Giant Wasp Like Insect

Found this little fellow in the house!  I finally got brave enough to capture him in a wide mouth pint jar before it ate one of my kids.

 

I got home the other day as my wife is stepping out the door to take off for the dentist.  She says, "Look at the giant wasp in the laundry room".  My first thought was that she saw one of the giant horsefly looking bugs that I have been seeing lately.  I stepped in the house and heard a helicopter like noise and smashing against the window. 

 

This was a giant wasp looking critter.  It was close to 2 inches long and had two sets of wings that looked similar to butterfly wings with the coloration and size.  To tell you the truth it kind of freaked me out. 

 

It appeared to be sticking close to the window, so I went to the bedroom and closed the door to see if I could find out what it was on the internet.  I couldn't find this specific wasp but did read one article where an Asian wasp of this size delivered a sting that felt like a hot nail being driven through your leg.  SON OF $%^%*!  I really didn't like the idea of this thing being in my house.  Especially where it was trapped in the laundry room that we were planning on cleaning later.

 

I grabbed a jar and got close to it once.  It flew straight at me.  I tripped over a chair and almost stepped on a kitten on my scurry to the bedroom.  I tried to devise a safe way to capture this aggressive beast that shoots fire nails out of it's abdomen. 

 

Finally, I mustered up the nerve to try again. I went to the laundry room and it was gone.  How?  All of the doors were shut.  It didn't want to leave the window.  I looked all around.  Great.  There's no way I'm digging through boxes to clean with that thing in there.

 

I had a couple other things to take care of so I ran out for a bit.  When I got back to settle down on the couch in the living room, I heard the helicopter sound again.  He somehow got into the living room.  This should not have been a surprise.  It had somehow gotten into the tightly secured house.

 

The window seal met up with the back of the couch and gave me an ambush point where it could not see me.  I grabbed the jar and turned it over to trap the wasp.  As I lowered the jar in a swift motion, it caught between the couch and the window.  There was not enough room.  This thing came out from under the jar so fast.  I jumped back and juked and dodged the fire nails coming at my face.  I was part cat and part ninja.  Catja!

 

There wasn't much time left before I had to go pick up the kids from school so I had to make another attempt at capturing the beast with wings.  I pulled the couch slightly away from the window hoping not to aggravate it any more.  It was now sitting on the ledge.  It worked.  I had a clear shot now.  I lowered the jar over the top of it.  There was about a 1 inch overhang that it could have slid out the bottom, but I swiped the jar lid under it to trap it in the jar. 

 

The thing went crazy once it was trapped.  It started stinging the edges of the glass wherever I would move my hand.  It was furious.  It didn't look quite so ginormous in the jar, but it still looked huge.  I poked holes in the lid to give it some air. 

 

My kids were really intrigued by it, and my youngest couldn't wait to take it to show and tell the next day. 

 

I have never seen a wasp like creature this big and hope to never encounter one again.  I'm still not sure what it is and if it is supposed to be in South Central Kansas. 

SCHOOL! - Monday Night Muck Em

Everything has been really busy the last couple of weeks.  I wasn't expecting to be as busy as I have been.  Football practice has started and now the kids are in school.  I knew it was coming up but the last couple weeks of summer ended with a fury.

 

On top of buying a new pickup, I have had to have 2 vehicles repaired at the shop.  Ouch!  Then, as if that was not enough, we had another car go down.  It's still drivable, but has no A/C now and the windows will not roll down.  With the temperatures over 100 degrees, it's undrivable.  I think I have the A/C figured out.  Hopefully it's just a $7.50 part.

 

We got a 2 weeks notice from our babysitter and had to find a new place to keep our daughter. 

 

We got approved for a house loan with the bank, put in an offer on a house and was rejected. 

 

This weekend I was out of town for 3 days helping a friend move some heavy furniture from Kansas City to Oklahoma City.  A lot has been happening.

 

I was so ready for school to start.  My bank accounts have taken a hit this summer, with over $1000.00 a month in child care.  That was only a portion of the cost.  We had a babysitter come to our house so our electric bill has been twice as high as usual and our food costs were up.

