Today Mike and I went to the Houston Orienteering Club (H.O.C.) picnic, aka, time to elect new officers. It was held at Herman Park near the medical center and Reliant Stadium. It had been many, many years since I was at that particular park. We had a line of severe thunderstorms move through earlier in the day but the sun actually started to come through the clouds by the time the picnic was supposed to start. After we ate, and while they were conducting “business,” I sat and watched the blue jays, squirrels, and pigeons. I had a can of peanuts and I kept the little varmits busy eating. The squirrels would practically come right up to you … as a matter of fact, in one of the pictures below, you can see a young lady who was there and she’s feeding one of the squirrels. The blue jays were absolutely beautiful, too. The pigeons? Well … let’s just say that they were annoying … but I fed them, too. Anyway, here are a few pictures for you to (hopefully) enjoy.

These are the main “characters” in charge of running H.O.C. (I don’t know all the people’s names …)

Like I mentioned, Herman Park is right in the thick of the medical center and if you look closely at the background in this picture you will see some condominiums. Real estate is practically untouchable $$$$ in this area but wouldn’t it be nice to look out your window and see a beautiful park?

Blue jay in the tree …

A close up of the blue jay under one of our picnic tables …

Feeding the squirrel. I don’t remember this young lady’s name but the squirrel was definitely interested in eating a corn chip!

Enjoying his corn chip …

My dad thinks he’s entertaining me … but I’m just humoring him for the moment.

It’s sooooo boring out here on the patio! Maybe I’ll go inside for awhile.

Hmmm … looks like it might be a good day for a field trip.  Could I be so lucky?

I wonder if my dad is watching … hopefully I can sneak out.

Now, if I can just make it to the door …

One last look to make sure he doesn’t see me … Good! The coast is still clear! I’m almost out! Yipee!!

How does this dad-gum door work, anyway? I see dad do it all the time …. why won’t it work for me?!

Oh well. I give up. The patio will have to suffice for now. BUT … there’s always tomorrow! Aha!

Rules of Houston, H-Town, 3-rd Coast, Bayou City, The Dirty 3rd, or whatever you wanna call it.

If you dont live here, most of this will sound utterly insane, but to all of us who call this home..its nothing but the truth.

I went into my local convenience store/gas station the other day and told the clerk I wanted $5.00 worth of gas … The clerk farted and gave me a receipt …

I can’t believe another weekend is over already! This one just flew by for me because I was so busy. Thursday night and Friday night I had a class to attend at my church … a training class of sorts since I’m a small group leader. It also ran Saturday from 8 am to 3 pm. We had a guest speaker in from New Mexico to teach the class. While it was interesting, and I learned some new things, it was also very tiring.

Saturday night wasn’t much quieter, either. Me and a few of the ladies from my Tuesday night small group went to Baytown to a karaoke bar. We went because Sherry has a friend who sings there on Saturday nights. Sherry has also told Amy about our ladies group from church so we wanted to meet Amy. We wanted her to see that even though we’re a “bible study” group, we’re still ordinary women like she is. (And yes, Glenda … I did get up and sing a Martina McBride song! OK? You’d be proud. But you need to tell Gary he needs to get a bigger collection of songs for Vadies. Ha!)

Amazingly, our pastor knew we were going to do this and gave us his blessing. I mean, let’s face it. “The Church” is more than just a building. It’s the people. And Jesus didn’t just hang out with all the religious people. He had dinner and hung out with the so-called less than desireable people of society for His day. So we were just trying to put some action to our words. Anyway, it was fun in a different way. I’m okay with being in a beer joint (the only word to describe where we were) even though I don’t make it a practice to hang out all the time. As a matter of fact, when I’m visiting with my sister, we sometimes go to a little bar in her town (Vadie’s) and it’s kinda like in the TV show “Cheers” … you walk in and they know your name. But anyway, I’m digressing here …

So we got there about 8:30 and stayed until 11:00. I was really surprised that so many people got up and sang, too. Some were really good. Some were REALLY bad. But I was really tired when I got home because I’d been keeping late hours since Thursday night. I’m not a spring chicken, ya know. I need my rest! But all in all it was good.

So now I only have today to rest up before another week begins. It’s going to be a busy one at work, too, because we’re in the process of hiring 8 operators and 2 railcrew workers. Three of the 8 operator positions have been filled and those guys start work Monday … orientation and all that good stuff. But at least I know the day will pass quickly because I’ll be busy.

