Texas Trip

On November 11th Robert and I drove to Manchester, NH. I got on a plane for Austin for business and he got on a plane for Houston to visit Amy and David.

After spending a couple of days in Austin, I drove to Houston on Friday to pick up Robert. Robert had spent some time with Amy, Drew, Hannah and David in Houston, and we went out to lunch with them.

We ate lunch outside in the sun under the shade of a 400 year old tree. It was dropping acorns, leaves and little green jumping spiders that really liked Amy.

We then drove to Beaumont to spend some time with my brother and his family. It's about an hour and a half to Beaumont. On the way there we crossed the Houston Ship Channel on a bridge that goes up around 175 feet over the channel. It was pretty nerve-wracking - like riding up and down a roller-coaster. Here's a picture of the bridge

Here are some shots of Bruce, Lorraine and Benjamin (who came home from Nagadoches for the weekend).

Friday night we ate pizza and played a really fun game called Blokus. We were all still speaking to each other after it was over, which was an accomplishment!

On Saturday we went to Gator Country. It was cool and breezy, so the gators weren't too active, but we got some great pictures.

We went on a tour to get all educated about gators. The picture above is the guide holding a 3-year old gator. She has a broken jaw - look closely at the picture - the front of her snout is always open. She couldn't survive in the wild, because she couldn't snap and grab food.

Our favorite part of the tour was seeing Big Al. He is one of the largest gators in captivity. He was sunning himself on the bank, and because it was cold, the guide was able to get in the pen and give him a kiss on the snout.


We also saw some large snapping turtles. These turtles live on the bottom and rarely move. The guide opened its mouth to show the little pink lure that looks like a worm to fish. The fish come to investigate and the turtle snaps them into its mouth. Turns out that the turtle's neck can extend 1 1/2 to 2 feet out to grab food.

Lorraine and I hit the Fabric Shop in the afternoon while Bug went with Bruce and Robert to look for a new car. His old car got totaled in a close encounter with a tree, so he's in the market for something new to drive. I found some nice fabrics for a quilt that I'm planning, and we got to preview several of the test drive cars that Bug was thinking about. I purchased the fabric, but Bug didn't purchase a car that day.

While we were in Beaumont we got to tour Uncle Bruce's wood shop. He is working on Christmas presents for their grandkids and helping some of Lorraine's Webelos scouts with their Space Derby rockets. It was fun to see all his tools and to see Grandpa's work table that used to be in the basement on Louise Ave. It was also fun to see Grandma's old piano that I practiced on for many years.

We also went to a genuine Texas BBQ to have dinner on Monday night. The food was great and the ambience terrific. Driving from Austin to Houston I saw signs for BBQ's advertising "chop beef". I got to have some - it's basically beef that is grilled first and then chopped or shredded and served in BBQ sauce.

Tuesday morning we went back to Houston. I caught a plane back to Manchester, but Robert caught one for Oakland to go visit his dad. He also stopped in to see Aunt Verlene and had a nice visit with her.

Getting Organized

I've been working on getting my office space more tidy and organized. I bought a 2-drawer file cabinent at the office supply store the other day, and found this nifty organizer.



It has up to 12 adjustable slots, but I kept one slot big for the tape and pencil sharpener. All of the miscellaneous stuff that has cluttered my desk is now nicely organized!

Now if I could just find a way to hide the cable clutter!

New England Fall Colors

Gee, here it is the 2nd of November. Where did October go? I've been taking pictures of the fall colors during the whole month, so I guess it's time to post them. They run from early in the season to around the 20th of October.




These three pictures are on the shores of Silver Lake in Wilmington. I bike by here a lot.





These shots are early in the season. The reds have been especially vivid this year. This forest is near the field owned by the 495th Radio-Controlled Flght Squadron near Andover, MA.








These 4 shots are in and around Billerica, Tewksbury and Wilmington.




I have a window seat at work. This is the view from my window looking out towards the neighboring cemetery. I love the combination of the yellow trees with the red bushes, and the backdrop of the trees surrounding the cemetery. The picture doesn't do it justice because I'm shooting through my window, but it's a great view. I saw a wild turkey run across the parking lot today.