What Are You Thinking?

India, here we come! Kim's visa pic!

The main heading is the reaction I've gotten from several close friends when they heard that Kim and I are headed to Mumbai for hip surgery. "What are you thinking?" Here's the thought process so far. Probably not in any order of priority except #1 Kim.

#1 Kim needs both hips redone, sooner than later. Unfortunately no one diagnosed a problem which is now several years advanced. She's been getting worse and worse and we can't wait, if we don't have to.

#2 Our insurance, Mega Life, if you could really call it that, is totally inadequate. This is the problem we had with her back surgery. The hospital called 3 days before that surgery to say, your insurance won't pay enough and the cash price, upfront, is $38,000. Please have that to us by Monday morning or no surgery. We begged borrowed and maxed out to get it done. Same deal this time. Hip replacement (1) here in Houston would be $42-47K, cash price. I called and got the price. She needs both. We did the math. $90K. The wait for an appointment is 1-2 months just to get in to see one of the best.

#3 With lots of research we wanted for her to have what's called "hip resurfacing." Only 1-2 surgeons here in Houston do it and they haven't done very many. The most experienced surgeons still do THR (total hip replacement) The most experienced two surgeons in the world for this procedure are in India. One, Dr Bose in Chennai, has done just over 1000. Dr Malhan, in Mumbai has done over 600. Need I say more?

#4 Maybe you could negotiate a better price here in Houston? Maybe we could but how much better? half? 2 for 1? unlikely not. The cost here is $90K. Its' going to be quite a stretch for us to manage the cost in India. $8K per hip, all inclusive for me and her. That sounds like a vacation instead of a hospital stay. That's why its called Medical tourism and its one of the fastest growing industries around.

#5 Maybe you could go to a teaching hospital? We are going to a teaching hospital. Dr Malhan has presented around the world about the work they are doing in hip resurfacing.

#6 Aren't you concerned about going to India? Yes, but we'd be concerned if we were going to the hospital on Fannin. Yeah, but Indian doctors? Truth is, about half the Drs in Baytown have Indian names, I think.

Well, that's all for now. I'll write more later. Feel free to leave comments.

And mostly, pray! de

Motivation is Everything!

Without a goal, a project, something to report right there in front of me, to be honest, I struggle, especially when when it comes to blogging blogging. I think for about a week I've had left over anethesia from a procedure I had done at the hospital. It's one of those things you're supposed to have done when your 50 so I did. They knock you out and look you up and when you wake up they tell you what they saw down there and show you pictures. Well everything came out good. One benign polyp and no cancer so praise the Lord. I still think I've got drug leftovers.

Enough of that. Back to the blog. Well, now that Kim and I have a great adventure ahead of us, it gives me something to blog about and so that you can keep up. If you didn't know, Kim and I are heading to Mumbai, India on Oct 18 for 24 days. We'll checkin to Wockhardt hospital upon arrival. Lord willing, while there, both of Kim's hips will get a surgery called "hip surfacing." Dr Malhan will do the surgery. Here's some info on him and a link to the hospital.

Dr. Kaushal C. Malhan Orthopaedic SurgeonJoint Replacement and Resurfacing/Sport SurgeryWockhardt Hospitals Ltd. Mulund Goregaon Link Road, Mumbai (formerly Bombay)

Website: http://www.wockhardthospitals.com/index_bone.html

http://www.wockhardthospitals.net/general/abt_surgeon.asp

Anyway, the Dr has done more than 600 hip resurfacing surgeries. I could only find one other surgeon who has done more and he's also india from Chennai where Continental doesn't fly. That was really the difference for us.

Well, I'd tell you more but I'm tired. Spent the day in Houston and came home with both our visas. It's set. Tickets are bought, visa's are got. Now all I got to do is find the $$$. The Lord will provide.

