Once a Month Blogging!

Well, here I am at the blog again. Boy its been a whirlwind since the last time. Went to Cooperstown to see our daughter and a few days of R&R only to be interrupted by our first grandson, Noah David born, Nov 21st, five weeks early. We weren't even in C-town 24 hours before we got the word that he was coming. We tried that day to go and take in the Baseball Hall of Fame where our son-in-law works but couldn't get very good phone reception and had to keep stepping out. Not to mention I didn't bring my cell phone charger and up there in the hills it tried to die quick. I also wasn't expecting to make quite that many phone calls.

Then try to buy, cook, and eat Thanksgiving and change your Thanksgiving day flight to the day before. Somehow, we managed it, until we got to the airport thanks to a loving and understanding daughter and son-in-law. In Albany our first flight was delayed so that we'd have to spend the night in Newark airport. Pretty cool thought when we were trying to get to Dallas. Somehow, the nice lady at Continental got us on Delta to Cincy then to Big D, before our original flight would've made it. And this is the short version. We made it to Plano, met Noah, and then spent the next 3 days, waiting, praying, visiting, watching football and enjoying this great joy that has come into our lives.

We've since returned to Dallas this past weekend to visit, hold the baby again and spend some time with them. Well, there's plenty more about what's happening lately and some baby pics to come but that's all I've got time for now.

cya, de

Great Houston Sports weekend!

I can't remember a better sports weekend in H-town in a long, long time. I was talking to my oldest son about it who metioned the Sooners won, Rockets beat Miami, Texans beat Jacksonville, and the Longhorns lost? How could it get any better than that. I guess for some the Cowboys won as well. He forgot about the Houston Dynamo! I actually did watch some of match, game, whatever its called and DVR'd the penalty kicks to watch when I got home from the areawide church service. The Sooners were impressive, Paul Thompson especially I guess. I still haven't watched it yet. Longhorns went down, yes, that was sweet. Sorry, Horns fan, I'm not.

The Rockets are very impressive so far. Yao's the MVP hands down if he can keep this kind of play up. He's dominating everyone. McGrady is still trying to find his shot but I think he will and when he does they must may have the supporting crew to make vast improvements this year. The Texans won again over the Jags. They're growing, I think. I looked down and thought it was the ghost of Bob Stoops making that call at the end of the game with 4th & inches to keep the ball and run out the clock for the W. Big, big call and victory for Kubiak, Carr, the Texans in general. They may make a football team yet. Never in Dom Capers life would he make that kind of go-for-it call.

The Khou.com football pickem contest is certainly up and down. Only six picks last week right but 11 this week which will always put you back up the charts. Think I'm in the top 15 in the H-town area again. Who knows from week to week who will win. Nobody knows. Cougs won, Rice won, Ganders won. All around a winning weekend. Even caught some fish on Sunday night. Gotta go.

Cya down the road.

de

Trying to Remember

I had something I was going to blog about, I know I did and then it was gone. I was reading my sons blog about his soon to be born son loving the Sooners and loving God and I know I had something to say but for the life of me I can't recall what it was. It certainly wasn't the Astros, they're on vacation or the Rockets, not sure what to say about them yet, we'll see. It couldn't have been the Texans, as they are on vacation as well. There it was but I hadn't finished my sentence and before I finished it was gone again, concentrate de.

Oh yeah, there it is, whew! Something I've never done, Pro football pics on KHOU.com. I signed up the first week, picked the games and came in 2nd on week one, 11/14 which was great. Then reality set in and I began to fall off the leader board over the next few weeks. I didn't fall terribly far but down to 50 something in the H-town contest. Well, I'm proud to say over the past few weeks, I've made some pretty good pics, nothing spectacular, and I'm moving back up, up to 17th overall in H-town. Just think what could happen if I really studied any of it. Nah! It's not worth the time but its kinda fun. It just confirms why I'm not a gambler. Well, enough blogging today.

Cya nexttime, de

Heading South

Yep, that's right heading south to Galveston today. The STB quartet is singing later this evening at the Gulf Coast spiritual Growth Workshop. We're singing from 6-7. Maybe there will be 1000 people there. It should be fun. The director invited us to sing after the evening session but we've only got like 12 songs ready to sing. We've so busy singing around at different places we haven't had time to work up any more. Oh well. Good thing we're going south cause that means I'll have the wind at my back. Yesterday, 15-20 out of the South, with buckets of rain, again, and today all thats cleared out and swung around out of the north 15 mph. Can't make up its mind.

Good report on the Rockets today on ade's blog. I like em. I haven't bought any tickets yet but I like em. The biggest question is will they jell, gel, jail? I don't know. The other question is will the Texans end up with more wins than the Cowboys. Could be? We'll see this week.

It's not much but you can check out the STB webpage at STB.com

lator gator, de

Weekend Hangover Almost Gone!

