Who's the Big Dog Now

I got Zoe on Mother's Day of this year. My how things change! She still thinks she is a little lap dog (notice her back paws in the photo) which causes some problems with the real lap dog. Ranger the Rat will play with her, but sometimes, Zoe steps on him or is a little rough. Then he has to give her the what-for. Rita, the cow-dog is not nearly so patient with Zoe. Rita is the queen of mean and high dog on the chain of command. She has been putting Zoe in her place lately herding her around, stalking her, not letting Zoe get any love from the art girls. While on a walk the other day, Zoe did a high hurdle over Rita while chasing Ranger. It was a big mistake. Rita took the big dog down and chewed (literally) her out letting Zoe know who the real big dog was. Fortunately, Zoe has a great attitude about it all. She is loving and easy going. It is her tail that is a killer. Her bark is huge and will send shivers down your spine - just ask the cable guy, but she is a baby and is still a bit of a chicken heart. That is okay with me. I want a dog to look scary and tough, but not be aggressive and mean. Zoe is not aggressive, but she is impressive.

Yesterday, Ranger, Zoe and I made a trip to the vet. The ride in the cab of the truck was interesting. Zoe actually did very well, but she did sit on me at one point. It was when she sat on Ranger that we had a bit of a struggle. I wondered if it was against the law to drive with a Great Dane sitting in your lap, and why didn't I train her to ride in the bed of the truck.

Treasure

Sometimes as we are slogging along through life, we begin to think that nothing in our life is affecting those around us - that our life has become so mundane that no one really notices or cares what is going on with us. The truth is that everything we do affects those around us. Whether we choose to be happy or sad, whiny or cheery, angry or even-tempered, complaining or going with the flow, helping or sitting on the side-lines - all is important. Sometimes what we do is up-front and in your face. Sometimes just the peace in your life can be encouraging to others.

The inheritance is in the saints. Such a simple sentence with such deep meaning and value. If we have an inheritance or treasure inside of us, then we need to be sharing that treasure with others. If we think our treasure is nothing important and we sit on it or bury it somewhere for safe keeping, what have we done? Whom have we helped? If you hide your light because you think it is not big enough to be of any use, who will see it? Who can add to your fire if no one knows it is there? Peace, love, joy, patience, understanding, wisdom are good things to share. They are like a cool drink on a hot day. Such simple things can be so important.

This morning I was reading American Soldiers which is a very simple blog about a family with two sons serving in Iraq. The father shares stories of his family and emails from his sons, but it is the closeness of his family and the joys that they share that bring a blessing to the reader. This family is not falling apart or complaining; they are sharing the good stuff.

Preachers today will tell you that giving money is the way to share blessings. Sure, it can be a good thing, but it is not the treasure that most people need. It is not the treasure within us that we can give freely. Monetarily helping others is fine, but I am talking about the day to day living - the choices we make that affects those around us. Isn’t that the real treasure - what is inside us and how we live?

And when someone shares their treasure with you, and you find yourself a little richer because of it, let them know. They will be encouraged to share again and again. Thanks, Dawn, for your encouragement to me. Just when I thought, “what is the point,” you made me see that all is important - even the simple things. Thanks, commenters, for your kind words on my little painting that I almost did not post thinking that it was too simple. Your words were an encouragement to me.

Photo: The road to camp Y'shua in the Wichita Mts - not exactly the Rockies, but enjoyable with their own beauty.

Painting of the Week

In all the excitement of getting ready for camp, I did this little watercolor on Thursday and forgot to post it. I guess the ol' memory is going.

Then Next Generation

This was our weekend for Camp Y'shua in the Wichita Mountains. It was a perfect weekend weather wise. We played lots of volleyball and other sports, but this year we did something new. We took care of Grand-babies while their parents played and visited with their friends (notice the babies on the edge of the V-ball court). Ya know, it wasn't half bad. In the past, Toby and I have worn ourselves out playing V-ball, baseball, soccer, and trying to keep up with Jesse, but this year we took turns playin V-ball and watched over the next generation. Usually, after a weekend of non-stop volleyball, I am so sore that I can't move the next week. Playing with the Grand-babies is much easier on body, but still exhausting. On Friday, I did not have Grand-babies, but did play as much V-ball as I could. Toby flew in from Corpus Christi on Friday night and came to camp on Saturday. He had lots of catching up to do since he has been gone so much this summer. He got in some quality fellowship time and played V-ball and wagged kids around until he was just pretty tired.

GBN1 had an excellent time doing what she loves - being outside and running wild with her Booboo as a partner in crime. She gathered acorns in her pockets and then lost them all while running and playing. She did scrape a knee, but was a trooper about it. GBN2 is just a happy camper most of the time except when she is hungry or tired, but she seemed to love the great outdoors, too.

Of course, their Tia Jes was having a good time playing with her nieces and her own friends. The lodge (background of pic) at camp accommodates lots of folks, but most still camp out.

