was all over. Grandpa said, "This is the only way to do branding." Really?? So, we're keeping track?... starting... now?

The other beneficial side effect is that- thanks to my sister's apparent fixation- we have a lot of footage of the bull calves getting their "preventative maintenance" (including a couple of extreme close-ups thanks to the 50x zoom on the video camera). I am going to put those together on video (maybe to music) so when Terina and Alaina start dating, I can play it for the young gentlemen as they wait for my daughters to get ready. Before they leave the house for the date, I will simply tell the young men, "You mess with my girls, and I'll mess with your boys..." I think that'll get my point across.

"Hello kettle, this is Gary...you're black!"

Since venturing out into the world of blogging I've taken a little flack for it, and rightly so. In the past I have been somewhat vocal about how silly this whole blogging "fad" is. It amused me to see how people seemed to go through the day looking for the next thing to blog... taking pictures for the express purpose of blogging... that sort of thing. Even as I did my first entry, I was still telling myself that would never be me.

Yesterday as I was driving home from Edmonton, I think it was somewhere near Red Deer when I caught myself thinking, "I haven't posted for a few days, I'd better think of something." Shortly thereafter was when the "Neener Neener" fairy smacked me upside the head with the realization that I had become what I had mocked so hard in the past.

There's just something about this silly blog system that is illogically compelling. Maybe it's the idea that people actually read what I write, but if that were truly the case then I could get the same "buzz" from email (you read my emails, right?). Whatever it is, I feel like an addict still in self-denial, "I'm not doing this because I have to, I could walk away any time I want."

Were it not for Facebook, this entry would've been about turning the Lego Jedi Starfighter acquired from eBay into the way cool Sith Starfighter (along with all the photos). Let the mocking begin (or continue, for some of you)... I blog, and I like it. It could be worse, just be grateful I don't know how to turn this into a Podcast.

Edit: May 21

I didn't want to use up a post just for this, so I thought I'd add it on here... My new breakfast of champions: SlimFast with chocolate milk (ice cream optional, but still recommended). Doesn't get much better than that :)

Now what do I do with it...

Originally, I was going to make a blog to mock people who blog (which still may happen periodically)... Apparently I am sometimes prone to the use of sarcasm and I have it on good authority (aka my father-in-law) that I am often a smart... *mouth* (edited for family-friendly viewing).

Michael's blog got me thinking that I might be able to use this space for something other than a daily summary of my events. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against those blogs, it's a nice way to feel connected with family & friends who decide to do silly things like live in Texas or Whitecourt (for someone who is so anti-winter, you're knee-deep in it). If I tried to keep a blog like that, it would look something like this:

Got up, had breakfast (SlimFast & Ice Cream), went to work (in my pj's), made some calls, did some email...

I'd get thrown off the 'net as waves of boredom spread like an epidemic. Of course, I could just be flattering myself in thinking that people would actually read this...