Brown Dogs

We got to babysit our neighbors' puppy again last night. He was a terror! Chased M and the cats, pooped on the living room rug, and actually barked. Good thing he's so cute.

The neighbors' other dog is a few years old and he gets along with everyone a little better.

March Madness

It's March and the rabbits have invaded our yard. V is fit to be tied.

Exciting Taxi

This year we launched our new "Radius" model of zero turn mower. It'd aimed at the home owner with acreage and the entry level pro. Last week I was pleased to see it on display in the main hallway at our corporate office in Minneapolis. 

On the way home, I tried out a new place in the Minneapolis airport. On their menu, they have a yummy sounding frittata with an option for griddled SPAM. Not something you see in other parts of the country.

The plane to Lincoln left the gate on time and was on its way to the runway when trouble struck. As the left engine spooled up, it puked out a couple of fireballs. I was sitting on the left side and noticed the flashes and the sound of the engines slowing down - Hmmmm, that's strange... We sat there for five minutes before the captain announced what had happened and a herd of firetrucks rushed out and escorted us back to the gate. Fortunately, we were able to get a new plane and made it home only two hours late.

New Cat Toy

Last night we babysat our friends' new puppy. He is the cutest! The cats and dog tolerated him. Barely. At one point, V was stalking him like a lioness - she didn't know whether to play with him or kill him like a mouse. 

St. Patrick's Day

We had beautiful weather for St. Patrick's Day. We took the boys downtown - the Irish pubs had a street party with green (and black) beer, Irish dancers, and lots of people. 

Bassman

Since GP dropped out of speech, we've been pushing him to do something. He is now taking bass lessons at the Nebraska Music Academy. The instructor there is more about playing for fun than teaching theory. He groups his students together in bands and has them play together around town. It sounds like there's a shortage of bass players, so maybe GP will have a gig in his future.

ConExpo 2017

Last week I went to Vegas for ConExpo - Vegas' largest show. It only comes around every three years. The white part of the excavator boom above was "printed" on a new metal printing machine. The cab was also printed out of composite plastic.

There were thousands of vendors selling everything from o-rings to large forgings like this connecting rod.

There was every type of construction equipment at the show. All shiny and new. We walked about eight miles each day trying to take in as much as we could.

Thunder, Snow, & Hail

A couple weeks ago, we had the craziest weather day we've ever had in Nebraska. The wind blew for 24 hours at 30 mph straight out of the south. It warmed up a little and then the cold front passed. It started raining, then thunder and lightning, then hail (on our new roof!!), then snow. Until this, it has been an exceptionally mild winter. Hopefully we have a tame spring.

Door Prize

We went with CP to the Champion's Club on campus for an intro to UNL event. He met with someone in the engineering department that went over the basics of the learning group he  is joining.

CP had fun overall, but what really made his night was winning a new tablet as a door prize. How cool is that?

New Stove

A few weeks ago, we were wandering through Lowe's and saw the stove we've been looking at for the last two years was on clearance. Now all the appliances match.