Yesterday, Lisa's festive card and ornament arrived here, and then this morning we have snow flurries while I'm out walking the dogs. Today is my Christmas party at work, so it's like someone is trying to suggest something for today's Gallopalooza entry.

( ok, ok, I can take a hint..... )

Some musings of a middle-aged fart....

http://aworldofprogress.com/serenity-now/

There are all kinds of tv networks these days. From Lifetime ("Entertainment for Women") and Spike ("Entertainment for Straight Men") to Bravo ("Entertainment for Gay Men and the Women Who Love Them"). And then there's Hallmark - "Entertainment for People Who Think it's the 1950s." Case in point: last night Kelly and I watched a movie called "A Dog Named Christmas" that we recorded off of said channel. It's based on a book of the same name by Greg Kincaid.

If you haven't seen it, or even heard of it, here's a link. Basically, here's the synopsis: all the McCray kids are grown up and moved away from the family farm except for one "special needs" boy - actually a young man - named Todd McCray. Todd loves to take care of animals, especially injured wildlife, but dad resists letting him get a dog for a special "adopt a dog for Christmas" program at the local shelter, and which is an actual program. See, Dad had his heart broken by the loss of two dogs early in his life, and doesn't want Todd to go through the same thing. It's like someone entered a few plot keywords ("dogs," "farm," "Christmas") into a program, and out popped the screenplay, it was that predictable. But if that was all there was to it, I wouldn't bother to post about it.

Even though our emotions were being manipulated in scene after scene, and more importantly, we knew they were doing it, we still cried on cue, looking over at each other and laughing at ourselves crying our eyes out. We're only human after all. There's only so many looks at all those homeless dogs that Todd had to choose from in the shelter, or flashbacks to the dog that Dad left behind in Vietnam (the one that saved Dad's life - oops, did I forget that plot keyword?) .. only so much that two dog-lovin' hearts can take before the water works start. Every ten minutes I reached down to pet Alfie, sprawled on the ottoman with his head on my legs. And Kelly did the same to Mabel, who was curled up into a ball on his lap. Anyway, keep a box of kleenex handy. You don't want to need it, but you know you will.....

And speaking of Christmas, it looks like a flight of sugarplum fairies came over yesterday and barfed up Christmas in the living room. ( I wiped up most of it... )

Today's horse was on 4th Street, in front of the Visitors Center downtown.

( take a visit here..... )

Remember a certain nursery rhyme that goes a little something like this?

This week's horse is one of the more playful ones I've found, and one of the few I've taken outside of downtown.

( But first, a word from our sponsor )

Today, as part of our pre-holiday sale, is a bogo-palooza.... buy one get one free. I spotted both of these while taking some pics for markgharris . They were both in front of Greater Louisville Inc., our local chamber of commerce, and represent the power of entrepreneurship.

Another busy fall weekend in Stylish Acres; the leaves are relentless this time of year. (Wish I had my camera handy Saturday to snap a pic of a tank-topped hottie raking leaves a few doors down.) On top of leaves and planting some bulbs (dangit, who knew there were fall-blooming crocus? Not me until after I planted!), I got my drivers license renewed, with a change of address, returned a sweater to Target and ended up spending more than the exchange, and moved some furniture from my almost-empty condo in The Chateau to my friend Kat's apartment in Old Louisville -- which, according to wikipedia, is the largest preservation district in the country featuring almost entirely Victorian architecture, and contains the highest concentration of residential homes with stained glass windows in the U.S.

I worry about Kat sometimes. We first met working together loading outbound airplanes at the UPS hub back in peak season (mid-fall leading up to Christmas) 1996, from about 2-6 am every weeknight. Isn't that butch? It was hard work sometimes, but I think that was one of the funnest jobs I've ever had. One winter I remember there was so much ice on the ramp, and foot-deep slush from all the de-icing glycol they sprayed almost constantly on the planes. We had to pull these giant containers (we called them "cans") close to the plane, on the slippery ice and slush, because vehicles could only get so close to the planes to avoid possibly hitting them. Like I said, it was hard, but when you left at the end of your shift, you knew you had accomplished something -- loading planes on time, based on where they were going -- and you didn't take work home with you, not even in your head.

