The first siding photos ...

They are really moving along. Here's what they've done so far...

Big Brother 8

I just love this show. After The Amazing Race, I think it's my favorite reality TV show.

Gay boy Dustin won HOH this week and nominated Jen and Kail for eviction. Kail thinks she's a pawn, but the house really wants her out. So do I. I hate to say it, but I'm starting to like Jen, who is playing a good game. She's a blonde with black hair, but she knows how to play.

I have a couple -- well, maybe a few -- favorites who I hope stick around for a while. Evil Dick is hilarious. When he walked into the bathroom last week and farted I thought I was going to lose it. Eric -- America's Player -- is just cute as a button, and boy does he know how to take this America's Player thing and run with it. He voted to evict Kail last week when Mike left the house, leaving everybody to think Jen was the other vote in a 7-2 loss for Mike. And Dustin is definitely getting his revenge on Joe, who's long gone. But like I said last week -- he made his bed when the show started by throwing all those accusations his ex, and now he's sleeping in it.

And then there's Nick. When he smiles, I melt. He's a big boy with a great body. But he's much too big for me, being an ex-football player and all. But he, too, knows how to work it, and work it well he does.

I guess that means I'd make an exception. You bet.

More updates as the summer rolls along...

Dustin photo courtesy CBS

Butterfly/bumblebee bush

We have a bush in the front of the yard that neither Ed nor I know what it is. But boy do the butterflies and bumblebees just love it. They flock to it like crazy. I took these pictures yesterday.

And so it begins ...

Bright and early today, too. The siding is going up, and I can't wait for them to finish. And they just started.

The thing is is I work until 1 a.m. each night, and sometimes don't go to bed until 3. They were here today at 7:45 a.m. Ugh.

But it will be worth it when it's done. Now if we can just get the Deck-O-Vation/permit problem figured out, we'll be good as gold...

Tammy Faye

I'm not really sure why I was so moved by the death of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, who died Friday of colon and lung cancer at age 65.

I remember in the 1980s actually laughing when I'd watch the PTL Club. But after the scandal that brought down the PTL Club, and after she divorced Jim Bakker, she seemed to find her calling, and was embraced by the gay community for standing up for gay rights and being one of the first people I can remember to actually show sympathy for those with HIV/AIDS, in a time when a certain president couldn't even bring himself to mouth the words.

Maybe she did become a parody of herself, but she was definitely happier, and comfortable with herself as time went on. It was sad to see her final interview with Larry King on CNN last week, but that was her idea. Even though cancer had ravaged her body and she was down to 65 pounds, she was still Tammy Faye.

There's a nice capsule of her life on Towleroad that I think everybody who reads this should view.

RIP Tammy Faye. You deserve it.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Big Brother 8

With no Amazing Race until early 2008, thank God we have Big Brother 8 to fill my summer nights.

This season has to be one of the best ever. Evil Dick is a riot, and I hope he and his daughter Danielle are able to patch things up and get close again.

As Head of Household this week, Evil Dick has set his sights on Kail (she lied to him) and the very weird Jen (a maniupulator who has to be blonde under all that black hair). Jen has to go. If I see one more of her shirts -- Jensa Member, Jenius, you get the idea -- I'm going to puke.

Thank God gay Joe is gone. That queen was a disaster in the making. He made his bed, and now he's sleeping in it, hopefully alone. To attack his former boyfriend, the HOT Dustin, and accuse him of giving him VD -- now that was just stupid.

The other really hot ones -- and my personal favorites -- are Eric (America's Player) and Nick (pictured), who has shown a bit of his gayness at times.

Let's hope whoever wins the Power of Veto this week does the right thing and doesn't eliminate either of the two currently on the block.

More updates to come...

Umm, about that gnome-napping...

Turns out our little friend wasn't swiped, and apparently didn't run away from home either. Ed found him on his back underneath the growth in the corner of the garden, near the pussywillow bush (he, he, I said pussywillow bush!).

The poor guy. All those days and nights and weeks perched on his back. I know some friends who wouldn't mind that, but I digress.

Anyway, he's back where he rightfully belongs, standing upright below the Rose of Sharon bush in the front yard.

We knew we lived in a redneck neighborhood (trust me -- after two cars and a car porch were firebombed over the weekend by the girlfriend of a guy LIVING WITH HIS WIFE -- I'm not kidding, they live a block away, and it's the same guy who owns the black lab that attacked Bailey last spring), we thought nobody would resort to gnome-napping.

A scandal has been averted. There's no place like gnome...

Deck-O-Vation update

Check out Ed's blog for the latest on his warped little mind and the latest in our home renovations, including the new French doors he installed by himself.

He really is quite the handyman. And just in time too. The new siding will be delivered this Friday with installation starting next Monday.