Keep reading and I'll keep blogging, all along the way.

de

Maybe someone will read!`

Yesterday was a really long day to end a great week!!!!!!! I travelled with the bride this week as she worked. We went first to upstate NY where we got to spend a couple days close to K & J in Cooperstown. Great weather, like fall here. Really enjoyed the time. Then on to OKC where the bride worked another couple days. While she worked I went to Duncan to see the folks and piddle around the yard at their house. Back to OKC on Friday and then got to watch OU pummel Miami, yeah! It was grandson noah's first game and very exciting but a full day. We finished the day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Tried to go to bed early Saturday. Watched the alarm clock much of Sat night to make sure I was awake. Got up at 4:40, load, drive to airport, drop off the car, long security line. Airport was nuts. 737 at 6:30 full of weary OU and Miami fans. Flew to Houston. Sent the bride home then flew on to Corpus. Made it by 9:30am. Some guy picked me up & we stopped at Whataburger for 1st something to eat since Cheesecake factory. I was tired through worship. Ate a good Pot luck lunch and the STB sung at 2. It was good. Small church only 60 people or so for the singing. Then it was back to the airport, wait 2 1/2 hrs to fly 33 min home. Arrived home at 9 pm pretty much wiped. CD is really finished. Had 100 copies of the finished product at the singing. How bout those Texans, huh? Pretty exciting. More sooner than later.

de

Finally Finished!

Fnished what you say? The South Texas Boys are hopefully finally finished recording our first CD. We had one last song, I suppose the most difficult of the 12 songs we do so we went back to the studio on Tuesday to knock it out. After almost four hours of work, we got it done. Does that mean we're completely finished? Maybe not. Chris, the studio guy will make us all a raw cd for us to listen to and if we find anything glaring or that can't be fixed on the board by Chris, then we may have to go back, but hopefully we're done. He's totally booked in the studio for the next two weeks so he can't begin the editing process for at least two weeks. Then there's the editing, then the mix down, whatever that is, and then I guess its ready for the duplication process. So all in all it should be out some time in 2008. lol

Between now and then there's the copyright stuff and art for the cover. Anybody know anything about any of that stuff? Let me know. Hopefully, "Step Into the Water" will be ready in a couple of months. All in all we spent almost 40 hours in the studio. I don't know how many more hours of studio time it will take to get it right ut we want it right. I'm pretty pumped about it. Can't wait for the next one, hopefully a cd of classic hymns or oldies. I'd personally prefer newer songs and we'll hopefully get to those but we're looking to get out a couple of cd's pretty quickly to help finance the rest. Oldies will sell well where we go and sing if you know what I mean. I'm looking to put together a list of say 15 classic/oldie favorite church songs so be thinking and if you got suggestions, let me know.

de

Back in H-town

Home! Need I say more? After getting off the ship we headed to the airport to go ahead and check our bags so we didn't have to lug them around all day. We rented a car and drove to Waikiki and around Diamond head. It was bonkers with people so we didn't stop much except for coffee. We drove on up the east coast for a beautiful drive stopping at some awesome beaches, bays, and just to look around. Then we drove back to Honolulu and stopped for the last tour of the day at Pearl Harbor. Really glad we did that. They have a 20 minute movie about the events surrounding Dec 7, 1941 and the declaration of war to follow. Then you board a boat which takes you out to the momunent on the water over the USS Arizona. Very somber knowing the history and all those who died, most of whom are still there in those ships.

Back to the aiport for an 8:45 flight to LAX, a layover and another flight to IAH. Arrived about 11:30 this am to rain, rain, and more rain. Then to the car where the bride repacked her bag to go to North Carolina. If she's as tired as I was, going on to another flight was not what you wanted to do. Say a prayer for her the next couple of days. I'll try to post some more pics in the coming days. It was a great trip, a great way to see all the islands. NCL was not the best cruise line in the world but pretty much the only game in town if you want to cruise Hawaii. But its always best to get home, back in H-town. Thanks for reading.

de

More Maui

3 new pics in previous post.

