Never slow down

I wish I had some good excuse for not posting but, let's be frank, I've really been slacking off.

I've been swamped at work with reports and our system validation.  After 10 months of development and weeks upon weeks of testing, we are almost ready to make the switchover.  This has been one long, slow, painful project.  on top of that, i've been out of town for the past three weekends and I am sitting here in California leading another round of audits.  I wish I could say this was my last road trip but there is still too much time left in the year to be that optimistic.

Last three weekends have been busy for me.  Earlier, we took the trailer and dogs down for one of our Airstream rally's at a local state park. The park is a nice place just south of Houston located along the Brazos River.  Great park, lots of trials, lakes.  Great place to see some of the local indigenous wildlife (raccoons, armadillos, possums, eagles, ducks, geese, and lots & lots of alligators).  Yes, I said alligators.  This is a regular haven for thiose cute little swamp critters.  This time of year , they are pretty slow/dormant, but in the spring during their mating season and you need to keep an eye on your kids and pets.

Two weekends back, everyone was in town for my day's birthday (the big 90).  The entire family gathered again at out local Italian restaurant for the gala event.  Even Stephen and  Rebecca were able to make down from Austin for the weekend.  Great to be able to spend time with them, even if it was brief.  Was a great party.  Even my brother from Seattle flew i with his wife to join in.  My middle brother, the budding photographer, spent some time a few years back pouring through all of the old Kodak slides was amassed over the past few decades of family life.  He extracted a lot of pictures and had the printed out or scanned on line.  He brought out a number of those at my mom's 90th in February and did the same for my dad.  It was fun to have my dad hold up the picture and explain where he was and what was the occasion.  Got to see the picture of them on the prom date, one of him in his flight jacket when he had earned his wings, on beefcake shot on the beach, many of them together on the road. Great way to look back over a long life.  

My dad is still going strong - still hauling their trailer all over the state, always active.  I honestly feel that is the reason the both of my parents are still going strong - staying active, never slowing down.  They even took the trailer up to College Station for the weekend game with my brother who flew in from Seattle for his birthday.  They are planning to take the trailer up to Dallas in a week or so to have some work done on the side panels and back end (he violated the 3 foot rule while traveling this summer).  

I spent last weekend up at the game as well with the furry children.  They love to travel and meet new people.  Part of the routine is to walk over to campus to see all the preface hoopla.  Of course, those two were the center of attention wherever the went.  We even stopped by a booth for veterinary service run by a bunch of vet students where they give out tips for pet first aide - in case your dog or cat is injured or eats something bad.  With all of the attention Claire was getting, she became the unofficial spokesdog for their cause.  I even had one of the students ask can i leave Claire there for a while because of the crowd she was drawing in.  Claire live for these show deals and is a natural.  

Unfortunately, I cannot seem to post any pictures from my iPad while on the road, but I will be trying to play catch up on everyone's blogs over the next week.  

Happy trails!