wedding

I won't write much, but Elizabeth and Xavier's wedding was beautiful. Here are 4 pictures out of a whole bunch that I took. I am sure D'Lynn will post all of them, but this is all I know how to do. The hairdresser did a beautiful job with Rena's hair, but we took 18 bobbie pins out of her hair that night.

Potter's Creek and rainy, cold weather

Don't have any pictures to share as I didn't take very many (I know I can hardly believe it either), but we did go to Potter's Creek on Canyon Lake this past weekend with Vicki and Rick. Larry and I both had Columbus Day off so we stayed until Mon., but the weather just did not want to cooperate. Larry's little wood stove came in real handy and we burned more wood in it this time than we did the whole time in Colorado. It was find of nice not to worry about doing much of anything except drink beer and visit. Sometimes you just need to not do anything. Larry fussed that the boat didn't even get wet, but I pointed that it did so, too, it got rained on. Wet is wet. We may try to go somewhere in Nov. also, just don't know where. We did go to Campers World and it is always fun to look at all the new campers, but boy are they ever fancy. People sure camp different than we do, I mean light colored carpet???? are they crazy?

Anyway, we will keep "tripping" until we get a good weekend and I can take more pics. Until then happy travels.

Colorado fun

Thanks to my computer literate daughter I have some pictures to share from our Colorado trip. We had a great time and the weather was good for the most part. We did find out that if you wanted to do anything you needed to do it in the morning so that by the time you are finished the rain and/or sleet would not mess up the whole adventure. The jeep we rented was great and we put it to the test driving the Alpine Loop which took us up to Cinnamon pass and Engineer pass (the last one in the sleet, which was pretty scary) and also to the Wheeler Geologic area where a 14 mile drive took 2 1/2 hours!!! In fact we timed part of it when we were leaving and it took 10 minutes to drive one mile!!!! That was one rough road. Our pasture roads are better. I don't think they want too many people to go there. The aspens were starting to change while we were there and it was just beautiful to watch from day to day how the colors changed. The place we camped (Cottonwood Cove) was really nice, very peaceful and the people were all so nice, but the internet was down the whole week we were there so that is why you are getting it all at once. It was very hard to tear ourselves away and come back home, but when you play you have to pay so it is back to work we good with lots of good memories and lots of pictures to help the memory when it goes entirely (happening quicker than I thought). So enjoy the pictures and I will blog again when something exciting happens (that won't be too soon I am sure).

Colorado Trip 2009

Colorado

Well, we are leaving tomorrow for Colorado. I have been checking the weather and the highs are in the upper 50's and lower 60's with nighttime being in the 30's. Burrrrrrr. I need to pack my long johns. Will try to find a place that I can blog from, but not sure if I can find one or not. So keep checking and see if I am here or not. Later.

Crazy summer

Well we have gone through 5 of the 6 weddings were have this year, gone to 2 (one this Sunday) of the 4 family reunions we are involved with, been to two wedding showers and have one more to go. It just keeps getting crazier and crazier. We are looking forward to a trip to Colorado starting Labor Day Weekend. We even rented a jeep for 5 days (could be a better price) to save wear and tear on the truck and to also get places we don't want the truck to get into or don't want to take the truck into. I am looking forward to this more than I can say. That means the fair and all the schlepping we do for that is over and maybe, just maybe it will be a lot cooler up there. Don't know if the places we plan on going have internet, but if they do I will be sending pics. Have a great rest of your summer.

Just wanted to share a picture of the Regency Bridge (Northwest of San Saba and Southeast of Brownwood. It is one of the last WOODEN suspension bridges in Texas and spans the Colorado River. We took the kids there on our camping trip and it scared them a little bit but I thought it was really COOL.

These next to pics are Larry's inventions. He is so crafty. The first is a birdfood hanger. The squirrel kept getting into it otherwise. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

This is a stove he made to take along camping (it is sitting in the fire ring at the campground in this pic), but it is perfect to build a little fire even if a burn ban is going on because it is contained. It even has a bottle opener on the left side just in case you need one.

