The Amazing Race

Yesterday, my daughter Jessie and her boyfriend Cameron spontaneously did a wild and crazy thing. They asked off work and drove to Durant, Oklahoma to try out for "The Amazing Race". I was so proud of them. Reminds me of my favorite quote, "When you look back on your life you will regret the things you didn't do much more than the things you did."

After driving a few hours and waiting in line for several hours, they got their shot at fame. They were taken to room where they signed tons of release forms. They were then stuck in front of a camera and given one minute to impress the judges. They gave their sales pitch and then Cameron did "Jessie Curls". This is where Jessie crosses and locks her arms across her chest and then Cameron picks here up by her elbows and does bicep curls with her. Really, I am not making that up. She said the judges were pretty impressed with that little trick. I really hope they get selected. I know I am just a proud pappa, but I think she and Cameron would be great for the show. So, here's to Jessie and Cameron. I am so proud of you for taking this chance.

The Perfect Bird

Here is a picture of the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. Katie made her first turkey and it was definately a homerun! Look at how perfect that thing looks. And ... It tasted better than it looked! It was so much fun watching her and Sally prepare this. I had no idea how much effort the perfect bird requires. First, they had to "brine" it. They created a mixture of Guiness beer and molasses. The turkey soaked in this for 18 hours. The next morning they stuffed the insides with onion, thyme, basil, sage and oregano sprigs. To keep that all inside, we laced it closed with the little metal spears and string that you can see in the picture. They took it out every hour and basted it with more beer/molasses mixture. It was a lot of work but as you can see, it really paid off.

Turkey was not all that was on the menu. pa sent a ham. Katie made a fresh green been salad with mint (awesome) and Sally made a souped up broccolli salad that was outstanding as well. of course there was stuffing and sweet potato soup and corn casserole. For dessert we had mudslide. All ina ll, an excellent feast.

What would Thanksgiving be without family. Katie and Moose showed up on Tuesday (Thank You Jesus!) and basically went right to work. I swear, nothing really gets done at our house until those two show up. Moose and I spent ALL DAY Wednesday re-orging the garage and cleaning out the entry way and the guest bedroom. The bedroom was critical because Chris was bringing his band to stay the night and share in our Thanksgiving lunch. Chris and his band showed up at 4 a.m. They all slept until about 11:30. It was very nice sharing our dinner with them. Jessie arrived after lunch. The rest of the day was spent watching football.

Friday, it was back to work. Moose, Jessie and I almost finished the picket fence. Saturday, the girls went to Houston to visit MiMi and Pa. Moose and I stayed home and painted the garage. As you can see, things are beginning to come together.

Sunday was a day of rest. Jessie, Sally and I went to 8:00 mass. Then it was back home to prepare for my birthday. Gran, heather and Whitney came for this. It was a lovely birthday with all of my family. Couldn't ask for anything more!

Great Fall Weekend

What a weekend! The weather was awesome and Sally and I got so much done. Here is a run down. First, We got all of the posts set for the picket fence. This is huge to us. In just two weeks we will have half of our fence and a place for the kids to let their dogs run when they come to visit. Speaking of dogs, we got rid of ours! We took her to the vet and a really nice older cowboy came in to buy semen (yes, I said buy semen. Bull semen). He was very big and very friendly and he wanted Gracie. Said he had lost his border collie and would love to have another smart dog. So, Gracie got to go live with a very nice guy on a very cattle ranch. How perfect is that. Sally and I both miss her but she really is better off.

After the fence and the dog errands, we cleaned up and went to the ARE (all of you cool kids know what that means). They were having their fall festival and one of my favorite garden writers was the key note speaker. I got to hear and meet Felder Rushing. He gave a lovely little talk about the difference between horticulture and gardening. Very funny and interesting. His talks are more philosophy than technical knowledge, but that's ok. I really liked the talk and I really like him. He was in his famous truck that now has over 2 MILLION miles on it! He has a garden growing in the back of it and he drives it everywhere. His point is that if he can plants in the back of a truck that he drives 80 MPH all over the country, then you can grow something at home. Here is a pic of me and his truck. He is really cool so you should check out his website: http://www.felderrushing.net/.

Sunday was also a busy and productive day eventhough Big Sal was VERY SICK all night Saturday. We taught CCE. Sally had to teach the sacraments class and I taught the Liturgical Calendar to our class. We both had very good classes. After class, we went back to the house to finish setting posts and pick up a cupboard. Sally is reading "The Indian in the Cupboard" and this was a visual aid. After that we went to a very lovely brunch at Ernie's. The we were off to Sally's class room. We did the annual TeePee door. Once we finished the class room we went back home. We chilled for the rest of the day. She graded and I did MDACC work. We cooked okra that we had put up and fresh green beans. Sally also made a ginger bread with fresh whipped cream. All and all it was truly a very lovely weekend.