Boy did this past weekend last long into the week. And all without a dram to drink. But hangover was really the only way I know to describe it. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun but I guess I don't do only 3 hours of sleep like I used to. And I don't want to either. It began early Saturday with a trip to IAH. It was crazy busy. I've finally adapted to "getting there early" like the bride. It leaves for more sitting around but I spent the time going over the Ganders last minute loss to Port Arthur Memorial in PA. Too bad for them but they'll still make the playoffs. Started to go but PA was too far with my day Sat. Good choice de.

Flight to DFW where its 73 degrees. There's no degree thing on the keyboard is there? Get the Hertz Grand Marquis, pick up the boys, stop by Braums for a burger and we're off to Norman for the game. Temperature upon arrival is 53*, you know what I mean. Game time temp is 48* wind blowing 20 mph. Great game, lots of fun, head back to DFW. How can it take 30 minutes at Taco Bell in Lindsay, OK. Further delays, drop the boys, get the motel and in the bed at 2. Alarm goes off @ 5, to the airport, fly home, to worship. Fortunately I had my stand in ready. Too much to preach that day.

Spent a good part of my evening yesterday picking up the trash washed up in the back yard. It came up into the yard from the bulkhead around 20'. Lots of other folks pier stuff, all kinds of limbs, driftwood, and trash. Got it done tho. Price of living on the water.

Bout to get my sleep back. I'm an 8 hours a night guy most of the time. Just feel better that way. Sleeps essential and most of us don't get enough to stay healthy. Well, the bride is away. The STB are singing this Friday at the Gulf Coast spiritual Growth Workshop in Galveston. Too bad we don't have a CD read to sell. Maybe soon. Check out ade's blog for his weekend activity. My Saturday night, er, Sunday paled by comparison.

cya, de

Deja Vu! TS Allison

Wow, what an interesting beginning to this week. Actually, the rain started sometime Saturday night. The only reason I knew that is because the ground was wet when I got up Sunday morning. Right as I started to preach Sunday morning the sky opened up, the rains came down and the floods came up. Everybody gets a little nervous when that happens either because its so darned loud in our auditorium when it rains like that, or they know they've really got nowhere to go until they hear it stop raining and they know the preacher knows it. Anyway, took the bride to Pappasitos for lunch, sat at the bar, while watching the 1st half of the Texans/Cowboys game. Turned out that was the only part worth watching unless your a big TO fan.

Oh yeah, the rain. The bride took a nap while I watched the TO show, then I took one while it rained, scratch that, it poured the whole time. Got to get my rain gauge working. We had our Life group over, in the rain. It rained Sunday night adn all day Monday. The wind blew off the bay all day Monday 20-30 mph. The tide came up and completely covered the bulkhead and all the piers. Lost boards began to float up in my yard. Waves crashed into the yard as the water would reach the bulkhead and then make a wave in the yard.

My nextdoor neighbor almost lost his boat on Monday evening. The water was so high it worked his boat partially out of its sling. He went down at almost dark, navigated the pier, which he couldn't see, waves crashing, bay rocking, and managed to get it back in place. Pretty scary stuff. Finally about 7 or so the rain quit and western sky cleared for a beautiful red sunset. The water stayed high for most of the next day before you could see the bulkhead. Still haven't cleaned up much. Guess I can start that tomorrow. Well, one price of living on the bay. My pier survived. Now I have enough extra pier parts to add on to mine. Remminded me of Tropical storm Allison back in 2001. Not quite as bad though. If it had kept up another few hours, we were getting there. Hopefully its gonna dry out now.

Gotta go. de

Link

Gas pump had wrong price!

Something really exciting happened yesterday. I know you're probably thinking, how about them Astros, and it was very exciting to see them sweep the St Louis Cardinals over the weekend. A four game sweep with two walk off, game ending hits, which they hadn't had any this whole year. That oughta tell you how their year has been, but that's not what I decided to blog about.

I got to the gas station to fill up the bride's car so she could go to the airport (her home away from home) and the price on the pump was wrong. You're thinking, how aggravating. The sign said $2.03 which I was pretty excited about but when I looked at the pump the price was $1.99 a gallon. I have to admit I never thought it would see less than $2 a gallon anymore but was really glad to pay it. With my discout loyalty card of 1c I actually paid less than 1.99. Pretty exciting. It hadn't been that long ago I went back home and got my gas cans to go back and fill them up when it hit 2.60. So much for my predictions. HOpefully, I'll blog sooner than later.