So ya’ll have a great week and I’ll talk to you later, ok?

Well I guess all that rain from California finally got to us here in Texas!  Some parts of Texas … mostly north and west of Houston … got inundated last night and early this morning with thunderboomers.  I haven’t talked to my sister yet but from what I could see on radar last night, their part of Texas got hammered pretty good.  I even heard some parts of Texas had hail the size of golf balls … and that’s not a tall Texas tale either!  Ha!  Down here along the coast, we got some heavy rain and lightning but not as much wind problems as other parts had.  But we need the rain … things are so dry! 

Okay … I mentioned in my post yesterday that we had skipped Spring completely and gone straight to summer, remember?  Well yesterday afternoon we had even more proof of that.  Never mind that it got up to 90 degrees … that alone in itself was proof enough to me.  But I was sitting at work and around 4:15 we lost electrical power.  When I watched the news last night they were reporting that the Houston area was experiencing rolling blackouts due to excessive electric usage.  Go figure …

(This is a true account recorded in the Police Log of Sarasota, Florida):

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and upon returning to her car, saw four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.  She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, yelling at the top of her lungs:  “I have a gun and I know how to use it!  Get out of the car!”

The four men didn’t wait for a second invitation.  They got out of the car and ran like mad.  The lady, still somewhat shaken, proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back seat of the car.  She then got into the driver’s seat and was still so shaken, she couldn’t get the keys to work in the ignition.  She tried and tried and then it dawned on her … “Why is there a football, a frisbee and two 6-packs on the floorboard of this car?”   About this same time she noticed her own car parked about 4 or 5 spaces further down.

So she took out the shopping bags and loaded them into her own car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.  The Sergeant to whom she told the story just couldn’t stop laughing.  He pointed to the other end of the counter where 4 pale and badly shaken men were reporting an attempted carjacking by a crazy elderly woman described as white, less than 5 feet tall, with curly hair, wearing glasses, and carrying a large handgun.

No charges were filed.

The moral of this story?  If you’re going to have a senior moment, make it memorable!

Well I was beginning to worry about you and your family, Mike.  All I knew was that I kept seeing the weather reports about rain, rain, rain in your area.  As for our part of the country, we’re still behind on rain.  Too bad we can’t take some of yours.  And it looks like we’ve gone directly into the summer season as far as temps go.  Today our temp is supposed to reach 90 degrees.  Can you believe that?  It’s only the middle of April, for goodness sake!  I walked out around 11:00 today to leave for work and the hot, humid air hit me.  It felt like it does when you open the door to your oven and get a blast of hot air.  I dread what the REAL summer is going to feel like.  We haven’t even come close to the time of year when we get our really hot days.  The only thing I can see positive in this weather thing for us is that since we live so close to the coast, we get some of the sea breeze occasionally.  At least in the shade you can breathe and not smother to death.

So Erica isn’t the only teenager that likes those weird colors …. hmmmm …. makes me feel a little better now!  Ha!  Anyway, she worked really really hard to get those 3 coats of paint on those walls.  And I have to admit that it does look good now.  She’s got big plans for some more redecorating, too.  She wants to get faux wood blinds for her window and buy a new comforter, etc.  The floor in her room is marble … black with white swirls … so she’s thinking about buying a black comforter for her bed and having a very “dramatic” look to her room … more grown up and sophisticated, I guess.  She’s also realizing just how hard it is to budget your money and buy stuff you want when there are other things more pressing.  But I keep thinking its all a part of growing up.  You want to step in and help alleviate some of the pressure but you know its for their own good that they learn the hard way, ya know?  I don’t think anyone ever thinks about the difficulty of being a parent when you bring that little baby home from the hospital!  Ha!

Well, I better get going.  I’m at work and just decided to take a quick break.  Glad all is okay on the homefront.  Take care and talk to you soon.

Thats the same color blue Megan just painted her walls in her room and she did the ceiling a dark, dark blue.

Yes everyday is rain!! We usually are in the 80’s by now and dry. Instead we are buying flood insurance. The canal right down the street has gone all the way to the top a few times. Out of the last 30 days we had 2 days with no rain…and people say oh sunny Califonia!! Yuck!! Other than that everything is well, we had a house full for Easter all the girls were home (and boyfriends) but it was fun and I ate WAY to much. Hope you guys are having a good holiday also. You guys take care.

