On behalf of Jill and myself, I am sad to report that this morning we had to put Hoss to sleep. He has had problems with his rear legs/hips for some time, but over the last few weeks has deteriorated quite rapidly.

It was sad to watch the front 75% of him acting normal while his rear legs were barely able to hold his weight. It was a tough decision to make, but any other decision would only have been selfishness on our part. Fortunately, we were able to spoil him rotten over the weekend and were there during his last moments.

I realize that the loss of a family pet pales in comparison to the loss of lives that occurred on September 11th, but that does not seem to make it any easier on us. He was a great dog, a large (no pun intended) part of our family over the past 9 years and will be greatly missed.


DOGGEN HOSS PUTZIER
02/23/1997 - 09/11/2006

We realize the Bible is basically silent on where animals go when they pass, but we take comfort in knowing that God takes care of all of His creations. So, although it is not necessarily biblical, we like to think of Hoss (complete with his angel costume) running and playing with his 50 gallon plastic barrel "toy" like he used to.

Mike

Well, I am sad to report that Jill did not make the top 12. She is still #1 in my heart....but the judges seem to have been blind. The good news is, she has agreed to still come home with me!!! See ya'll back in KS!!!!!

Mikey

Just as a reminder, the pageant starts at 7:00 pm. Tucson is two hours behind the Central Time zone because Arizona is the last state that still does not recognize daylight savings time.

PLUS, the wind is blowing and the clouds are rolling in. Since this IS the rainy season, there might even be a rain delay.

Finally, last year's pageant took something like 5.5 hours to film for televsion. Hard telling how many retakes / additional delays there might be.

So....when you are sitting at home at 10pm wondering why I haven't posted anything yet, it is because the pageant is, at best, just getting warmed up!

I will have my phone on me, with the ringer turned off, and I will send out text updates during the pageant as I can!

We fly home to Kansas on Thursday, getting home late in the evening.

Thanks!

Mikey

Well, unfortunately, there is not a lot to add today! Jill's zipper on her evening gown broke, so I had the job of taking it to a tailor for repair. Thanks to Jill's director, Tracy Christ, for finding a local tailor! "Sew What" did a great job at a great price. After making the "every man's dream" trip to the tailor, I felt the need to balance out my "hetroness" so I made a trip the the Harley dealer and bought a t-shirt.

Jill's schedule started bright and early and consisted of rehearsals and meals until 11 pm. Needless to say, she was pooped when the day was done. I will leave you with the following photo. It is a photo of a photo taken by the father of Mrs. New Jersey. Hopefully, when we get home, we can scan it for better resolution!!! But, even in a crappy copy of a good photo, she looks awesome!!!



Mikey

Hello, everyone! I'm so excited - this is the first chance I've had to post on my own blog! I'll have to make it quick; I have to go to bed so I can get up early for rehearsals. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me well-wishes, kind words, cards and gifts. It is so encouraging to me to know that you are thinking of me and sending me positive vibes. We have been going just about non-stop, visiting area attractions and restaurants, rehearsing and doing fun little competitions (the diaper baby contest, a scavenger hunt, a quiz over things we've done and seen since we've been here). Today, those who got the top 10 scores in the quiz got to do a little game show type contest with the reigning Mrs. America. Sadly, I didn't have one of the top 10 scores, so I didn't get to do the game show. I can't remember all 10 (OK, OH, WA, MN, MI, NY), but MN came out the victor! She was the only one who knew that the contestant with an identical twin was CA! NV also has a twin, but not an identical one. I think I could use an identical twin about now...she could go to some rehearsals for me! Hee hee. Time for bed now. I hope to have a little time to post again tomorrow. Thanks again, friends!

XOXO,
Jill

Update for MR Kansas….

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting an update from the Mrs. America preliminary competition, I apologize for the delay. It is 11:30 pm and I am just now getting back to my room! The hotel it quite large, but only 4 stories high. In other words, it covers a LOT of real estate. As luck would have it, Jill’s room is on the opposite end of the hotel as my room and her feet were simply too sore to make the long trip over to personally type a blog update.

Jill was stunning, of course, in evening gown, swimsuit and her costume. However, she did not make it into the top 10 in the costume competition. SHE looked awesome, but the costume part of the competition was VERY tough. But, did I mention that SHE LOOKED AWESOME?????

I wish I had photos to share, but I don’t. I was seated towards the back of the ballroom and flash photography was prohibited. I tried to take some photos but they ended up as under-exposed ghost images!

Tomorrow’s (Monday’s) schedule is just crazy. The day starts at 7am and ends at 10pm. Except for small breaks for meals, they are in rehearsals ALL day. I’m not sure if I will even see her….but you can bet we will be text-messaging each other like a couple of goofy teenagers!!

Internet access here at the hotel is $11 a day…..man I miss Kansas….so I am not sure if I will post an update tomorrow or not. With the schedule they have, I’m not sure I would have much of an update anyway!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!!!

Mikey

Wow....where to start???

I finally made it to Tucson and it was SOOOOOOOO good to be with Jill again! Her schedule is VERY full and I am amazed that some of these ladies have the time to update their blogs!

Jill had her interviews with the judges Saturday morning and she believes she did well. After a day full of seminars and rehearsals, they had a party in the hotel club. This was my opportunity to meet a lot of the ladies (rough job...) and they are all very sweet. (Of course, Jill is the most beautiful! )

The preliminary competition will be tonight at 7pm and will be the first opportunity for the judges to see all of the ladies in their evening gown, swimsuit and state costume. Not a lot of details are available, but I believe they will be announcing the winner of the state costume competition and a few other awards.

I will see if I can get Jill to type up her own update, if she gets a few free minutes! In the meantime, here are some photos!

