Tawas Point

The beach was pretty much deserted by the time we got there, around noon.

Welcome back, Internet.

It's a played out idiom, I'll cede that for sure, but the age-old 'Happy Wife, Happy Life' thing is, well, pretty spot-on. 

Nagatha Christie has been repeatedly bringing up how much she wants to go spend a day at a beach somewhere for, like, weeks now. She's been wanting to either hit up Caseville again, or else some other place along Lake Huron, like Tawas or Alpena. Unfortunately for her, most of the days she's had off of work having been rainy or else too cold for the beach , so up until today we haven't really had the opportunity to go anywhere.

Well, the stars finally aligned, and today we had zero rain in the forecast and weather hovering in the mid/high-70's - about as good as she was gonna get on a day off. We settled on Tawas for a day trip at the beach because it was only like an hour and twenty minutes away - similar to Caseville - and we had never been out that way before. The drive went by much faster than we had anticipated, and upon arrival the weather was still in the lower 70s, which thinned out the crowds so much that we more or less had our pick of location on the beach.

All in all, we spent about five hours on the beach, and an additional hour or so in downtown Tawas, popping into a couple shops and getting the womenfolk ice cream. Pretty solid day trip, all said and done, and Kris felt a hell of a lot better knocking that off her Summer '24 Bucket List.

As they say, Happy Wife, Happy Life.

Check it out. . .

Lake Huron.

Despite my protests, Kris insisted on bringing along this piece-of-shit, half-broke, beach umbrella that we've owned since Alayna was a baby. Kris has never let me throw it away - and I've tried, folks, multiple times - even though this thing barely works under zero-wind conditions.

Well, today was the day it FINALLY died - the slight breeze was too much for it and the thing did that thing umbrellas do where they're blown inside out and the framing breaks. Rest assured, she got a well-deserved 'I Told You So' for her troubles. . .

Yours Truly intended on knocking out a huge chunk out of the first installment of my favorite books of all-time: The Lord of the Rings. I was barely into the second or third chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring when I started reading this afternoon, but would eventually knock out an additional 100 or so pages.

Alayna zoomed in on a couple boats that sailed past while were setting up on the beach. . .

(This one looks like some kinda WWII destroyer.)

Kris gets in a scenic foot pic for her fellow moms.

The girls, chasing seagulls about the beach.

Like Hitchcock's Birds. . .

There was some kinda weird sinkhole in the water a little adjacent to our location on the beach, and they had warning signs all around it warning swimmers.

Alayna would end up taking multiple 'glamour' pics of Abby throughout the afternoon.

I got about five hours of bronzing - and Hobbitry - in today, so I was pretty satisfied.

The girls stumbled across this seagull which only had one leg/foot. . . which has gotta be pretty rare.

And it's not like there were a ton of folks out picnicking, either - there weren't all that many people out to begin with. Even though we had brought snacks with us, the birds left us alone for the most part. Maybe it was some kind of meeting or something, I don't know.

Bored with sitting in the sun, the girls wandered off a little ways down the beach to get some more Abby 'modeling' pics in (for social media or something, I assume.)

A few on some rocks. . .

This one of her acting like a sea monster should go on her 'Gram, for sure.

Alayna decided to bronze alongside her old man after awhile, so while we were preoccupied with getting ourselves gorgeous, Kris took Abby along with her to check out nearby Tawas Point Lighthouse. . .

I don't get the female obsession with selfies. . .

. . . like, if guys want to get a picture of something we just take a picture of it, whereas women have to take a picture of themselves in front of what they want to take a picture of.

Abby was wanting to check out the sinkhole in the water, so Kris followed her out there to document the sudden drop off.

I combined Kris' pics into one image for your viewing convenience, folks.

The Cannonball, getting some sun.

After five or so hours on the beach, we were all pretty funned-out with the sun and decided to head into downtown Tawas to hit up some local, touristy shops and grab some ice cream for the girls.

We ultimately popped into a few stores, as Abby was after a tie-dyed Tawas shirt, but unfortunately she never found one (only hoodies.) I managed to pick up another metal bar sign for my basement bar, though. Hooray for me.

