Born to Be Wild!

Hey there friends! Manny here. Have you ever wanted to take a walk on the 'wild side' of life? I have always walked the straight line. But today, I decided to venture off the safe path.
First, I decided to go bungee jumping!

What a total rush!!!! But then, I craved more excitement and adrenaline, so I decided to go sky diving.

I landed safely in a nice field of grass. Sky diving is dangerous, as is bungee jumping. This should not be done by kids or grown ups who are afraid of heights. But it is totally safe for sock monkeys without bones!
Next I thought I would see what it was like to ride a wild hog.

I really wanted to take this hog out on the open road, but I didn't have the key and the owner didn't seem to want to turn over his ride to a sock monkey. But at least I got to feel leather under my little sock monkey butt. It felt nice!
Next, I decided to fly to the moon!

I decided to jump out right at number 4 on the countdown. I like to keep my thrills on earth. I don't think there is a place for a sock monkey on the moon.
So then I decided to go rock climbing.

I think I did pretty good climbing those rocks. Very challenging for a sweet little sock monkey like myself. One should never look down when rock climbing. I did and I didn't have my harness on. Fortunately, there was a nice lady down below to catch my fall.
It was a busy day! I couldn't believe all the thrills I had. But I think one day walking on the wild side was enough. Tomorrow I'll go back to being just little old Manny!
Nitey Nite!

Downtown Baby!

Howdy friends! Manny here. I keep hearing all these commercials about 'Downtown Baby'. So I was really curious as to what this downtown place was. Is it really as great as the commercials say? I decided to find out for myself.

I got up early and after a healthy breakfast of cheetos, I headed downtown. I caught a ride with a nice lady. She let me ride shotgun! Then she dropped me off at this place that had the coolest table. It had a checker table built right in. I sat down and had myself a game. I won!

Then I went to play on the jungle gym. Whee!!!!!!

I found a nice little house I could easily fit into.

There was even a waterfall! I threw a penny in and made a wish for an endless supply of Cheetos!

Then I noticed a stage. It was all empty. I have always wondered what it would be like to be on a stage in front of hundreds of people!

But I was the only one there. There weren't hundreds of people. Only a small cricket that crossed the stage. His name was Jimeny. He wasn't very talkative. I could barely hear his little voice. This was such a nice place, I was sure to remember it forever. But no one would know that a simple, little, sweet sock monkey once took the stage on a summer afternoon.

Or would they? I decided to leave my mark on this wonderful place. Now everyone will know Manny was here!
As I was leaving, I noticed a sweet smell in the air. Even my monkey nose could smell it. I followed it with my sniffer and it took me to this wonderful store.

I hear they make chocolate covered potato chips here and even chocolate covered pickles!!! I wonder if they make chocolate covered Cheetos?
It was a busy day! I'm spent! Nitey nite!
Manny

Summertime Blues

Hey friends! Manny here. Woke up this morning and it was August!!! That means summer is almost over. This makes me sad. There still are many things I want to do this summer. So I thought I better get to it right away!
So today I had myself a picnic.

Then I decided to relax in the sun with a good book.

Then I decided to go for a bike ride!!

This nice lady was going to give me a ride on her pink bicycle, but suddenly we discovered that her tire was flat. I was really bummed out. I hope she gets it fixed soon because she said that when she does, we will ride the wind and touch the midnight sun. I am not sure what that means. But it sounds fun!
So I had to settle for this ride.

Manny goes scootin'!!! It was a hot day today. Last time I checked, it was 84 degrees. So I thought I would cool off a bit.

Aaaaaahhhhh! That water felt good! I don't have to doggie paddle to swim in a pool. This is my special 'Manny' pool. I'm thinking of having a pool party soon. I'll let you all know when it goes down. Enjoy the summer days while they last!
Manny

Daytrippin'

Hey friends! Manny here. This week my buddy Liam was gone for the whole week. He went to stay with his grandparents. I really missed him. So I thought since he was gone, I would take a trip as well. So I hitched a ride with a vending machine repair man to FARGO!!! And then I got to go to this cool place!

It was a nice place and all, but I have no need for hoses, so I moved on. Then I went to a sporting goods store!

This guy didn't seem to know much about sports.

I don't think green is my color. What do you think?

These guys were pretty tame. And pretty quiet!

I love playing in a pit of balls!!!

These little guys kicked hard!!!

Do you think anyone saw me? I don't think so. I was pretty sneaky.....

This guy didn't know much about sports either. He really needs a haircut. Somebody call Paige!!!

Finally, a nice lady came and took me with her to hear this nice lady sing. It was a good time. I got a little wet in the rain, but I dried off quickly!!! Then I hitched a ride back home with the nice lady who took me to the show. It was a good trip. Can't wait 'til Liam gets home!!!
Nitey nite!
Manny

All Work and No Play

Hey Friends! Manny here. When I woke up today, I was seriously giving this job thing some more thought. So I tried again. 

