Rockiness Starting to Make Sense

After 6 full days of rock hammering, we finally got to the bottom of it! A hole large enough to hold a 3-section, 18,000 pound septic tank. The equipment used for all this work is unbelievable -- who designed this stuff? I keep using the word "gi-hugant"! Once the tank was lowered into the hole, they dug the trenches for the pipes, installed the sprayers, and covered the entire area with soil. We now need to spread buffalo grass seed atop the soil and apply for a county inspection,

Linda's Starring Role in Las Vegas

Posted by - Carl

We spent a weekend recently in Las Vegas visiting Maxie & Sharon (Linda's sister) and had a great time! We saw several shows, ate, laughed and generally acted silly. One of the shows was a group called Toxic Audio. This group had three young men and two young women who were amazing vocalists. They used their voices as band instruments as well as for singing and we were treated to a terrific mix of music.

At one point, one of the group strolled into the audience and pointed at Linda, asking her to join the group on-stage. Three chairs were brought forth and Linda was seated at the one on stage right, next to the two women vocalists, with the men standing behind them. They all peered intently ahead and the woman on the left held up a TV remote, pressed a button and they all said "CLICK!" Immediately they began vocalizing the theme song from a popular TV program like Gilligan's Island. She pressed the button, they all said "CLICK!" again and she handed the remote to the next women. "CLICK!" again and another theme song burst out. "CLICK!" and she handed the remote to Linda.

Here's where it got to be really fun. Linda caught on to the routine, held the remote out and pressed the button... "CLICK!" and the most gosh-awful erotic sounds emerged. Heavy-breathing, screams of YES! YES! and the remote was snatched from Linda's hand by one of the guys who pressed the button "CLICK!" then silence while all of them looked at Linda with horrified expressions on their faces.

After a pause, the remote was passed back to the first woman and the routine began again... "CLICK!" > theme song > "CLICK!" > silence > "CLICK!" > theme song > "CLICK!" > silence and then very slowly, with much scowling and trepidation, the remote was handed to Linda again. "CLICK!" and the erotic sounds erupted once again. The remote is grabbed, "CLICK!" and angry faces looked at Linda. She was reacting perfectly, as if she were in on the script.

Once again, the routine began. When the remote got back to Linda, there was a great deal of resistance to giving it to her again. She asked to be given just one more chance. Finally, they reluctantly gave her the remote... "CLICK!" and the sounds began once more, only this time the men tore off their shirts and posed for the attached photo taken with a hidden Polaroid camera. What a great joke! We laughed until our sides hurt.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

We returned late last night from a wonderful weekend in the beautiful Davis Mountains; the weekend was, at once, relaxing, productive, romantic, and fun!

We basked in the 60 - 80-degree daily temperature range; we made significant progress on the remodeling work on our cabin; we visited with several new groups of very interesting people; we ate breakfast at the Drugstore in Fort Davis (one of the best breakfasts in Texas, in our opinions); and we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary with a delightful dinner at the historical and classy Gage Hotel in Marathon.

All in all, VERY NICE!

Off to a Rocky Start

We have officially broken ground for our new house. When you view the pictures, you may think you are looking at a limestone quarry; but, no -- it's the piles of rock that is the result of excavating for the driveway and the septic tank.

We don't have to worry about our foundation shifting!

May 1 Until Today

My last post was May 1. Since that time here's what's happened:

1. We spent 4 wonderful days with my sister and brother-in-law in Las Vegas;
2. I did a lot of AAUW Convention follow-up tasks;
   
3. I went through everything in our RV and sorted -- much AAUW stuff will go to my successor;
4. We actually cleaned the RV;
   
5. I installed the incoming officers of the NE Tarrant County Branch of AAUW;
6. I worked with my boss on establishing an abbreviated work schedule;
7. I, along with Carl, walked our property with our septic tank/driveway contractor and came up with a final design;
8. We attended the birthday party of our god-granddaughters: Teaghen, 8; Tinsley, 7, and Tatum, 3; and
   
9. We drove to Wichita Falls, as I'll be the speaker at the Scholarship Banquet of the local branch of AAUW.

Tonight we are in the Hawthorn Suites in Wichita Falls; we just returned to the room after a wonderful dinner at the Thai Orchid Restaurant.

Until tomorrow,

Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It 'In.'

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write " For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. dont use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......

Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile.
It's Called ..... therapy

Money and Las Vegas

"Money" in this case doesn't refer to gambling: actually it refers to the fact that WE CLOSED ON OUR CONSTRUCTION LOAN yesterday! Our property appraised at almost twice what we had estimated and our building project appraised at about 17% more that we had estimated -- both good news on many fronts! Additionally, we got an interest rate of 4.25%! We can actually start building!!!!!

"Las Vegas" refers to the fact that we are leaving this afternoon for Las Vegas for a week's visit with my sister and brother-in-law -- we'll be enjoying some welcomed down-time and we'll be celebrating the loan closing, a successful AAUW Convention, and our 16th wedding anniversary.

There may be some gambling, as well :-)