 

I really feel that poker along with selling on ebay, kept us afloat this summer.  We could have skipped out on the Kansas City trip to save some money if we needed to, but then we would not have had such a great summer. 

 

Two Monday's ago we had our Monday night muck'em.  I forget all of the details other than the one in which I finished in 2nd place after a hard fought battle heads up.

 

Last night we did not have our regular points game.  Instead we had a $100.00 game.  As the game started I got down in chips.  Over half my stack was gone and my chances of making the money were looking pretty bleak.  Then, as if somebody had flipped a light switch, I had a hand hold, then another, and another.  My stack grew and I eventually took over the chip lead. 

 

From there, I backed off the pressure a little bit.  I went card dead.  My chips started blinding down with the large blind jumps. 

 

As we got down to 7 players I had an average stack of about 6 BB's.  I made a couple push's when I thought I could get away with it.  It worked and my stack looked like I could wait out the low stacks.  When we got down to 4 left we were in the money.  There were still a couple of shorter stacks.  One of them got aggressive and took over the chip lead.  Finally one person went out. 

 

With three of us left we were looking at more than double our buy in return.  First was looking pretty lucrative so I started going after it.  A few large bets at the right time, and I was leading the chips race.  Then the blinds went up to unreasonable.  At 10000 20000 with a 5000 ante, each of us only had a little over 1 BB.  I was lucky and hit the dealer position right as the blinds went up.  I had the option play that hand or wait 1 hand.  My hand looked decent, the BB was all in, so I called.  The SB folded.  I won the hand and we were down to 2.  The other person was all in the next hand.  I called with J7.  He had 107.  A jack on the flop sealed the deal and I won.

 

Night 2 - Supersonic SNG's -2 2 The Dumbest Hand In Poker

The baby went to sleep around 8:00 so I had time to late register for the 5.50 nightly.  First hand I get A 10 and raise, one caller in the big blind.  Flop A 10 2.  I bet half pot and he goes all in.  I call.  He tables 2 2.  That was fun!  Glad I worked so hard getting the kids settled for the night to go out in 1 hand.

I couldn't call it a night.  Carbon started some new SNG's called supersonic.  They are 2 min blind levels with 300 starting chips, 10 20 starting blind levels and 4 players.  Only 1st place is paid.  I had to try 1 or 2.  I loaded a 1.10 and a 2.20.  I won the 2.20 to break back even. 

The 1.10 nightly had just taken off so I played that. 

Shortly after I started, I get a phone call from my sister in law.  She said that my oldest niece has been missing since 3:30 in the afternoon.  This is 9:30 at night.  She also said that the baby was in the crib but my niece was gone when they got home.  My niece is the most responsible person I know, so this worried me a lot.  A search and rescue team had been assembled and they were out looking.

I started trying to get ahold of my wife.  Her phone is not working.  Bad images started creeping into my head.  We had just watched a movie a few weeks ago called Devils Creek where some young kids that were out on their bikes were murdered.  Thinking of that did not help one bit.  I was just glad search and rescue did not have to wait 24 hours to do anything.

I was pacing back and forth wondering what I could do.  Nothing!

I hit the all in on the poker game with 9 10 when I walked by 1 time.  I was called by 2 people so I thought I was out and walked outside to smoke a cigarette and call my parents. 

While I was on the phone with them I got a call that they had found my niece 2 miles out in the country.  She was smiling when they dropped her off at the house.  That was all the information I got.  I was really relieved that she was o.k.

When I went back into the house I looked at the poker game that I had neglected the last 45 minutes.  I had a pretty decent chip stack.  I had won with 9 10 all in.  I grabbed a couple of beers to settle my nerves and sat down to finish the game.  I never got a hand I wanted to play and I ended up blinding down to 8 big blinds.  I could have easily waited for the bubble but got an AKd and went all in from early position.  I was called by a big stack with none other than pocket 2's.

Two fricken times in the same night I was outted by pocket 2's, dumbest hand in poker, everything can beat it but my hands.

