Welcome to the world of sparkingdogg and my virtual salvage yard

I will, thanks!

6 to 8 inches of wet heavy snow here this weekend. Lots of work to clear so much snow.

I haven't had the 4wd Big Ugly out at all... the van goes fine, it has great tires.

Someone got a stolen really fancy (like $75k) 4wd truck stuck in front of our house... apparently a punk kid who couldn't figure out how to put it into 4wd. Police came but I didn't see anything. Apparently one of the other neighbors heard or saw it at 6 am Saturday. Wish I knew more... I hate thieves. Stolen rig was right across from the street light. Dumb ass punk, stuck in a 4wd.

Snow is a pain in the ass, in any case. Just more work.

Grew up in NE Iowa. Have shoveled my share of snow. Haven't had any in Dallas yet this year. Don't send any. Temps supposed to be 73deg Friday and going riding.

Lucky you!



The "new" Poulan Pro snowblower works great, at least. It's a 280cc (I think) 4 stroke with 120 volt start. Being a 4 stroke with a big engine, it really throws the snow far... but it's quite a bit more heavy than my old Toro 2 stoke. Hard to push. I'm going to have to get a 2 stage self propelled snowblower soon. As powerful as it is, it sure is heavy to push in deep wet snow. It's like pushing a loaded shopping cart through deep snow. Not fun.

I can't complain for the $100 I paid for it... it was only used once before I got it.

Good exercise for an old electrician. Glad to see you are not making the kids do it! I would help but don't own a snow shovel anymore.

We have a new member to the clan! Congrats to my oldest daughter and son in law!

I see she has my good looks.

Very cute kid, that looks very content. Congratulations!

Congratulations! What a cutie!

Congrats grandpa. Gorgeous girl.

Congrats, better start looking for a PW50!

Or a Grom...

Congratulations
Grand-parenting is the best job I ever had. ;-)

Hey, I just bought one!

I like the Groms (there was a RR here on 2 of them travelling coast to coast) but I prefer the Kawi Z125 pro, seem a little faster, we use them both at our rider training school as well as dirt bikes.

Special Day here...

My girl turned the big "One-Oh" today!

I made her her breakfast of choice... a chocolate covered, chocolate filled, chocolate pop-tart. Yuck. I don't know how anyone can eat such a sweet breako, but that's what she wanted. So I obliged.

She asked for lunch at Taco Bell, which totally surprised me.... we hardly ever go there. But that's what she wanted, and again I obliged her.

Yesterday we had freezing rain. Today the low temp was around 5° F (-15° C). Before that we had 6+ inches of snow. Now Ice World has returned, and I hate it. It's cold enough outside to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, and all the snow/rain/cold has compacted everything to shiny and hard ice. Ice World. Meh. We tried to enjoy the day anyways, but yeah it was COLD.

Somehow she conned me into taking her to Chuck E Cheese. I took my step kids there, first marriage, like 30 years ago, and vowed never to return. Now I remember why.

For all you non-US peeps, it's an arcade with video games. Here's how it works: First, you stand in line at the front door. Then you come in, and they stamp your hand with some super secret ultra violet stamp (to be sure you don't try and escape with your life, as you fend for yourself and leave your kids behind). Then you wait in another line. An attractive young girl greets you with a smile, but it's just a distraction tactic.

An armed guard then comes over, removes your wallet, and takes all your cash money. He checks you for valuable watches and jewelry, and takes those too. He uses a portable scanner to find any loose change in your pockets. Lastly, he walks you back to your car, and removes any loose change from the cup holder, and checks the seats for any other loose money. When he is 100% satisfied he has all your valuables, the young girl hands you a plastic card, like an ATM card.

Now, you let your kids loose, along with 5,000 other kids. You will only get brief glimpses of your kids once in a while, as you sit there for 375 hours. You have no idea where they went, no idea at all. Some of the people order what looks like pizza, and it arrives, and they try and force their kids to eat some, but really the kids only want to play the arcade games, so they protest by crying and screaming as loud as they can.

The volume on the approximately 10,000 arcade games is turned up to 11 on every game, and they never stop pumping out blaring racket. The parents try and scream at the kids over the volume of the games, to no avail. The kids respond by screaming. At nothing in particular, just screaming at the top of their lungs. The kids swipe their plastic card at each game, and mostly abandon the game after 15 seconds or so.

The unfortunate kids, who were forced to eat the synthetic pizza like substance, apparently have also ingested large amounts of caffeine (or worse) that was mixed into the synthizza, and proceed to act like wild monkey on crack. They climb on the tables, climb on the games, and bounce off the ceiling as they scream as loud as they can. Basketballs are flying everywhere, as well. Parents are yelling, music is blaring, kids are screaming, and babies are crying.

Once in a while, you catch a glimpse of your kids, scanning their cards, and dodging basketballs and crack head monkeys. After an eternity, a medic comes over and checks your heart. When they finally sense an irregular heart-beat and a stress induced headache, they electronically cancel your kids plastic card, which forces your kids to come find you, amidst flying basketballs. You are finally ready to leave. Almost....

The arcade games have issued each kid paper tickets, so the kids can get a prize. To get the prize, you have to take your kids to the ticket counting machine, and there is a long line. Each kid has been awarded around 7 million paper tickets, and of course the kid in front of you has torn them all into individual single tickets, so you get to wait another 17 hours for your turn. The tickets are electronically counted, and a total receipt is printed out.

Now, you take the paper receipt to yet another long line, and wait as people try to cut in front of you, and basketballs bounce off your head. When it's finally your turn, your kids turn in the paper receipts for their "prizes", which are about 10 cents worth of sugar candy and cheap plastic crap. Satisfied that you have paid $600 for a handful of cheap candy and plastic junk, and are in dire need of medical attention for stress induced shock, you are finally allowed to leave.

By the way, Chuck E Cheese is a mouse, and I fucking hate mice. I left that bastard some D-Con under the table.

We finally made our way home, through the arctic tundra and permafrost, and had a pizza party of our own. I frosted the cake I made earlier, and my big girl did the decorations. All in all it was a great day... but I won't be back to Chuck E Cheese for another 30 years. Trust me.

Happy birthday, little woman... you sure have grown!

Congratulations to your daughter.! Sounds like you tried to give her a day to remember (at great personal sacrifice). Your description of Chuck E Cheese is quite accurate (I was there once with my kids attending a party for one of their friends). Also one of the funniest things I’ve read in quite some time. Sounds like you need a trip to New Mexico- it was 65 and sunny and gorgeous here today.

Happy birthday to your daughter! My daughter has her birthday today as well She is 12 today. No chucky cheese over here so I guess we’ll skip that part. She asked for lasagne for her dinner so I’ll do that and my Wife will make the cake.
Childhood is so fleeting isn’t it?

I too have experienced the hell that is Chucky Cheese. This was about 35 years ago. At least we had beer there. Still, I haven't been in one since. A few more counseling sessions and my therapist says I should be ok.
There is a place called Fun-N-Stuff not too far from my home. My 15 year old loves it there, I won't go in any longer. It's too loud, too much shit going on for my old head. That place gives me the worst head-ache. Getting old is a bitch, ain't it?

Chuck E Cheese. Once is way more than enough.