Actually most of what I wrote was Day 1 in Maui. On day two we started by taking another helicopter ride. Probably should've just cancelled because it was going to be hard to top flying right over an active volcano. Sure enough it wasn't to be topped. Enjoyed flying right into the west Maui Mts for an upclose view of places you can only go by helicopter. Then we flew all the way across the island up to Haleakala crater. Pretty cool view of the crater which is 37 square miles. Then we flew not quite above the road to Hana. The pilot ripped off about a dozen high profile celebrities who lived along the road who like their privacy. Because of that the copters are not allowed to fly over the road to Hana.

From the airport we headed down towards the Big Beach area to Kihei and Wailea. Being Memorial day weekend the traffic really picked up. Lots of people on the beach. WE followed the road all the way down to almost the very end of the island to a National reserve. It was right at the end of an incredible lava flow that made a black sand beach and some incredible snorkeling and surfing, I hear. It was too long a hike for the bride so I walked and looked on my own. Then we went back up the road just a bit where the road was right by the beach and parked there. I hiked around on the rocks and watched some large fish from up on the rocks. Very cool. Then it was back through town, a drive by the Wailea Marriott. We didn't stop but it looked nice. Back to the ship, drop off the bride, by Kmart, and drop off the rental car. One last dinner at the sit down restaurant, a brief take of "crew talent night." Some even had some. Back up to pack the bags which have to be out by midnight. Then a sit out on the balcony as we leave Maui for Oahu.

Got a pretty good nights sleep and got ready to disembark the ship. All systems go. Went up to get breakfast which was bonkers. Grabbed some and went back to the room. Went down and left the ship only to realize when I sat down on the bus, I'd left my camera bag somewhere. Terrible awful of me. Left the bride on the bus, hoping she doesn't have to get off the bus with the bags without me and ran back aboard the ship, which they're not real excited to let you do.
Frantically retraced my steps, not at the internet place where I tried to check in for our flight. Back to the room. Not there. Back to the front where we left the wheelchair we'd used to get the bride from the back to the front of the ship to save some steps. And there it was, still strapped to the back of the wheelchair where I left it. Whew!

Back off the ship where the bus was waiting for me. Unfortuately I was now sweating pretty good. Not all that great for having a whole day in Oahu, then an all night flight and get home at noon Monday.

More on our day in Oahu when we layover in LA in the morning.

de & ke

Pics

Oahu Coast

Us at Pearl Harbor

Uncovering the roasted IMU, pig

Maui Day 2

It's been a busy couple of days on the island of Maui. We started yesterday at the rental car place with a hundred other folks. After we got there I realized I'd left both wallets in the safe back on the ship. Back on the shuttle, back to the room, back to get the car. Can't rent a car without your wallet. Then we headed to the Haleakala crater and the national park. You leave sea level and head up to 10,000 feet. A couple of beautiful mt side towns, about 60 switchbacks, the park entrance, and keep going up. We had to stop and put the top up cause it got cold. Finally we both put on our jackets we'd brought. Yes, we brought jackets in case we went up one of the Mts. Time we got to the summit the wind was blowing about 40 mph and the temp couldn't have been much more than 40 degrees in the bright sunshine. Whew! Cold in Hawaii!
Took a look over the crater that's about 37 square miles. Took a fewpics while freezing and then headed back down the Mt the same way. 1 way up same way down.

Back to Kahalui, where the dock is and then over to West Maui. We drove all the way past Lahaina past Kapalua to a public beach on the other side. Not very crowded, beautiful place. Got out and enjoyed the beach for awhile. Drove back by Kapalua and checked out the golf course. Wow. No wonder the pros come and play here. Not to mention the winner gets a million bucks. Stopped at Kaapalani to check out the west Ocean Marriott resort. Got out, took a brief tour, even got a price list on the timeshare weeks. Expensive. They are building on to either side with more 2/3 bedroom rooms. Most popular, and most expensive weeks in the system. No wonder either. No we didn't buy a week. Congrats to all, or sorry kids:(

