COON DAWG!

So where is my coon dog? Apparently I don't have one. We have been having a racoon sneak in through the cat door into our house at night. It comes in, eats all of the cat food, drinks all of the water, and grabs the cat food bag and tries to drag it back outside. So I borrowed a couple of traps from my brother in law. I set one up on the garage on Saturday night and Melissa and I went on a date. At about 11PM Kreed called me to say that the coon came into the house, opened one of the drawers in the kitchen and then went into the office and pulled a book off the shelf. Then the coon went into the garage and got stuck in the trap. Exactly what I wanted (however I have had these traps set up for over a month and the coon has kept on outsmarting me somehow).

When we pulled up that night, the coon was still trapped, but as soon as I got out of the car, it was so scared it peed all over. I didn't know their bladders were that big. Now folks, coons are cute, but size for size, they are as vicious as a bear. That sucker was trying to eat me through the cage. It was sticking its little hands out and grabbing my jeans and trying to bite me. Man that thing was ferocious.

Back to the dog comment. If you look in another post earlier in the year you will see our "coon dog". It is a little miniture pincher. I know it is not the biggest dog, but you would think it would at least want to protect its turf. Not so. I asked Kreed what "Charley" (our coon dog) did when the coon came inside. Kreed said that Charley came flying upstairs as fast as she could and then sat down and peed all over the floor. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Come on, really. What use is that dog then? Geez. Can't even utter a bark. And oh by the way, my blog title is misleading. THAT DOG CANNOT HUNT.

Well I have attached a couple of photos of the coon. It was a small one. The next day, yesterday, we drove it up further into the mountains and let it go. I was out of spray paint, but I was going to spray a yellow line down its back, in case it came back, so I would know we had caught it before...

Check this link out!

My sister, Rachael was here last week. She took some amazing photos of us and Nathan (my nephew and her son).
Check it out here: http://nathanielcharles.blogspot.com/

3 Strange Days

Beau and Riggs

Ryker pretending to be "Predator"

Some of the Crew and G'pa Andersen

Riggsles and his natural "faux hawk"

Beau Rocking Out

I took Zane to the airport today. Beau was with me. On the way back we heard the below song by School of Fish. I was listening to the 90's station on Sirius. I had forgotten all about this song. Not even on my Ipod. It will be now. I taught Beau how to rock out. The pictures is included. We listened to the song twice with the windows rolled down and the radio all the way up. It was awesome! Strange moments, out of the blue, like these are really enjoyable.

For three strange days

I had no obligations

My mind was a blur

I did not know what to do

I think I lost myself

When I lost my motivation

Now I'm walking 'round the city

Just waiting to come to

For three strange...For three strange daysI couldn't put a smile on my face

So they dressed me up in all of their clothes

And took me somewhere else

Johnny Clueless was there

With his simulated wood grain

So I pulled up a chair

And started drinking by myself

For three strange...I've got to make it through

No matter what it takes

Oh I've got to make it through

These strange daysI lay down for a while

And I woke up on the ocean

Floating on my back

And staring at the gray

It was completely still

Except the pounding of my heart

Bringing me back to life

From three strange days

Three strange...Three strange daysThree strange days

My Mom, Grandpa, and Zane came to visit us this week. My Mom left yesterday with Grandpa. Poor Grandpa. He just is getting old and can't think too well anymore. We had an enjoyable time. Hopefully they did too. Zane and I got up this AM and went Mtn. Biking. It was actually warm, like summer should be.

Rachael comes this week, with Nathan. I hope Nathan enjoys it, he is going to be mobbed by his 5 cousins. I don't think he will be lacking for any entertainment. We are really looking forward to it.

Here is a video of Ryker and Dawson on the Dunes. Ryker is the one that gets stuck, and Dawson comes to rescue him, but ends up making it worse. Check out Ryker falling down, and Dawson giving one more blast of the throttle just to make sure he is stuck. Pretty funny stuff!