Here is Jesse's tent and the flag she made with three bars representing the three girls that shared the tent and a red square for danger and yellow "because it needed more color".

Toby and I spent a lot of time with the youngest generation on a large cement slab with kids going in all directions (Go Dogs Go) on an assortment of bikes, trikes, and other wheels. This is GBN2 along with the Johnson sisters - the oldest is GBN1's age. This young man is also the same age as GBN1. He was amazing on his scooter. There were a few crashes now and then due to some poor driving skills and heavy traffic, but I would say a good time was had by all.

Odd Folk

What do Okies do when they see the ocean? They get their feet wet and take silly pictures. This is us immediately upon getting to CC. Next we walked out onto the jetty where we met these interesting characters. I won't say they were homeless - maybe just odd. They were fishing a surf sail out of the water and yelled, "Take anything you find! Praise Yahweh!" I held their baby to keep him from falling in the Bay. The wife was busy holding their Bible. The husband handed the sail to an older Mexican man to carry while he lit his cigarette and pointed to his hat that said, "Praise Yahweh" and gave me a brief sermon. We made small talk on the jetty before I had to hand the baby back.

Then we met Earl who needed to use my cell phone to check on a job. Employment seemed to be a problem for Earl, and I felt very sorry for him. It probably had to do with the brown paper bag next to him, but he seemed nice enough. Jesse stood back and took pictures of my new friends.

I was glad when Toby showed up. This is an "Oklahoma Hello." Did I mention that Toby bought a new bike? How odd is that?

Cool Sites

Jake posted this really cool blogsite. While am at it, you might want to read this article by Michael Yon or any of his other articles. Good stuff, Maynard!

Different View of the Lex

Jesse finally brought me her camera and her cord. Her pictures are probably more "artsy" than mine, but both are fun. Here is her view of our trip to South Texas.

A true Texan

Jesse the pilot

Climbing around

The Flight Deck

My favorite: The Intruder

Captain Jesse and her sidekick

Day Off

I'm posting this from my computer. After church, Lindsay and her young man friend came by. He is an IT person and worked on my puter. Hopefully, it is all fixed and better. You may have noticed that I took the day off. After getting up at 4:30 AM and taking allergy medicine, I stayed up until 6:00. I guess the drugs kicked in because I went back to bed and slept late - something odd for me. It was a good day except for the wind. We go to camp this weekend in the Wichita Mountains. I would like for the weather to be perfect. Do you remember last years camp and pictures? Last year Jesse and her friends made a sign for their tent that said "The Ritz". This year Jesse made a flag for the girl's tent after studying Navy flags - something about three (girls) and danger. She wanted to make the sign for "require pilot" but thought it not appropriate for church camp and difficult to explain if asked.

South Texas Part Dos

Jesse forgot to bring the cord to her camera home from work last night - so most of the pics today came from my camera except for these two that Jesse emailed to me. The first one is a photo of me at the Baker Hotel - keep in mind that we were being very silly and Jesse had me do all sorts of silly poses. If you are wondering why I did the silly poses, well, lets just say I was caught up in the moment. The second pic is of Jesse with another vacuum cleaner. We both thought it was just too funny that we would find an old vacuum cleaner at the Baker (yesterday's pics) and then find one on the beach. They were both great photo ops, and we were very silly. You will have to wait until tomorrow before I can get my hands on her camera and show her perspective on things.

Our plan for Saturday was to start the day with a good breakfast - no chain restaurants - and hopefully something better than Blackbeard's the night before (Jesse did point out the good thing about eating at Blackbeard's was that we did not stuff ourselves). We hit the town early and drove around until we found a little cafe called Taqueria Jalisco on the southeast corner of Staples and Doddridge. It was a wonderful little family place with a great Mexican breakfast. The patrons seemed to all know each other and were very friendly making us feel right at home. I had migas, of course.

Next we headed to the Lexington. We wanted to beat the crowd and the heat by getting there early. Being mid-October, the crowd was not a problem, but it was a bit warm in places (can't imagine being there in the hot summer time). We skipped the movie and went straight to the Flight Deck to see the airplanes and runways. The Lex looks just pretty big when you are standing on the dock looking up, but when you are standing on the Flight Deck thinking about landing a plane there, it is just pretty small. I have new respect for all things Navy. We climbed up into the Navigation Bridge, Pilothouse, etc and played around. We went down to the big guns and played around on those too. I am sure we entertained the other tourist while took pictures and pretended to be the Captain or pretended to shoot the guns. Here is Jesse blowing up the 99 cent margarita place. Yes, they took silly pictures of me as well, but you will have to wait to see those tomorrow - if you are lucky. While touring the Lower Deck, we entered the Barber shop, I was about to say, "Hey Jes, take a picture of me cutting Dad's hair" but there was a man already sitting in the baber's chair, and he was completely bald, so I said, "Hey Jes, take a picture of me cutting this man's hair!" The man burst out laughing along with his friends. And we made new friends who turned out to be pretty silly themselves. When we entered the Female Berthing area, there was a sign that said, "No men allowed unless accompanied by a female..." Our new friends were very silly waiting on us to enter with them. Turns out that one of the guys was an ex-Lex navy man. The other two were ex-army.

