September Birthday Celebrations

We finally got together with G'ma and G'pa to celebrate Lynne and Andy's birthdays. We set all the food out and were ready to go.
The food was good. Lizzy ate too. Her food didn't look as good to me.

Gran'pa had his video camera out taking pictures. You might check his blog to see if he posted any.

Aunt Sue made banana pudding for the party. G'ma put the candles on and carried it to the table. Unfortunately the candles sank into the pudding and one of them was out by the time it got to the table.

I missed them blowing out the candles (they did it to fast!). Below is a staged recreation of the actual candle blowing out. (No candles were harmed in this recreation.)

Here is a close up of the banana pudding. It was a little runny but it tasted real good.

And last, don't tempt me Aunt Sue. I warned you.

Maypearl vs Hamilton

Before the football game Friday night they announced the FFA Sweetheart. Mr. Inman later referred to her as the "Ag Queen". Her name was Stormy and she is with her dad below.
Two plays after we received the opening kickoff we scored a touchdown! But when we kicked the ball back to them, they ran it back for a touchdown. We were down 7-21 at the half.

The band played at halftime. They are small this year. The new band director is working towards next year.

We ended up losing the game. I don't know the score because we left after halftime.

I'm Playing With My New Camera

I've been taking lots of picture with my new camera. I'm trying to figure out how to use it correctly and improve my picture taking skills.
We were trying to get pictures of the dogs with Jesse's help. But I thought this picture of him with the dogs came out pretty good.

This is Chico. His momma was half Chihuahua, half Boston Terrier (aka- a Bostiwawa). We thought his daddy was a Labrador which would have made him a Labostiwawa. But his dad may have been a Border Collie. So maybe he's a Bordiwawa Bostollie?

Pipper may be small, but she's fast. I had a hard time focusing on a fast moving small object.

There was a ring around the moon Wednesday night when we got home. The picture above, with a flash, you can't see the ring. The picture below, without a flash, you can see the ring but no surface details. Now, how to combine the two?

And last, there was a pretty storm cloud off to the east tonight.

A Day at the Races

Saturday after Andy's cross country race he went to the MotorPlex in Ennis to help Stu work in a vendor booth for Stu's little sisters gymnastics class. He got to watch a few of the races that day. Click here to see a video of what happened on Sunday.

Maypearl Country Fair During Antique Alley

Well, Saturday was the middle of the Antique Alley weekend and the biggest day for the Maypearl country fair. There was a carnival set up behind the bank for anyone interested. I don't think they were open yet this morning.

There was a car show in the bank parking lot. Not a big affair, but fun to go see. The little red MG above belongs to Coach Ellis. That's him in the red shirt and cap. Some of the other cars there are below. Click on them to get a bigger picture to see them better.

Jesse and I went to Waxahachie after that to eat lunch. On the way home we stopped to take a picture of one of the local cotton fields.

When we got back to Maypearl I gave Jesse the camera and told him to take a few pictures as we drove through town. Below you can see some of the booths that lined both sides of the street downtown. You can also see that I need to clean my windshield.

Of course Jesse took picture of the food vendors. This was a BBQ stand set up on one side of the street.

We almost stopped to get Aunt Sissy another new couch. Think she'd like it? We then drove home to watch a movie and relax.

Maypearl Homecoming 2007

We got to the Homecoming game early to watch the Vollyball girls play Dublin. Our girls won 3 games straight. Don't ya like the Dublin girl's socks.

We got there early enough to watch the guys warm up before the game.

Andy and the Couch Crew set up in the end zone and had a tailgate party. There were alot of people glad they weren't yelling in the stands.

The fans lined the field as the team ran on.

Clint led the way.

After Italy ran the ball back 70 yards on their first play, this is about as excited as our guys got. It was 15-0 at the half.

This is the girl that won Homecoming Queen. I don't know her name. That's her brother with her.

There were other photographers there.

Here's Andy and J.I. The lady in the bottom right is our new youth ministers wife.

The stands were full.

Andy just called and said Maypearl lost 21-0. And they were headed to the Waffle House.

FBC Maypearl Construction

GranPa said he was hoping to see construction pictures of our new church building at First Baptist Maypearl. Since the church web site is still under construction I thought I'd post a few. That top picture doesn't do justice to how big it looks when you come over the hill. You can see the ballpark in the background.

Here's a closer shot. The building manager said at church that it looks taller if you're sitting on the top looking down. Notice he didn't say standing. It's about 50 feet up.

Here is the drive thru at the front door. If the church web site doesn't get pictures up I'll keep posting a few here. Jason Ramsey, the contractor, said they had 2 more guys saved on site this week.

Bird Sighting

Sunday on the way to Church we saw something unusual. In front of the pump station there was a dead animal in the road being eaten by a large bird. When the bird flew I didn't think it looked like a buzzard. They boys thought it was a hawk but it was the wrong shape. The bottom of the tail and the wing tips were white. I had seen one of these once before and I think I know what it was.
I believe the bird we saw was a Crested Caracara. It's in the falcon family. It's also on the Mexican flag and is considered a good luck omen. There are some excellent pictures on this web site I found by a nature photographer (CLICK HERE). His picture of the bird landing on the ground is the one Lynne said looked like the bird she saw.

New Church Web Site

First Baptist Church Maypearl's web site is under construction! I talked to the lady at church who is creating it and she said it will be changing alot in the near future. Check it out and see what you think. I've already made a suggestion to her (I hope she won't mind). The link is on the right side menu.

An Audio Test

The combined Canaan and Brown Chapel Choirs sang in church this morning. I'm trying something new to see if I can get one of the songs here on the blog. I hope it works. Let me know.

An Armadillo and a Singing Dacshund

When we got home tonight Chico had this little guy cornered by the porch. I had to apologize to Chico for accusing him of all the hole digging by the porch. A little later Pipper sang us a little song.

Andy Working?!?

Andy is washing his mom's minivan! Why do you think he's doing that?

Could this have something to do with it?

It's a '96 Nissan Altima. I think Mom just got tired of getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning to take him to cross country practice. And yes, it too is green.

The First Day of School

The boys were real excited to go back to school. They had their lunches and backbacks ready to go the night before. The Mom was so excited she got sick and missed 2 days of school. What a fun week.

Dancing Bird

OK, I shot video of this bird dancing in our yard but I can't get it posted yet. The new video downloader on Blogger just stops on me. DropShots now requires a download to download videos. The 7 meg file crashed on me halfway through. Oh the joys of dial up. I may have to take Lynne's laptop to WhataBurger. You will see the bird eventually. Wait, I think it worked.

What is this bird doing? (I hope you can see it.) I think I may have figured it out. I think he's scaring up his supper. When he spreads his winds I think it scares the bugs and they try to get away, at which point he attacks. What do you think?

Duct Tape?

Is it me or am I the only one who finds it ironic that the only thing duct tape doesn't do very well is tape ducts?

Duct Tape on Wikipedia

It's That Time of Year

The boys and I have been working up at the school this week. We have finished decorating the hallways and unpacking all my boxes. Now I need to put up my bulletin boards and I will be ready for the first day. School starts back for teachers on August 17th and the kids start back on August 27th. If anyone knows where we can get a good price on back packs and tennis shoes then give me an email or phone call.

Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl, and Ancient Ecuador Sailing Vessels

In case you didn't know it, yesterday (Aug 7) was the 60th anniversary of the day the Kon-tikis journey ended. You can read some about it on Wikipedia. There is an interesting section on chicken migration. There was also a documentary made in 1950. I heard an interesting interview this week on KERA's "Think" program with a guy still researching this type of sailing raft. He's building a new boat this coming year.