I'm home now, and getting back into the swing of things at school. Tomorrow I am going to a new school, and I will take my camera so you can see it. Guerrero was built in an old Safeway supermarket and not one student there was born with blue eyes. Tune in for actual pictures of this architectural marvel!

Here we are (notice the leashes) at Arizona's very own Salt River Canyon. This is quite beautiful, if you have never seen it, and fairly close to Scottsdale (just north out of Globe/Miami). It looks like a little Grand Canyon. Nice hairdo, huh?

We stopped near White Sands, New Mexico to see this very Large Array, which turns out to be about twenty giant satellite dishes. They can be moved around and redirected, and have been used to "listen" to space. It was very interesting to see, and now I am kind of sorry we didn't take the time to go to the visitor's center.

This is the road to Fort Lancaster in Texas. It is now a toursit attraction, and by the time we got there it was closed for the day. We decided to put the dogs over the locked gate to this long empty entrance road and let them run around, which, as you can see we did. Then (you would think we'd learn, wouldn't you?) when it was time to go, Toby ducked under the gate and headed off down the highway! He wasn't about to get back in that car. My sister and I both chased him, and he kept going further down this highway...I thought we had seen the last of him, for sure. There was nothing but desert out there; miles and miles for him to disappear into. At last Kiki sweet talked him into stopping and cowering down into a little brown and white fur ball, and she was able to pick him up. No more off-leash time for Toby!!!

On the road

Who doesn't love

Dairy Queen?

Toby is enjoying some ice cream during a spot in L

incoln, New Mexico, which I had never heard of but turns out to be a reall

y nice little place. It is the scene of Billy the Kid's last escape, and they have restored most of the old buildings, courthouse, jail, etc. Every year they stage a re-enactment of that fateful day. Toby cared nothing about Billy the Kid.

Just the ice cream.

Teddy looked so funny with ice cream and leaves on his little beard!

Here is Goober fearlessly attacking Tiger Bunny, who is about 3 times his size. They wrestle arouond like this for hours every day. The kitchen is just off to the left (Tiger never strays too far from the groceries!)

Carrel giving Tedward a ride on the lawn mower on his last night in Texas. The goal had been to ride the four wheeler but there was a problem with the battery on it, so the lawn mower was a good stand in. I think Teddy is liking the experience....it's a little hard to tell. Toby definitely loved it because he loved anything to do with Carrel, but Harley jumped off after just a few feet.

The travellers loaded up the morning of our departure. No kennel in the back seat...we broke it down and stowed it in the trunk, the idea being that there would be room for all three dogs in the back seat. It worked out pretty well, except that Toby almost always situated himself in what my sister called the "lower bunk", that is, the floor behind the passenger seat. And we drove another 1200 vomit-free miles!

Many, many houses, farms, ranches and businesses fly a Texas flag out front. This one is at the LBJ Ranch and Park, our first stop. It was beautiful and quite spacious and there were very few people about. We saw three deer when we first drove back into the park area. We decided to let the dogs run around without leashes; big mistake. Teddy and Harley were great: came when we called and jumped up in the back seat. Toby took one look at the car and headed off at a brisk pace in the opposite direction. I got a box of dog cookies but he wouldn't come until I walked up the hill and away from the car, at which point I grabbed him, the little devil!

This is the back of the Grape Creek Winery just outside of Fredericksburg, Texas. It turns out that Texas produces quite a bit of wine, and the hill country around Fredericksburg was full of vineyards and wineries. I bought a couple of bottles at Grape Creek, one for me and one for my neighbor Ric. Here is a shot of the vineyard there at Grape Creek (I thought they made that name up, but a few miles after leaving this place, we crossed "Grape Creek"). The Texas hill country is just beautiful...check it out if you ever have the chance!

This is the south side chicken coop seen from the back. It has a fenced yard and gate on the far side. The chickens like it because they can get inside to roost when it's cold, and hide underneath from hawks. Kiki props the gate open so they can come and go but most stay pretty close to 'home'.

Belle and her son Tippy having dinner one evening. Belle can't have any more calves for medical reasons, so Tippy has been fixed in case he gets any incestuous ideas. Belle has been Kiki's pet since she was tiny, and has birthed many calves in the past.

To the left is Carrel's tractor all outfitted on the back to dig a new post hole to mend one of the fences.

That is one of the red horses, Solano I think. And Carrel with Pedro and Kiki feeding the north side chickens.

Animalia

Here nine of the ten dogs are enjoying a pasture walk. Closest to the front is Toby, then Teddy, next Harley and Blue with Bailey on their right, Scout, Hondo and off in the distance, Max. Maggie, the tenth dog, comes on the walks but she is old and slow and doesn't usually hang with the others. The burros are Bob, Lightning and Pedro. Horses are Doc, Cindy, Solano, Dusty and Cheyenne. Cows are Belle and Tippy. The chicken all have names but I will never remember them all; there is Oreo, Kellog, Tyler, A and M, Ivan, Black Mamba, Duck Woman, Amber, and lots more. Kiki has two of the biggest goldfish you have ever seen in an aquarium..I think one is Titanic and I can't think of the other. She has a Siamese fighting fish we named Dr. Seuss, and the cats are Chiquita (aka Monkey Cat) and Tiger (aks Tiger Bunny) and the new kitten, Goober.