Thanks for reading,
de

Almost a Month Later

Well, its been almost a month since my last blog. Sounds almost like I'm in a catholic confessional. Since my last blog, I've been with the fam on vacation to South Florida, back to H-town, and settled well into summer. It's not all too hot here in H-town this year. I'm pretty sure we haven't hit 100 yet and most days have been low to mid 90's. It's still as humid as ever especially the past few days. It feels like the gulf coast though, rain, rain, and then it rains. The grass it green and you can almost watch it grow. The mosquitoes will be out in full force in a matter of days. They last about 3 weeks or so. I can't wait. Looks like the fall is shaping up. REL got another new head basketball coach, good luck to that guy. REL also almost won the 7 on 7 Texas tournament getting knocked out in the semis. It would've been their 3 title. Maybe next year. OU looks promising.
Think we're going to try to go some this year. Haven't been to an OU home game in a long time. That'll be fun. Well, gotta go now, ride my bike for some exercise. Maybe I'll see you sooner than a month.

de

Finally did it!

I finally spent the time to get my pic on the blog. It's a good day. Yeah me!

Where Am I?

I've had a number of folks ask me on the phone lately, what happened to your blog? Well, my blog is still there, I just haven't been blogging lately. It's probably just the ordinaryness, (is that a word?) of life I guess that leaves me not blogging or I just got out of the habit. I thought once you had done something for 21 days or something you established a habit but I guess not.

It couldn't be the summertime blues because we really haven't hit full summer here in H-town. We had some hot temps early but lately its been pretty darned nice. We actually had a cold front, as much as you can call it cold in late June. But the humidity went way down and the breeze came out of the north for a few days but I'm certain we'll be back to normal before long. Actually, its one of the things I love about our town, warm and balmy.

Headed for vacation in a few days. Maybe, if I have access I'll blog about how different it is in NY south, er that is Florida. The fam and I, missing the son-in-law cause he's got a new job, will be in south FL for a week. It's a timeshare thing which we have really enjoyed. It'll be low on the activity scaled this time. No diving, just beach time and down time and maybe a trip to Key West.

The girl from NY can get out of the rain, the boy & wife & 1/4 from Big-D can get out of their depression over the great collapse in the NBA finals. Big J can get away from the church office for a few days and see his gal. The bride and I will just vegitate and enjoy.

How bout them Astros!

till lata,
de

Boy Things Do Change.

There are no links, no pictures, no profound sayings, nothing much even really funny today but I felt compelled to blog anyway. Summer is pretty much here H-town. I now have relatives living in New York. I never thought I'd ever say that in my entire life. Still not certain exactly how I feel about that. It's mixed for sure. Couldn't be prouder or more excited for them and the opportunity it presents for them, but boy its a long way, altho by phone, it really doesn't sound a bit different than Abilene where they lived for the last few years. I guess as long as they can come visit as much as they did before, its all good.

My dad just turned 77 this past week. Happy birthday dad. (He doesn't read blogs I don't think) I guess the most important part is, he's still having birthdays and I still get to talk to him every week. He probably still feels the same way about me moving to H-town as I do about my kids moving to NY, except, hey I am in Texas, not some whole other country. My point is, its just about as far, me by car, them by plane.

The initial thrill of becoming a g-pa finally subsided some. We're still totally thrilled by the notion but the reality of waiting now sets in. Couldn't really be prouder of all my kids than I am. I do wish the youngest would break out of the bedroom before noon, but hey he's catching up on all that sleep he lost last semester.

Until my next blog,
de

I Can Finally Announce It! Grandbaby coming!

The bride and I found out Saturday night were going to be grandparents. Pretty darned exciting if you ask us. The trouble was we couldn't tell anybody because not all the siblings knew until last night. So we discretely told a few folks cause you can't really keep something like that in. Then all the siblings got the word last night so can tell everybody. (Shh!!) Not everybody knows just yet. The grandparents don't know until this afternoon. We're going up there to tell them in person, see the son-in-law get his Masters from OU, Yeah James!, and visit with everybody for a day or two. It'll be fun. Then the older one goes off to Cooperstown, NY. Life sure does change, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. I think we decided on G-G and G-Pa for names. I guess the grandkids can call us whatever they please.

cya, de

It's my 50th today!

I've been avoiding it like the Rockets have been avoiding the playoffs. Yes, the truth, it's coming. It must be done and there's nothing I can do about it. Yes, its my 50th. Makes me seem older by the day. No, its not my 50th birthday. That too is not too far around the corner but I get to wait another whole year for that one. I'll be 49 come July. This is 50th blog. I can't figure out if its something to celebrate or If I've made some kind of milestone or what. Our trip to the land down under upped my numbers considerably. Another trip sounds awfully good but I can't do it just now. Easter is virtually here. Another LTC weekend. How long have I been doing LTc on Easter weekend? Not sure. A long time no doubt. As hard a weekend as it is, I really look forward to it. The drens will all be in and we can't wait for that. I just made that up since the oldest calls us the rents. We haven't made G-rents yet so I guess we'll just remain the rents for now.