Kris wanted to hit up this local ice cream place, instead of a chain ice cream joint like Dairy Queen (which was more convenient for us - we had to drive back a few blocks in order to get to this place.)

This inside of this ice creamery (is that a word?) was all retro-fitted to look like a 50s/60s diner, which was pretty awesome.

An old timey, wooden jukebox with era-appropriate music. I would love to own something like this and swap it out with punk rock songs. . .

I held a table for us while Kris and the girls were in line buying their ice cream (the place was starting to get packed with fellow tourists who had the same idea as us.) We enjoyed a last little bit of sun at the ice cream joint before heading back to Midland, another successful day trip in the books.

- Brian 

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Gidget, enjoying her favorite pastime:  blindly staring into a fan.

Hi people.

Kris and I tend to see eye-to-eye on most things; kind of one of those things that happens when you end up getting hitched.  There are a few bullet points, however, over which we do butt heads - and one of the recent ones happens to be in regards to dog ownership.

The infamous Dreyfus: Chaos in Dog-form

Me?  I love me a dog.  Kris does, too. . . but is convinced we can't swing it at this point in time, what with our chaotic work schedules and disaster-prone children and all.  I have a tendency of throwing caution to the wind and pouncing on things impulsively, so maybe she has something of a point, here, but I have a hard time raising kids without a pet around.

And no, readers, fish are not pets.  They're home decor.  There's a difference.  Pets have character, and ideally can be handled by their human counterparts.  They also have fur.  Or feathers.

If you'll all be so good to remember, we did have ourselves a pet for a few years - a rebellious, little Quaker Parrot named Fezzig.  We got him from a pet store shortly after I returned from Africa, but were forced to get rid of him when Alayna was about a year old.  We had spoiled the guy for years with our easier workloads and kid-less home, but alas when we began more time-consuming careers and began pumping babies out, he had what you could call an 'avian nervous breakdown.'  Plucking feathers, snipping at us, screeching for no reason whatsoever.  In the end, we had to give the poor guy away to some crazy bird people (who picked him up in a car emblazoned with Quaker Parrot bumper stickers. . . so at least we know he went to a good home).

Taking that whole ordeal into consideration, it's safe to say that we're both pretty funned-out with the whole 'pet bird' thing.  At least for now.  Maybe when the kids are older and can share the responsibilities of taking care of a parrot - those things are pretty high-maintenance.

Dreyfus spent a lot of time in the kitchen. . .

With birds and fish out of the question, the conver-sation keeps coming back to dogs.  I grew up with dogs, as Kris did, and feel that they're a necessary component of the domestic biosphere.  I grew up with a series of beloved dogs since the day I was born.  Rufus, Dreyfus, Zack; all of them well-loved and - with the exception of the last one, which I believe has spent the last 16 years scampering about a farm up in Tawas, MI. - loyal pets that spent nearly 15 years with the family.

She can't hear ya, kid. . .

Since 1997, Gabe and Gidget have also been well-loved members of the Hough Family, but as the years have worn on, their age had caught up with them and their quality of life has taken a turn for the worse.

During the last three or four years, Gidget (a lopsa-lopsa. . . or however the hell you spell it) had lost an eye and the ability to see all-together, fancying herself blind strolls into walls and sitting for hours on end in front of an oscillating fan.

Leisure time.

Gabe (a golden retriever), who used to be the epitome of boundless energy, spent most of his time sleeping, as the simple task of getting to his feet was a considerable feat in itself.

The Dynamic Duo

Today at work I received a text message from my dad saying that the two were finally put down together.  Gabe could no longer stand on his own, was unable to control his bowels, and had stopped eating.  It was his time to go, and Dad and Cindy felt it was for the best to put down Gidget down alongside him, seeing how they had been companions for over 15 years.

Definitely not the best text message to receive while at work, attempting to teach the Peloponnesian Wars to a horde of bored middle schoolers.

My parents were jerks and consequently I never had this as a pet.

I'm sure Dad and Cindy will eventually get a new dog (or dogs).  After all, people need pets, and I can't think of any other animal out there - besides a dinosaur or a Falcor - that makes a better pet than a dog.

Gabe and Gidget, you will be missed.  Rest in Peace.

- Brian