I thought about being a postal person. But I really don't look good in blue and I don't think I would like those uniforms. Besides, I hear that dogs chase postal people a lot. Sometimes, they even bite them!!! Yikes! Can you imagine how dangerous that would be for a sock monkey like myself?

Then I thought about working for the railroad all the live long day. But those trains are so loud and I hear that hobos live inside those train cars. Hobos!! Even more danger than the postal job. So I kept moving....

Then I thought about being a roughneck and working on the oil rigs. North Dakota is booming with the oil business right now!!! There is a lot of money to be made. But I heard that can be pretty rowdy and may not be the life for a sweet little monkey like myself!

Then I ran into the UPS guy. I asked him if he liked his job and he said he did. His favorite part is wearing the brown shorts in the summer time. But you have to be able to lift at least 75 pounds to work in this cool brown truck. Plus, you have to know how to drive. I haven't been able to learn that yet. Still working on that. On I went on my quest....

Then I ran into this guy!!! His name is Josh Jones and he is THE guy on Rock 107.9 FM!!! He plays the coolest music!!! He is the best dj in the whole world!!!! If you call him in the morning and ask him to play your favorite song, he will do it!!! His job is awesome! But since he has the best job in town, there is no room for a little monkey like myself. This town's not big enough for two music lovers like myself. For now, I'll let Josh keep playin' the cool tunes!!!!

After a long day of poundin' the streets looking for work, I ran into my nice lady friend who told me that sweet little monkeys like myself should just stick to what we know best-monkey business!!!! So she gave me a ride home, but first let me stop by Valley Dairy to buy my favorite snack!!!

Yes, I hustled enough work this week to buy my very own bag of tasty Cheetos!!!! I may not be gainfully employed, but my fingers are yellow with Cheetos. Life is good my friends!!!!
Manny

A Good Day's Work

Hey Friends! Manny here. Today I woke up feeling a bit sad that I had empty pockets. I decided I had better earn some money instead of depending on the kindness of nice ladies and other strangers. So I decided to seek employment!

A nice lady that I know offered to let me 'help out' in her office today. But nobody seemed to want to talk to me when I answered the phone. So, when no one was looking, I decided to make my work fun!

You can really swing with those paper clips! But then the nice lady came back into the office and I thought I should do some work. So I tried my hand at filing. It didn't go so well.

I ended up ripping some paper during my filing process trying to get out of the files I got stuck in, so I thought I should tape them up. Do you know how hard it is for a fabric sock monkey to use tape?

It took forever to get the tape off of me! That was not fun. I kept hearing this beeping noise coming from this machine. Then it would shoot out paper. It had a phone and when I answered it, again nobody wanted to talk to me. I couldn't figure that weird machine out!

And then I found the most fun part about working in the office!  The copy machine!!!

Did you know you can make copies of yourself? That was so much fun!!! I could copy myself all day!!! But then the nice lady walked in and said "Manny, I don't think office work is the work for you. Maybe you should try something else." She was right. So she gave me a dollar for my day's work and away I went. But I sure loved making Manny copies!!!!
So tomorrow I will try something else. Maybe by Friday I will have enough to buy a bag of Cheetos!!!
Nitey Nite!
Manny

Gone Fishin'

Hey everybody!! Manny here. Today was a great day to enjoy the great outdoors. I started off with some nice relaxing bubbles!

Who doesn't love blowing bubbles! Next, I played with a pinwheel!

That got kind of boring after awhile. So then I decided to make my way over to the English Coulee and do some fishing.
There is a big bridge to cross over the coulee!

I laid out my gear and hoped for a good catch!

Man, that coulee really stinks! I sure would hate to go swimming in there! But soon enough, there was some tugging on my line and I caught.....

....a small red turtle!!!! He didn't look very tasty and he didn't say much. I would guess he was just happy to be pulled out of that smelly green coulee!
After fishing, I decided to skip some rocks.

Then I thought I should get myself and the turtle out of the sun, so I found some shade in this little house!

But it didn't have anything soft inside to lay on, so I continued on. I was getting hungry and I thought maybe I should eat my catch of the day like most fisherpersons do.

I was about to fry me up some turtle, when a nice lady came along and said "Manny-turtles aren't for eating! They are protected creatures!" So we threw the red little turtle back into the smelly coulee and my stomach still growled. I asked the nice lady what time it was and was shocked to find out how late it was in the day. I had gotten a late start today. I had somewhere I needed to be and fast! So the nice lady gave me a ride.

So off I went to see my buddy Liam play baseball in the sunny, early evening hours. It was a nice night and he did a great job! I was so proud of him. Well, I'm off to find a snack before bedtime. And it won't be a turtle snack either!
Nitey Nite!
Manny