This is my buddy Greg.  Rick and I went to see him perform in Abilene yesterday.  The stunt went very, very wrong.  After waiting for an hour or so in the emergency room we were able to talk to him for a minute before he went to surgery.  In true Dr. Danger fashion the first thing he asked me was, "How do you think the stunt looked?"  I told him that the landing needed some work. 

I called the hospital at 5:30 AM and he was still in surgery, at 9:30 AM the hospital reported that he was in serious but stable condition in ICU.

I will keep you posted...

As of 5:30 PM Greg is still in serious condition, vital signs are stable.

Tuesday-  Greg Carpenter has been moved to rm. 5704, Hendricks Hospital, Abilene, Texas, give him a call and tell him that he is great, cool, something, just call... 325-670-2000.  He has a tube down his throat so he will not be much for conversation, just tell him he needs to work on his landing and hang up.  You know what I mean.

The time, dark-thirty, less than a mile a way the sound of hundreds of airmen doing PT filters through the neighborhood.  Sylvester is doing unconscious cat-sculpture on the recliner, a quick belly rub and he grudgingly follows me outside for a smoke, he doesn't smoke but he needs to get his hairy behind in gear, we have a big day planned.  The ground offensive starts at 0630, zero hour, the objective, MEESES.

The other day my Sweetie asked me to remove a couple of ex-meeses from the washing machine.  No big deal but I don't know why I had to dig the filthy rodents out of the washing machine first, she could have run them through once and then they would at least be clean!  That wasn't the last one, either.  The little buggers have found a way into the house and are scurrying about the kitchen and the master bedroom as we speak.  Of course you know, this means war!!!

I will be deploying Sylvester to the master bedroom, all day.  Tweetie is in charge of kitchen patrol and Speckles will be making sure Tweetie doesn't sleep all day.  Both cats are fairly good mousers, if less than well motivated but that is going to change.  I have the VCR in the bedroom set to play 'Full Metal Jacket' over and over, if R. Lee Ermey can't motivate Sylvester into becoming a lean, mean, mouse-getting machine then I don't know who can.  To assist Tweetie I am raising the refrigerator about 4 inches off of the floor so she can get all of the way to the back of it, a rodent-rich environment.  Meanwhile, I will be examining the house for ways that the mice are getting inside.

And then there is Speckles.  I don't know what I am going to do with that dog...

Tomorrow my Sweetie and I will head South by Southwest to San Antonio, one of our favorite commutes, even though we will be driving into the wee hours of the morning.  There are big doings in SA this weekend, my grandson Jozuf is having a birthday party, he is turning 6, and I would just hate to miss the sight of several dozen kids wearing out a SpongeBob Squarepants pinata.

Spoiling my grandkids and then driving away is one of the best things in life.  It makes all of the sleepless nights listening to my then teenage daughters fighting with each other worthwhile.  All of those trips to drop then off at the mall for no apparent reason other than to drive back to the mall several hours later to pick them up again, it makes sense now.  I truly believe that Jozuf has the biggest, baddest, highest velocity SuperSoaker in his immediate future.  Because he needs it.  It is the professional grade, name brand, status symbol of the water-pistol industry.  No one will speak ill of him, snicker behind his back or make fun of him in any way, when he can drown them to death from 40 feet away with a single well placed, high-pressure stream.  Of course I would never attempt to warp a delicate young mind with such scenarios because I am an authority figure and that's not my bag.  I would consider myself considerably remiss if I did not point out to the young lad that should his mother promise to take him somewhere and then oversleep on the appointed day...

The really big thing, after the birthday party, that we MUST do while in SA is to check on the health and well-being of my son-in-law Tony.  He was diagnosed with, well his sister said you could see the thing from the next block, some sort of a growth on his neck.  I immediately voted for second head but before I could pull off all of the hanging chads, the doctors went and removed it.  We didn't even get to name it, crap!!!

Now my daughter was noticeably upset by this and I would assume it was because he was underinsured, but I spoke with her on the phone and I think that I allayed her fears...

"Jenn, how is Tony doing?" I asked.
"He is OK, they cut the thing off the other day," she didn't get to finish.
"They cut his thing off????" I was noticeably upset.
"Not that thing, the other thing, you know." She responded.
"Of course, I immediately thought about the future grandbabies..." I said, relieved.
"I was more concerned that it might be a cancer," she said.
"How long did he have it?" I inquired.
She thought for a minute and then said, "Only a couple of months, why do you ask?"
"Well there you go, nothing to worry about!" I assured her.
"What do you mean?"
"Worst case scenario it was a Pisces!!!"  Problem solved.

We will be taking Speckles with us to SA and the kitties will be left to their own devices.  Tweetie will probably prowl for mice, Sylvester on the other hand...

There was one plastic pool left at our local WalMart.  It seemed to follow me home, I don't know why...

Just because I can't seem to get enough of myself(hahaha)...