Aggies and Politicians

Well, Jessie got to go to her first big time sporting event this weekend. She got to go to the A&M vs Tech game at Kyle Field. And what a fabulous event it was. 84,459 people like us got to see A&M whoop up on Texas Tech 45-20. It really was a great game and a great day for football.

We wanted her to get the "whole" Aggie treatment so we met Uncle Donnie 2.5 hours before the game. We wanted to see the Corp memorial that Sally's dad's name is on. We also wanted Jessie to get to see the corp line up and step off. Well, when we got there, the band was already on the move. We didn't know what was going on so we followed them. Turns out, they were going to do a special parade for President Bush 1. On the way to the parade ground we had our first celebrity sighting. We walked right past David Robinson. I am sad I did not go up and shake his hand. He was truly a class act in a very class less sport! After seeing him, we lined up to watch the parade. Sally and Jessie went up to the reviewing stand and got this pic of the President. After the game, we headed home. We got to take Jessie to the new pizza place in Brenham. It is probably the best pizza I have ever had. Jessie, who can be a hard to please in the food area, agreed with our assessment.

Sunday we got up and met our neighbor Alan at 7:15. He came down with his Bobcat post hole drilling machine and drilled our post holes for our picket fence. The machine was truly impressive. He drilled 17 holes in less than 30 minutes. It would have taken me more than 30 minutes to dig a single hole! After this, we told Jessie bye and we headed to church. CCE was good. The kids got to dress up like their favorite saints and give a report. It is always our most popular class. During communion, Sally saw a kid she taught in kindergarten! He is now a 32 year old engineer. She was very excited to see him and they had a lovely visit. After this we were off to Houston. We took Herb to lunch and had another celebrity sighting. I got to meet and visit with ex-Governor Bill White. He was very personable and I really enjoyed getting to meet and visit with him. After visiting with MiMi (who was having a really good day) we took Herb to Buddy and Kim's to see their Halloween show. Again he out did himself! All in all it was a very good weekend.

May be the biggest mistake of our lives

Well, we may have made the biggest mistake of our lives this weekend. We were headed to the dump Saturday and we found this very lovely dog in the road. She looked had a collar and lost and so being the Good Samaritans that we are, we picked her up. She is a very sweet and loveable Australian Shepherd but we don't need her. We asked around to all of our neighbors and everyone seems to think someone dropped her off in the country. How sad. I cannot believe we might actually be stuck with this puppy. Oh well, we kind of wanted a dog so I guess be careful what you wish for. At least she is adorable. Only time will tell now. I called in to the country store and put an ad up hoping someone is missing her. Don't have a lot of hope at this point.

On a happier note, Katie and Ramez got baptized this weekend. We are so glad that they asked us to be a part of this. We drove up and spent a lovely day with them. they got baptized in the San Marcos river. It was a very beautiful place. Right in front of the dam It was a very nice service. We hope they continue to be blessed through their work in their church.

Getting lazy

I am getting lazy on this blog. I have been so busy with the other one that I have neglected my first born. I don't think I have ever gone this long with out a post. A lot has happened in the past month but none of it too notable. Life has just been good. We did finish the garage and that was huge but I somehow forgot to blog it. Oh well. I had lunch with Heather and Jared yesterday. It was great. We went to Buffallo Grill. OMG! It has changed so much since Sally and I lived there. The strip center it was in is gone! They literall tore down everything but the grill. The food was great (as always) but Jared had a story that was even better. Seems his class is learning to do pelvic and rectal exams. I jokingly asked him who they practice on. Well his answer blew me away! Turns out, they have a waiting list of people that want to be violated by these future doctors! It is a part time job for them. They get to come in and get their cooches and their booties poked and proded as much as TEN TIMES A DAY!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!! Can you believe this. They get $50 for each poke and they can be poked TEN TIMES A DAY! I just cannot get over this. How bad do you have to need $500 to get up in the stirrups for 10 future doctors? Life never ceases to amaze me!

Katie and Moose Jump the Broom!!!!