When that does happen, and I'm not pushing for it, then the drens become the rents and we become something else. Is that suppose to happen before or after 50? Who knows? When its supposed to happen. But when you get my age, you start thinking about what you'll be called when it does come. I think I've decided on G-pa. Any thoughts. I had to write it down so I won't forget it. I am closing in on 50 you know! The bride took me to see the Stros twice over the weekend. The weather was beautiful, the baseball, well, better game 2 than game 1 on Saturday when the Nats struck and wouldn't leave us alone. I hate nats. There, I made it. My 50th blog. Happy anniversary.

Drens all, see you soon!
de

So Much to Say, So little time

I thought of a bunch of things to blog about today with so little time to really do any of them justice. There's life after our trip to Australia but the whole International date line thing was really different. I'm not sure why so much different than going the other way but it was quite different than going to Romania. Or I could talke about the Houston Rockets, not really, they're just pretending. Or the start of the Houston Astros season. I'm not sure which is more exciting, winning a 1 run game on a wild pitch or getting stomped the next night 11-something. It's a long season, I know. Or the Texans, who are quietly working their tails off to improve. Even though they won't take Young and I don't think they should, are going to be vastly improved, but who couldn't improve on 2-19 or whatever it was. They will be better all around. What about Cooperstown or Louisville, which will it be, who knows? Ask Jas about those.

Or, its Easter season, perhaps the strangest of seasons in my particular line of work. We worship the fact but refuse the holiday. Some days I still don't understand. Oh well, theres LTC coming and all the good it does. The childs are all coming in and we really look forward to that. I really truly am a positive person, I really am. Too much to do now. Gotta go. Next blog will be my 50th. Who knows when and what it will be.

cya, de

Almost Home

This is likely my final Australia travel blog. Maybe I'll wrap it up a day or two later but who knows. Right now we're sitting at LAX waiting for our Continental flight to IAH. We checked our bags in Melbourne Friday morning at 9. We went and had some breakfast, checked in thru customs & immigration, security and waited. We boarded and departed Friday around noon Melbourne time. We flew thru the day, all night and arrived here at LAX four hours before we left Melbourne, go figure. Something about passing the international date line. You fly for 15 hours and arrive before you left. My body is totally weirded out. We won't catch up to ourselves time wise until we're on the way home to Houston sometime around noon. Talk about daylight savings time! Lord willing we arrive in Houston around 5 p.m. Friday after some 24 hours of travel just 5 hours after we left Melbourne. Weird to say the least.

Our final day of travel in Australia was a leisurely trip east of Melbourne to the Yarra Valley region. It's apparently wine country, sort of like California. We drove up Dandenong Mountain and looked out over Melbourne on one side and down thru the Yarra valley region on the other. It was certainly the kind of beauty only God could do. We had lunch in a quaint little Mountainside town, walked through some of the shops, bought a couple of items and then headed towards the valley. On the way were dozens and dozens of nurseries, farms growing veggies and plants and things. Would have loved to have bought a truck load of stuff but you can't bring that kind of stuff back to the US. Their version of wine country was gorgeous. Not that we're all that interested in wineries but it was an enjoyable trip. They are certainly serious about it and it showed. We toured one of the most beautiful and oldest wineries/hotels/B&B's starting somewhere in the early 1800's. We drove out across one of the biggest too. Then it was back thru Kilsyth where we had stayed to pick up our bags, load them in the car, to spend the night right by the airport so we could be there pretty early for the trip home.

It was the beginning of Footy in Australia. They are bonkers for Australian rules football. "The Footy Show" previewing Footy season came on Thursday night and was really interesting. No one could talk about anything else but footy. Its an interesting and fascinating phenomenon I don't quite understand but its strictly Australian and unique to say the least. Round 1, as they called it, was Thursday night. Everyone in the hotel dining room and bar was gathered around the Tele to watch the opening game between West Coast and St. Kilda. West Coast won. The scoring is weird but they all loved it.

Well, we're trying to stay awake here, while our bodies say, go to sleep. Think I better walk about, as they say in Austalia. Oh yeah, we're not there anymore. Going for a walk now. More blogging later. Thanks again for reading.

Only 1 worry now mates, will Todd be there to pick us up at the airport?