I really can't wait.

Canyon comes for a visit

Our friends Matt and Greg are off to Las Vegas this week and needed somebody to watch their yellow lab, Canyon. Ed and I love the load that is Canyon, having watched her last summer when Matt and Greg went to Hawaii.

She's a very good dog, but full of energy. She'll keep Bailey, Dexter and Zoe quite busy this week I think.

Not to mention Ed, who will have to deal with that energy when he's home at night and I'm off at work. He'll probably be just as tired as everybody else by the time Canyon goes home on Saturday morning.

Very sad, chilling news ...

As a softball player, and somebody who likes to coach the bases when I'm either not up to bat, on the bases or in the game, this story hits home.

Mike Coolbaugh, coaching first base for the Class AA Tulsa Drillers against my former home team Arkansas Travelers, died Sunday night in Little Rock when he was hit in the head by a line drive. He was only 35.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Timmy the tumor

Well, it's been almost a week and the thumb is feeling pretty good, as you can see by the picture. Had the giant cell tumor removed last week. I head back to the doctor on Wednesday and hope to have the stitches removed then.

I was awake during the whole procedure, which took about a half-hour. Didn't feel a thing, which is good. And while I wanted to watch, or at least catch a peek, they wouldn't let me. Oh well.

They said it would be up to me as far as how soon I wanted to get back to playing softball. Fall ball begins soon, with the Gay World Series in Phoenix just around the corner in early October.

The thumb is stronger than I thought it would be, so I don't think it'll be long before I'll be swinging a bat again.

Not soon enough, I'll tell you that...

Catching up ...

Two things -- check out Ed's blog for an update on the Deck-O-Vation (and other assorted weird things he finds on the internet). He's done a whale of a job on the deck, and I'm so proud of him. This place is going to look so much different and so much nicer when all the construction is done and the siding gets put on.

And my Cubs are still the hottest team in the National League, and now are only 3 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, and only 3 games out of first place in the wild-card race. It's going to be a great finish to the baseball season...

We are the champions -- again!

Well, my USA TODAY softball team won the championship of the Metropolitan Media Softball League for the second consecutive year this weekend.

We entered as the No. 8 seed and rolled through our competition, beating CNN 11-7 in the championship game. We went 5-0 in the tournament, avenging all of our regular-season losses in the process (AP, Team Video, Comcast SportsNet, AOL -- twice -- and CNN). It was a great weekend, winning the title after a 10-6 regular-season, and when I think many of the other teams thought we were vulnerable, especially after we won last year as the No. 1 seed.

I did get hurt -- what else is new? In the fifth inning while running the bases, as I headed into third base I pulled my right hamstring. I was so upset, especially because I had already had 2 hits and 2 RBI. But I knew whoever I put in there would do just fine, and I was right.

CNN made it close, scoring twice in the seventh inning, and had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate. But a bounce-back to the pitcher ended it, and we took back-to-back titles, only the third team in MMSL history to do that.

So my softball season is officially over, as I go into surgery for the tumor on my thumb tomorrow (Ed and I named him Timmy). Timmy, it was nice knowing you for the past two years. Parting is such sweet sorrow -- NOT!

I'll be raring to go for the Gay World Series in Phoenix in October. Can't wait.

President who? Oh, that guy ...

Just what the doctor ordered.

Three out of four Cubs wins against the Nationals, another Brewers loss to the Pirates, and the NL Central is up for grabs, with the Cubs moving within 4 1/2 games of the lead.

The Cubs beat the Nats 4-2 Thursday night, with a makeshift lineup that included Daryle Ward and Jacque Jones, who both came up with some big hits. Carlos Marmol made it a little hairy in the eighth inning, but the Cubs held on and now it's on to Pittsburgh before the All-Star break.

And the Cubs won despite the presence of one President Bush. Didn't even know he was there. I remember Opening Day in 2005 and what a zoo RFK Stadium was when he arrived. This time I don't think anybody knew he was even in the park.

And considering everything going on in the world, that's probably a good thing.

Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari, AP

Ouch!

Well, I guess you can't win them all.

Not only did the Nationals beat the Cubs 6-0 on Independence Day, I didn't get my George Washington bobble-head either. Turns out just about all of the 40,000 people in attendance wanted one too, and they were only giving out 20,000 of them.

I'd have probably gotten mine if I hadn't tailgated and drank beer with my softball friend Travis and his brother. But we waited until just about gametime to enter RFK Stadium, and by that time it was too late.

Oh well. You live, you learn, you move on. There are three more bobble-head giveaways this season, so I'll try and get one of those.

As for the game itself -- not much to cheer about. Rich Hill stunk on the mound, giving up a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman and a grand slam to All-Star Dmitri Young. So now, the Cubs, who haven't scored in 15 consecutive innings, go for 3-for-4 tonight before heading to Pittsburgh to close out the first half before the All-Star break.