I go t a new son in law this weekend. That's right, Katie and Moose got married. We are so happy for both of them and so glad to welcome Ramez as an offical member of our nutty and slightly disfunctional family! It was a lovely wedding and a great weekend. We headed out Friday night and met Katie and Ramez's family for dinner. Jessie and Cameron showed up and we had a lovely dinner. After that we went back to the Antoun's hotel for drinks. Everyone was in a very jovial mood. In attendance were Katie, Jessie, Cameron, Sally, me, Gamil, Nadia, George and Tara (Ramez's brother and sister in law). Their son Eli slept it off in the next room. Moose arrived after the football game. After a few more drinks we went back to Katie's house. Moose and I went straight to his garden. OMG!!!! Moose has a couple of green thumbs! All of his plants were in great shape and his luffas were incredible. I was so upset about how big his luffas were that I could not sleep that night (not really, it takes a lot more than that to make me miss sleep).

We awoke early Saturday morning and started getting ready for the big day. Sally, Jessie and Katie all went out to get mani's and pedi's. Ramez went and hung out with his family and Cameron, Josh and I went piddling. We went to downtown Martindale and then to Lockhart to buy BBQ for lunch. Very cool BBQ place with an awesome pit. the meat was very good. After lunch Whitney, Gran and Chris arrived. Katie and Mooses house was packed! Everyone took turns cycling through the shower while Whitney made arrangements, bouquets and boutenieers. After everyone was sufficiently beautiful, it was off to the church.

The ceremony was so nice. The music was great, the vows were great. Everything was just perfect. Katie and Moose looked so happy and everyone had a good cry (evidently that happens alot in their church as there was a box of Kleenex at the end of every pew). Katie even held my hand during the ceremony and that was very touching (no pun intended) for me. After pictures, we all headed out to the Saltlick. Saltlick is a lovely place in a very lovely place. The ride out was beautiful. Whitney and I really enjoyed just going out there together. Once there we discovered they had installed a very lovely garden between their new wine bar and the resturaunt. The meal was great and the fellowship was better. We really like Ramez's family and their friend's from their church were all very nice. All in all it was a very lovely event. We wish the newly weds all of life's blessings. May God be with them as they now travel their rode together! We love you both!

Sally's Big Day!

Well, I have finally found a good use for Facebook. It can make my wife feel really really good on her birthday. I swear she got 50 Happy Birthday wishes on her Facebook page. It made her feel really good and I was so happy for her. Above everything else, she loves to be remembered. She had a VERY good day. The kids were nice for her and they made her a birthday book. Her friend Beth gave her some of her dad's famous homemade wine (a 2006 vintage no less!) Then she came home to me. We had a lovely meal (leftover shephard pie from Jop's visit the day before) and wine. After dinner she took about 10 calls and then we retired to the couch where she got her annual birthday poem written by yours truly. After the poem she opened her presents from me; flowers, binoculars (for bird watching) and really nice PJs from the store she likes in Houston. Once she opened the binos we went out back to use them. As luck would have it, there were five Roseate Spoonbills on the killer's tank. Add this to our list of cool sightings. Last year, whooping cranes, this year pink spoonbills! All in all it was a lovely day for a lovely woman! I am so lucky to be married to a woman that so many think so highly of! Happy Birthday Sally!!! I am blessed, blessed, blessed to have you in my life. I hope we celebrate 40 or 50 more of these!

Labor Day Weekend

Sally and I started our weekend with a dinner at Toad Hollow on Lake Sommerville. It had been recommended by a few friends so we gave it a try. We won't be going back for two reasons. First the food just wasn't that good and second they are closing. After dinner we rode around in Brenham and looked at houses and the improvements to the football field. Then it was back to the nest. There have been so many hummingbirds at the feeders lately that Sally and I love to sit in the backyard on the swing with a glass of wine and watch the bird wars. Very entertaining. We did this until dark and then went in and watched the last Star Trek movie until Jessie arrived.

Saturday morning I worked in the potager a little while waiting for Katie and Moose to show up. Once they got there they dropped some HUGE news on us. THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED IN TWO WEEKS!!!!! OMG!!!! After talking to their preacher one night the decided to just do it. We are so proud of them and happy for them. I think they are great together and we really love Ramez. They are having a very small ceremony on the 18th in San Marcos. Only parents and sibs. They will have a party later. We really are thrilled. May God richly bless their union. After the big announcement we broke out the champagne and toasted the happy couple. Then Gran showed up. We grilled burgers and just hung out until the afternoon. Later that afternoon we went to the airport and had malts. Awesome! Then it was back to the house for more hummingbird wars. Thank you Moose for all of the awesome pics. While we were watching and photographing the hummers, Jessie and I decided to hang our bat house. I had been putting this off but it turned out to be pretty easy. Jessie worked so hard hanging it (not really, her mother would not let here work on the top of the ladder). Here is a pic of her finishing up the project.

