Something old, something new

Is it 7 or 8 am?  Oh, yea.  Time to run around the house and reset all the clocks and change the batteries in the smoke detectors.  Sometimes, I think daylights savings time is actually a sinister plot by Duracell and Eveready just to boost sales of 9 volt batteries.    

Wedding was great.  Was a long drive out & back to Dayton (1.5 hours) but well worth it.  The only downside was driving back late last night at 1000 (or was it 1100?).  The wedding was actually held on a ranch/hunting lodge out in East Texas along the Trinity River.  The trip out was an adventure.  You started out heading northeast out of Houston and up into the back woods of east Texas.  Once we hit the town of Dayton, we turned north and drove out about 12 miles on a winding country back road.  THEN we turned off onto a one lane blacktop road for another 6 miles until we hit the ranch gate.  Crossed the cattle guard onto the dirt/sandy road and drove in 2 miles along the riverbank and through the cattle until we reached the lodge.  At this point, one might question where the hell we were going (I kept humming the theme to Deliverance) but there were signs and eventually we pulled up to the lodge with a huge tent and all sorts of decorations.  Pretty strange site to see out in deep woods of East Texas. 

Of course, it's not about the trip, but the event.  The ceremony was simple and funny.  When you have an outdoor wedding, especially in a ranch setting, you learn to be flexible.  Celebration afterwards was excellent.  Everyone had a great time, especially the bride & groom. 



The happy couple

  

Wedding Cake



Groom's Cake

(yes, that's a hunting blind)



And it's not a wedding without the refreshments



The Thee Stooges (aka my brothers & I)
)Note the Ranch Casual attire)

Reception

The Wedding Party

All in all, a great wedding for a great couple.  Those kids are off on a great adventure together. 



And, of course, a couple of spectators



Time to nut up or shut up

Did anybody see a week lying around here?  I seem to have misplaced mine.
Between work and home projects, this week has disappeared faster than a dozen doughnuts at a cop convention (old joke). 

I was just complaining about Monday's schedule and here it is Friday.  Still stuck in a bunch of different meetings (all to improve performance) or doing interviews or trying to write reports.  I am typically up at the crack of early (that happens when you have dogs for an alarm clock), fire up the coffee pot, walk the dogs, and log onto my work account to check the day's chores.  Today is a light one - only 5 meetings.  I might actually get something done today, but it is early and there is so much opportunity for things to go wrong.... 

This weekend is pretty much over already.  It is time for the Ranch Wedding for my nephew.  Rehearsal dinner tonight.  Well, it is not really a rehearsal, but more of another dinner/party.  Wedding is tomorrow afternoon on the ranch about 1.5 hours east of here.  Still trying to nail down exactly what is "Ranch Casual" but it does involve blue jeans and boots.  Not sure if I am going to take a cowboy hat.  Should be an interesting gig but will be late getting back.  There is a post wedding reception on Sunday morning, but since the bride & groom will be flying out to Jamaica at 0300, I think it is just for the parents/family of the bride.  We've passed on that event since junior is in just for the weekend and is heading back to Austin around noon.  Something about work and attending SXSW (South by Southwest) next week so we only have a short time to see him. 

I've been talking with the nephew about his pending nuptials.  I was watching Zombieland on the cable the other night and picked up the slogan above.  The kid's getting lots of advice from us old married farts - some of it actually useful.  As one of his friends commented on his FB countdown - 36 hours to go (of freedom or new life?). 

Food on a stick

Ok, Fat Tuesday is over.  Time to put the Mardi Gras beads away and start hauling out four leaf clovers and St Patrick's Day decorations.  Is it just me or does it seem that Hallmark has taken over the calendar?