Camping and kids

Here we are off on another adventure....this time with three kids. Nephew Blake came along this year and I think the grandkids will have a good time with him along. While it was hot outside they played lots of board games (no video games allowed) and they had a great time playing Clue, Battleship and Sorry. Even Opie and I joined in.

The lake had a pretty good sized area to swim in and we took advantage of that. It felt really good since it was in the high 90's during the day.

Even got the kids out hiking one morning, but ended up with allergy eyes on one child and chigger bites on another. We stuck to the roads after that. They also got to go boating and fishing and road their bikes a little.

All in all it turned out pretty good. I think they enjoyed it. I know we treasure the time we get to spend with them because it will be over before we know it what with Ashlyn getting to be a teenager this year. We will enjoy this while we can.

Pretty pics of clouds

No dizziness

Just a quick update. We went to Lake Ivie for a 4-day weekend and I made it with no dizzy spells (this was the place I had my first episode). I was very happy to be able to drive home in stead of the hospital. We had a good time with good friends and good food and beer and even caught a few fish. I don't get no better than that.

Painted bunting

We are excited to have a painted bunting visiting our feeders. They are soooo pretty and I was so surprised to see one. We had never noticed them before, but we never had feeders out before. So I thought after the ugly pics I posted of the tire I would post some pretty pictures of the painted bunting. The blue one in the middle pic is also a painted bunting (can't remember the name), but they are very rarely seen in this part of Texas so that was a bonus. Enjoy.

More excitement than we needed!

We were on our way to Mason to watch Colten's baseball game when Larry noticed that the truck kept pulling to the right. He slowed down a little (we were doing 70 at the time) and suddenly heard a loud pop and then a whole lot of flapping noise. He started to slow down as much as he could and pulled over and finally was able to stop. We were on a small shoulder with a downhill slant and a lot of tall weeds, but there was a driveway into a ranch across the road so we limped over there and this is what we found. We are so glad that we got out of that without a scratch (he was not so lucky 19 years ago).

Needless to say he is going to get new tires all the way around. I told him this sure was a miracle in disguise, because had we not driven the truck that night we would not have driven it until Friday morning and then we would have had the 5th wheel trailer attached to the truck and I am not sure how well we would have done then. As for the game, the other team never showed up. God does work in mysterious ways.

Here are pics of some of the damage we had at home. The first and last pic are of the same trees behind the shed and next to the barn. We can't get into either of the gates that lead to that pen unless we go through from the other side of the barn. Larry had just started fixing the cedar picket fence again and now I guess he gets to do it again.


This is right by the cattle guard that goes out onto the highway from Klein-Ahrens Rd. I found out this morning that one of our neighbors had to move it out of the way and there was just enough room for a car to get through.

This tree just thought it had to fall right on the fence. There is going to be a lot of clean up to do.

The outhouse in the back yard even blew over. Thank goodness we don't actually have to use it. Anyway, that has been our excitement for the week.

Wow, just think, I haven't blogged in so long and then you get way more than you need.

Here are some of the pictures from Sandfest. The workmanship is just fantastic. The details are incredible (note the "guitar strings). The expressions on some of the faces were so real looking.



The picture below is a sculpture of Jimmy Buffet. When you can tell who the person is then they are doing a wonderful job.

Look at the hands, the face, the detail of his robe. It is just the most awesome thing to watch and see.

Flowers in her hair, how about that?

Anyway, I took hundreds of pictures and this is just a small sample, but it kind of gives you an ideas of the work these people put into their work.