Monday was a work day for Sally so Gran and I hung out. We had a nice time just visiting. I also worked in a little garden time. I got all of the potager beds prepared. I also planted purple cabbage in the center of all of the odd shaped beds. Heather and Jared showed up after lunch. We had a nice visit and went up to Sally's school to see her classroom. After that everyone left and it was just Sally and I again. Another lovely weekend in the country!

My baby's all grown up!

That's right, Whitney is finally a 100% legal adult. Sally and I went to Waco and picked up Gran so we could all go and celebrate Whitney's coming of age in Denton. We had a very lovely visit. We went directly to her work and got to meet her boss and her crew. Very nice people and a very cute shop. Whit had to work late so we went and finished our shopping. When she got off we went to her new house and picked up she and JezziLee. her house was very cute. We went to the Italian place that we like and had a lovely dinner. After that, we went back to her house for a PARTY!!!!! Jessie joined us as we watched Whit open her 21 PRESENTS! All in all it was a great time. Day two found us helping her get the last of her things out of her old house. It was 105 degrees and tons of fun. We got it done though. This is two birthdays in a row that Whitney has had me help her move. I am beginning to think she only wants me for my muscles! We finished off the weekend with a visit to see Aunt Sarah. All in all, another wonderful weekend for the Whites!

I went to Carmine to buy and windmill and I brought home a tractor!

How is that for a title? It is entirely true and it pretty much sums up a goodly portion of what we did this weekend. Sally met a really nice fellow at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. He told her he was going to get an old windmill and he wanted to sell it. Since this is exactly what Sally wants, we went to see it this Saturday. Turns out, it was not the right one for us. Too expensive, too much work and too many missing and/or damaged parts. He was a nice man though and he had a cute home and a great workshop and he loved to piddle. He is a square and round dancer and he asked Sally and I to join his group. We are definately thinking about it. Anyway, after looking at the windmill we decided to go to the steak house in Carmine. On the way, we passed a mechanic shop that had a little red Farmall Cub outside it. Sally suggested we stop and ask if it was for sell. Well, it was! We went right down the street to talk to the owner. Very interesting man. 6' 8" retired basketball coach that owns a VERY cool antique shop and his very own basketball museum. That's right, he owns his on museum. Anyway, he told us what he wanted for the tractor. I mentioned that we had been in the antique business ourselves and we had some cool things that he should come look at. He took me up on it. He and his wife came buy and agreed to take our giant shelves and a fishing calendar and a little money. Viola! We now own a 1948 Farmall Cub!

How do you top a story like that? Well, at our house you work! Last week, Sally and I removed the carpet that was in the living room. The floors needed refinishing so that's what we did. We stayed up until 1:00 Friday night sanding. Then more sanding Saturday. After all of that sanding we had a HUGE MESS to clean up. That took a while and we were so nasty after doing it. We also found time to make the first set of shutters for the house. They look AWESOME! We also cleaned a huge rug, scraped windows and refinished the porch swing. AND ... we finally settled on a paint color for the inside. Kind of greeny-gold. We are also going to do the white on the beaded board in a muted off white. What weekend! We are so tired and sore today but we are excited. Everything we did this weekend really looked great and it all made the house look great. We are inspired again!

Heather's Wedding

I feel horrible. My daughter got married two weeks ago and I am just now getting around to blogging it. Shows how crazy things have been around the Whitehouse. Oh well, let's talk wedding! IT WAS AWESOME!!!! No mess ups or problems of any sort. It was hot, but hey, it was an outdoor wedding in Texas. I think about 200 showed up. Thanks to all who braved the heat for us. After the ceremony evidently about 80 left as the caterer said they only served around 120. Well, it was definately their loss! The food was awesome and the after party was more awesome. The DJ said that it was the best dancing crowd they had ever seen. The wedding site was beautiful. Here is a run down of some of the highlights by person:

Heather-BEAUTIFUL bride that remained calm cool and collected. DID NOT become a bridezilla. She glowed and truly enjoyed and embraced the entire ceremony. Made me cry before the ceremony by giving me a card and a pic of us playing wedding when she ws about two.

Jared-Consumate groom. No visible stress. Helped with the manual labor of getting the site ready. He had such a good time and he really looked happy to be taking the most sacred vow on earth with my daughter

Whitney-MOST EXCELLENT FLORIST. Whitney did such a great job on all of the arrangements and the decorating of the site. She was pretty in pink and she beamed! Big night for her as well

Chris-What a great ceremony. Reverend Rue rose to the occasion and he helped make the wedding very personal. I am so happy he was able to do the vows.