Anyway, Kat also (and still) worked as a server, which is tough on her knees after 20 years in the restaurant business (she's kind of a full-figured gal). So tough that she's getting them replaced at the end of this month, and will be off work, without income. I didn't realize how tough an industry that was to work in, benefits-wise. Aside from the potential of crappy tippers, her insurance is pretty basic and for some reason I think she said she was ineligible for disability. She could take some vacation days, but she's paid based on her regular wage rate of $2.35 an hour I think. She's been sort of trapped there for the past few years because she can't make as much starting out somewhere with regular hours and benefits as she can serving. So -- long story short -- be good to your servers when you're eating out somewhere.

Kelly picked up Sophie's ashes, so we're looking for something more substantial to put them in. It still feels weird not having to do all the extra things you do for an older dog... cleaning up the extra messes, making sure she got to eat and go outside. Sometimes I wish I had the chance to do some of them again, but that's my own selfishness talking.

To close out the weekend, Kelly and I didn't feel like cooking at home, so we went out to Cafe Lou Lou, one of our favorite restaurants nearby. And -- for the record -- he got me to try something different, the meze plate appetizer. We split a gyro and each had a bowl of soup too. He had white chili and I had chicken tomatillo. We were stuffed.... pretty soon I will have to wear elastic-waist jeans.

Today's horse is called "A Horse Divided," a play on Abe Lincoln's quote, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  I can hear you wondering, "Is it Hatfields vs. McCoys?  Union vs. Rebels?  Jim Beam vs. Makers Mark?"
( Wonder no more... )

A Horse Divided sits on 4th Street, in the heart of downtown near the Kentucky International Convention Center, which you can see behind the horse in the first pic.  Behind the horse in the 2nd pic -- hold on to your hat, Mark -- is the base of the Penis Building.

As I walked down Deputy Drive in Stylish Acres to the bus stop, I ran into our next door neighbor, Mindy #1, walking her dog Molly*.  Molly, a tan lab, wagged her tail at me (Mindy did not), and looked so friendly I had to stop and ask her if she was having a good walk.  She humored me with some kisses and more tail-wagging, with an indulgent look on her face that said, "Duh, is there such a thing as a bad walk?  Two-legged freak!"  The reason I call her mommy Mindy #1 is because another woman, I presume an old friend of hers and fellow dee-vor-say, has moved in and her name is also Mindy.  Mindy #2 also answers to Drunk Mindy, but that's another story.

I caught the reliable #31 within a minute, barely having time to get my mp3 player interfaced with my aural receptors before the bus stopped.  Today would be a music day on my morning ride, as I didn't really feel like reading without having my early morning cup of Joe (and if you've seen Joe, you'd know why he puts a little hitch in my get-up).

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Today's horse is named "Louis' Horse," and sits in front of the old Court House next to a statue of King Louis XVI, for whom our fair burg is named. 
( take a closer look, I won't bite.... )

Today, our Master of Ceremonies, markgharris , challenged me in this post to re-write this entry as a poem.  Here's my feeble attempt.

Last night, Kelly and I both dressed up to pass out candy.  He dressed as Elvis (Kelvis?) at work Thursday when they let employees' kids in for trick-or-treating.  He always surprises people when he dresses up (including me!), because he hated Halloween as a kid -- being made to dress up in costumes that he didn't pick.  Anyway, last year he found a hippie costume that he wore for work and to my 1968 birthday party, so I guess his mom never made him dress up as a hippie (guess there were too many kids at the time dressed that way for real) or as Elvis.
( Click here to see.... )

This week's horse is titled, "Thunder," named for the annual fireworks show and day-long riverfront event called Thunder over Louisville.  This event kicks off the Kentucky Derby Festival with a bang, and was once billed as the largest fireworks show in North America.  There's also an air show, musical acts on barges in the river, food vendors, and lots and lots of people-watching.

( Hold on to your seat..... )

Today is our annual ChiliFest tradition at work.... Wednesday before or after Halloween.  There'll be 4 or 5 versions of chili, gumbo, etc., lots of chips & salsa, cookies and cakes.  I made a 2-layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (a little orange liqueur added for flava), and chopped walnuts on top.  Mmmmmm.

This week, we trot down to my old neighborhood of Clifton for a little color.
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We started at Ye Olde General Store (there's more pics later, because I went back for something I saw).



Below left, views of the forest early on our hike.  Right, River Styx Spring.


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