I have been doing a whole lot of work with the dog, who you can read about over at www.diaryofaboozehound.blogspot.com . Yes, he has his own blog. This dog should have a massive ego, he doesn’t even know his popularity.

Other than all of that we have been getting ready to head out to Disney World and our condo at the Liki Tiki Village in Winter Gardens Florida. We have a couple of days and I will try to post some pics and maybe even some video if my iPad will let me!!!

Living in the Delta of Arkansas has been an adjustment to say the least. We have learned to fight all kinds of bugs, stray animals, and even the humidity. Today we got the opportunity to appreciate our surroundings, by engulfing ourselves with nature. The sheer beauty of what surrounds us is astounding. We started our journey by deciding that we were going to tie our fates. We chose to do a tandem kayak instead of renting two single person kayaks. I felt sure that Kristina would turn us over, just to do it. We both learned very quickly that you don’t play in a kayak, you just take notice of your balance every second of the journey.

We took the advice of the park ranger who helped us get out on the water. He told us to take off across the lake and then we could work our way back and we wouldn’t have the long journey across the open water. We thought that this made sense. So we took off for the other side of the lake, fighting everything from choppy water to submerged stumps. We took our time after realizing that every stump we ran on could tip us if we weren’t careful.

After making our way across the lake we journeyed into the lilly pads and the fun got underway. Never had we seen the lake from that perspective. The aquatic environment in Arkansas is totally different from kayak than it is in any other mode of transportation. When your sitting inches above the water animals don’t seem to realize your there, quietly making your way into their world. We got to see everything from turtles, to beavers. These encounters just helped to imprint the great memories that we were making together.

After sweating our way around the lake for an hour and a half, and traveling over 2 miles by water, we were beat (really I was beat, Kristina could have kept going all day, if not for the sun). We made our way back to shore, and rode around to see the rest of the park.

We are already thinking of the next chance to travel the beautiful waters of Cane Creek Lake in Star City Arkansas.

I had a cookout this past weekend and invited all my cousins, and the rest of my  mothers side of the family. I planned it with my cousin Kaycee, and we picked up two off her sisters to help prepare food. We bought five racks of ribs, and BBQ’ed the day away. They turned out to be the only ones to come, but I really got to know them better, and talk to them every day now. I am much older than they are, but I know that with family that doesn’t matter. We are going beyond age to make up for years of me being a distant name that never mattered much. I am learning about the rest of my family from them, and trying to find where I can fit in. I spent the whole day learning about them and having fun with them, and this picture is the only one I got all day (which shows how busy we were). That is my cousin Kaycee riding in the back of my Jeep with Hincapie.

Hincapie has now graduated Puppy Kindergarten, and is becoming my dream dog. I get to spend every hour of my day with him every day, and it is really making the bond that much stronger. He is now 6 months old and weighs every bit of 60lbs. I will post more on him later.

We are still working to get a Liquor License with a few good leads, and at least one offer (which we believe is way to high) on the table. We have found a location that should meet the ABC’s regulations and guidelines, and that would be very profitable. We should have some news in the near future on that.

Our family has settled in to our new “temporary” home, which will do just fine until we are able to buy a house in White Hall. We would really love to get away from “Mosquito Alley” A.K.A Highway 425.

Lexi’s birthday is approaching, and we have planned a big party at the White Hall City Park. We are inviting a lot of people, most of our family. She is having a Tinkerbell Party because she is still nuts over Tink.

That is pretty much the gist of what I can tell you about us so far since the move. There is a whole lot more drama in the liquor business than I ever imagined, but that just keeps it interesting, right?

We arrived at the Dog Park at around 4:15 and started to socialize, while Alexis and Kristina played at the regular park. They were done playing and decided to eat lunch in the truck to give Hincapie more time to play. After a long, late, lunch they needed some air in the truck and tried to start it up, only to hear a click. The battery had died on the truck and we couldn’t find a soul in the park with jumper cables. So we called in reinforcements from Pine Bluff to help us. This means that we were stranded for an hour and a half longer. We ended up spending three hours at the Dog Park, long enough to make one tired puppy (as seen below).

We finally made it home safe and sound, after finishing our unloading at the mini-storage, and unloading all but the last two pieces of our stuff from Conway. We are finally starting American Idol now, it is 8:47. We had planned on eating dinner at home, and watching it live. Don’t you just love moving?

Hincapie started work on Saturday night after a trip to the Dog Park in Little Rock. He slept the first few hours in the floor. Then after a little while he awoke and had nothing to eat or chew on, so he grabbed a pack of Sonoma 100’s and took them out of the carton they were in. We saved the pack before he ate them, but it was a little much to stop him from chewing everything without anything to give him he could chew on, so he got the rest of the night off at home. We are hoping to have him socialized so that he can stay at the store when I am working for added protection in the event that the new store is in a bad part of town. I know I would think twice about robbing a store if the store had a 100lb German Shepherd Dog in the store.