Rue children-Jessie was the best bride's maid ever. Chris did the wedding. Katie and Moose really chipped in and made things happen. Again, family coming together to make this awesome event happen. I am really glad that I am related to these people!

Sally- She was beautiful! I love her so much and weddings remind me why!

Petters-The entire Petter clan was awesome. They helped with everything from the manual labor to the paying part. The wedding simply would not have been as nice with out their help. The Petter brothers were awesome best men. I really enjoyed watching the whole Petter family work and celebrate together. I am so glad we are kind of related to them now.

Other friends and family-To all of those that helped, Thanks! This was a big event and so many of you did so much to make it happen. Thanks again.

Happy Birthday America!

What an incredible 4th of July weekend we had! First, we did something that I never thought I would do. We picked 5 gallons wild mustang (or Muscadine) grapes for us to use to make wine. This was a lot of fun and we really are excited about trying our hand a wine making. Once we got them home we washed them and removed the stems. Next we mashed them with an old baseball bat. We now have the pulp and juice in our living room going through the fermentation process. Once it gets a white mold on top of it, we are going to take it to Beth Kunkle's dad. He is the local wine maker and his wine is good! We are very excited about learning to become amatuer vinters.

Saturday took us to Houston to celebrate Heather's last birthday as a single woman. She prepared fish tacos for us and a lovely avacado dip. OMG! They were awesome! Sally also made a yummy dessert out of our tatume squash. It was awesome! Heather is quite the cook. She is going to make a good little house wife for Jared! After lunch we all went to Sam's and bought Heather a camera for her birthday. After Sam's we went to see Herb and PK. Herb had recieved a bunch of old pictures from his sister. We really had a good time looking at them with him. Also, Jessica was still there. She had to stay over the night because the flooding was so bad from hurricane Alex. After we left the forum we went by Kim's to get stuff for Heather's wedding. We stayed for a couple of hours. Really had a lovely visit.

For the fourth, Sally and I decided to go to the Round Top parade. This is the oldest continuously celebrated 4th of July celebration in the nation west of the Mississippi. This was the 160th celebration. That means that people have been celebrating in Round Top since 1850. That is incredible to me. People have been getting together in that little town to celebrate our nation's independence since 5 years after Texas became a state. The parade was really fun. Too many pics to post here but we saw the governor, lots of beauty queens, amusing floats and a bunch of kids riding longhorn steers. I got my picture made with Governor Rick Perry! We left Round Top and went to Sonic for Hot Dogs. We also went to HEB and got the stuff to treat my POISON IVY. Evidently I paid a heavy price for the grapes we picked. To finish off the evening we went to Washington on the Brazos (the birthplace of Texas) and watched the HEB sponsored fireworks. The fireworks were good but the music on the radio was terrible. In spite of the music it was a perfect end to an almost perfect day.

Happy Father's Day

Major props for probably my best Father's Day ever. Gran and Jessie (and Sassie and Josh) came to visit. We had a great time. Before they arrived, Sally took me in her arms and said the most romantic thing she has ever said to me. She said "Since it is Father's day we should do something you REALLY want to do. Let's take down the dining room wall!!!" Is there any doubt as to why I love this woman. So, Saturday morning I got Jessie up early and we harvested the garden. She got to pull the first watermelon (more on that later). Then, we went to work! Jessie had such a good time tearing down the wall. She and Sally were great carpenter's helpers. I was was so proud of how hard they worked and so excited to get this project on its way to complete. As a reward, we took Gran and Jessie to see "On Golden Pond" at the Unity Theater.

Sunday was very laid back. I worked on finishing up some loose ends on the wall project. Sally and Jessie got lunch ready for the grill. Sally also finished MAKING PLUM JELLY from the plums off of our tree. I grilled hamburgers, tatume' and corn. Jessie gave me a gift certificat to Lowe's. So she was fully invested in the wall project. She provided capital and labor, thank you very much! Sally gave me an oscillating sprinkler on a stand. This is awesome. It makes it so much easier and better to water the garden. After a fabulous lunch, Sally told me to close my eyes for another surprise. She stuck something very sweet into mouth mouth. It was our watermelon. But that wasn't the surprise. The surprise was the color of the watermelon. It was yellow and it was awesome! What a wonderful way to end a very wonderful weekend.

Going Green With God

Last weekend started with dinner and a show. Sally and I went to see "On Golden Pond" at the Unity Theater in Brenham (http://www.unitybrenham.org/). For me, this was the most enjoyable production we have seen. Dinner was also very enjoyable. We actually meet two couples that are our approximate age!

