DATE: 01/02/2007 15:21:00 / MOOD: other

So we were visiting my dad for the holidays. As I usually do, I brought my two dogs: Sweetie (the goofy boxer mix) and Copa (my English Bulldog). One night I was visiting my good friend and mentioned to him that it might be best for me to find a good home for Copa. She's 5 years-old, and we've only had her one year. We've been dealing with someone else's lack of training her as a pup. She gets honery sometimes and will growl and snap, but most of the time she's a sweet dog. But since my son is 7 months old and I got him crawling up to her while she was growling, I had to do what's best for everyone. Well, my amigo knows a widow who has been wanting an English Bulldog. So, with a few pains I went ahead and gave Copa to her. Several days removed I realize that this whole "doing the right thing" sucks. I'm confident that it was the right move, but each time my kids realize she's gone or I clean something else in our house that was hers, it stings. I know that she's a dog and "real" men don't get upset by all of this, but it sucks. I have no idea why I wrote this for the world to see, but it just struck me that I needed to write about it in order to gain a little more closure.

And don't worry, in a couple of years when my kids are a little older, I will be getting another English. I've always loved my Bulldogs and this is just a pause in the trend.

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DATE: 07/30/2006 16:53:39 / MOOD: ready to wheel

Well, yesterday she-who-must-be-obeyed, the kids, and I loaded up all our possessions and headed south. My wife drove the mini-van full of luggage and three children, while I drove a 26' Uhaul. The jeep rode on a dolly. 33" tires barely fit on their auto dolly. I drove nervously out of Marshall, through Houston, until I pulled into the Love's in Edna, TX. I filled up on gas and as I was ready to leave, it wouldn't start. 3 hours later the machanic sent by Uhaul declared that the fuel pump was out and they were going to have to tow the Uhaul truck to their shop. So I backed the jeep off of the trailer and finished the drive in the jeep. I'd been missing her all day. So while it's going to suck to drive back to Victoria (2 hours) to pick the Uhaul back up, it was nice to cruise down 77 to Corpus Christi. That's where I'm at now, so if you're ever down her, look me up.

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DATE: 07/27/2006 14:01:07 / MOOD: dont know

Ok. This is getting rediculous. 1 day after putitng on the mml, I have to deal with death wobble. I was driving down the road (trying to find a good deal on a spare) and my jeep just loses her mind. The wheel starts jerking and nearly comes out of may hand around 40 mph. So I go this morning and mount my new (new to me, used by someone else) 33x12.5x15 BFGs. They get mounted and balanced and while it's tempered, the DW remains. A front-end realignment later, DW is tempered more, but still remains. So she's in the shop getting an oil change and the dealer's going to check out the DW. This is starting to get out of hand...literally. But we'll keep going. She'll be fine.



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DATE: 07/26/2006 12:04:26 / MOOD: angry

So a week ago, I ordered a motor mount lift from www.browndogoffroad.com . They were having a sale, so I jumped on it, as I had just ordered the JKS 1.25" Body Lift. So I finally get under the jeep and put on the body lift, but it had gotten late, so I decide to wait until morning to install the motor mount lift.

I get several sets of instructions (I'm not an experienced wrencher) and get to work. As I get to the OEM mounts, I can't get a good enough angle to loosen the bolt. Finally, instead of jeopardizing my toy (also my DD) I put it all back together and take it to a mechanic.

After 2 hours of working on it at the mechanic, it turned out that the mount they had a sent me did not fit! So we (mechanic and I) cut the motor mount lift (passenger side only, driver side fit fine) and welded it back. Only then were we able to get it to fit.

Now I'm happy about how it turned out, but if a company advertises a bolt-on piece, you ought to be able to bolt-it-on, I think. So while I'm a little frustrated, in the end, I'm excited that I'm going to be able to put on some bigger meats. The 30" BFG ATs worked fine and were nice, but I'm anxious to take out some new 33" BFG MTs.

See you on the trails,

Bulldog Jeeper

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