like Branjalena and Bennifer, only less interesting

10 of these

Turned Our Backyard From This

To This

We had no idea there was a brick planter around the trees when we closed in November.

We took in a stray dog this week and named her Daisy.  We might be putting the cart before the horse since we don’ t close on the house till the first week of November, but we hated the thought of sending her to the pound just because she was three weeks too early.  Allison has volunteered to keep her for now.  Thanks Allison!

Other than being quite thin, the vet gave her a clean bill of health.  As far as we can tell, she is house broken, doesn’t bark, gets along with other dogs and strangers,  doesn’t beg while we are seated at the table (just stares at us from a distance,) and seems to be a pretty good dog.

For anyone that isn’t aware, I lost my wedding ring back in February.  There really isn’t a cool story to how this happened.  It’s not as if I decided to go out on the town bachelor style or forgot it in a shady motel room.  There were no late night parties or strip clubs involved.  However, I was never quite sure how it became “lost,” of course until I found it.

Every February, my job requires a trip down to San Antonio for a yearly sales convention.  I usually spend a day or two out in our warehouse packing all the convention displays and materials.  This past February wasn’t any different.  After spending a few minutes in the warehouse one morning, I decided to head back inside for what was probably my 3rd cup of coffee.

On my way to the breakroom, I realized that my ring was missing.  While I couldn’t remember putting it on this particular morning, I was pretty sure I had done so.  It’s sorta like brushing your teeth in the morning.  When looking back several hours later, you may not remember doing so in your morning daze, but you can’t imagine that you would have left your house without doing so.  It just wouldn’t have felt right…With that in mind, it was quite cold outside so I figured it must have slipped off my hand while doing some heavy lifting in the warehouse.  Long story short, myself and coworkers spent several hours over the next 5 months tearing that warehouse apart.  I began to question rather I even brushed my teeth, I mean put on my ring that morning afterall.  And exactly like my grandmother in law and her missing burritos, I began insinuating that someone stole my wedding ring.

Turns out I found the wedding ring five months later in a “pop up banner” storage case, in the warehouse,  while packing for our yearly sales convention at the end of every July.  We have 10-12 of these pop banners that have accumulated over the years, but I was looking for the one banner that was actually up to date.  As I was opening each case, I happened to drop one.  This particular case’s lid popped off and lo and behold, my wedding ring shot out onto the concrete warehouse floor.  To be honest, I’m not sure I ever felt like a better husband than I did at that very moment.

James Avery now has my ring in Fredericksburg, Texas and is resizing it for a more snug fit.  They said it would take up to five weeks, but what’s five weeks when I’ve gone five months without it.

Grant and I are currently planning on leaving this Friday morning for our first backpacking trip!  We will more than likely head to a 22.3 mile loop in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado.  We aren’t sure how long this loop will take, but we have given ourselves till Tuesday night to finish for a Wednesday drive home.  This should be a fairly easy hike given that we plan to spread it out over 4 days.  I’ll try and post pictures and details upon our return.

You can see the details of our planned trip here.