The only positive thing to take out of the loss: the Brewers lost too.

Cubs 2, Nats 0

Two more wins and the four-game sweep will be complete.

Carlos Zambrano threw a lot of pitches, but got the win as my Cubbies beat the Nationals 3-1 Tuesday night. And with the Brewers losing to the Pirates, the Cubs are only 5 1/2 games behind in the NL Central.

They are HOT. Three in a row, 10-of-11. The only thing that would make it better would be to just go ahead and sweep. And today's game at 12:05 p.m. ET is as good a place to start as any.

Was great to see so many Cubs fans among the 30,000 at RFK Stadium last night. And sitting next to me in his Nats red shirt and cap was Ed, who actually had a better time showing off his iPhone to the Cubs cutie behind us than he did during the game. Hell, I would have too. Yum. But I digress.

Today is the first of the President bobble-head giveaways. George is the lucky Prez. Ed's going just long enough to get one, then he's off to work before heading home to work on the deck-o-vation.

I think he'll be happy when the Cubs leave town and I get back to work. It's likely to be a bit quieter around the house. Not sure about that, but hey, as long as we don't have to deal with the crazy neighbors, right?

One down, three to go ...

... So the Cubs got off to a good start last night, scoring early and often in a 7-1 victory over the Nationals.

It was a bit strange at first, cheering against the Nats. But they were so inept until about the sixth inning that it really wasn't that hard.

There were about 25,000 fans in attendance last night, and I'd bet that 3/4 of them were Cubs fans. What a great sight. And the sound wasn't bad either, especially every time Alfonso Soriano came to bat (a few boos, but lots of cheers). It was Soriano's first trip back to D.C. since he signed that $136 million deal with the Cubs.

And the Nats got a clue of how much they miss him. Soriano had two hits, an RBI, a run and a stolen base against his former team.

I sat in section 471 last night, near the right field foul pole, which is almost catty corner to our usual seats in section 443. It gave me an idea of what our seats might be like at the new stadium next year -- the three requests we made were all in right field: above the Nats bullpen, below the scoreboard, and the upper deck, somewhat similar to the seats last night and tonight.

Game 2 is tonight, with Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano facing callup Tim Redding, who is pitching in place of Micah Bowie, the latest Nats pitcher to join the disabled list. I like our chances -- Redding hasn't pitched in the majors since 2005, and his ERA in the minors was above 5.00.

It'll definitely be interesting tonight -- Ed is a true-blue Nats fan, regardless of my life-long passion for the Cubs. He'll be wearing his Nats red shirt and cap, and I'll be in my Cubbie blues.

Thank God we'll be in separate vehicles going home -- one of us won't be happy.

Soriano photo by Susan Walsh, AP

Cubs vs. Nats

Well, the day has finally arrived. Tonight is the first of a four-game series at RFK Stadium between my beloved Cubs and second-favorite team, the Nationals.

I had a friend ask who I'd be rooting for. DUH. No contest. I'll be pulling out Cubs shirts this week I haven't worn since they were here last year.

And both teams are heading in opposite directions. The Cubs have won 8-of-9 and just took 2-of-3 from the NL Central-leading Brewers. Ugh again. But a big week by the Cubs here and another next weekend in Pittsburgh and the Cubs will be rolling into the All-Star break. They really are playing their best ball of the season. The Nats won yesterday, but are in last place in the NL East with the same record they had at this point last year. I'm confident 2008 and especially 2009 will be big years for the Nats.

But that's then, this is now. Time for the Cubs to put a whupping on the Nats and beat the teams they are supposed to be beating.

I'll report on each day/game at RFK. I didn't take this week off of work for nothing.

And like the sign says, nothing better than the Cubs and a cold Old Style beer. No Old Style at RFK -- I'll have to pay the $7 for a warm beer there and dream.

If it's not one thing it's another ...

... My softball nickname isn't Dora -- as in Dumb -- for nothing. Something always seems to be going on or wrong when it involves softball or picking up a hammer. And those two things have nothing in common except that I got hurt doing both this weekend.

My work softball team finished the regular-season 10-6, and is the No. 8 seed in the MMSL tournament July 14-15. I think it's a great finish and not a bad seed. But I was hurt in the second game Saturday, pulling my left calf muscle when I hit a divot in left field chasing a foul fly. Two days later and it feels like a bad charley horse. I have no doubt I'll be ready for our four games this weekend in my gay league.

Then, yesterday I was helping Ed with the Deck-O-Vation and hammered my left-flip off finger. It's swollen and blue today.

Now if I can just find somebody to flip off... Maybe Ed, since he went out and bought a new iPhone...