Happy Birthday Hunter!

Hunter is a quietly competent youngster. He is a class leader in school, hard working at home and for his grand parents. Just an all round great kid!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wild Kingdom

About one o'clock this morning, my two dogs, Dolly and Max, started barking, and woke me up. They sleep in a latched cage in my closet, and usually only bark to tell me to let them go out to the bathroom. After I let them outside, they continued loud barking, so loud that I was concerned for sleeping neighbors, so I grabbed a flashlight and went out to see what was making them bark. I expected to see a two toned tom cat, but when I opened the door to the lawnmower shed, I found Max barking loudly at a possum! The possum was perched on the handlebars of our lawnmower, and well out of Max's reach. Heck, Max wasn't even looking up for the little guy, he was just drawing a crowd.

I shooed Max out of the shed and managed to get him back in the house, then I had to find Dolly. I had to pick her up and put her back in the cage. They didn't make a peep until I woke them this morning to put them outside.

I think the little possum was a youngster. He was only about a foot long, and looked to be about 2 pounds. He was after the dogfood I keep in a pan for both dogs. I suspect he and maybe his family are the culprits that stripped our grape arbor last week. We had TONS of grapes just ripe enough to pick, but one morning, they were ALL GONE!

Well, I need to shower and get ready for school. I substitute for Ricky Nix, teaching Health at Travis Middle School. Second day of school for the kids, first for me.

Smoking Meats! Early start, smoke all day..

I started off early this morning, and got the pork and brisket on smoker at 7. it was a bit too dark to take photos then, but this is about halfway thru.
Brad and Momo chopped the pork shoulder for pulled pork sanwiches...YUM!

Diana and Chuck James joined us in celebrating mine and Hunter's birthday.

Brad, Peyton, Paige and Wendy. We missed Kari's and Holly's families.

Momo and the girls enjoying a little down time...

We really did miss kari, Wayne, Carson and Holly, Mike, Zach and Will. We leave on the 10th to fly to Virginia for a short visit with Kari, Wayne and Carson. In October, we will either go to El Paso for a visit with Holly, Mike and the boys, or they will be coming here. It was lots of fun, and the pork was lip-smacking good.

This is my day!

Well, I turned 73 or is it 37? I get confused. Anyway, I got up early, cooked breakfast for the two grandkids that are here until Saturday, got out the weedeater, sawed down all the undergrowth from the recent rains, hooked the edger attachment on the power head, edged all the yards, then mowed all the grass. It was TALL! It has been almost 10 days since I last mowed the grass, and it was daunting. Just locating the used dogfood in the grass was tough, and I only found one deposit with the weedeater. Yep, it flung doggie poop higher than my head. I don't think I got hit, but I probably need to take a shower this month anyway.

Daughter Holly called early this morning, wished me Happy Birthday, and apologized for mailing a birthday card late. Would you know that it was in today's mail? Good show, USPS!

Wendy and Kari also called to wish me happy birthday, heck, it would seem that at some age you need to NOT be reminded of those things.

Judy and I made another batch of Salsa this morning, and we were helped by Hannah and Hunter. The new food grinder we got last fall really works well. We can whip up over a case of salsa, about 14 or 15 jars, in about 15 minutes because we don't have to pre-chop much of anything. It does take a lot longer to cook and water bath the jars, but 15 minutes prep is super.

I will start cooking early Sunday morning for the birthday dinner. Pulled pork is on the menu, and I will also smoke a couple of briskets for the Tuesday night pot-luck dinner for our bible study group. I hope we can get Brad to bring Paige and Peyton.

Judy and I get to be "parents" this evening when we take Hannah and Hunter to the "Meet and greet" at Belmar Elementary. I subbed there a few times last year, even had Hannah in the class. It is a super school, small by Amarillo ISD standards, but really nice kids and faculty.

Still soggy after all this rain

We have a side yard that is all lava rock. It seems to be a "weed magnet" and I am constantly spraying the weeds and grasses that continuously sprout. Judy decided to get rid of the rock, and listed it on Craigslist. She said she got about a dozen calls, finally offered the stuff to one man, and he showed up yesterday with his son to rake the stuff up. It is a swamp out there, and about the only rock he managed to load was a little bit up on top of the mud. Maybe it will dry up someday and he can get the rest, but right now, it looks like the eruption just ended.

Oh, our little furry friend that came visiting last Saturday night is still a guest. I have a new "live catch"trap, baited with peanut butter, but he's still at large. More later, if and when we catch little "Mickey."

"And the rains came down"

Well, we haven't had the rains that El Paso endured, and we aren't planning on building an Ark, but the past three days has produced about 2 1/2 inches of much needed rain, and it looks like we could have a few more days of rain. Parts of Hereford had 6 1/2 inches of rainfall, and the labor camp was flooded again. That's not really earthshaking news, a heavy dew will cause flooding in the labor camp. When you build a community in a playa lake bed, you have to expect some flooding.

Last night, Judy noted a little visitor in the family room. She didn't scream or jump on a table but the little mouse she saw is/was hiding behind the TV. I wanted to shoot it with my pellet gun, but she was more concerned on "richochet, blood on the carpet, noise and 'how cruel'" so I didn't. I haven't seen him this morning, so I don't know where he is. I did leave a trail of bread crumbs for him into her bedroom so she could have company for the night.

Hmmmm, puzzle for Non Rev's Or Is space available?

Well, it seems that being a non-revenue passenger still has its pitfalls. Travel line called today and told me to try to be creative and consider other airports going and coming to Kari's. She mentioned all three Washington area airports and Richmond, and even told me to consider going thru Cincinatti vice Atlanta. Since the merger with Northwest, Detroit is also thrown in the mix, and some of those flights transit LaGuardia then to Reagan on the Shuttle. I don't want to do that, but if all else fails.....