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

I found out later that my niece was not home alone with the baby.  Two of her brothers were home as well.  Her Dad was getting home in a few minutes and she had the baby to sleep so she told her brother's that she was going to go running.  Cross Country is starting soon so she wanted to get in shape.  She apparently ran to the next town over which is miles away. 

Getting back so late still doesn't add up.  She should have been able to make it there and back a lot sooner.  I'm guessing that's not the whole rest of the story. 

I'm just glad she is back home and safe.

First Night

Posting after each tournament will probably not happen, but I figured that since it is the first night I would share my experience.

After work I had a plan to load the kids up in the new pick up and drive 30 minutes to a bigger town to pick up some food and supplies.  My wife is out of town at a seminar or training, so I have the kids this week. 

Since I have the kids I figured that the 5.50 game was out of the question since it starts so early, so I figured why not take care of a few things in town and then I won't have to cook.  My sons have been quite anxious to go for a ride in the new truck as well.  I think it's because of the sound system.  Three amps and I don't know how many speakers makes it sound pretty awesome.

We went shopping for some stuff to keep the pool clean, weed eater string, the last of school supplies, and easy lunches for the babysitter to make for the kids to finish out these last 2 weeks of summer.

We got back around 9:00.  It was too late for the 2.20 game as well as the badugi tournaments.  I took a look and the nightly 1.10 500.00 guaranteed tournament was still in late registration so I registered.

The blinds were already getting large 125 250, but with 5000 starting chips and 12 minute blind levels it was not too much to worry about. 

I lost a couple thousand chips early with decent starting hands calling raises and folding after the flop.  Then I got a KQo and called a smallish 2X raise.  I flopped a K and called an all in.  He had 10 10 and didn't get his 2 outer. 

Then I made my first mistake.  I raised and called a 3 bet with AJo.  The flop was 9 8 7 rainbow.  They go all in and with an inside straight draw and 2 overs I called all in.  He turns over 88 and I don't catch my 10.  There was 3 minutes left in the re entry period.  Sometimes I can catch somebody trying to gain chips at that time because they can re enter if they need to.  I was the one re entering.

After the re enter period, I start gathering some chips again.  Then I made a risky call pre-flop with KQo as a short stack goes all in.  Another player calls after me.  The flop comes out Q high.  I bet  3000 and the other player goes all in for an additional 9000.  That would leave me with about 300 chips left with blinds at 250 500.  I called and the raiser has 10 10.  This looks similar to the earlier big hand.  The all in player tables AJ suited but his suit is not a worry, just his A.  The turn was a blank and the river was a K just to rub it in. 

Now I had ammunition.  From there I slowly grew my stack until we reached the money.  I was sitting in 30th place out of 120.  After the money bubble, I started getting good starting hands and would raise to be re-raised all in.  They weren't that good, so I would have to fold.  Then I lost some flips to short stacks going all in.  Finally I was short stack and had to make a play.  I went all in with A9 and lost to AK when my 9 made his flush.

Looking at the hand history, I stayed in some hands too long.  I also needed to fold to larger bets if I did not have a made hand yet.  There were a couple of hands I should have stayed in, but thought the bets were too large.  My hands would have held up.  I made notes on those players so if they pull those all in bets again and I have a hand I can look them up.

My first tournament was 2.20 after my re entry.  I finished 81st for 2.10.  It looks like I may be sticking with this game this week until my wife gets back home. 

Monday Night Muck Em - Online Plans

For some reason my play Monday night was worse than I ever remember.  I started out good winning a big hand early, then got dumb and played horrible starting hands and trying to get there.  After that didn't work I tried playing decent starting hands and continuing to play after the flop when I didn't hit.  I was easy money.  Everybody was calling, I just didn't have anything.

I was out before the level before break.  That's a record for me and possibly the game.  We will see how that will affect next week if I am at the same table with some of the ones that were paying attention this time.  If I tighten way up, I should be able to get the calls I need when I do have something.  Maybe this will help me, probably not. 

I have been off my game lately, online as well.  I want to play, but I don't want to be patient and wait.  I have been gambling, not playing poker as FlushDraww would tell me.  It's time to change that.

