Lilly turned one year old today. For her birthday I gave her a piece of my broccoli from dinner and let her lick my feet.

A few nights ago after Riley went to bed Angel and I decided to give Lilly an early birthday party by tormenting her with socks.

Tonight while I was downstairs working on a new tune (you can hear it in the background if you listen closely) Angel shot some video of Lilly fighting with herself and eating her foot. We’re so proud to have such a smart dog.

Riley got a new haircut this past weekend. Over the past few months he had developed an insanely persistent habit of twirling his hair. I mean all the time. Both hands on top of his head all day long, every day. We’ve tried various methods to get him to stop but the one that he finally agreed to was to get a haircut like his buddy Nicolas. Of course it’s the same haircut that I have but looking like dear old dad just didn’t seem to appeal to him quite like looking like Nicolas.

Today I started working on the lyrics for the next new tune in line. I opened up my lyrics notebook and started looking through it for any interesting ideas. On the very first page I found some notes I made to myself. The page was dated 3/12/08. At the top of the page was this:

I Have Walked On The Moon is shaping up poorly.

My Dancing Days, Sin No More, Going To Memphis, and Falling For Me are finished and sound absolutely nothing alike. I need to start over with fresh ideas.

I Have Walked On The Moon was the working title for my solo record. I still completely agree with what I said. Thankfully, I don’t have to deal with that mess any more.

There were a bunch of bullet points on that same page. Here are a few of them.

- New beats.

- Don’t try to make blues music.

- Learn how to combine The Beatles with Alt-Country and Soul music.

- Don’t keep working on songs that don’t really excite you.

There were many more that I should probably keep to myself.

At the bottom of that page there was one lyrical line that I really liked. As luck would have it that line fits perfectly into the chorus of the song I was starting to work on. Sweet.

Angel’s blog post from today is exceptionally funny. Go read it.

Last night my family celebrated my and my second cousin Brock’s birthdays. I was a little concerned before the party because no one had asked me what I wanted. There is usually a thread of emails that gets forwarded around the family before a birthday asking if the birthday person has any gift suggestions. Not to worry though, I was very pleased with the outcome.

My mom got me a seven volume, hardback collection of the complete sermons of Martin Luther. Wow! I was very surprised by that and extremely exited to own such a thing. Super cool. I also got some pajamas that are much more age-appropriate than the Spongebob jammies Riley got me. Right on. In the event of a house fire I would be much more inclined to run into the front yard wearing these pajamas than if I were wearing my Spongebob jammies. If I were wearing the Spogebob jammies I would probably just have to go down with the house so as not to cause any humiliation to my wife.

I also got a bunch of cash. For those of you who read this blog on a regular basis you might rememeber that I already bought myself a birthday present six months ago banking on the presumption that I would get some money for my birthday to pay it off. Phew! My gamble paid off.

Here’s a picture of me and Angel from last night.

Isn’t she pretty. This picture demonstrates why God created Rock-n-Roll bands. Because some pretty girls are suckers for an oaf with a Stratocaster.

I can’t take any more. I had to come down here in the basement to escape watching Palin get her clock cleaned by Biden.

I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to trust her as the V.P. or if she just wanted me to buy her a drink. I don’t want to be charmed. I don’t want to be flirted with. I want to know that she is qualified for the job and (much to my dismay) she has clearly shown that she isn’t. I was really pulling for her too.

Being that I’m a non free-thinking, creationist simpleton I thought that McCain walked all over Obama in their debate. Issues aside, McCain clearly showed a higher level of authourity and experience in his answers. Obama’s answers seemed canned and rehearsed, not to mention the wholly unattractive level of arrogance Obama portrays. Pride is the single most repulsive characteristc in humans and Obama has it by the barrel.

I’m seriously disappointed in Palin’s performance. If she winks at me one more time…

Enough said.

Speaking of pretty ladies who wink at me all the time, Angel has her own blog now. And she has promised to actually use this one. Make sure you add her to your feed reader.

angelsite.wordpress.com

Last Friday was my 36th birthday so Thursday night Angel took Riley shopping because he wanted to get me a gift from himself. As they were walking around K-Mart Riley was thinking out loud (he actually does everything out loud) saying “Let’s see. How about some guitar strings? Naaahhhh. He’s got plenty of those. Maybe some guitar picks? Naahhh he’s got lots of those. Hey, what about a new guitar?” Angel had to inform him that a new guitar would cost a smidge more than he could spend. Riley continued “OK then, what about a new bike?”

He ended up getting me some Spongebob pajama pants. They’re awesome.

Last night we dumped the camera and found another picture that would seem to indicate that Lilly might be a threat to Riley’s life. We think she may be a vampire judging from this picture.

On Monday Angel’s Uncle Rickey died. Rickey was 53 and was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy eighteen years ago and was given only seven years to live.

This is Rickey and Riley from a few years ago.

As soon I got home from work on Wednesday we drove down there so we could be at the funeral on Thursday. It was a pretty rough few days but it was very nice to see the people who came out in droves to pay their respects.

We got back into town late last night so if I haven’t replied to your email yet I’ll get to it soon.

We decided to take Lilly with us since Angel’s family hadn’t met her yet. Driving nine hours in a compact car with an oversized dog is not easy. Lilly tried every conceivable position she could think of to get comfortable. Here are a couple of pictures of her efforts.

Angel’s mother’s dog Picco greeted Lilly with a big old smile as soon as we got there.

This is Angel’s brother Matt, her mother Connie and Riley before we left for the funeral. Yes, Matt is really as huge as he looks.

Uncle Rickey was buried just a few feet from Angel’s brother Marcus who died of Spina Bifida in 1984. This is why Riley’s middle name is Marcus. This is Marcus’ grave if the pic is too small to tell.

OK now for some comic relief.

Riley always wants me to record him on the computer either talking or singing or screaming or rapping or whatever he’s decided would be funny that day. I’ve got hours of this stuff. So today Riley decided that raspberries would be comedic theme for the day. He was buzzing his lips so hard that he blew two gigantic snot snakes out of his nose that reached all the way to his bottom lip. Listen to this mp3 and you’ll hear the magic at about 15 seconds in. Then there’s some more general foolishness after that.

Download the mp3 here.

Riley lost his first tooth today at school. The nurse sent a tooth home with him in an envelope labeled “Bradley Johnson.” I don’t know who Bradley Johnson is but if you see him tell him we’ve got his tooth.

Today was Riley’s first day in the first grade.

We decided we’d have him ride the bus this year. I guess I’d never really given it much thought until today but there is something very strange about putting your only son in a vehicle driven by someone you’ve never met and just hoping they’ll actually bring him back. They did. We’re relieved.

Angel lost her job today. Her boss came in and informed her that they were shutting down her branch effective immediately…and I mean immediately. Within ten minutes of being told, she was out the door with her stuff, the lights were turned out and the door was locked.

The thing that made the whole situation even more bizarre was the fact that I was there. I hardly ever go in her office. I had started work at 4:00 AM this morning so I got off around noon and went by her office to drop off a deposit slip (payday) and a check for her to get a haircut after work. Her boss was there and had just told her about the closing a couple of minutes before I walked in. So I helped her pack up her stuff and take it home.

So go ahead and empty out your savings accounts and get those checks in the mail to us promptly. If you will plant a “seed” in our ministry God will richly bless you, heal all of your diseases, and make you prettier.