Saturday morning found us on our way to Waco. We met Heather and Lucy Petter at Ruby Caroline (http://rubycaroline.net/) to observe a wedding that was being set up. this was to prepare us for the set up of Heather and Jared's upcoming nuptials. It was very lovely and I thoroughly the trip. After that, we went to Sam's and bought the non-alcoholic drinks, plate, napkins, cups, etc for the big day. After that we headed back to Gran's where we met up with Whitney and Kristen Schuetz. Gran fixed a lovely dinner. Megan, John and their kids showed up. We all had a lovely time. After that we ran over to the Litteral's for drinks with Andy, Tracie, Gary and BeBe. Shaun and Katie Jo were in. She is so pregnant! We had a great visit.

Sunday found us at St. Louis for Father David's last mass. It was kind of sad. He is really the only priest I have ever known. Sad as it was, it was very good to see all of our old friends. You don't realize how important some things are until they are gone. We really do miss the community that we had in Waco. After mass we ate with the girls. They gave me a lovely garden book for Father's Day. After lunch we headed back to Brenham so Sally could start Vacation Bible School. This year's theme is "Going Green With God". She is helping for the whole week. She talked me into giving a talk about composting. It went well and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. After the talk I visited with Father Ivey. He is a very interesting man. His under grad is in Horticulture from A&M! Whoop!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a wonderful and busy Memorial day weekend! It started with my first horticultural article being published on HortUpdate (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/2010/may/potager.html). This was a very exciting event for me. I was at A&M when it happened and everyone there was so complimentary. Sally was truly over joyed as well. I am very happy about this and I look at it as the first step down the road to my next career. After work, I went home and Sally and I mowed and edged our property. It was hard work but the house and yard are really beginning to look very nice.

The weekend really started on Saturday. All of Sally's siblings came to our house for breakfast and a discussion on where to bury MiMi. It went well and everyone had a lovely time. Kim and Mike both suggested hosting these get togethers more frequently. Everyone liked the changes we are making to the house and they loved the garden. Before the got there I picked 26 pounds of beans, squash and tomatos. They all took food home. After they left Sally and I went to the dump and got a load of mulch. We mulched our beds. That really made a diffence. Everything looks so nice. After that we went to mass and then just chilled on the porch.

Sunday was the annual "100 Days of Summer" festival at our church. We worked the "Trash to Tresure" booth. Sally was awesome! She worked so hard and sold so much junk that I was truly impressed. After it was over we were beat. We went home and crashed for an hour or so and then we started grilling. We cooked corn, hamburgers and calabacita squash. We washed our meal down with Diet Cokes with a splash of lime. Very refreshing. The whole meal was awesome, but the squash gets some extra praise. I will definately be growing this squash variety again.

Monday found us in the row graden by 7:00. We built the beds for our purple hulls and okra. We also finished mulching the potatos and we laid down the soaker hoses and newspapers between the rows for weed control. We also worked on cleaning up the mess behing the cedar fence. After this we showered and ate wonderful leftovers. We then took a holiday nap. Once we got up we went to DQ for a sundae. After that we rode around in the country for about an hour. Then we hit the yard again. We planted the plants Sally bought for me as a present for getting published. We also planted all of the plants that we got at the palnt booth at the church picnic. All in all it was a lovely, lovely, long weekend.

May was a blur!

May has flown by!!! I have been so busy at work that I have not had time to blog. This should tell you how busy I am as I really do enjoying blogging. Lots of big things have happened this month so I will try and catch up on them in this one big post.

Julie Heman's wedding - Lovely wedding. Fun had by all. Very interesting ceremony. Julie had two male bride's maids. Not sure what you call them - attendants? Anyway, it was lovely. Julie looked lovely, all of her brother's participated. They all did great but I would like to give special props to Kevin. He did so well with the reading. He also did an excellent approach to the alter. Reverant, with a bow to the eucharist. Very proper! Way to go Kev. St. Thomas taught you well. The reception was awesome. Thanks Buddy and Kim for a fabulous party. Also, thanks to the Liu family for adding their cultural traditions as well. Everyone LOVED the dragon dance. I wish the bride and groom much success and happiness in the future!

Heather's Grad School Graduation Round 2 - Who is beautiful, talented, accomplished,EDUCATED and DEBT FREE all before age 24? Heather, that's whooooo! We all traveled to Denton (except Sally, see next comment) to watch Heather accept her second master's degree. Of course the weather was horrible but it did not rain on the day (pun intended). After the graduation, Gran and I met the graduate, Jared, Whitney and Debbie and Sal for a very lovely dinner. All in all it was a great day and a great celebration.