From the good ole USA, d & k

Down under even farther to Phillip Island

Today I got a day out. After two days kinda around the house, I got to go fishing today. Jase, the chef, had the day off, so he picked me up in his truck and off we went SE of Melbourne to a place called Phillip Island. Phillip island is best known for its penguin colony. It's a regular industry here in Australia. They tell me they're little runt penguins and they only come ashore around dusk so they're hard to see but hundreds and hundreds come from all over the world just to see them come ashore. We got there around noon and of course the little runts are already gone for the day, but we didn't go for them. Come to find out we didn't go for the fish either, or maybe its better said, they didn't go for us or the bait we were throwing. The water was beautiful, the tide was moving, we had two different kinds of bait, and nothing, nada, zip. We were parked at a beautiful little cove or bay. I kept getting my tackle stuck on the rocks. A 70 something italian man came by and in very broken english explained that we were parked in the wrong place and we might be fined $200 so Jase went and moved. Eventually, we moved to the other side of the island to a pier, still nothing. Got a little sunburned, packed up the gear and headed back to Melbourne, passing all the way, bus after bus coming down to view the penguins. As someone has said, "a bad days fishing" well I forget. There's hardly a bad day out fishing when the sun is shining and God's glory is showing all around as it was today. Got waived over to the side of the road on the way back. The police were pulling every car over, the driver rolled down the window and submitted to what our hosts called a "booze bust." Every driver had to take a breathalizer test. Happens all the time, they said. Legal limit is .05 1st time offense is 6 mos no liscense + fines, 2nd time 1 yr, 3rd time mandatory prison. It ain't America boys & girls. No worries mates, it was of no concern for us and we went on our way. Tomorrow is really our last day here. Boy, its been a fast two weeks. We'll probably go up to the Yarra Valley tomorrow. It's big wine country. Should be beautiful. God surely had some imagination. Maybe more tomorrow if we find the time. Thanks for reading! Leave a message!

d & k down under

Side note of sadness: OU basketball Kelvin Sampson is moving to Indiana but I guess I'm late on that one.

More Melbourne Musings

Not sure what exactly to write about today so I think I'll just upload some pics for you. The bride has been working the past two days. I stayed at the house to avoid the hour trip to town and back. That made it 2 very quiet days for me. Not my normal but very good. You really come to appreciate the advantages of technology when you're as far from home as we are. We've been able to keep up with most things going on in the States and at home. We missed the sweet 16 and the elite 8 however. From the web it seems as tho there were some very exciting games. My pics are done and hopefully so is our vegie dinner if there's time I hope to blog more later.

No worries, d & k

Musings From Melbourne

It's impossible to describe all the things I want to blog about from Melbourne. Computer time is limited so I'll just throw a bunch of things in and hope to say more about them later. We arrived at Melbourne and met our hosts, Nairn & Shane. They picked us up and took us to for a jaunt around downtown Melbourne and the throngs of people who were there for the Commonwealth Games. It reminded me of the Olympics in Atlanta. We didn't stay too long before we headed to our place of abode for the next week. Did some much needed laundry and hung them outside on the line to dry. Hadn't done that in many years but thats the way they do things here. Early the next morning we headed out for the Great Ocean Road along south eastern Australia. Through Melbourne headed south thru Torquay where we officially got on the road. I neglected to mention we arrived in Vegitarianville. Yep, they're both veggies, Nairn being a vegan. Makes for a total different view of many things.

Some things I've learned on the way. Chips are either hot or cold. Hot chips are french fries and cold chips are cold, out of the bag. Hamburgers are sometimes made from ham not beef. Hamburgers, whatever kind you get come with beetroot on them. That's right beets. Interesting. It's also common to get them with a fried egg and bacon as well. Breakfast and lunch all on the same bun. One hamburger I ate on the road was a hamburger with "the lot." That means everything on it, and I mean everything, beetroot, ham, bacon, egg, grilled onions, tomato, (that tomato with a long a). There's no ketchup here just tomato and its a dollar extra. By the way when you get fish and chips they always ask if you want salt on them.

We got some ways down the GOR and we ran out of money so what do you do? Stop by the local ATM, put in your card, punch in your pin, and out comes the money. Thousands of miles from my local bank and it works just the same, pretty amazing. I've driven on the left side of the road but it took on a new meaning here in Australia. It's weird, that's all I can say for now.

The sites along the Road were nothing short of amazing, fantastic, and awe inspiring. It took us every bit of both days to quickly see just some of what there was to see. The road runs along hills and cliffs, full of lighthouses, rainforests, beaches, and so much more. We saw koalas and kangaroos in the wild. We took a helicopter ride to view the 12 apostles. The world championships of surfing takes place at Bell's beach along the Great Ocean Road Easter weekend. We stopped, took a look, and they're already getting set up for it. We stayed the night along the road at amazing retreat center on top of a mountain overlooking Apollo Bay. A baby red fox walked right by our door as we were getting ready for bed.

It's certainly down under here. Everything's backwards. They drive on the left. If the wind is out of the north that means warm weather, out of the south means cold. The water drains down the sink and toilet opposite of where we come from in the northern half of the globe. You can order your food to eat in or "take away." TV here is very American. The most popular shows are Desperate Housewives, CSI, Dancing with the Stars, and most American shows. You need a flashlight, ask for a torch.

The bride worked today, that's why we came. They had 100 or so at the training. One of our hosts friends is a chef and he fixed us an amazing dinner tonight. (not vegan). It was pumpkin soup with garlic toast, roasted veggies, an aspargus, green beans, cashews, greens and red peppers mix. Oh yeah, with two flavors of lamb. Not to mention, roasted tomaatoes with a kind of a fresh salsa he mixed up and roasted mushrooms tops with a garlic herb butter. Unbelieveable. And chocolate souffle for dessert. So much for dropping any stones while I'm here.