OK, on my first blog when I asked for snow, I just meant for the winter season. This was taken just this week, the last week in May. Notice the SNOW FLAKES! Wow. You know what they say: "be careful for what you ask for..."
Things have been real busy, as usual. We went to the dunes again last weekend. Photos will be posted a new blog later. All of the boys got Buzz cuts, so that saves some money on haircuts. The kids got out of school last week. I, personally (Matt) am happy about that. I don't have to drive them to school anymore, and Melissa does not have to pick them up, which will save money in gas. On the flip side, Melissa gets to have them in her hair all day long. Her most recent, repeated comment is "What did we do? Five kids!". No kidding.
I will post some more later...

The Dunes

Our family's newest member "Charlie"

These pictures will help catch you up

Melissa & Beau kick'n it
Riggs just could not take it anymore
Beau get'n ready for winter X games

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. Since I am short on time, I have put these in to catch you up on the past few months. Enjoy.

MOAB

Riggsy in the backpack
The crew and the cousins
Buzzy and Preston in a hole

It has been a while since the last blog. Not because nothing has happened, but because so much is happening there has been no time to blog.

We went to Moab last week for the kid's spring break. It is an annual trip we go on with Melissa's parents and sisters and their families. Normally it is much warmer than where we live and it primes us for the summer season. This year, not so. It snowed the whole way down and for the first two days of being there. I was determined to ride my bike anyway, and got snowed on, but it was fun. At least I did not sweat much! The last two days were much warmer. Luckily the Motel had a hot tub and warm pool. The boys just love to swim everyday. This year we played golf, which took the time space we usually use to ride go carts and see a movie. Below are the pictures and a video.

We were supposed to go on another trip this week to Goblin Valley with my cousin Dan and Jen, but at the last moment, I did not get paid enough from my outstanding bills due, and we had to forfeit the trip in lieu of waiting for more pay to arrive. It was very disappointing to say the least. It will probably be for the better because I just got slammed with work again this week. Next week, I am supposed to go play again in Moab. Just a guys trip that weekend. Meeting some friends from Phoenix. Then the week after that I am going to go play again. This time with Dan, Rick, my uncle Mike and cousin Mike. It will be a Wild Hogs weekend in S. Utah. I am renting a Harley since I don't own one. Now I just need to get a license!

You may think, man you are playing a lot Matt. And my response would be "dang right". I have arrived at the philosophy that my last thought in life will not be "man I should have worked more". Quite the contrary. So I figure, as long as I am providing for the family (which is barely working out lately), being a good husband and father, then play I must, and as much as I can! Another thought that has come to me lately that I may start testing out is the new motto: "Food and Fun before bills". I doubt that the creditors will appreciate it that much, but hey it makes me feel better, even if I don't take action on it.

For a more serious note. I got to see my good friends Cory and Jenny last week in Moab. They moved there a couple of years ago. Cory is a river guide down there, and just got his own boat to manage. He showed it to me. I did not realize that river boats were so big, and with such a big motor. I enjoyed seeing what he was doing to it in getting it ready for the big season. He said there will be big, big water this summer because of the anticipated runoff on the Colorado River. After that I went back to his house and talked to him and Jenni for quite a while. I really enjoyed connecting with them again. It has been too long. I hope I can do it again, soon. Cory is thinking about getting another dirt bike (he gave it up a few years ago). I hope he does, as now that that is one of my favorite things to do, I would love to ride with him.

Well check this out. 72 degrees on Monday. Snow yesterday and today and in the 30's all day long. Wow, talk about a swing! I know April is generally a little chilly and rainy around here, but ususally things are blooming, it is green, and it is much warmer. I really got my wish this year! Plenty of snow. I will be snowmobiling into June probably. Speaking of which, I had another reality check last week. There is a thing that one can do each Spring in regards to snowmobiles. One can "Snowcheck" a sled. What that means is that you can give a sled dealer $500 now, to gaurantee a brand new sled of the next year's model delivered by Nov. 15th. If it does not show up by then, then you get $1500 back. Plus you get all sorts of extras for taking the risk. I wante to get a new one so bad, but Melissa planted my feet back on the earth and I had to pass. Perhaps next year...