The old adage still applies, "Time to spare? Go by air." Such are the trials and tribulations of a modern Non-Revenue passenger, fly free, but pay for it with ulcers.

Change of plans, first change, maybe more coming

Well, Holly called this morning and read me the riot act about driving to Virginia. I told her I would consider it, and I did. This afternoon, I called the Delta Travel line and listed us for Delta flight 812 out of Albuquerque at 0620 on 11 September, arriving in Richmond at 12:15 with a stop in Atlanta. We'll rent a car and make our way to see Carson. Our return is on the 18th, DAL flight DL 1787 to Atlanta, and DL 817 to Albuquerque, arriving around 6 pm. We will arrive back in Amarillo, tired and dirty, around midnight.

See, it would have been so much simpler to just drive out for two or three days, rest up and drive back....

Wow! New murals in kids church

This is the check in area. I'll be working here most Saturdays. We expect to move in on the first weekend in November. The sanctuary will not be ready until late January 2009

Below are a few of the many murals in the new children's wing in our new church.




Peyton will be attending here whenever he goes with us. The older kids have equally as dazzling classrooms on the second floor. The playground equipment will start being assembled this week in the huge playground area.

Pool time!

Grandkids really enjoy the summertime and the pool. Peyton isn't swimming yet, but he does have fun with dad and cousin Hannah at the pool.

Progress in planting

I posted the new flower bed earlier, and this is an update on the progress. This is the west end of the flower bed, notice that there hasn't been a lot of progress here.


















This is the east side of the bed after several visits to the local greenhouses here in town, and Darin's efforts in beautifying the spot. the whole thing should be finished in a week or so. Judy and Darin have really done well!

Trying again!

I posted this video of Peyton playing his drum just yesterday. I couldn't open it, so I deleted it. This evening, Wendy said she thought it was great! She had no problem opening it, so I'm uploading it again. Maybe this time it will work properly. He's no Gene Krupa, but he does have an impressive drum beat for a 16 month old kid.

Grandkids!

I tried to upload a video of Peyton beating his drum, but for some reason, the hour I spent trying was for naught. I couldn't open the video, and I don't think anyone else could either; so, this is a still of Peyton beating out a wicked tempo.

Wendy's kids think the hot tub is a swimming pool, and do everything except a high dive!

More "Out with the Old"

Last evening, Judy and I went to a new restuarant (for us) Tsunami Oriental Restuarant, and really enjoyed the dinner. It is located in an old Toot-N-Totem, and the decor is simple and plain, but the food? Well the owner worked at Sakura and Kubuki earlier so his menu is the same as each of those Japanese Steakhouses, he doesn't flash his knife in front of you, but does his "thing" in the kitchen. The food was excellent, as was the price!

After dinner, we dropped by to see Wendy and Richard's new hot tub. It is progressing, they filled it with water, and no leaks.

Naturally, we had to drop in on Peyton. His folks had just bought a new 600 inch (well, maybe not that big) flat screen TV that really fills the wall! Brad got it hung last evening, and this morning he and I went to Farmer's Market for fresh veggies. I am certain that the quart of black eye peas we bought (unshelled) is about three times the price of beef tenderloin! Ten bucks for that? Oh, well, I got 'em anyway.

Going home, I dropped Brad off at his house, and had a major flat on the left rear tire of my trusty old '96 Ford Supercab. The spare tire has a lock on it, and I have NEVER had the spare on the ground (probably because I don't know where the key is to the lock) but Brad managed to get the bad tire off and we took it to Discount Tire for a couple of replacements. I think I bought those old tires sometime in the last century! Anyway, I managed to part with a couple hundred bucks and now have new "shoes" on the back of old truck.

I am grateful that Brad was able to haul me and the old tire around, he had to get to work at 10, and I am also grateful that the flat happened at his house rather than on I-40!

Weekend update

We planted 35 or so different varieties of tomatos and in another bed, I planted okra and peppers. The peppers didn't germinate, but the okra did and so did about a hundred "volunteer" Roma tomatos from last years crop. We thinned them quite a bit, but we still have about 50 or so "volunteer" plants that are bearing fruit like crazy. This is a photo of our first tomato of the year, and it's one we planted.














Saturdays we go to church and after the service, 8 to 10 of us go out to dinner and wind up at our house to play "JOKER". This is a game of skill and finesse, and it really brings out the character of the players. Usually, the men play against the ladies, and last night the "Whiney" ladies demanded a re-deal. That is probably the only reason they won!

Wendy and Richard bought a used hot tub, and installed it in their backyard. We dropped by to see what progress had been made, and got a photo of the kids in the tub.

Replacement Part three

Well, just when I thought we had replaced everything "replaceable", the toaster oven quit. The lower element burned out so it was toasting only the top, and leaving the bottom, well, not toasted. I noticed it a couple of days back when I tried to bake some frozen biscuits, I thought then that it was because I didn't pre-heat the oven, but today, I was making my favorite sandwich for daughter Wendy and Richard, and the toast wasn't "toasty."

Well we trotted over to Bed, Bath and Beyond, managed to buy one with sufficient bells and whistles, and maybe, just maybe, it will make toast.

Oh, the favorite sandwich? Well, naturally, you need toast, and fry up a slice of ham, when it is done, put the ham on the toast, add a slice of American cheese, and top that with a hard cooked egg. I usually slather a little mayo on one side, salt and pepper, and that's it. Another favorite is just fried egg, a large slice of sweet onion on toast, gotta have the toast. Try them both, you'll also make them your favorite, and yes, you can even make it a breakfast favorite.