Then on the the Old Lahaina Luau. Parked there a bit early so we went across the street and got the bride a double chocolate chip frappa something at Starbucks. They got it all in Lahaina. Cooled off in the mall and then on to the Luau. Supposed to be the most authentic in all the islands. Watched a guy make poi. He said it wasn't poi, but ipuke. That's kinda what it looked like too. He said it was much better than poi. He pounded it and talked about it and added water and pounded it into almost a taffy like consistency. Then he offered all those around a sample of this purple ipuke.(sp) We both tried it. Not bad. Never tasted anything quite like it.

Then they uncovered the pig (imu) that had been cooking in this under the beach steam pit. Saw it on the discovery channel a couple of weeks ago. Watch it some time. Pretty cool. Lots of food, island juices and drinks, and island food. Ate too much. Really neat show right on the beach as the sun sets over the Pacific ocean. Our first luau. Very enjoyable.

Well, its time for dinner on our last night aboard. Much more to say. Internet time running out on the ship. More later I hope.

de

Maui Day 1

Saw on CNN that the volcano had a major eruption just after we left for Kona. Big river of lava. I'm sure they have something about it on the website or on Volcano National Park site. Just missed a big blow.

Off to the West side of Maui today, maybe Big beach, and some of the other beaches. Maybe Haleakala, not sure. Then to Kapalua and finish the day at Lahaina for a Luau tonight. I'll try to blog and put up some pics tonight. de

Couple more pics

Word of the day, lava!

Me & the bride after our ride!

Rest day today!

Originally had a full day scheduled for Kona today. We're both kinda pooped and decided to take a rest day so we can fully enjoy the two days we've got coming up in Maui. Hang out by the pool or maybe do a couple of miles on the treadmill and work off some of these pounds they begin installing the moment you step foot on the ship. Maybe I'll take a look at the rest of the pics and post some more this afternoon. Beats trying to keep up with the Astros!

May the Lord bless all our days!

de & ke

Day Something

Night lava, Ninini Point Lighthouse,

Lava coast, real live lava, me standing on old lava flow 300' wide,

You know its truly vacation when you're not sure what day it is. I did finally figure out it's Wednesday, yeah. Time sure flies, you know? Today was our day in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii. Kinda a short day as our daysgo on the islands but hey, the upside is you get to see several islands. The downside is,you never really get to see that much of the island.

The big island is really big. We were a little slow getting off this morning which made for an even shorter day. Got to the rental car and headed out for Volcanoes National Park. Bout 30 milesor so from Hilo. Pretty much straight up the whole way, from sea level to over 4000' at Mt Kilauea. Right in front of you the whole way is Mauna Loa or 'long mountain' which rises to over 13,500. All in all pretty impressive. An hours drive around the crater rim drive to overlook the crater. No active lava here. That's later. Just volcano leftovers and there are plenty everywhere you look after major eruptions in the 70's & 80's.

Back down to town, a bite, and back to the airport to check in for our helicopter ride out to the active part of the volcano.Sometimes you see real lava, sometimes not. It's seldom like the pictures of when it first started erupting in the 80's but its still going. We got to see it from an hours copter ride. One of the things I truly wanted to do on this trip. Cars can't go there. The road got destroyed in the big eruption and has never been rebuilt. Technically, its a National Park and you can hike there and some do but it's not stable. Helicopter's the way to go. Awesome! God did some really special things here and He's still doing them!

Back to the ship for a shower and some dinner now. Explore the ship some. Back to the room for when the ship passes the lava flowing into the sea at 10 pm. Wow! Pretty unbelievable during the day, even better in the dark. Pictures weren't much but I'll try to post a couple anyway.

On to the other side of the big island tomorrow, to Kona. Not sure what's up with that. Will try to blog something anyway.

lata. de & ke

Hawaii Pics

Day 1 or Day 2? or Day 3?