Well, its late now and everybody's in bed cept for me. Only time I could get the computer to myself. Got some pics but haven't got them ready for the blog yet. Hopefully tomorrow. Think maybe I'll have some creamed beetroot spread on some breadcrisps before I head to the bed. Yes, you read right, creamed beets on a cracker. Maybe I'll save that for tomorrow. Hoping to go fishing with the chef on Wednesday.

It's a one of kind, kinda place here down under. God did something special here and we're blessed to have seen just a bit of it. Hope to blog more soon. Thanks for reading and keeping us in your prayers.

love from d & k

Congrats Again

I guess I get to listen to my dad continue to say "Hook Em Horns" when he answers the phone for who knows how long as the Horns keep on winning at almost everything. Congrats to all the Horns fans. How bout them Sooner girls huh?

de

Made it to Melbourne

Today was a travel day for us. I woke up at 4:30 this am and couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't know if we'd have internet or when so I wanted to blog and put up some pics on the blog. Pics have been trouble lately. Didn't have software on the brides computer so I had to download some, whilst I semi slept. Woke up to get it working, downsize some pics to put on the blog. I was only partially successful. Had some breakfast, headed to the train station much to my mates better thots to catch the train to the airport. It was another flawless execution by my adventurous side. Two block to Circular Quay, 21 minutes to the Sydney airport. It took us almost an hour via a van shuttle to get downtown. It was a smooth flight to where Nairn picked us up to take us downtown, right into the middle of the Commonwealth games crowd. Thought I was in Atlanta at the Olympics all over again with the throngs of people. We had a bite to eat and scooted out of there to east of Melbourne where we'll stay for the next few days. My camera stopped charging about two days ago and I'll be out of battery likely tomorrow. All pics from then on will have to be on the camcorder unless I can get it working or a replacement which is doubtful. We head out in the morning for the Great Ocean road drive which is supposed to spectacular scenery. Way far down the road are some waterfalls and what are called the 12 Apostles. I can't wait to see them cause I thought they were all dead. Maybe we can go out tonight and see some Australian rules football. I took a walk this Friday afternoon and stopped by to watch what looked like a high school football team practicing. It ain't American football boys & girls. Last thoughts. A stone weight approx. 14 lbs. and they don't have trash here, it rubbish.

cya, d & k

if you want to check it out www.greatoceanrd.org.au

A Few Australia Pics from Sydney

Hopefully these pics will post. They are just a few misc pics from our days in Sydney.

Dinner at The Mayalaya

We went adventuring again tonight for our last night's dinner in Sydney. On the recommendation of someone from Melbourne we took the harbor ferry of the Cockle Bay and had dinner at The Mayalaya. Yes, that some take off for Mayalasian food. Well, here goes the menu. Neither one of us had ever eaten Mayalasian food but we decided to give it a try. The place was packed full of people on a Thursday night on the Wharf. We had what they called a set menu for two for folks who didn't know what to order. Our meal consisted of Popiah, Otak Otak, Satay Chicken, Kapitan King Prawn, Szechuan Eggplant, Coconut Beef Rendang with Roti Canai, and steamed rice. I have to admit it all sounded a bit strange but in fact it was every bit as good as any meal I've ever had. It was all a bit spicy but terrific. If you want to know what all that stuff was click the link. The bride was licking the plate to finish off the last of the Szechuan eggplant and I'm not lying.

In the morning we leave for Melbourne and I'm not sure we'll have the internet for a few days but will try to blog just as soon I we can.

love from the Aussie side,
d&k

How Much Does a Stone Weigh?

Today was our last day in Sydney. I started the day by trying to find a "sports store." I was looking for some local sports stuff to buy the boys. Its just a few blocks down the street and up the stairs to the Rebel sports store. I left the bride for a quick walk just down the street and after 6 or 8 blocks I did something no respecting male really ever does, I asked directions. "Just down the street a few blocks," they say.After a few more blocks and then a couple of more and up to the 4th floor I found it, bought my goods and headed back the dozen or more blocks in a heavy mist back to the hotel. By the time I got back I was in a full sweat and we hadn't even left for the day yet. So it was back to the room, drop the goods, and
get a new shirt. Then we headed to the Toranga Zoo for a picture with the Koala bears and to pet the kangaroos or was it a walloby?

Back across the harbor by ferry to catch the local bus to Bondi Beach. It was a fascinating ride through the streets of Sydney for almost an hour to Bondi, one of the most famous beaches in the world. It was beautiful to say the least, not all that big a beach but beautiful. One question I have is, where did all these young people come from, why are they not working, and where do they get there money to hang out on the beach to sun and surf. I know, that's like 3 questions but I still don't know the answer to any of them but I know there's a ton of em everywhere we go here. And then there's a huge backpacking community here. There's backpacking ads, and places to stay, and facilities for backpackers. I guess their folks got plenty of money or something.

