Beginning to look like something

Thanks to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sally and I got to stay home last Monday and do a little work to the house. We finally have all of the shutters built, painted and installed on the front of the house. This has been another arduous process that could not have been completed with out the help of my lovely bride and my two favorite son-in-laws. Thanks guys and gals for all of your help. Also note that the front door is no longer an ugly orangey red. It is now the same color red as all of the other doors on the nest. Please also take note of the matching red porch swing that is now hanging as well! Such little things seem to make the biggest difference!

Washington County Spelling Bee

Last night, Sally and I had just about as much fun as is humanly possible on a cold Thursday night in Brenham. We attended the 56th Annual Washington County Spelling Bee. OMG! This thing was so exciting and so much fun. It started with 27 kids from grades 2 through 8. Each of the kids on the stage had won at their respective bees. Sally had one of her students in it and St. Paul's had four kids total. There was also one of our students from CCE. We were so amazed at how smart these kids were. Incredibly hard words were correctly spelled by kids in all ages. Infact, the winners were two fourth graders and one fifth grader. Sally and I really got into it. We would hold our breath when a hard word came and then cheer when they got it. All of them did great. It took 27 rounds to crown the winner. I cannot express how good it was for me to go to this. With so much bad in the news today about bad kids, it is so comforting to know that for every bad kid that makes the news there are hundreds of great kids that are smart and willing to work hard memorizing spelling words. Special props to Austin Derkowitz who is in our 5th Grade CCE and the third place winner and a very special thanks to all of the kids and parents that made a cynical old man remember that there really is a future for America!

Christmas 2011

How do you start when you have two solid weeks of holiday cheer jam packed with activities. I guess I will go chronoligically. First, before the holidays really got going, we went to Austin to watch Danny Hartly graduate from St. Edwards. Very nice ceremony and we really enjoyed sharing the day with his family.

The following weekend, we were off to Denton to watch Scott Hemann graduate from UNT. This was a lot of fun as well. We really were glad Jessie and Whitney could join us. It was also fun hanging out with all of the Hemann's. Sally and I did a count and figured out that this was our SIXTH graduation ceremony at UNT in the last three years. Only one more to go. Whitney should walk in a year and a half.

After all of the graduating, Sally, Katie and Ramez all got out of school for a much needed two week break. Katie and Ramez arrived at the nest on the night of the 20th. They had to come to an empty nest because Sally, heather and I met David and Pam at the Original Ninfa's to bid him farewell. He is off on another Flour adventure in Guinnea, Africa. This was a bittersweet parting as we know we will not see him for at least a year. Oh well, at the live sex show in the parking lot broke the mood. Katie and Moose spent most of the early part of the week helping Sally prepare for Christmas. So much cooking, cleaning, shopping and wrapping. Moose helped me organize my work area in the garage and build the arbor and the gate for the picket fence. Jared and I started painting the fence but that was later. here is the finished pic of Moose and Jared's hard work.

Christmas eve was a big night. This is when we all worked to together to bottle the wine. Chris, Jessie and Cameron were all there and we were all so thankful. While we were sterilizing and bottling, Cameron (and the other guys) drank a bunch of the wine just to make sure it was o.k. Judging by the amount consumed and the slurred comments, we decided it was good.

Christmas morning brought the annual pancake and mimosa breakfast enhanced with the family crossword. All agreed that this year's crossword was the hardest and bestest.

After Christmas we had a spirited "Chinese Gift Exchange". Moose won the prize of best gift by giving me "The pot that ruined Christmas". This is an inside joke and you had to be there to fully appreciate it. However, trust me, it was very funny.

Sunday found Chris, Gran, Sally and I at the Antoun's for a lovely and spirited Middle eastern dinner.

The week after Christmas found Whitney, Heather and Jared at the nest. We also got a surprise visit from margret and Kathleen Hartly.

Whitney left on Thursday because she had a hot date for New Year's. To prepare for this lavish evening at the symphony, Sally took Heather and Whit to get a manicure. After Whit left, it was such a lovely day that we decided to go to Blue Bell for the tour. Guess what? No tours today! This is the third time that we have tried to get in a tour at Blue Bell and they weren't doing them. So, after a couple of fresh scoops at the palnt we went to the Monastery of St. Claire. This is a bunch of very old nuns that raise miniature horses. It was pretty cool but sad. The nuns are so old they cannot maintain the place anymore. So, they have sold it. All of the horses will be gone by summer. The horses were cute but what interested us the most was the huge colony of cutter ants that we discovered. We did not even know this type of ant lived in our part of the world.

Friday, Jared helped me paint the fence and build and paint shutters. Big help and I really appreciated. We spent a quiet evening at home to bring in the New Year. Sally suggested going to get lottery tickets so that's waht she and Heather did. And boy is heather glad she made that trip. Turns out, she won over $600!!!!! Way to go Heather. What a great way to bring in 2011!

Jared and Heather left us on Saturday. It was another fabulous day so Sally and did a bunch of much needed yard and garden work. We worked in the potager and planted peas on cedar trellises. We also planted French breakfast radishes and Chioga beets. We planted 10-15 onions the prvious weekend. We also harvested lettuce, spinach, carrots and turnips. We trimmed bushes, weeded beds and planted roses and primrose jasmine. I also transplanted a bunch of crinums and some daffodils.

We finished our break by teaching CCE and spending the day with Sally's family in Houston. We brough Pa fresh oysters and spent a lovely afternoon visiting with he and MiMi. On the way home we dropped off homemade wine to David and Kim. WHEW!!!! Another fun filled holiday is behind us. Here's to our friends and family! I hope you all have a happy and prosperous New Year!!!!1

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.