Odds and ends

This is the north side of the barn. Dusty (the brown mare) and Cheyenne (the paint) have their stalls in this area. Their pasture is off to the left beyond that fence you see. The north side chickens have the stall nearest the camera. One old rooster, Ivan, who weighs more than either Teddy or Toby, lives in the stall because he hurt his leg some time ago and can't really walk too well. He sure can eat though! The three baby chicks live in here with their mom, Duck Woman, in a cage kind of like a rabbit hutch. They are big enough now that Kiki lets them out during the day. Most of the north side chickens hang out in and around the barn area.

Coming to an end

Yesterday we drove down to
Galveston, oh Galveston...looks to be in a lot

better shape after Himacane Ike than I thought

it would be. We drove the length of the island, from The Strand to San Luis Pass. There was lots of new construction with big money behind it. Some of the new beach houses are really gorgeous! The beach was very clean, and the water, surprisingly, cool. Most of the shops on The Strand were open and the place was kind of busy for a Wednesday. You could see that there had been major roof damage (houses either had a blue tarp over the roof or had brand new roofs) and lots and lots of trees were dead.

My sister is walking on the beach, enjoying the surf.

The fools who lived in the house below stayed in their house during Ike, ended up having to get on the second floor, then the roof, and had to be rescued by helicopter. Their truck is trashed, as is the house, and so is most of the pier going out into the sea behind the house. The end of the pier is still standing but the walkway out was washed away.

According to Kiki's son, Will, this place (The Spot) was THE place to eat in Galveston. It was right on the seawall and we sat at a table overlooking the ocean. We split a hamburger which was huge, and very delicioso.

This is the former home of the famous cowboy poet, singer and all around good guy George Ray Russell. Notice the boarded up windows and the peeling paint. This is not Hurricane Ike damage; it always looked like this! Ah, the toga parties, the luxurious inner courtyard and pool, the pseudo-leather sofa with big rips in the cushions with stuffing poking out! Those were the good old days.

These are the appartments that Darla and I lived in during our Post-Master's Fellowship at the Medical School. They also had an inner courtyard with a pool; very elegant! The address was 711 (I think) Holiday Drive, and they are about a block from the ocean. Frankly I was amazed that they looked exactly like they did when I lived there in 1970, despite numerous hurricanes and general wear and tear!

Finally, as any of you who have ever been to Galveston will be relieved to know, Col. Bubbie's still stands, and it's inventory is as replete as ever. I didn't see the cats this time, but I didn't look very hard for them either.

Tomorrow we head out, back to AZ. Kiki has planned out a really nice road trip, and it will be a fun drive. Her IPhone tells us where all the storms are, we've got a bunch of CDs, the Garmin, credit cards, and, of course, three dogs (they are all getting baths tonight). We are going to try to take the kennel apart so it lays flat in the trunk and all three dogs can ride on the back seat. We may have so much fun that it takes us three days to get back instead of two!

The Tobster

Isn't this the cutest picture ever? I love Toby!

And so they continue..

The swimming lessons are still underway. Here are Toby, Bailey, Harley and Ted practicing laps in the big trough. The algae in the water turned Teddy kind of green and he had to have another dip in the baby pool under the trees. Toby liked this tank so much that he got out rolled and ran around, and then came back for another go at it.

Where oh where can they be?

Here I am digging through my purse for the thousandth time, looking for my car keys, while we wait and wait and wait for Jason.

Locked up

This is my sister watching Jason the Jerk at work breaking into my car in the Kroger's parking lot on Cinco Ranch. It was 98 degrees with 55% humidity. I'll admit it; I never would have met Jason the Jerk had I not locked my keys in the trunk. What followed once Jason got into the car and gave me back my keys was a big fight over his fee. He showed up an hour plus late (we were literally hot, hot, hot!). He lied to us on the phone. He "jokingly" told me that I owed him $200 because he had gotten a ticket on the way to Kroger's. Negotiations quickly reached an impass. We called his dispatcher and then his supervisor and finally got the fee reduced from $139.50 to $100. Then he wouldn't accept anything but cash, so I had to beg the customer service lady in Kroger's to let me have the money. Thank god they had a Starbuck's!

At last!

The dining room is finished at last! Here is the family wall that Kiki, Carrel and I created. The word on the shelf is "cowboy" and the picture is of Wesley and Will riding ponies when they are 3 and 5 years old.

Chiggered at Concrete Heaven

For those of you blissfully ignorant about chiggers, they are teensy, tiny reddish colored bugs who viciously attack ankles and calves, causing severe itching, scratching, even clawing and significant whining at those body parts. And they got chiggers at Concrete Heaven. Here are Kiki and Wesley looking over the lion selection. We went there on Sunday instead of going to church, as we figured anything with "Heaven" in the name was almost as good, if not better.