I'm not for sure what day it is. I guess that's what you want when you go on vacation. Not really sure where you are or precisely what day it is. Day 1 was really a blur. We got up pretty early, loaded the bags and headed for the airport. The goal was to go ahead and check the bagscause we were cutting it pretty close time wise later on. Arrived at IAH at about 8 am to findit pretty busy. Glad we came. Got the bags checked and headed back to B-town for bible classand worship. Led the first part of the song service, headed home to change and then to IAH.

Boarded and took off right on time at 1:20 for a smooth 8 hour flight to Honolulu. Arrived 8 hours laterat 3:45 pm or so. Thru the airport, board the shuttle for a $5 trip to the cruise terminal. Not bad!!Smooth boarding process about the Pride of Aloha to room 10056. Bags got there in good time. We attendedthe always mandatory and terribly exciting try on your life jacket, in case of emergency and the ship sinksmeeting. Boy I wish they made you wear those things all the time.

Up to the pool deck for dinner of gourmet burgers, steaks, and baked potatoes, while some guysang hawaiian music and some bulky girls danced the hula. Pretty tired by now @ 8:30 H-time, 1 am body time.Hit the rack for some good hard sleeping. Wake up 10 hours later, down the ships plank and out to the rental car shuttle to Dollar and our Sebring convertible for the day.

We headed out first around the west side of Kauai to Waimea Canyon. Well, first we stopped bythe Drug store for H2o and some snacks for the day. Heade around the coast about 35 milesto the Grand Canyon of the Hawaiian islands. I think I've got that pic to post. Pretty cool place.Even better was the overlook at the end of the road. Kalalua Lookout. This is where they filmed the opening of Jurassic park. There were helicopters flying in and out of it pretty much the whole time.

Then an hour drive back down the canyon and back through Lihue, port and airport town and around to the otherside of the island where the best beaches are. We drove past some pounding surf, full of people trying their skills.The farther we got around to the other side the narrower the road got. We passed over 8 or 10 one lane bridges where you went if you were first, if not you waited for the folks on the other side to go.After a number of small towns and villages we got to the other end of the road completely on the other side of the same cliff at Kalalua lookout. The road would cost to much and be impossible to build to connectthe two sides.
At the end of the road was Ke'e beach where we stayed for awhile. The giant bluff went straight up 1000's of feetright behind the beach. Awesome site. In the water, then out, shower and back towards town. Stopped for a snackin Hanalei Village. Another stop at Kilauea Point for a lighthouse and quite a picture place.

We ended the evening back around the port for a closer inspection of the Kauai Marriott to seeif we might want to come back. Impressive place. Marriott bought and refurbished an older hotel and made it oneof their timeshare properties. After a brief drive by we headed up behind the Marriott to get a closerlook at the golfcourse. We followed this road around behind and out on this point to where we could see the lighthouseand Ninini Point. One of the golf holes went almost out to it. We kept following the roadand when the road continued on beyond the golf course we kept going with no one in sight.

Off the paved road we hit a dirt and gravel road and kept going. The bride got kinda nervous cause there was no one around anywhere. We kept following until the road let right out to the lighthouse. Very awesome point. We stayedfor a few minutes and watch the surf pound the rocks. There's not a soul anywhere and dusk is coming pretty fast so we headed back in. By the time we get back to the golf course there's a chain over the road. Lucky for us theSebring is pretty low riding. The bride gets out, holds the chain up as high as it will go and we clear it by like 2 inches. Back around the golf course down to the Marriott and there's the guy pulling up another chain across the road. "Where did you guys come from," he says. Uh, well, we were back there. Whew! We smiled and then laughed out loud as we crossed the chain again and headed back to turn in our rental car and take the last shuttle to the ship at 8 p.m.

Straight to the buffett line for a light dinner, then to a show for a Las Vegas singer type who was 60+ and outstanding. Backto the room for a shower and hit the rack. More later. de & ke

New H-town this week!