I mentioned last week it is rodeo time down here.  It is actually an odd time of the year for us down here.  Lots to do.  Mardi Gras in Galveston, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Azalea Trail, Austin SXSW.  So much to see, so much do, so little time 

As with most state fairs and rodeos, one of the big draws is the food.  Things you would never consider eating all year (even drunk) are fair game.  Turkey legs, funnel cake, cotton candy, kettle corn, corn on the cob, corn dogs, cheesecake on a stick, pizza on a stick, all the normal food groups.  Of course, your traditional deep fried favorites:  fried twinkies, fried oreos, fried ice cream, fried Dr Pepper, fried beer, fried butter, chicken fried bacon, fried moon pies, fried pickles.  This year we have chocolate covered pickles and meat sundaes. 

Chocolate Pickle

5 lb meatball sandwich

Pizza on a Stick

Meat sundae

Remember, if it comes covered in chocolate or served on a stick, the calories don't count.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow

Standing tall

In its shadow

More work rules

I'm trying to be a better person.  Really.  I try to play nice.  I always have a positive attitude, I am friendly to all my co-workers, I treat everyone with the same amount of courtesy and respect as I would expect to get.  

We spend more than 1/3rd of our lives at work in the company of people we may or may not like.  Day in and day out, we spend a large amount of the day sharing the same work environment with many people.  The same equipment, the same resources, the same facilities.  That includes the break room.  We share one lunch room with a a two vending machines, one coffee pot, a couple of microwaves and two refrigerators.  I find that it helps we we follow a few simple (common sense) rules

• If you use the area, just like at home, clean up after yourself.  If you make a mess, clean it up. 
• If you take the last cup of coffee, either start a new batch or turn off the pot (nothing like trying to scrap the 1/2 inch of crusty, baked on coffee off the bottom of the pot)
• Two refrigerators/limited space.  Please don't bring your entire week's groceries. 
• Please do not store your open drinks or leftover, uncovered Mexican food with lot of onions and jalapenos on the shelf.
• Please don't leave open food containers in the refrigerator for several days (or weeks). 
• If you use the microwave, please clean it out afterwards (if it make a mess - see item 1).  Much as I appreciate you having your food warm, I really don't like to nuke my food after your burrito has burped up its contents beforehand.  And, for the love of God, please cover your food in the mircrowave.  Nothing is as appetizing as smelling freshly microwaved fish heads or corn on the cob.   

Ok, enough griping for one day.    

Have a great day!

Booked up

Follow up from a previous posting on books. 

There was one other book I finished up a few months back that I found interesting.  Something different from my traditional, cookie cutter, Barnes & Noble mystery fodder.  One of the events of our rescue group from last year was a meet & greet with an author who has written a story that involves (can you guess?)...Golden Retrievers.  A great story about a woman in north Texas who worked search and rescue and how she trained a Golden Retriever puppy to become a search dog.  Not my normal read, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. 

   I got the opportunity to meet the author, Susannah Charleson, and her dog, Puzzle.

Dog Tails

Nope.  It’s not about my two loons.

Went to a wedding shower Saturday for my nephew. He’s a “young” (26) kid who is getting hitched to a cute redhead he’s known since high school. Those two seemed to be made for each other. The wedding is in two weeks out in the country and is supposed to be a “Casual Ranch Affair”. We’re still trying to figure what that translates into for attire.

We attended a wedding shower over at her parent’s house Saturday night.  Very nice party, but, honestly, I just wasn’t up for it.  Had a massive headache that I was trying to work through and wasn’t in a party mood.  I popped some Advil and thought I could manage a glass of wine but that just amplified the problem.

The folks have a very nice house.  They even have a one of those skinny little Daschunds that is all of 5 inches high and 10 inches long. Cute little dog.  I tend to make friends with most dogs as I have two highly needy ones at home.  Besides, I like petting or playing other dogs just to give my herd something to check out when I get home.

Of course being good hosts, there was lots of food & drink throughout the house.  In the living room there was an end table with a bowl of nuts/cashews.  While cracking jokes with my other nephew and his wife, we observed the little dog proceed to stand up on his little hind legs and proceed to chow down on some of the nuts. To me, it appeared this wasn’t a new trick for him.  I found this amusing (or perhaps gross?) given I had just had a handful of nuts from the very same bowl.  

You always should keep an eye on your nuts...