If you like it, I will continue with this series.  If you don't, then I will continue with a vengeance!!!

We are going to Abilene this weekend to blow Dr. Danger to smithereens!!!

Video to follow...

Friday morning Rick and I left Wichita Falls for Lubbock, Texas.  208 miles.  So they say.  We missed the turn in Seymour and about an hour later we saw the sign that said 'Abilene 73 miles'.  At this point I did something entirely uncharacteristic, I suggested that we stop and ask directions.  And get a map. 

350 miles into a 208 mile trip we were in Lubbock!  We had to travel another 30 miles north of Lubbock to the hotel that we had reserved for our friends, it was the closest thing we could find to the speedway they were performing at that night.  Or so we thought.

If you Google "Lady Luck Speedway Lubbock" the little map hootis shows the location to be just south of Abernathy, Texas, 20 or so miles north of Lubbock.  Had I been thinking, I would have switched to satellite view I would have known that there was no such place.  As we all know that would have been too easy.  About 30 minutes before we were supposed to be at the speedway setting up, we found this out.  Several frantic phone calls later we were informed that the speedway we wanted was in fact on the south side of Lubbock.  Time to panic?  No.

After getting credentials at the pit office, we went to work.  I love show business!!!  Everybody gets to lend a hand.  Unless of course you seem to know what you are doing and then you really get busy.  What the heck, I had never seen my pal Dr. Danger perform live, and we were going to be in the infield close to the action. 

When the intermission came we hopped into Rick's truck and followed the tow truck with the show vehicle being hauled behind it.  The actual  setting up didn't take nearly as long as I thought that it would, we had handled most of it already. 

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you pushed the big red button that is clearly marked "DO NOT PUSH"???  I think that it would look about like this...











That would be me on the extreme left of your screen.  Blowing someone up in a vehicle full of gasoline and explosives is way cool, I highly recommend it.

Every hotel in Lubbock is booked up for the weekend.  I know, I've called them all.  I went as far as having my wife call, she is in the business.  I needed one room for Friday night and time was running out.  Dr. Danger and Mrs. Danger would be coming into town around noon and they desperately needed a place to shower and get ready for the show.  The Dangers are on the road somewhere between San Antonio and Odessa and I am, in effect, their advance man.

Enter Google maps.  Hotels+Lubbock=dots.  Clicking the dots one at a time gives an address and phone number.  The keypad on my Skype program is smoking.  No, no, no, no vacancy.  The dots are getting farther and farther away from Lubbock when at last, sure, we have rooms.  The motel is about 30 miles from the speedway that our performance is scheduled at, but the speedway is 20 miles north of Lubbock anyway, so, not so bad.

After 9 phone calls between Danger, myself and Danger-boy Student Stuntman, we have nailed down the logistics.  Since Dr. Danger and Mrs. Danger will be in Lubbock several hours before we are, I make the reservation in his name.  The people who run this place are so nice, they ask what we are doing in town, not being nosy, they are trying to get us a discount on the room!!  Government? no.  Construction? no.  Now I have to put on my Dr. Danger hat, as he will be the one to check in first.

"We are doing a show at the Speedway in Lubbock." what?
"Well, we set up a big pile of wrecked cars, drive up the ramp at 60 mph, and then the whole thing is blown up and set on fire."  This gets approving oohs and ahhs.
As I am giving the lowdown on the whole Dr. Danger stunt deal it occurs to me that I am telling someone that doesn't know me or us that we are coming in to town to set off large explosions and fires.  Hmmm.  If this doesn't ring some Homeland Security bells and whistles we will be very lucky indeed.

I can't wait to see this deal up close and personal.  I feel like a little kid.  And I get press credentials, infield passes, full access, life is good, baby!  I know that I have personally invited several of my MySpace friends to the show and I am opening the invitation to everyone.  The Mad Goat said that he would try and make it, I sent an invite to Shea but I haven't heard back yet.  I think that Tallulah lives fairly close, I would like to meet her as well.  Any way, 7 pm, Lady Luck Speedway, Lubbock, Texas.  We are bringing as much Shiner as we can get into the back of Danger-boy's pickup and the after party will be legendary!!! 

Even if you miss the show, we will be posting video on this blog, my YouTube account, Danger's YouTube, Vuze and PhotoBucket.  As my friend 2N would say, tonight's show has 'Woot-potential."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxkDC95RgqE

My friend Cliff said he wanted more news(or not) and here it is. Hope you like it.

Sometimes I just don't know what gets in to me...





Seriously, have a great weekend.

Every day I learn something new about my little darling.  I was watering the peach trees the other day and discovered that this dog is part gopher, on the upside it is a little easier getting Chinese food now.  Holla! 