Well, its on to a brand new H-town this week, Hawaii-town. Yeah, I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but neither does planning for this kind of trip, some place we've both wanted to go our whole lives. Direct flight right after church this morning. 7 day cruise to the Big island, Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. It's going to be great fun. I'll try to blog most everyday if I can. We brought the computer, camera, etc. Maybe there will even be some pics. TTYL from H-town.

de & ke

Baghdad blog

Just came across Mark Goode's blog. He's from our church and fighting in the war in Baghdad. Thought you might want to check it out. http://mpfreedomfighter.blogspot.com/

Blogging again!

I'm not one of those religious-type bloggers whose habit it is to blog eveyday. Duh! you say. You're not even weekly or monthly. Well, you'd be right about that. Hopefully, I'm back to blogging on a more regular basis. I do spend enough time each day on the computer that blogging should be easy enough. Maybe I'm just not that organized or disciplined. Maybe its too much TV at night. I did get way behind on my regular shows when the STB were recording almost every night two weeks ago, during sweeps week. Maybe I've spent all my spare time over the past six weeks digging in the dirt in and around my house when I could've been blogging. I do love my yard and the flower beds and am even picking tomatoes every day right now. Gave a bunch of em away to our LIfe group this past Sunday night. They snatched em up when I offered. I guess bottom line is, I've gotta have a reason to blog. It can't be just mindless stuff. Well what do you think this is that you're doing now?

Here's the scoop for those who are interested. This Sunday, Lord willing, the bride and I will be flying to Honolulu for a 7 day cruise around the islands. I'll try to blog every day about our journey and even include some pictures and maybe video. I did manage to put a video on my myspace account yesterday. Yes, I now have a myspace page. Here's the link. There's not much there but I'm just getting started. http://www.myspace.com/davidel57

STB recording update. We spent a full Saturday this past Sat. It was slow. We've got one more song to go, not counting all the editing, then the mixdown, mastering, and duplication. Well, more later. I promise.

STB Recording

I sing in a southern gospel quartet called the South Texas Boys. The group reformed a couple of years ago with three members from their former quartet, The Master's Brothers, who lost its lead singer and me as the new tenor. That rocked along for a few months when the high tenor retired from school teaching and moved and the lead singer quit. That left me and Wyatt the original member, the bass, and me. I moved to lead and Wyatt recruited one former member from years ago, John, and a former member's son, Forrest. That's where we are for about the last year.

This past week we spent four days recording our first CD. Back while I was in preacher's school in 1988, the school grabbed four of us and put together a quartet which travelled and sang to promote the school for a time and we recorded a cassette. Actually, looking back, it wasn't too bad for no more time than we spent doing it. As I recall we only spent a few hours recording the whole thing. I gotta find one of those tapes and make it into a CD for me. Anyway, that was nothing compared to this past week. When we were done Saturday, not done completed but out of time for the week, we had put in 20 hours in the studio. That's not counting the time it took to get there and back, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, nights, and Saturday. All told about 30 hours last week recording.

Hopefully, we'll finish this Saturday with another 6 or 7 hours. We'll finish our recording part. Then there's editing, mixing, and such. It may be 50 hours or more studio time before we're done. Maybe more on that later.
">Link

Back to the Blog

Well, here goes my blog again. After catching up on some other bloggers and finding some new ones, like Mark in Irag, and Holly in Chicago, I figured I better get back to blogging myself. The last time I tried was after they were switching to the new blogger. I tried 2 or 3 times and it just wasnt' working so I quit. Now I'm back. Can't promise much except to check in from time to time. Maybe I'll put up some pics of my grandson or my daughter being in town this weekend or the bride and mines upcoming trip to the islands or our STB in the recording studio. That was worth a blog or two. I did record an album one time in preachers school but not like this time. It was very cool. Well, whatever it is hopefully I'll be back soon. Or maybe a Rockets shout out if they win on Thursday. It wouldn't be for the slumping Astros. How bout those Mavs, back from the brink. Gotta work now.

de

Can't post

">Link

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

Anniversary Blog

I'm not big on holidays. I like em allright I'm just not big on the hype. The whole family getting together, I can go for that. Cooking, eating together, taking a nap later, that all good. Maybe its just the expectation that we have to go and buy a bunch of stuff, yeah, that's it. Not that I mind buying stuff, I've done plenty of it over the years, but I want to do it on my time, when the inspiration hits me, when its needed, not just because everybody else is doing it or because the calendar says so. And not that the rest of my fam probably couldn't use some more good stuff.