New friends

Here I am with two new friends I made at Concrete Heaven. Who knew you could pick up hot guys at Concrete Heaven!! I am going dancing tomorrow night with the guy on my right.

I am making progress on Lindsay's sweater!

Leslie's house, looking at the back as you come up the stairs from Buffalo Bayou

Tessie

Last night we visited Tessie and Leslie (Tessie's step-daugher) and her family. Leslie and her husband have 4 kids and live in a beautiful house on the west side of Houston. I've known Leslie since she graduated from high school in 1986, but hadn't met any of her kids. The three daughters were there last night, plus Callaway...the girls were all adorable. The middle daughter is named "Milan" which I think is a very cool name, and it suited her. The youngest, Erica, reminded us of Lindsay Rose at that age, quite the fashionista; she wore silver sparkled shoes, lipstick and pink crystal drop earrings (8 years old and so cute). After a tour of Leslie's beautiful Spanish-styled mansion, we went to eat at Papacita's; ahhhh, love that TexMex!

Friday, July 24

Friday! I am so sad because NEXT Friday, we have to leave to go back to Arizona! I can't believe my adventure is coming to an end. And the summer, too. Boo hoo :( I have a long list of things I still want to do, and I know we won't get to all of them next week!

Here is Teddy, making for the shore during his last swimming lesson. Actually Kiki tossed him in where it was so shallow, I think he is walking to the shore in this picture. She tossed him back in where it was deeper the second time, and he did have to swim. The funniest part of swimming lessons is when they get out of the water and go crazy rolling and running wildly in the grass, drying off and feeling very frisky!

A recent stampede, as photographed from the safety of the barn: Cindy, Solano and Doc racing around, dust flying, dogs barking and in hot pursuit, wind blowing, lightning off to the north...just a regular afternoon around here. Oh by the way, one of my jobs is keeping that trough you see full of water. In a day's time the water level goes down about halfway!

Below is "Goober", my sister's latest rescue. They found him half-dead and starving in the barn and nursed him back to health. He is just adorable, tearing around with a catnip mouse and fighting with Harley. Kiki contemplated naming him "Barney" since they found him in the barn, but Carrel and Wesley insisted on "Goober". Since I don't like that name, I just call him "Kitten". Teddy and Toby pay him no mind at all anymore (after their initial, predatory interest). Got to go...breakfast is ready!

Spa Day

This morning my sister and I want to a spa salon over across the freeway, and it was so much fun! Like so many others, it was staffed completely by adorable young women from Viet Nam (with one papa san who pretty much stayed out of sight). This place was the best nail salon I've ever been to! The girls all wore these cute little green striped aprons, and the place was sparkling clean. There were no big screen TVs playing movies, only nice watercolors of big flowers and soothing music. Each station was very neat with only the few tools or lotions actually being used on top; everything else was kept out of sight until needed. The foot bath water was scented with menthol, and the girls used fresh limes to rub our toes and fingers. We had foot masks, massages, parafin treatments, hot rock massages, cooling gel, lavender massage lotion, heated deep lotion treatments, warm towels...I could go on and on. I am sure I am not remembering all the nice touches. We were there for over two hours, and felt oh so beautiful when we left. Here's my sister enjoying the attention (see picture).

We are painting the living room now. Another shopping trip for curly willow is in the offing as the reeds we bought at Hobby Lobby are too short (for the dining room).

Both of us have been enjoying the Sho Time series, "The Tudors". We have watched 6 episodes from Season 1 so far. I am in love with Jonathan Rys-Meyers (Henry VIII), and I think Natalie Dormer is adorable (Anne Boelyn). I mailed the disk off to Netflix today so we may have another three episodes to watch by this time tomorrow. Meanwhile, my nephew Wesley says that "Rome" is a good series too.

The Pond

In the back corner of my sister's property is a pond. It's about twice the size of a normal swimming pool. The banks are covered in reeds and grass. The horses and cows get in it to cool off, and the occasional turtle, frog or snake takes up residence there. The water is pretty muddy looking, and the bottom is kind of brownish gray mud. Every evening we take all ten dogs on a "pasture walk" which includes a visit to the pond. Toby absolutely loves the pond, and I think it is his favorite part of the day. He is usually first there and circles the banks right at the water line looking for anything of interest. He has been fascinated with a stick which pokes out of the water about two feet out from the bank, but so far has not wanted to jump in like all the others do (except Teddy). Max swims laps. Blue, Scout and Bailey all swim, get out, shake, and get back in. Harley watches Toby sticking his paws in, and jumps in right in front of him, looking back over his shoulder as if to say, "See? That's how it's done!" This evening Kiki decided to give Toby swimming lessons; she took him over to where the water was a little deeper, and tossed him out about three feet from the bank, and of course he swam back to the bank. Oh was he proud of himself! Rolling over and over in the grass to dry off, just like the big boys!
Tomorrow: spa day for Kiki and Sue! Hooray!

Here's Kiki in front of Pop's. The sign to her right says "Home of the Heart Attack Sandwich" and the one to her left says, "Try our suicide spud".....Yummmmmm