One last thing, how much in the heck does a "stone" weigh? I pop into the throne room to check how much poundage I"ve accumulated since being here and when I step onto the scales it says like 15 1/2 stones. What in the heck is a stone and how much does that sucker weigh? I still don't know. It must be like 17 pounds. Why can't these English speaking folks weigh in pounds or even kilos and not stones. I guess someone else will have to answer. We're off to Cockle Bay via the ferry for our last nights dinner in Sydney.

No worries today, d & K

Pretty cool bird

Here's a bird we saw yesterday in the Blue Mts. Off to the Zoo now. G'day. d&K

Go West Young Man!

One of my favorite things to do in a new place is to travel by local transportation. In Sydney that can be by bus, train, or ferry depending on where you want to go. It makes the bride kinda nervous but to me it adventurous, adventuresome, adventurisitic, who knows. Today we headed west of Sydney into the Blue Mountains. That meant taking the train from Circular Quay (key), into the central Sydney train station, changing to the "country" trains platform and taking the train west of town. We passed all kinds of interesting places like Parramatta and Blacktown on to our final destination of Katoomba. There we toured some spectacular sites of the Blue Mts. by a red double decker London style bus. There were some beautiful waterfalls and one outcropping called the Three sisters. You can check it out at the link below or I'll post a pic if I can get my posting troubles worked out. We made our way around the town, saw the sights, did some hiking, caught the bus,and back to Sydney via train. All in all a great day. Tomorrow its the Zoo and back to Manly beach.

No worries mate, d&k

Outside My Window

It pays for the bride to be on the road all those days, staying in all those Marriott hotels, racking up those extra points. We're staying the Sydney Harbor Marriott Hotel, on points. Not enough time to say much now. The bride is tugging at my sleeve to get out the door. Here's a pic "outside my window."

G'day, d & k

It's a whole new day!

I don't really know what day it is yet but its a whole new day. Well, yes actually its Tuesday am here, still Monday back in US. Had my breakfast, coffee, called some of the fam back in the states. No, we didn't see Cyclone Larry. He was way up on the northern coast near Cairns and the great barrier reef. Boy, that was a good decision not to be up there. Unfortunately even though that was one thing we really wanted to do, dive the reef, its really far from where we are. It's pretty much a full weeks time to go there, stay, dive, etc. so we decided not to do it this time. Good planning dave. They got it bad up there right now. Pretty much like Katrina or something, at least that's what the news says. Well, its off to the Sydney Harbor area to see some of the sights. Here's a pic of where we were last night. We were pretty weary when the pic was taken.

From down under, d & k

A long, long day it was

This begins my travel blog from Australia. Yes, we made it, but it was one long, long day. We left the house around 1 p.m. to meet the youngest who was on his way in from Roatan. We dropped our bags and headed to meet him for a quick hug before he and his diving buds headed to the house. Then it was off to wait for our flight to LALA land. We arrived to one dead LAX airport. It's weird. Apparently LAX operates on a busy schedule early in the morning and very late. We arrived around 6 p.m. Most stuff wasn't even open but by the time it was time to go to our Quantas gate around 9 the place was hoppin. Getting more than 300 people on board a completely full 747 takes some time. I was certain Elvis was on the plane. This guy had a jet black comb up and over glued down with some sort of industrial glue, well needless to say it was a sight. Not a bad experience flying 14.5 hours to Sydney. We made it pretty well. I thought it would be worse but all in all it was ok. Took the airport shuttle to the hotel arriving there around 10 a.m. feeling pretty wiped out though. Our room wasnt ready, of course so we headed out to see our part of town, right down town Sydney. It is beautiful. After a couple of hours and making some afternoon plans, we got really weary and headed back to the hotel. Our room now ready, we showered after I have no idea how many hours and took a 3 hour nap. The evening we spent just wondering around downtown Sydney, the Harbor area. Our room looks out on the Harbor. Just a block from where we are you can see the Opera House, and a bridge you see in all the pictures. So far, so good, no great. Well, its 10 p.m. here Monday, sometime very early Monday morning there. Signing off from down under in Sydney.

G'day mates and maties, de & ke

The Fever is Here!

I'm not sure where it comes from but its here, the warmth, the sun, the itch. Yes, its the itch to be outdoors. No, its not baseball spring fever. It's just being outdoors fever. I'm always looking for excuses why I wait so long in between blogs. This time I'll blame it on the spring. It makes me want to dig in the dirt and plant stuff, whether it grows or not. I'll just keep digging and buying plants and seeing if I can encourage them to grow. At my old house I had planted flower beds pretty much every where I thought I could and they were full. My prospects for new ones were limited. But now, in our new place its pretty much a blank slate. The youngest and I did do some major stuff in the front but the back remains a project, so I dig. Blame it on my dad who I think spent more time outside than inside when he got home from the office. Much of it was out of necessity because the garden provided the bulk of the family foodstuff from spring onward. If we weren't eating it fresh out of the garden, mom was canning it so we could eat it later. I hated the garden cause he made me work out there, now I love it. What's with that? I don't know but I'm out of time. Gotta get back to the office so I can get finished so I can get home so I can get out to the yard. It's warm out there.

cya in the yard,
de

Blogging Struggles and others

I started blogging with a bang. Almost every single day I found something to write about and I enjoyed it. I'm not sure what happened along the way. My quick start was maybe been due to winter, yeah, and its cold outside, and the sun goes down at 5 p.m. and so I blogged. It was fun.