But just maybe the calendar saying so is a way of reminding me when I ought to be really celebrating something important and not just buying stuff. Truth is I've got most of the "stuff" I want and certainly everything I need. Buying more stuff especially buying stuff we don't need, well seems wasteful. Today is one of those calendar days, the bride & I's anniversary. 26 years she's put up with me. WOW!

She ought to get a medal but I'm not sure where you get those and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't wear said medal. We could go out to eat but she eats out all the time when she's on the road so that's nothing special for her. She'd do that more for me than for her. So, I made her a card and wrote her a poem. Nothing gifted for sure but at least she'll know I was thinking about her.

We must be getting old because we might just stay home, have dinner, build a fire out by the pool, and look at the bay. It's an anniversary blog. Happy anniversary out there. All of them are worth celebrating. They get even better as you get a few more. What really matters is the people in your lives on those days and everyday, not just those calendar days, and certainly not the stuff you get or give.

cya,

de

It Aint Texas Honey!

I spent just about one full week away from the computer, email, blogging, jogging, and pretty much everything else that makes up my normal routine. The bride was working in Baltimore, MD so I tagged along. I guess I'll blog about it for a day or two. Maybe the whole Northeast United states doesn't rate that much time but my lack of inspiration for blogging might warrant a couple of blogs.

We arrived at BWI on a Tuesday afternoon and headed towards Leesburg, VA. We were going to have dinner with a friend who we met through the Red Cross. She's a sweet lady who travelled to Baytown to operate a Shelter at the local Baptist church and work in the area for three weeks. I-95 runs I guess from Florida to Boston and there's way too many people on that road and they drive way worse than Texans do. I thought H-town drivers were aggressive, when the truth is, we're calm. Now I know why the bride never rents a car when she goes there. They're nuts.

Well, dinner outside Leesburg, and back to Baltimore pretty late where its like 15 degrees and lots of left over snow and ice on the ground. I had taken stuff to run outside but 15 degrees, that too cold. Next morning after a commute to take the bride to work, I went back to the warmth of the hotel for 4 miles on the treadmill. WEll, that was my running for the week. Trying to play catch up from the rest of my week in the frozen NE. It wasn't Texas, needless to say. More later.

here's a link to pics from the Jingle bell run and proof that the run/walk thing works. My bib is 390. http://www.karenthibodeaux.com/Image.asp?catalogID=716032



I'm out,
de

Brief Blog Funk

Been busy, busy lately. Still in somewhat of a blog funk. Nothing really to say except, "how bout them Texans." That's pretty much all that can be said, more than what needs to be said, except, "you're fired." Maybe that's today or maybe I'm daydreaming.

Did have a fair day running this past week. Did the Jingle bell run yesterday in downtown H-town. 5 miler with abouy 5000 other people, many of whom were families doing the 3 mile family walk. Still working on how and when to eat and what. Preached, then went to Carino's where I had minestone soup and shared a spicy shrimp and chicken with the youngest of the fam. Tried not to eat too much. Maybe I had too much. Not bad tho. Still haven't found out my exact "chip" time but looked like I was a bit over 55 minutes for 5 miles. Not too bad. Didn't feel great but pretty good. It was 65 degrees downtown. Didn't really warm up good for almost three miles. Walked several times when I felt the legs tiring then jogged when recovered after 15-30 seconds. Overall, pretty happy with that. Felt good at the end.

