As soon as Laura took it out of the bag, Karl literally climbed up her pant leg to investigate. Little did he know he was about to become the next victim! The hat has a chin strap for pets who are not so cooperative about wearing it. Here's our sad jester boy. C'mon Karl, you're not going to collect any Halloween goodies with that scowl on your cat face.
The bank is helping to raise money for the American Heart Association. Anyone who donates gets their very own heart displayed. I had to do my part...
... so here's my heart.
For a brief moment I felt guilty about the non-heart healthy lunch I was about to consume. However, it passed quickly as soon as I laid my eyes upon the pizza.
My friend Eugene and I scarfed down several pieces, and then it was time to move on to the next course.
J.J. Gandy's has the best desserts in town - pies, cakes, and cookies. It's all good!
We still had room for some additional treats - two bite brownies.
Between Eugene and I, we had about 20 bites worth.
What a fabulous day! I'm so glad I was asked to be the guest of honor.
Mission accomplished! She didn't notice a thing. However, my rather astute friend Festus was a bit more observant. He confronted me about the missing bling. I should have thought this out better, but I said that I didn't know what happened. It was gone when I woke up this morning. This was not a good thing to say to an aspiring cowboy sheriff. Festus insisted on calling Officer Po Po to file an official police report.
Officer Po Po arrived in his brand new police car and asked me a bunch of questions - when did I first notice the bling was missing, who did I interact with that day, etc. When I insisted that it was no big deal, he looked at me quizzically and shook his head. He could tell I was hiding something, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. After Po Po left, I breathed a sigh of relief and vowed to continue with my project in secret. I would avoid all monkey contact until my mission was complete.
Sparkly ear bling, you're about to become an engagement ring!
I had to complete this task in a stealthy manner, so I wore my camouflage John Deere cap while I sawed down the bamboo.
After securing my sample of bamboo, I headed off to the machine shop to do some precision handiwork.
After cutting and sanding for hours, the ring is almost done. Now to add the bling...
Ta-Da! Here's the finished product. Mark was so grateful for my help. Friday evening he returned from the pier triumphant because she said YES! For my efforts, I received a replacement ear bling from a fine kiosk in the mall. Officer Po Po declared the Case of the Missing Ear Bling to be officially solved and closed.
However, he looked quite dapper and Uncle Sam-like in this patriotic red top hat.
This was his absolute favorite though - a red headband with pom pom style antennae.
Did I mention FOOD was involved? Cookies, brownies, candy, danishes, hot dogs, chips, etc. Gunther tried a little bit of everything.
"Thank you so much for bringing me to Customer Appreciation Day, Laura!" Gunther gives her a giant sock monkey hug.
Oh boy! I can't wait to see what's inside!
I received a monkey card "Bald is Best." How true that is! I also got a cool monkey paper weight and a sock monkey cell phone charm.
Last, but certainly not least, I got some English candy called "Wham." Franklin warned me not to go crazy on the candy because it's very chewy. 
Here's a closeup of my cell phone charm. I think Laura wants to make a necklace for herself out of it. I might let her if she's good. I was so happy to receive such a nice care package from my friend today. I think the felines are jealous because I've been getting spoiled rotten lately.
I am going to hide some goodies in this jar.
I've got some Dove dark chocolates I can keep safe in here.
Safe? Maybe I spoke too soon. Somebody is trying to raid my stash!
Another present I received from Cracker Barrel was this cool camouflage John Deere hat. I can wear this out in the backyard when I'm looking for varmints.
Once I got home, I gathered my fellow Steelers' posse Troy Monkamalu (center) and Ben Socklisberger (right).
Go Big Ben! Let's win this game!
Even Karl got into the spirit of the game with his Terrible Towel. The game was a tail biter, but my Steelers came through with a victory in the end. Yippee!
Here is the chemotherapy drug that will be injected next. It looks like Mountain Dew (or monkey urine). Hee hee! Let's say it's Mountain Dew. That sounds better.
Mark's physician's assistant gives him the shot of Mountain Dew. She is enjoying this a little too much, I think.
Now for Part 2 of his treatment... Mark will also receive another drug that is supposed to inhibit blood vessels from growing around a tumor, which should deprive it of nutrients and it will shrink and hopefully disappear. This drug will be administered through a port in his chest. We have to go to another area called the Infusion Center to receive this injection. I am checking out the machine which will slowly infuse the drug into Mark's port.
After my inspection, it looks like he is good to go. Mark will be hooked up to this contraption for about an hour and a half. Since it's dinnertime, I'm going to make a run for some comfort food and I'll be back shortly.
I found some pretty yellow flowers. They reminded me of daffodils.
My pit stop for dinner was our favorite place to eat (Jason's Deli). I ordered a Mexican Chicken baked potato. I think this potato was on steroids. It was HUGE!
After a yummy dinner, I amused myself in the Infusion Center. There are some nice volunteers who knit beautiful hats for the female cancer patients. I decided to model this snazzy purple number.
Each chair in the Infusion Center is equipped with an individual television. This is especially nice for the patients that sit in these chairs for many hours while receiving their chemotherapy. Mark and I kicked back to watch the boob tube after our meal. We were especially looking forward to watching the Steelers' first game of the regular season.
I heard a babbling noise coming from the water, so I had to stop and check out the situation.
I found some white water rapids! Now I just need to bring a raft next time I visit.
It's time to move along on my park travels. The red tricycle is beckoning me to continue my ride.
I made a second pit stop to enjoy the view. There are several wooden piers like this one within the park that overlook the water.