Earlier I had reported there were 4 auxillary competitions. (Golf, Diaper Changing, Best Margarita, and Horseback Riding). Obviously, I was wrong...because I just found out that Mrs. Maine won the cooking contest!

Here is a picture of Jill (our own Margarita Contest Winner), Mrs. Arizona (thanks for the pic) and Mrs Maine.

For those of you who have requested the Margarita recipe, I have forwarded your requests to Jill. Maybe we can get something posted when I FINALLY make it to Arizona tomorrow! Or, better yet, maybe we can make it the featured beverage of our "watch party" when the pageant is broadcast on September 23rd!

Jill just text-messaged me and said they had the swimsuit photo shoot this morning and a scavenger hunt today. I have no doubt they will be rehearsing for the pageant all night again. Last night Jill said the rehearsal was not over until 10:00 pm.

Finally, a geography lesson: Did you know that, while Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone, they do not use daylight savings time? All this time I thought Jill was one hour "behind" those of us here in KS, but she is actually 2 hours behind. Lesson complete....expect a quiz later. Mikey

One more day and I will finally be with Jill in Arizona!!! Jill has been keeping busy and said today has a "schedule from hell". Not sure what that means, but at least Arizona has the right kind of climate for a schedule like that I guess. In the meantime, feel free to leave comments on this blog. When I get to Arizona, I will be sure that she sees all of them.

BTW, in case you have the hankerin', you can send cards, flowers, automobiles or even cold-hard cash to show Jill your support! Here is the address:

Loews Ventana Canyon Resort
Attn Guest: Jill Putzier, Mrs Kansas
7000 North Resort Drive
Tucson, AZ 85750

Also, in case you missed it before, the preliminary competition is Sunday evening and the taping of the actual pageant will be on Wednesday. The pageant will be aired on the WE (Women's Entertainment) channel on Saturday, September 23rd.

OK...here are a few more pics!!! Mikey

Mike here again!

I forgot to mention earlier that I have enabled the "comments" feature of this blog. So, beginning with the August 30th message, you can use the "comments" link at the end of each entry to comment on the message, leave words of encouragement, whatever.

THANKS!

Mike

From Mr. Kansas:

Trying to make ends meet as a bartender can be a tough challenge. But it seemed the perfect solution for Jill while she was going to college. Who would have thought that those skills would come in handy years later as she competes for the title of Mrs America???

The pageant this year includes 4 different auxilary competitions: Horseback Riding, Diaper Changing, Golfing and Best Margarita. If I understand it correctly, each contestant was given the opportunity to pick the one competition for which they felt they were best qualified.

In addition to the obvious team-building benefits of these competitions, the Mrs America organization announced they would have a top 12 this year rather than a top 10. The additional 2 contestants would come from the pool of ladies who won their individual competition.

I told you all of that.....to tell you this: Mrs. Kansas, Jill Putzier, WON THE MARGARITA CONTEST! It seems the other ladies were unable to match her "Ruby Slippers with Prickly Pear Tornado Twist" Margarita! While there is no guarantee, the win does give her an advantage in qualifying for the top 12!!!

Although I hated being apart during our wedding anniversary, it seemed fitting that she won the competition. As most of you know, Jill and I first met when she applied for a job as a bartender in an establishment owned by two good friends of mine. I worked there at the time and, as the saying goes, the rest is history!!!

Mike

From Mr. Kansas again.....

Well, typing updates with a phone has been a real challenge! BUT, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.....so here is 10,000 worth!

BTW, today is our anniversary....we hate being apart....but I will be seeing her soon. Enjoy the pics!

Mike

We had a fun but long and HOT day - went to the old movie studios and to the desert museum. It was 103 today! Ugh. Erica called me just now! That was nice! I miss you something awful!





(Old Tucson Studios)

G'morning!  Today we have a breakfast with the mayor, rehearsal, and then we're off to watch Tucson's minor league baseball team play.  We're all going to sing the nat'l anthem together.  Should be a fun day!  I'm having a blast and miss you all!  Love you!

This is actually a post from "Mr. Kansas".

Jill does not have internet access in Tuscon right now, but has been sending me text message updates using her phone. As you can imagine, typing with a phone keypad is not the most convenient method of communication! So, excuse the shortness of these updates. Once I get to Tuscon next weekend, Jill will have access to a laptop and we hope to get out more information and even some pictures!

Wednesday, August 23rd - Jill flies into Tuscon and spends the evening hanging out with other titleholders. 

Thursday, August 24th - I am having SO much fun! Tracy Elliott asked about you and said how sweet she thought you were.  I told her she was right! 

Last night AR told me that I had fans in AR - some of her friends had seen my pic on the website and wanted her to say hi to me!  That made me feel good! 

Everyone seems very nice and I like my roomie, MO.  I got a box from Tracy yesterday with a present for each day until she gets here - fun!  I love you and miss you

Friday, August 25th - Hi, shug!  Just got home from a long bus ride - it made me queasy.  But our bus driver is a cute little old English man named Lenny.  Going on a horseback ride early tomorrow - gonna go get some sleep. Love you!

Saturday, August 26th -  Riding was fun - but I think my horse was retarded.  His tongue was permanently stuck out of his mouth.  Some of the gals did a barrel racing contest - OK won.  My optional contest will be a margarita blend-off!  I don't know when that will be, but I'm thinking about doing a "Ruby  Slippers" margarita.  Should be fun!  I love you and miss you!  Hug Hoss for me!

We received our swimsuits today.  Mine's green - not bad for a 1-pc!  I like the color.

I sat with MD, IA, and CT at dinner tonight.  CT airbrushes artwork onto bikes!  She also designed many of her fathers tatoos - neat gal.