Last week I made a withdrawal from my online account to help fund my Vegas trip at the end of September.  I was thinking that it could take up to 6 weeks to get my money.  Amazingly, it was here in less than a week.  That was fast, and I didn't pay to have it expedited which was an option.

I gambled with the remainder of what I had on the site and am now sitting with .43 in my account.

Now that I have that out of my system I am considering how I want to proceed.  I have been considering a switch to playing on America's Card Room since I get rakeback there.  I have apparently lost the 3000 or more VIP points I had on Carbon.  Once again they made changes that resulted in me losing points/money while I was taking a break from poker.   

I do like the tournaments they have on Carbon.  I am a tournament player.  I gave cash games a good try last year.  I also gave SNG's a good try and that was fun when they had the SNG leaderboard promotion that could get you a little extra money.  When it comes down to it, I feel that I get more bang for my buck in a tournament.  I like wading through piles of players trying to reach that lucrative final table.

So tournaments it is.  How am I going to proceed?  Maybe I would take each game more seriously if I only play one tournament a night.  Then go over the hand history after the tournament to see where I can improve.  This sounds like a good challenge to improve my game.

Lately I have been playing a tournament here, several sit n go's there, and throwing in a little cash on the side.  I have been gaining experience in each of them and doing o.k.  I'm ready to really focus for a while, and improve, while playing my favorite form of poker.  I will miss the badugi tournament's I have been playing recently.

The game I have picked out to play is the 5.50 Nightly 2500.00 guaranteed on Carbon.  It starts at 6:00 which is not ideal for me every day so I will not be playing every night.  Some nights I will step down to the Nightly 2.20 game as it starts at 8:00 which is a little more reasonable.  I will not be playing on Monday's and most Friday's.  If I am home on a Sunday I will still put in my regiment of Sunday games.  I don't get enough Sunday's at home throughout the year to pass up one if I get one.

This will continue until I leave for Vegas.  After that I will evaluate my results and determine if I want to continue or change up my plan.

World's of Fun Weekend

This weekend we went to Kansas City to meet up with family and go to World's and Ocean's of Fun.  We had booked rooms at the Days Inn close to the Park.  The reviews on the rooms varied greatly, so we were not sure what to think.  We did get a good discount thanks to my membership to FLW Outdoors.

 

The parking lot was nice and well lit when we pulled in.  The rooms seemed to be pretty nice, other than the fact my daughter's feet would be black after walking around on the carpet for a while.  We visited for a bit before calling it a night.  The next morning we were up with anticipation to head to the park. 

 

The sisters and their mom made sandwiches for everybody to come out of the park to eat for lunch.  At the park we headed straight to the Mamba rollercoaster.  It is the longest in the park and has some big drops.  Almost everybody that went to the park rode it.  I was surprised that the younger kids were not scared.  My youngest son was not a huge fan, but was a trooper.

 

After that the group split a little bit.  The older kids, my wife and I went to ride the Boomerang.  It drops you, does loops and twists until it reaches the other side.  Then it goes in reverse and does the same thing backwards.  You can see the whole ride the whole time you are in line.  There was lots of screaming.  Two of the younger kids started getting shaky feet as we got closer to the ride.

 

We convinced them to ride it anyway.  My older son really didn't want to ride it but decided to give it a go anyway after a little nudging.  As soon as they strapped him in he started panicking.  It was too late.  The ride was starting.  It was a quick ride to the other side.  Then a stall and a quick ride back.  When the ride stopped my son was all but hyperventilating.  We got him off the ride and tried to get him talking about everything else.

 

It took us walking and talking all the way to the next ride before he settled down.  Amazingly before we left the park, he was wanting to do it again.  We said no way.  Maybe next time.

 

We went on a whitewater ride after that and then went to find the rest of the pack.  We located the rest of the pack and split again, leaving the younger kids at planet snoopy and taking the older kids to the steel hawk.  Giant swings that take you up 301 feet in the air and spins you around at a 45 degree angle.  It was a nice view, but a long way down.

