Welcome visitors...

Last Saturday, Holly flew in on Southwest Airlines from El Paso. Her school district is year round, so she, Mike, Will and Zach have three weeks break before heading back to class. Zach is in Washington, DC, having been a delegate to the National Youth Congress. He is spending quality time with a couple of aunts and a few cousins now. These two aunts, one from each side of the family, live about 35 miles apart, one in Manassas, the other in Fredericksburg, VA.

Mike and Will spent a few days in Ruidoso, some quality time in Cloudcroft, NM, and drove in here yesterday. Will got to spend the night with his cousins here. We plan on several family events while they are here, most importantl is a group birthday celebration on Friday for Brad, Wendy, Paige and Will. We don't dare have candles on the cake, there would be over 130, and the heat would trigger the fire alarm....

More pix when the big day comes..

Garden update

About 10 years ago, Judy planted day lillies in several beds in the front and back yard. Over the years, they have multiplied and just about taken over the areas where they were planted. This past week, things have changed! With a little help from Darin and Hayden, perennials have replaced day lillies in some beds, and the side yard by the street is no longer filled with lava rock.

Finding a home for the old crushed lava rock was fairly easy, and I didn't have to lift a finger. Judy got on craigslist.com, and weasleled some poor guy into hauling it away for free!
Darin tilled the area, planted crape myrtles and mums, hauled a bunch of sandstone from the pond around, and this is the result. Drip irrigation solved the water problem. What did we do with the day lillies? They now occupy a new home in the side yard.
I may have to invest in a lot more mulch, but it's a lot better than using ROUNDUP.

Almost recovered!

We've been home now for about 5 days, and both of us have recovered some of the strength we lost. For some reason, we both have colds. I don't know if it from germs we imported from Virginia, or some of the "home boys" who just want to make us feel miserable about being back home. Judy has a chest cold, and sounds like Talullah Bankhead, while I only have a minor head cold. Misery usually begins around 5 pm, and I have told by very competent authority that the juice of six whiskies will drive any cold away. I'm not sure that I am that desperate----yet.

New garden beds

While we were in Virginia, we weaseled my cousin Darin Saul to house sit for us, mainly to take care of the dogs and the pond (fish need feeding too) but another task we saddled him with was rebuilding our garden beds and planting shrubs in the sidewalk easement. This is the result of his efforts. This is the sidewalk after we got rid of the lava rock. He tilled the strip, planted Crape Myrtles, moved sandstone from the side yard and used the old stone we had lining the backyard flower beds. It's not finished, but it is so much nicer.
He made a new bed around one of the locust trees in the backyard. It was tough to mow, and replaced all the stone with manufactured stone. Sure looks better.
No longer the drab beds, Darin replaced all the stone, ran new drip irrigation lines, cleaned the place up.
I mowed the grass this morning, found lots of "buried treasure" (actually, used dog food that my two pals leave for me to pick up.)

Remembering a super visit and week.

We left from Amarillo on the 10th of September, drove to Albuquerque, NM, spent the night, and caught a flight to Atlanta, then to Reagan airport in DC. Wayne met us at the airport, and after buying a car (well, really renting one, but my first few cars cost a heck of a lot less than the rental) we spent almost a week with Kari, Wayne and little Carson. It was fantastic!

Trees and greenery everywhere! Traffic was hectic, sorta like the tangles you encounter when travelling through Umbarger during rush hour....Yep, it was fun, and we even made it for Carson's 6th birthday.

Washington's Monument is unique, and draws an even larger crowd of admirers and shutterbugs.
The main reason for the trip was to visit Judy's sisters and their families. This is a group photo taken at nephew Jeff's house. Judy is with her sisters. A trip the Smithsonian Air and Space museum is a must, doubly so if you ever flew. As a kid, I distinctly remember the event that this historical airplane and the weapon it carried caused that ended World War II.

A somber and bleak reminder of the Vietnam war occupies space in a park that is almost concealed by its depressing presence and the names of our dead from that conflict. I searched out Jack Feldhaus' name. Jack and I were instructors in Training Squadron Thirty in Corpus Christi, in the mid 60's.
More solemn reminders......
The location is hidden in this trench. It cannot be seen from the street.
On a happier note, we dropped by a "Seafood Mall" and enjoyed the delicious odors of steaming crab and shrimp. No, we didn't get to bring any home, but we did enjoy crab in a couple of local restuarants.
Finally, the real reason for the trip was to celebrate Carson's 6th birthday. He even lost another tooth to mark the occasion.
Flying to and from Washington was a drag. Delta did have seats to Atlanta, but it was the very back of a MD-88, noisy and uncomfortable. I can't really complain, the seats were lousy, but the price was right! Getting all the way to Reagan airport from Albuquerque, through Atlanta, and back was daunting, but we did it. I don't have any qualms about a repeat trip, but we may leave on a Wednesday next time.

Family dinner and other events.

Well, we managed to get to Richmond last evening. Gayle met us at Sally's house, and we traveled to Jeff's for dinner. The whole family was there, except for Courtney. I managed to get a family photo of the group.

Today was a "tourist" day. We drove into DC, mainly to visit the Vietnam memorial, but the crowd was too large, and no place to park, so we made a motor tour near the Capitol. One of the natives offered to let me take his photo.

There didn't appear to be a lot happening at the Capitol building, not even the little flags that your congress person will sell you, the ones that flew over the Capitol, were working.

The trip out to Dulles was next on the agenda, so we visited the Air and Space museum, and this is a photo of one of the old Clippers. Sorta makes me proud. (You know that you are old when all the airplanes you flew are in museums, and all the airlines you flew for are in bankruptcy!)

One of the natives managed to strike up a conversation with another tourist. I am not sure what language she speaks, but she is cute.

FINALLY!!!

Well, after a 4 hour drive to Albuquerque, spend a sleepless night in a motel with the loudest a/c in captivity, then struggling to the airplane, and GETTING THE LAST TWO SEATS to Atlanta. WE MADE IT!

Our stop in Atlanta was a quickie, we had enough time to deplane, grab a quick snack, then back on the bird. Now this was the same airplane that brought us from ALB, those seats were the very back of the bird, between the engines, and adjacent to the Lavs. Someone once said that the only people that sit in the back of the airplane are those with diarrhea, and those who want it. Well there is another segment of the traveling public who sit in the LAST ROW of the airplane, and they are Non Revenue Space Available folks. That's us, cheap!

I do have to say something nice about the gate agent in Atlanta. The airplane to Washington had a very light load, and he pulled us aside, and gave us a whole row of three seats so we didn't have to SIT IN THE LAST ROW ON THE PLANE.

Wayne met us in DC and we sailed thru the rental car place and we have been fed and hugged by all the George's. Life is good!

Hopefully Kari can show me how to make a legible blog. As for now, it's beddie bye time so we can dream of LOUD AIR CONDITIONERS.