Maybe that's only part of it. Maybe I just had too much time. Maybe after awhile I wondered if anybody really read it much. Who knows? I have the same woes with regular exercise. I guess we just all go thru cycles where we'er highly motivated and other times well, you know. Certainly, the bride having back surgery was a major distraction. Maybe I could've ranted and raved about the hospital system. Hmm! There's a thought. Maybe the Astros loss just sucked the life out of everything. Maybe. could be its just a 2-14 year, huh?

I'm thinkin maybe I can get started blogging again and be more regular. I wonder Will that be before or after my run today? If I can just get going. I'm going to Australia soon, so maybe I can blog while I'm gone.

de

Look What I'm Missing

I got a good laugh when a high school friend of mine sent our this article from the Duncan Banner.

"Police Search for Potatoes" was one of the headlines in the hometown Duncan Banner recently. The story follows; A Duncan man reported to police January 12 that home was burglarize shortly after Christmas. Apparently someone had stolen property from his home. Among the items listed in the police theft report were perscription medication, a yard rake, laundry detergent, and five potatoes.

I hope you find it as funny as I did. Life in the Bigtown is just not the same as the small town.

de

Priceless!

Cheerleading, tumbling lessons, and camps since age 3: $30,000
Annual cost of attending USC: $25,000
Annual cost for staying just the right shade of blonde: $10,000
Cheering when the other team scores: Priceless

bride & me

On the Road Again

One recent uses of my blog was to sort of be accountable to running regularly. The ultimate goal was to motivate me and a couple others to run the Texas Half in Dallas in Feb. For a number of reasons of no ones fault that plan fell through. I took a trip with the wife to the NE and missed most of a week of training. When we got back from the nowhere near Texas, it was it was Christmas week. I got sick on my Anniversary night which knocked my off my feet for a few days. (see previous post) Son-in-law got knocked down by the shin splints. Son missed three weeks with his own physical problem. Better not to describe it here. Ask him for more details if you want to know.

After Christmas I was feeling pretty good so I hit the road feeling good. My first day out I hit four miles at a pretty good pace. Don't recall stepping in a hole or anything like that but the bone leading to the inside of my ankle ached when I got through. It didn't swell or bruise just ached, especially when I jogged two days later. Well, that was almost three weeks ago and I long ago gave up on the Texas half.

Good news today was, my ankle hadn't hurt for several days so I hit the road, did a couple of easy miles and didn't hurt. Sure felt good. Hope I can do it again tomorrow or the next day. Even with the wind blowing 20 out of the north I broke a good sweat. Think I'll go look for another half marathon about the middle or April or so.

I just can't wait to get on the road again.
de

A Little Rain Today!

It's finally rained some today here in Htown. If I had wanted to live where its dry I would move to say, Abilene, or somewhere even farther west but I love humidity. It doesn't agree with some people but I like it. Yes, I'm a warm body no matter where I am and no matter what the temperature. When I exercise I'm a sweathog even when its cold. What a relief for everyone that got some rain or snow or whatever. I love the humidity because my body just doesn't do dry. Lord willing it'll rain some more tonight. I may just go outside and stand in it for awhile.

Thank you Lord and we could still use more rain. Bring on the moisture.
de

Back to the Blog

The pressure has been building. I haven't blogged in days and days. I had been in a blog funk before my last blog and then I just quit. Now my back is to the blog. I must blog but I still don't know about what. I can say that right after my last blog, I took the wife to Pappa's for our anniversary dinner. It's our favorite place to eat, period. We just can't get enough good seafood it seems. As we walked out to the car I felt sort of chilled and it wasn't all that chilly. I hadn't eaten any chili either. By the time I got home I sat down on the couch, wrapped myself in a blanket and froze. Needless to say the next 24 hours were pitiful. I'm not a very good sick person. I even yakked 5 times early the next morning which I can proudly say, I never do. Is that how you spell yakked? I don't know.

I'm better now. Survived the holidays, enjoyed the kids, Christmas, the In-Laws, lots of company and the 2006 is off to a good start. So, its back to the blog. Plenty to complain about, I guess. My foot hurts and I'm off it for a few days. Not doing the Texas Half like I imagined. Going to Brazil instead. It's those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same.

till next time,
de