 

We met up after that and then went to go eat lunch at the car.  The afternoon plan was to go to Ocean's of Fun.  We went straight to the kid area that had a tangle of slides, bridges, water guns and tons of water splashing down everywhere.  We played around there for a while, then a group of us left to go ride the big kid tubes. 

 

My oldest son and I decided to wait in line for the single tubes, that drop the floor out from underneath you and send you sailing at high speed through twists and curves until you come screaming out of the tubes at the bottom shooting a spray of water ahead of you.

 

The wait was long.  The park had a fast pass that you could purchase and skip ahead to the front of the line.  There were so many people that had them that the regular line practically stood still, as the people that had them, went down the slides again and again.  I counted 1 person going 5 times while I moved about 10 feet in line.  We couldn't justify paying 50.00 more a piece for 18 people to have fast passes, so we suffered through the long slow moving line. 

 

Finally we got to the top.  I was worried the whole time that my son would chicken out.  I never thought of what I would think.  It was our turn to be shot down the tubes.  My son willingly got into 1 chamber and I reluctantly stepped into the other tube.  A glass door closed us in.  We crossed our arms and were locked and loaded.  The younger, high school age boys on the stairs, must have seen the fear in my eyes and starting waiving bye to me.  Holy crap!  My heart was racing and my breaths were heavy as the count down started.  3  -  2  -  1.  Boom!  It actually made a loud noise as the floor disappeared beneath my feet and I was dropped into the tunnel.  Rush, whoosh, swish, I went sailing. Up on the sides of the tube, almost upside down?  I couldn't tell where I was or what was going on.  Water was driving up my nose.  The legs of my shorts were slapping me on the shoulders.  Then all of a sudden there was light.  I skidded right through the puddle of water at the bottom.  Was I going to stop in time? 

 

I knew I had to get out of the water so the next person could go, but I was discombobulated.  My contacts had slid up under my eyelids so I could not see.  My nose was filled with water, as well as my ears.  I crawled over the side on my knees and stood up all shaky.  My son on the other hand was already out and coming my way.  I was alive! 

 

My son wanted to try going down a slide on an inner tube, but we were supposed to meet up with everybody, so we went back to the check in point.  Nobody else showed up, so we went to the wave pool to find some of them.  We played around there a bit but did not see anybody so back to the check in point.  Still nobody. 

 

A few of them finally stopped by and I sent my son with them while I lounged around for the next couple of hours letting everybody check in with me. 

 

Around 7:00, after being at the park for 9 hours, I was ready to head back to the hotel.  We gathered everybody up and made a plan for my brother in law and I to take the younger kids back to the hotel while my wife and her sister stayed with the older kids to ride a few more rides.  One of my nephew's ran off to play a game real quick and was going to meet us at the entrance.  We thought we heard my wife's sister say if he was still at the game she would have him stay with them.  She thought she told us that she would send him right out.  I'm sure we didn't hear her correctly.  Needless to say we got to the car and headed back to the hotel.  A couple hours later I get a call asking if we forgot somebody.

 

He had been out in the parking lot for nearly 2 hours, trying to get somebody to let him use their phone or get back in the park.  Nobody would help him out.  The stamp they had put on his arm earlier must have worn off so he was not able to get back into the park to get to the others.

 

Finally somebody let him use their phone, and right after that, the park decided it was o.k. for him to come in to find his Mom.

 

We ordered pizza for the kids when we got back to the hotel and the adults went out to eat.  When we got back I was ready for a shower.  While I was soaping up, I heard a snap under the tub and the tub shift a little downward.  It was just like the water ride earlier, maybe a little less scary, as I would only crash down 1 floor level if the tub fell through the floor.  There was a crack around the tub on the wall where it settled about an inch.  I slowly but quickly stepped out of the tub without rinsing the rest of the way off.  The edges of tile around the tub were facing upwards.  That thing was about to go.

 

Safely on dry ground again, I went to bed.  The next morning we loaded up and headed towards home.  On the way we went school shopping.  We hit 2 stores.  My wife was wearing her fitbit.  It was crazy, but we walked more miles shopping than we did walking around the amusement park by about 4 miles.  We made up for the calorie burn of the last 2 days with a trip to the Royal Buffet. 