I am still here

Well, I was going to share pictures of Sandfest (it was fantastic once again) and some of the storm damage we had at home from the storm last night. We had lots of trees down and it looks like it cut a path about 1/2 mile wide with our house right in the middle of it. Not sure if it was a little twister or not, but it was very, very, very windy and the rain sounded like it was coming down in buckets and the lightening was nonstop. We got 2.40 inches and the stock tanks all filled up, but I had to play dodge the tree limbs on the way to work there were so many on the road. Whenever D'Lynn gets the wireless internet working in the office again I will share some pictures.

RAIN

It is raining!!!! We have had 3 1/4 inches since it started. All it took was for Larry to start thinning out the cattle herd and sell some to make it start, but you know what? that is just fine with me.

We are planned a short camping trip next weekend just so that we don't feel guilty about sitting and drinking like we would at home, ha.

Camping and moving.

We had a good time camping and also did a little fishing, rode our bikes around and walked around the campground. This building was built by the CCC back in the 1930 and overlooks the lake.

Here is Larry trying to do a little fishing. I don't have a whole lot of patience for that so I had a book with me and just looked at my bobber every once in a while. We didn't catch anything, but it was not from lack of trying (at least on Larry's part).

Here is a picture of a green jay. I had never seen one before and they are so pretty. Had to ask another camper what they were since I did not know. We even put up a little feeder after the javalinas ate what I put on the ground. Too bad it was a state park and we couldn't shoot them. I hate them.

I was going to put some pics of Rena's move, but it won't let me add more pics right now. If you look at D'Lynn's blog she has some pics of the move and College Station. We had a good time and I think she will be happy there since it is a little closer for her to get to work. Now it will be up to her to get into school and get a job there when she is ready.

College Station

Well, we found an apartment for Rena in College Station and will try to get her moved on the 21st and 22nd of Feb. After that it will be up to her to get into Graduate School and see about a different job so we will see how that goes. It will be different without her at the house. We have gotten used to having her there which I am sure is not good for her or us. So once again Rena will spread her wings and see where life takes her. Keep her in your thoughts and wish her luck with this new chapter in her life.

Possible move ahead

I think Serena has finally made a decision about what to do. Her and I are going to College Station this weekend to find an apartment and hopefully in the middle of February we can get her moved and she can start seeing about getting her testing done to go back to school to get her masters in biology and a teaching certificate so she can teach science. She was told by two different teachers that science and math teachers are very badly needed so maybe that will motivate her. We will see. Wish us luck with the apartment finding.

Next weekend Larry and I are going to go Lake Corpus Christi camping for a 4-day weekend. We are both looking forward to getting away. If I get any good pics I will post them.

Out with the old and in with the new

Happy New Year to all and hope you all have a great year. It is hard to believe that 2008 is history and we are on to 2009. I am pretty sure I never thought I would see the year 2000 back in the 1970's. That was of course a million years away and now we are already 9 years into it.

The kids were kind enough to sit still for long enough to get a pic with Omie and Opie. I will treasure these pics forever because before long they won't fit on our laps anymore.

Mom came over for lunch on Christmas day and I got a pic of her and me together in front of my tree. I think that is the first time I have ever done that. The next picture is of Oma Reeh and Rena in front of the Norfork Pine they decorated together for mom's Christmas tree. It looked really cute.

After Christmas we got invited to Corrine and JR's ranch in Menard for New Year's Eve. That was different and fun. We took our camper along and since we were so close and had a few days off we went to South Llano State Park for a few days. The weather was perfect and we were even able to have a campfire one night since the park did not have a burn ban. We always like to go to the bird blinds they have there and were lucky enough to see a bluejay while we were there. I was hoping to see a painted bunting, but they don't show up until April. It was nice to get away for a little bit and just do nothing. It will be a while before we will be able to do that again. Larry's sub is having surgery so I don't know how many Sat. he will have to work.

The Mason Stockshow is this weekend so we will be going to Mason to watch Ashlyn and Colten show their hogs. Hope they do well, but if not that is okay, too.

Anyway, hope the new year brings lots of good things to all of your lives and my God bless all of you.