Going out of town today for the rest of the week. Have to work hard to get in my normal or maybe it'll be easier. Maybe I'll get to jog past all the monuments in DC this week.

Praying for decent weather,
sille

What If!

I'm just not much of a gambler. Never have been. A number of things lately have made me rethink that but that's what non-gamblers do, they rethink. I guess my most significant rethink was the Astros playoffs. As a season ticket holder I got the playoff invoice for all playoff games in my mailbox. I mulled over the almost $2000 invoice for only a couple of minutes before deciding what the odds were the Astros would make it to the playoffs. What if I'd bought those playoff tix?

The reason the invoice was so expensive was because you had purchase all tickets all the way through to and including the World Series. The Stros in the Series, not in this lifetime. I'll be rethinking that one for the rest of my days. Not too many months ago I could've prepurchased Rolling Stones tickets at the Toyota Center. I'm not a huge Stones fan so, I passed on the gamble @ $400 per ticket. Lost on that one. Sold out show tickets going for a grand apiece. What if?

Today after reading about Rose Bowl tickets, I thought about the shopping I did for those about a month ago, when I tried to get my sister to take my dad to Pasadena, CA. Cheap by today's standards. Could've made out big, even if they didn't go. What if?

Then there's my non-gambling wins. I didn't buy Big 12 Championship tix, or Cotton Bowl tix, which I had the opportunity to buy and didn't. If you don't gamble, you don't win, but you don't lose either. What if I'd been stuck with 15 Cotton Bowl tix, like I thought about getting when it looked like OU might go there or 8 Big 12 Champ game tix, very early on. Thank goodness I didn't buy em that early. What if?

de

HPSSAD

I think I know what has happened to my usual positive, humorous, not too seriously please, outlook. I've been affected or infected with Houston Professional Sports Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's a self diasnosis with help from Spruce, my coworker.

What's happened is that the Houston Astros have become Sports vampires in their own right. They have sucked every ounce of professional sports juice from the entire rest of the Houston professional sports teams. The Texans, go ahead and bury them or not, leave em alone for a minute or less and they'll bury themselves. Have the dog kick some dirt on them or maybe a Raven will fly over and poop on them. Sorry, that already happened. This week will be just another pitiful sports team who still have an ounce of pride left, the former Houston Oilers, who left town with some of their juice left and have since just about lost it in Tennessee. But they will still be good enough to beat the Texans.

Or how about those Rockets, they are pretty much the equivalent of the Texans or worse. They can't even stay close until the end of the game anymore and then lose it. They just stink it up right from the start, and now they admit it.

It's not only affected the sports team but the fans as well, including me. Its depressing, pitiful, terrible to talk, listen or even read about anymore. And I've caught it. The Astros sucked the life out of professional sports here in H-town. It took all they could beg, borrow, steal, trade, finagle, all they could do to get to the Series and they did. It was great but what a price. There's nothing left, professional sports-wise. It's affected us all and we need a cure but I'm not sure what it is. I need an antidote and I don't think its the Bowl season and all the Longhorns want for Christmas either.

Hoping for a cure,
de

Proof There's Global Warming!

Sometimes pictures are worth only a mention, others, well they say it all. I'm currently recovering from a really messed up running week, checking email and getting ready for our Life Group Christmas party at the house. New house, new lights, new tree, all very exciting but time consuming. That and I felt terrible on Wed when I was supposed to do 4 miles and didn't do anything. Didn't even go to Church which almost never happens. Anyway, did 3.5 on Thursday, felt ok. Went out today to see how far I could go and before I knew it I was 3 mi from the house, ended up at 6 mi today after 3.5 yesterday. Think I'll pay. I really just didn't want to do it tomorrow when its supposed to be 84 degrees. 84 is too hot to try to do something I've never done. Too much sweating not enough hydration. Anyway, it was 62 or so when I left the house, I still sweat like crazy.

What about the picture? Proof, there's global warming and I don't wear one.

ha! cya
de