 

We made it home safely Sunday night ready for some rest and relaxation.  Too bad, it's off to work the next day. 

Two Nights of Poker

The night before last, I was tired after work.  All day long I was thinking that I would put seat belt assembly's in the pick up I had just bought.  The ones that were in there were locked up as the pick up had been in an accident.  My wife was going to the studio to work out from 5:30 to 6:30 that night and I was in charge of the kids.  During that time, I decided that I was too tired (lazy) to work on that after she got back.

Instead, I loaded 3 tournaments.  I loaded a 1.10 satellite to an 11.00 tournament, a 1.10 rebuy tournament and the nightly 2.20. 

I sucked it up in the satellite and lost it before the re buy period ended.  I didn't feel like re buying with the blinds at the level they were.  I was doing good in the 1.10 re buy with a top 20 stack with 120 left.  I had the dreaded hand and had the only stack larger than mine at the table go all in.  One would think that with so many examples of this hand being crushed that I would just lay it down.  Nope, I called.  KK held until the flop when his AQ got 2 Q's to match the one he had. 

That left 1 tournament.  I had been building a nice stack, and with 12 minute levels was never in any hurry to play big.  I cooked and ate supper with the family while playing.  My stack remained in the top 30 as we played down from 100 players left until we reached 50 left.  I started making a run.  Soon we were to the final 3 tables and approaching final 2.  I had around 25 big blinds left when I look at AKd.  There was one limper before me.  I raised from early position.  Big blind had a small stack and went all in for a little more.  Then the limper goes all in.  I looked at my wife and said this is my last hand unless I can convince myself to fold here.  The limp raise all in would usually push me off this hand, but this character had been playing pretty poorly for a while.  I called and sure enough he had pocket 10's, big blind had QJo.  Somehow he escaped any high cards and ended up winning the hand and taking over the lead in the tournament.  I got a small cash of around 8.00.  I played a couple of 2.20 super turbo's and lost both of them.  I then loaded 2 1.10 super turbo's and lost both of them.  I decided to try 2 more 2.20's and ended up getting a 2nd and 1st in those to finish the day up by around 10.00.

Yesterday evening after supper I got to work on changing out the seat belts on the pick up.  It was after dark by the time I finished.  The seat belts work and I didn't break anything.  Hurray!  After a quick shower, I loaded up some 1.10 and 2.20 sng's playing 2 to 4 at a time for the next hour.  At the end of the session I was right about break even.

I have been thinking of my upcoming trip to Vegas.  I am going to try to do at least 1 tournament a day and play cash the rest of the time unless we are goofing around doing something else.  Saturday will be spent at the sports book.  I have never bet sports in Vegas, but I am looking forward to it this time.  I will be checking Coach and Lucki Duck's blogs for some guidance that week.

Tonight I will have to prepare for our weekend trip to Kansas City.  We are meeting family to stay at a hotel, go to Ocean's of Fun and World's of Fun and go school shopping. 

I will more than likely get a small session of poker in tonight.  After my long spring and early summer break from poker, I am refreshed and ready to play, especially with the way I have been running lately.  If I can keep up the good run, my Vegas fund could be pretty substantial by the time I go out.  Possibly, to the extent that I could play the Venetian Deep Stack 1600.00 No Limit tournament that will be going on while I am out there. 

Monday Night Muck Em

Last night we had 11 runners at the Monday Night Muck Em.  My wife's mother stopped into town to look at the house we are considering purchasing.  I considered skipping poker to go back and look at the house.  I am sitting 3rd in points and wanted to try to catch up some more on points if I could. 

Play started out great for me.  I had pocket jacks early in the game and raised pre-flop.  I got 2 callers.  I hit a set on the flop and bet out, getting 1 caller.  The turn gave me a fourth jack and I checked.  He bet and I called.  I bet out big on the river representing a bluff.  He called and I got a nice pot.  For the next several rounds I caught fire and amassed a large stack. 