Erica decided Friday night that she wanted to paint her room a different color. It has been a very “glow in the dark” blue color for over a year now. She decided an eggshell color would be nice. Now I don’t have to tell you how much work is involved in painting over a dark color, right? Well, just suffice it to say that it took her most all of the day to paint her room. Mike took her to Home Depot and bought what she needed … 4 gallons of paint. She used all but a little bit of all 4 gallons. But the room definitely does look better than it did. So I put together a slide show of pictures I took. Click on the link below to see it. (Ya’ll will have to forgive me for always doing slide shows but it’s something new for me and I’m sure I’ll eventually get tired of doing them, which will give ya’ll a break! Ha!)

http://www.slide.com/channel_finder?pcid=8NcBxjIdduXpjzpKIiG5LMa0uzd5UjdjyH6IRHNkqNU&style=myspace

(Pay close attention to both bunnies or its not funny …)

My neice sent me a picture of Mocha’s “daddy” and I thought I’d share a “family photo” with ya’ll … hee hee hee

This is “Mr. B” – Mocha’s Daddy. Apparently in this picture, he’s having one of his “lazy” days …

This is “Samantha” – Mocha’s Mother

And this is the result of those two … Mocha …

It hard to tell from these pictures, but Mocha has some of the long hair and definitely all of the brown markings from his daddy. You can see the brown markings when he’s out in the sun. And I think his head is shaped more like his mother’s than his daddy’s.  Mocha also has the personality and temperament of his daddy … very relaxed and laid back and curious all the time.
Anyway, isn’t he just the cutest!?

Hey Mike.  I guess ya’ll are still getting a lot of rain, huh?  That’s all I hear about on the weather.  Everything okay??

http://rockyou.com/viewslideshow.php?instanceid=18807107&refid=18807107

Click on the link.  I took some of the birthday pictures and made a slide show.

I took this one … trying to get pictures of the seagulls …

The girls make a lovely picture in front of Galveston Bay …

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to the Kemah Boardwalk to celebrate Erica’s 19th birthday.  We ate at Cadillac Bar Mexican Cantina … EXXXXcellent Mexican food … around 5:00 pm and then Mike bought each of the girls (Erica, Teresa and Alex) a “pass” so they could ride the rides in the amusement part of the boardwalk.  While they were getting turned upside down and every which way, Mike and I strolled along the boardwalk (us and about a gazillion other people!) because the weather was so beautiful!  We watched sailboats/yachts coming in and out, some of them as large as our house!  We finally got home around 9:00 pm.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening.  Here are some pictures:

Alex, Erica and Teresa

I baked a cake for Erica but Alex brought this one so we took it to the restaurant.

Mike, Erica and me

Riding “Pharaoh’s Fury”

Riding “The Inverter” … I tried to get a picture of them upside down but my camera didn’t cooperate.

Enjoying the carousel …

“Say goodnight, girls …”

Today, my “baby” is 19 years old!  It’s so hard to believe!  This is her last year of those known as the ‘teens’.  What a joy she has been to me and her dad.

Happy Birthday to Erica!

What a week … I had to have one of those medical tests where you drink all that yucky stuff the day before the test. I was only allowed to have “clear liquids” from midnight Wednesday night until noon Friday when I actually had the test. I had to stick with clear liquids Thursday (the day before) which was a real trial for me. Chicken broth and jello just don’t cut it.  So anyway, Thursday evening I had to drink that “stuff” that gets rid of everything, if you get my drift. It was gross, to say the least. But thankfully I only had to drink 1-1/2 ounces of it (mixed with 4 ounces clear liquid) so I mixed it up and chugged it down in one gulp. I figured if it was going to come back up, at least it would come back up all at once! Then Friday morning I had to drink another 1-1/2 ounces mixed the same way. Once again, I chugged it down. Believe it or not, it stayed down.

The test wasn’t supposed to be until 11:00 Friday but it was close to noon before they took me in … you know hospitals … always running behind schedule. And once in the room for the procedure, they gave me a concoction that put me to sleep and made me forget anything that might happen. Mike said I was in there for 30 minutes but I only recall being aware of about 5 minutes.

Like everybody told me … the preparation you have to do for the test is worse than the test itself. It’s true. But at least now I don’t have to do another one for 10 years. Whew! Sure am glad about that!

Hope ya’ll have a great week …