Bob Rue died - After 83 years, Bob Rue finally found peace. The last couple of years had been hard for him. Chris did such an amazing job standing by his grandfather. I am so proud of him for standing up and doing something very hard that he did not have to do. Chris, I am proud of you and I admire the way you handled a very tough situation for such a long time. Since his memorial was the same night as Heather's graduation, Sally went to San Marcos to be with her kids as they said good bye to their grand father. By all accounts it was a lovely service. Katie and Moose kicked in and helped Chris put together a lovely and fitting farewell to a man who had been a huge part of their lives for the past few years. Thank you to all of you for doing what needed to be done. I am proud of all of you.

THE HOUSE IS PAINTED!!!! - After four months of hard work, set backs and frustrations, the house is finally painted! I cannot overstate what a big deal this is for me! I still have touch ups, the old deck and window scrapping to go, but it is such a relief to have the whole house one color (and it is a color I like).

The garden is coming in - Again, I have been so busy that I was actually surprised by this. I had been watering and I knew the things were growing, but the other day we went into the garden and BAM! Vegetables everywhere! The tatume squash is awesome. Huge vines and tons of squash. Also tons of tomatos and beans. We are going to have watermelons this year! The purple peppers are great as is the eggplant. We have been eating out the garden for about three days now.

Relay for Life

Our weekend started with Sally participating in Brenham's "Relay for Life". She stayed up ALL night with the team from St Paul's and walked to raise money for cancer research. She did not get in until 6:00 am Saturday morning. They had an 80's theme this year and St Paul's was "Let's Get Physical". They all made costumes and and had a great time.


Since Sally was so beat, I snuck out without her Saturday morning and went to a plant sale at an individual's house in Brenham. OMG! She had a regular nursery in her yard. I bought three, 3 gal containers of variegated shell ginger, a coral salvia, a jasmine and a russian sage. Sally and I spent most of the rest of the weekend painting. I am so tired of painting but so glad for all of Sally's help. After this weekend I am actually beginning to see a littlle light at the end of the tunnel. Painting this whole house has been an unbelievably difficult and time consuming undertaking. Note to self: NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!!!! I cannot wait to finish this so I can move on to smaller and more rewarding projects.

What's RIGHT with America

There is so much negative press right now. All the news reports tell us what is wrong with America. I have stayed away from politics in this blog and I intend to stay away. But let me say this, things aren't as bad as everyone seems to think. America is a great country. It is too big to be destroyed by one Presidential Administration. I just believe everything is going to be alright.

I went to an event this last Sunday that confirmed that for me. It was the confirmation of Sally's aide's son, Cody Kunckle. It was such a lovely event. A small country Luthern church, a beautiful day and three really good kids taking part in a tradition that has held since Martin Luther split with the Catholics. I like tradition. I like knowing that the good from the past will continue into the future. Church, family, parties with home made wine and sausage-the celebrations of life. In the end, this is what matters and what we leave behind; connections and traditions. These kids are the real hope for America. They will be the doctors and farmers and mechanics and horticulturists of the next generation. They will make the same mistakes that we have all made but they will also have successes that will be bigger than we can now imagine. And they will pass on traditions. We live in a great country and it is full of outstanding young people. Because of this, there is a bright future ahead for America. I am glad to live in a country that can elect a black president and provide dreams to countless millions. May God continue to richly bless our Union!

MS150

It has been over a week and I am just now getting a chance to blog about my MS150 experience. Let's get right to it. I DID NOT FINISH!!!! OH SHAME!!!!! I made the first day. 100 miles in 8.5 hours. It hurt! I had a flat, threw my chain and got knocked down by some hot shot. It was very hilly and my poor old body was just not ready. I was very happy to see Sally and Jessie when I crossed that line in La Grange! The St. Arnold's tent was nice. The food and the beer were very good. I had a hard time sleeping in the barn. I was tired, but I had a hard time falling to sleep. then, to top things off, my air mattress went flat! So, Sunday morning I was tired and sore. JP, KP and I snuck out at 5:00 am. I rode the 26 mile to the park and decided to throw in the towel. I was spent. Sally and Jessie came and got me and we had an enjoyable rest of the day. All in all, if you take out all of the pain, I enjoyed myself. I am a little sad I did not finish but I am going to try it again. I learned a few tricks and I will just have to train more.