Then, just like that, I was ice cold.  I was still getting premium starting hands that would not do anything.  My chips slowly dwindled.  By the time we reached break, I had about double my starting stack. 

After break the blinds take their abnormally huge jump and we are all playing short stack poker.  I did not get a decent starting hand for 2 rounds then I look down at AJo.  The blinds were 1000 2000 with a 500 ante and I bet 7500 all in.  I was instantly called by somebody with AQ and was out around 7th place. 

The player 1st in points added to his points total for the year with a second place finish.  Everybody else around the top of the leaderboard did not get points, so I should remain in 3rd, just a few points behind 2nd place.

When I got back home I was still feeling like playing so I loaded up a 1.10 tournament that the late registration was about over.  I played loose trying to get some chips early.  It worked as I was able to double up pretty quickly. 

From there I won a pot here and there to keep my chip stack above average until we got close to the bubble.  I tried sneaking into a couple of pots around the bubble, but the big stacks were not having any of that, and I had to fold hands that I should not have been in, in the first place.

I ended up min cashing when my QQ failed to hold against an A9. 

I played some 5.50 super turbo's and had some success with them.  Then I played some 1.10 heads up sng's to have some fun and won both of them.  By the time I shut down the computer I was up 30.00 for the night online.

Birthday Fishing Trip - Poker on Sunday

My birthday was on Saturday.  I had asked the boys if they would like to go fishing with me and a friend and they were excited about it.  I told them I would be leaving at 5:30 A.M.  I don't think they understood what that meant so they were still excited.

Friday night I was getting the boat ready after supper.  I have a swing tongue on the trailer and a pin that drops down to hold it in place.  A few years ago I started having an issue with something getting in the way of where the pin goes through.  For some reason I thought it was a stick or piece of bark and had to move it out of the way by sticking a stick or a screwdriver into the hole and sliding it over.  This time I was going to take care of the issue.  I got a big screwdriver, slid the object over the hole and started trying to jab it through the hole.  Then it hit me.  After all these years of doing nothing, I realized it was the wiring harness to the trailer lights. 

I had really been jabbing trying to break the stick to get it through the hole.  How much damage had I done?  It was dark by this point.  Everywhere around is shut down where I could buy replacement wiring.  Did I jut ruin my birthday fishing trip I was looking forward too so much. 

After talking to Dad for a minute my head started to clear from, "This is going to be a disaster.", to "I might be able to fix this."  I plugged in my lights and sure enough, the running lights were out as well as the tail lights.  I turned the tongue to the side and was able to get the wires pulled out enough to see the damage.  Phew!  I only pulled a couple wires loose from some connectors.  Wait.  Connector's right where I was jabbing?  Somebody else had done the same thing before me.  I don't feel like a complete moron.  Just mostly moronic.  A little electrical tape and we were back in business.

The next day at the lake was amazing.  The boys had fun, we caught fish and the weather was amazing.  We called it a day around lunch time and headed back home.  My wife took me out to supper.  It was one of the best birthday's I have had.

Sunday, we had some things planned but I was not feeling so well so I stayed home with the kids, while my wife filled in for all of us.  Since I was home, I loaded some poker games.  I had a couple deeper runs but no final tables.  Then I loaded some 6 max turbo's and continued to get beat over and over again.  I got frustrated and played over my bankroll.  I ended up winning, but decided my discipline is not there to have that much money on the site, so I hit the withdraw button and cashed out all but 75.00.  I will use the 400.00 that I withdrew towards Vegas when I go out.
Money is going to be getting pretty tight here shortly.  I just bought a new pickup that needs some body work to be complete.  My explorer was just in the shop to be repaired and I have to put our minivan in the shop to be worked on.  We are also about to buy a house if everything works out.  We had lived on the cheap for 3 years.  Now, all at once, we are changing it up.  The house shouldn't affect our financial situation a whole lot.  Between our rent and the money I was putting into savings for a house we will be able to put that towards the house payment. 

The initial cost of closing and down payment, and getting the vehicles fixed is what will put the pinch on us for a while.  Then by next spring I hope to have a tournament fishing bass boat.  If I can pull all of this off, I will be living the dream!