Danny and I were going to truck the wood-chipper and a chainsaw over to our buddy Mark's house to take care of his branch collection, and then the rains came.  So instead we are stuck inside.  Sylvester lost all interest in the front yard as soon as his 'nest' under the holly bush flooded out so he is 'resting' behind the flat panel as we speak.  Tweetie is snoozing in her adopted suitcase and Speckles wants to go outside, bad.  I can only take so much whining(30 seconds) and out she goes. 






This video would have been longer, but I was afraid she would eat all of the rain.  This kind of pet is what my grandma Irene would call an "Idjit dog" but she's just Speckles to us.

Would you invest $22 to win $31,960???  Me too.  Here is how it happened...





The video is long, but worth it.  And by the way, Junebug told me to go all-in with ATo during the second hour and I didn't do it.  So there.

By the way, I outlasted 6600 other players including 12 professional poker players to finish 2812th out of 9600 some odd entries, I will be back.

You can't spend all day looking for work and neglect the yard work, that makes the weekends suck, totally.  It's a good thing that I have a helper... 





... it sure makes things easier.

There are pivotal times in your life when you are reminded in no uncertain terms who your friends are.  As you know, my friend Marshall and his wife Christy lost there home to the wildfires here in Texas a couple of weeks ago.  Marshall is a member of the Boozefighters #64 in Bowie and his club had a benefit party for him this weekend.  

My Sweetie and I had been to the Outhouse, as their clubhouse is referred to, on several occasions.  It isn't really large, only about the size of the living room in your home, but there is a well stocked bar, a big screen TV and a powder room for the ladies.(The guys know where the tree is around the side of the clubhouse.)  In the past we have gotten to know the other members of the club 3 or 4 at a time, Saturday was the exception.  The entire club turned out for this special event.  

There were members that came from #28 in Wichita Falls, members showed up from the #79 and #63 clubs in the DFW area, there was even a National Chapter Officer there.  The food was non-stop and there was no stop to the conversation either.  And as each new person came past the club house threshold they brought clothes or supplies or cash.  These are the kind of friends that you wish you had when times are tough, they are the kind of friends that Yard-dog and Pink-T deserve because that's the kind of friends that they are.  

I asked Marshall(Yard-dog) when they were planning on finishing the demolition of the house and told him that since I was out of work temporarily I would help with whatever needed to be done.  Hopefully Governor Perry will declare the fire zones a disaster area and those affected will be given the support they deserve to rebuild.  You really have no idea of the devastation that these fires caused until you see it for yourself.  Thankfully, most everyone survived.

If you happen to run into a biker wearing the OWOF colors, tell him that Yard-dog from #64 says thank you.  

In the summer of my seventh year mornings were magical.  Dew beaded the grass in the big field behind our house and the air was sweet with the smell of clover and honeysuckle.  Before the sun rose high enough in the sky to dry the grass completely I would be out in the field, exploring the tree line and looking for new and unusual ways to turn the white canvas of my Red Ball Jets that peculiar shade of grass-stain green that seemed to drive adults crazy.  You could run some other kid over with your bike or poke somebody's eye out with a stick and you wouldn't get the grief you would get if you walked off of the sidewalk a step or two and got a grass-stain on some part of your clothes.  If the Levi's people had thought to make pants out of green denim in the sixties they would have been bigger than Microsoft!

One of the fascinations of my childhood was bees.  Bees were cool because they were one of the only flying insects a little kid could keep up with.  The half-pint wax milk carton was my tool of choice, I would find a clump of flowering clover and as a bee would hover for a moment and land on one of the tiny flowers I would put the open end of the carton over flower and all and close the top.  Then we would go off exploring some more, finding a new place to let the bee go.  It seems that the simple times have long past, I really miss them.  

I received some news last night that was deeply disturbing.  While I was chatting with a friend of mine he related that his old hometown of Bowie, Texas was hit very hard by the wildfires that had ravaged Northern Texas this past week.  I have two very dear friends that live in, so I tried to contact them.  To my horror I found out that they lost their home and two of their cats to the fires on Thursday night.  

Marshall and Christy Biggs are the best people that you would ever meet, no way did they deserve what happened to them.  At least they were both away from the house when the fire hit, burning their home to the ground.  If you had watched the news in our area on Wednesday and Thursday the weather radar showed what looked like storm clouds, it was not, it was dense smoke from these fires.  

A house is just a possession, home is where the heart is and they still have that.  Sweetie and I will be going to Bowie this Saturday for a benefit for Marshall and Christy at the Boozefighters Chapter 64 clubhouse.  Hopefully they will be able to raise some money and call in some markers and get their house rebuilt sometime soon.  Thanks to the monsoon-like rainstorm we had last night the fire danger is gone for a while, at least in our area.

Should you happen to be in the Bowie/Stoneburg area on Saturday night, please stop by and say hello to Marshall and Christie.  Have a happy and hopefully uneventful Easter.


This was totally sad, on a lighter note, my grandson Jayden was in a play at his school.  Is he Oscar material or what?