Hope all is well with you, look for more frequent posts now that the move is over.

We came across an ad that sparked our interest on a 13 week old German Shepherd male who had his shots and was partially housebroken. We contacted the owners after discovering that at least five of our friends were connected to the owner in various ways. We then heard the story behind why this 13 week old pup was needing a home.

Hincapie’s owner had just found out that she is pregnant, so she wouldn’t be able to give Hincapie the attention that he needs. We quickly decided that we would be a perfect fit, pending some tests.

Our vet showed us what is known as the pinch test. You pinch the dogs toe and see what its first reaction is. If the dog bites then it will not be good with small children. I totally underestimated the force that it would take to hurt Hincapie.You really have to hurt him so that you get a true reaction, and after what Wrigley was like we weren’t taking any chances, especially with a big dog. At 7 weeks old he was already a bustling 7.7 lbs. He did react favorably to the pinch test, showing that if Alexis were to fall on him or sneak up on him then she wouldn’t make him bite out of reflex.

The second test didn’t go as well, it was the Piper test. Piper has always wanted to be “top dog” and Hincapie is without question the bigger, and stronger of the two. Lets face it Piper is at a breed disadvantage. She didn’t attack, as we expected, and neither did he. Piper just ran to the end of the leash to get as far away as possible.

Piper has started to accept Hincapie as family. She is nervous about him, but is showing improvement. She will adjust, just a lot of changes going on.

We have spent the day getting the chores done and working with Hincapie. We noticed right off that he loved Alexis, but that he didn’t know how to play with her without hurting her. He was puppy nipping at her, and everything else as well as jumping up on us. So we took him to Petsmart and worked with a trainer up there. She showed him how to interact with Alexis, and how she should interact with him as well as how we should go about teaching Hincapie. By the time we were finished, Kristina and I were comfortable with teaching both Hincapie and Alexis how to fit in their roles in our family. Hincapie has had no further nipping, or jumping since the trainer session, which was free by the way.

After dealing with the trainer, and coming home for dinner, Kristina and I took our whole family to the walking trail, because lets face it a German Shepherd needs lots of exercise. We absolutely tired out Hincapie, and he is now resting comfortably in his new home. We plan on getting him into training within the next two weeks, and the free training session at Petsmart may have been enough to get me to Conway for training.

We just finished his AKC registration. We are planning on working Hincapie into doing agility stuff, just as soon as we finish his obedience training. We know how massively important it is to have a big dog properly trained. It is not only a convenience and control issue, but a safety one that we wouldn’t fail to address with Alexis being as young as she is. We want to train him to be the best family dog he can be, while getting all the benefits of his breed.

Here is a shot of Hincapie Varnell resting at his perch in front of the door. Our new protector.

Job hunting is one of those interesting times in your life that provides you with more than you can reasonably do at times, while leaving you with tons of time to go crazy. I am spending loads of time with my family, while trying to kill the loads of time that seem to drag on endlessly. The only part of this that really destroys your motivation is the stress. I handle stress incredibly well, under normal circumstances. During the stressful times I do great, but when there is a lull in the action such as a day off I get migraines. I have worked some stressful jobs without any issues, until I get home and have a break. Something about the release and the opportunity to relax gives me a migraine. Migraines run in the family, but as far as I know everyone else gets them in a similar way, only when the stress lulls. So my verdict is that I wish either every second of life was stressful or that every second of life was laid back. I can deal with all levels of end between, but not extremes. I could work in the most stressful of environments, and so long as I never take a vacation, I am fine.

I am thinking of ways to kill time, and books that I can read. So in looking for boredom busters, I discovered a new book on Kindle that I am reading now. It is Primitive by Mark Nykanen. It is the number 1 book on the Kindle top sellers list right now, mainly because it is FREE. This always makes them better!

So you may be asking what is this book about, click here for a link to the description on amazon.com. I hope if you have a Kindle you give it a chance. If you don’t have a Kindle you can still make an account, and download the Kindle for PC application to read it on your laptop. I wish you all happy reading. I am seriously considering a Book Review blog to voice my personal opinion on all the books I am reading, let me know if you think you might be interested in reading about my adventures in reading.

This is something to look at if your using a mobile card with your laptop for access. All the current ISP’s for the mobile cards implement a 5GB monthly cap, which if crossed will amass you with massive overage fees. So when your looking to expand your Internet access, just remember that usage is the big term to watch for!