A perfect moment ... or Why I Love Brneham

Have you ever had on of those moments that you know will be frozen in your memory forever? Well, I had one this weekend. Saturday was the first annual community cleanup hosted by the area churches. I volunteered. While I was heading into town, I passed a bunch of folks setting up a soap box derby race. How small town is that? I don't know why, but this really put in a very nostalgic mood. After I got my work detail I headed out through the most beautiful part of Washington county. As I was driving my pick up, pulling a trailer and listening to the Polka hopur on the AM radio, I came upon field after field of beautiful wild flowers. At that moment, all was right with the world.

After that most auspicious start, the rest of the weekend had to be great as well. And it was! The clean up was fun. I met a lot of really nice people. I even met a very interesting convict. The clean up was set up to coincide with the free day at the dump. Since the dump folks knew it was going to be super busy, they brought out additional labor from the county lock up. Had very lovely discussion with D' Wayne about all of his prison tats. Pretty cool. After the clean up I went to the house and finished stripping the last of the paint form the house! YEE HAW!!!!! I also primed where we removed the kitchen window.

Sunday, the LOML and I taught our last CCE class for the year. After that we went to Chili's and met a guy from Galveston who brought me a Pottery Barn medicine chest. He had it on Craig's list and since he was coming our way to take baby in the bluebonnet picks he brought it. It is awesome! This is why I love Craig's List. I got a $200 medicine cabinet for $60 plus I got it delivered and I made a new friend. Can't beat that with a stick. After lunch Sally and I took a romantic ride in the country. We then headed home and painted until dark. Sally was AWESOME and we really made progress. We now have at least one coat of paint on about 80% of the house. All in all it was another great weekend in Washington county!

P.S. Our roses are INCREDIBLE this year!!!!

Easter Weekend 2010

Well, I don't even know where to start. First thanks to everyone that came. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed spending time with all of the friends and family that came by. Now for a special thank you to Moose. Thanks for all of your hard work. I now have at least on thing finished at the house ( the Potager) and I have you mostly to thank for it! You are always there for me and I truly appreciate all you do for me. Cameron and Danny, your help was invaluable. Also, I know we could not have done it with out the support staff. Thanks to Sally, Katie and Jessie. The food was AWESOME and ya'll were always there with a cold beer or water or snack. We all came together and made memories and a really incredible garden.

After we finished the Potager we were REALLY TIRED. We were drinking a beer and taking a break and trying to decide if we really wanted to try and paint anything. Chris showed up and sealed the deal. We decided it would be rude to not put up our tools and drink with him. So, that's what we did. We drank and smoked and talked and ate and drank some more. Sally's dips were awesome!

Sunday was a lovely day as well. After church, Chris cooked steaks and the the girls prepared our Easter meal. After dinner we had a lovely dessert and then the obligatory pictures. We took bluebonnet pictures and potager pictures until our faces and the cameras hurt. Then everyone packed up and left Sally alone again. We were so glad when the kids left. Sally had been wanting to get me alone all weekend and now was her chance. We had a VERY romantic test grading session until way late in the night! All in all it was an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Progress!!!!

That's about the best way to describe what I am feeling after this past weekend. Just when I think the house is never going to get finished, something like this weekend comes along and brightens my spirits. Saturday I worked on the Potager and Sunday I painted the outside. Both efforts paid off with results that can be described as promising. Still a long way to go but I am very happy and hopeful at this moment.

Above is the front of the house. Below will be a pic of the deck side:

And now, the Potager:

Spring Break 2010

What better way to start Spring Break than with a physically draining 40 mile UP and DOWN bike ride through the hills of Washington County. Johnny Pickle and I punished ourselves for three hours Saturday morning. At least the scenery was interesting.

After that ride I was too tired to do much. Sally and I went to the dump and waited for my mother to arrive. Once she got there we went to the store to get the stuff for salmon croquettes. We also went to Chappel Hill and picked up the cedar post that I bought to build our party shed. Finished the evening visiting with mother while she made us curtains to cover the front of the cabinets I built during Hurricane Ike.

Sunday started with Latin Mass. After that we went back home and waited for Jared and Heather. Gran and Sally made the salmon and macoroni and cheese while I worked on cleaning up around the house. After a fabulous lunch, Jared and I unloaded the post from the truck. Then we set the posts for the garden arbor and the martin house.

Monday, Sally and I painted. She worked on sanding the doors and getting them ready to paint. I painted the front porch and stairs then primed the front door. After that we finished building the garden arbor. Tuesday, I worked from home while Sally cleaned house and graded papers. At 4:00, we decided to paint the living room. We used a khaki color called wool skein. Can't decide if we like it or not but we think we do. Here is a pic so you can help us decide.