We continued to climb all over the ship, and it is a climb sometimes with all the staircase/ladders. The whole thing was very interesting and a must-see. Jesse had to try swinging down from the bar above the stairs. We watched a film while sitting in the Ready room. Jesse said the machine shop looked much like the machine shop at Halliburton. Do they have drafters on ships, 'cause I think she is ready to join the Navy.

After a long morning at the Lex, we ate a late lunch at the City Diner which had excellent food and great atmosphere - very funky. The walking and climbing plus a big meal took their toll and we had to stop for a power nap before we changed into our beach clothes and had some more fun. We drove back to North Padre where the sand and beach are much nicer than the beachfront at the hotel. The boogie board was quite fun for catching waves and riding them in. The skimmer board was downright dangerous. Jesse never did master it, and Toby fell on his head trying to skim the waves. Although we could not help but laugh at him, I knew he would be very sore - he hit really hard. Still, we had a great time playing in the waves. We played until it was too dark to see. I thought Jesse would want to find a funky place and maybe hear some music or something, but she was as tired as we were so we headed back to the hotel to clean up and relax watching a movie from the king size bed.

Sunday morning we went back to Jalisco's for breakfast. I had planned on eating pancakes, but I found my self ordering migas again. Hmm, they had great homemade tortillas, too. Then it was time to tell Toby good-bye and head north. The drive home was uneventful. I hate I-35, but it does allow you to drive 75 or more. As we drove into Wichita Falls (had to pick up the rat terrier - notice the beach towel, boogie board and ice chest) we hit the cold front coming from the north. Welcome back to OK and the cool fall. By the way, it is not wise to take a close-up flash picture of someone who is driving.

South Texas

Our trip to South Texas was great, but short. Our plan was to drive to Austin on Thursday afternoon and spend the night with my brother and Catherine. Other than that, we made few plans hoping to have great adventures as we went. On the way, we stopped for a fun photo op in Mineral Wells at the old Baker Hotel. What a lovely old building! What a waste that it is abandoned! We took lots of silly photos of each other. Jesse had her camera and I had mine. These photos are all from my camera - at least until I can get a hold of hers. We did have to climb through a security fence to get some of these shots, but no one seemed to care. The pool area was great with this wonderful bridge from the hotel to the pool. The Baker must have been something in its day. Around the back of the hotel, we saw this old vacuum cleaner in the window - perfect for a silly photo. The cactus growing out of the building was interesting. The stop in MW took us about an hour, but it was well worth it to see the Baker and have some laughs. You can google Baker Hotel to get more info and some interesting ghost stories.

We were a little later getting into Austin due to our stop in MW and still hit a traffic jam on I-35. Catherine and Craig had a wonderful supper ready for us and lots of good visiting time. My niece, Nina, was there making pesto with Catherine. Nina is in college at UT. She has a spot on a radio station whose motto is "None of the hits all of the time." She told some fun stories in her quiet, easy going way. We did not get to see my nephew, Adam, but we heard he is doing well, working, and going to school. Hopefully, we will get to see him at Thanksgiving. I have always said that if you want some fun, look my brother up when you get to Austin. Now he has Catherine to make things even more fun. They make a great team.

We left Austin after a wonderful breakfast of migas and some sort of special coffee at a nearby cafe. Catherine will have to comment and tell us what the coffee was and where we were, because I am not sure how to spell Curra's. We got to CC in the heat of the day, changed into our "hoochiefied" clothes and hit the beach. We walked the beach and then out onto a narrow jetty. I made friends with several homeless folks - Jesse had her camera so you will have to wait for those pics. As for the story, well, lets just say I must have the sort of face that says, "You can talk to me - I'm easy." We found another vacuum cleaner (photo later) in the sand of the bay for another photo op. When Toby got off work about 3 PM, and he joined us on the beach. We found this replica of the Nina docked at the bay in CC. Then we went to find the 99 cent margaritas that Jesse had read about in some brochure. The margarita place was on the beach overlooking the Lexington (more photo ops). We had some boiled shrimp and a few margaritas. We probably should have stayed there for supper since the food being served looked pretty good, but we decided to head to Blackbeard's for supper and more adventure. There had been a Blackbeard's in South Padre that we used to frequent when we lived in McAllen. It was a great place to eat. The Blackbeard's in CC turned out to be not so good. The food was just bad. It was such a disappointment. After dinner, we headed back to the beach - North Padre this time - for a stroll while the sun set and the moon came up - wonderful evening.

I will post the rest of the story later. I need to be moving around this morning to get ready to babysit GBN1 today. But know that we had a great time and got home safely last night. We hit a strong headwind as we came in to WF. The north wind was pretty rough as if to say we should turn around and head back to South Texas.