Hello February

I am looking forward to February and ready to put this January in the book of history. It seemed to have flown by at this juncture. Exciting items were good projects for Thomas, a one year work anniversary for Kramer, and finalization on 2012-2013 housing for Clara. Cindy and I, well I am not sure what to add. Great weather lead to early spring cleaning and home projects as well as many miles on my bike in comparison to the last 25 years. I was at 297 which is 173 more than a previous PR in 2010.

I would say that I am mostly on track with my goals for the year. I am not sure how I pulled that off, but will be keeping my hand to the plow.

56,120

56,120 is an amazing number when you think about the fact that it is the numbers of miles I have ridden since 1988. I had some medium mileage years from 1981-1985, but that time was before I was diligent about tacking these things. A quick search revealed that the average distance between the east coast and the west coast is 3,075. I did the math and found that I have ridden across the country the equivalent of 18.25 times. It might sound impressive, but in reality it does not mean much in the light of eternity and what matters most. It does mean:

* lots of exercise * lots of heart beats * lots of quiet time * lots of water and performance food * lots of time

I had a good weekend visiting with old friends, shooting a few ducks, garage cleaning, watching movies, riding my bike.  

We had a great meal with the Schmidts and it seemed we picked up right were we left off several years ago.  It was so great to catch up on life with them.

The duckhunting was the 3rd time York and I managed one duck in the year and the one day was on the last day of the season.  It seems to happen every other year.  We need to fix that.  Our hunt took us near Hillsboro and it was success as there were a good number of birds flying.  I great time to say the least. 

I am not sure what to say about the garage, but it may be as uncluttered as it has been since we have been at the house.

The movie was "The Grey" and it was a bummer or a movie.  I never really connected with the characters and found the wolves to be too over the top much like a Godzilla movie.  They wolves could not kill the hunted fast enough.  I say don't even rent this one.

Cycling was great, the Dallas Parks Department did an awesome job cleaning things up.  It is unfortunate that they had to pick up so many plastic bottles and even worse was all of the Styrofoam.  Such a pity.  

January with Spring Rains

My word has it been raining.  I think the number is above 6 inches this week.  It has been something the area has needed for a very long time.  Some of the local lakes are back up to normal, but most have several feet to go.


The Tour de France has what is known as a "roll out" at the start of many of the stages.  It is my understanding that it is a bit like a parade to let the locals catch a  glimpse of riders as the head out of town and before they hit the open roads with race speeds.  It's somewhat of a warm up for what is to come that allows nerves to settle and legs to warm up. That is how I feel this January of 2012 is going.  It feels like we are all just warming up and that the year is not really going yet even though the month is practically over.  I am not sure, what will make it feel different. It is an unsettled feeling.



There are no dress rehearsals in life, but it sure feels like one these days. We have accomplished a lot so far, such as adding lights, cleaning out closets, and hanging ceiling fans, but it seems like we are rehearsing.

Many New Year resolutions are still on for me, but I think some are being hindered by Frozen Yogurt, my comfort food of late.  Unfortunately, those single scoops seem to be growing!


It is initiation weekend in for our daughter, but we are not a part of it this weekend.  I know that there are a lot of proud girls, moms, grandmothers and friends.  Our weekends are deeper into the school year.

Play, Playing, and Projects

 

We continue to have incredible weather.  I guess it is a positive benefit of what same say is "Global Warming".  I know that some of the ski resorts are suffering,but here in Big D I am not hearing anyone complaining.  I know that I am not.  The only complaint I have heard is that it seems to be the higher the temperatures the higher the winds.


The weather is surely helping on some construction projects.  It appears the  In and Out in Garland is getting close to be being done.

I was fortunate to be able to ride outdoors on Friday-Saturday-Sunday and then spun on Monday.  I pretty good run on training and exercise.  

The real highlight of the weekend was attending a concert that benefited Bethesda Young Life, which is Young Life for special needs people.  Playing on behalf of BYL were Bethany Dillon (wife of Shane Dillon of Shane and Shane), Drew & Ellie Holcomb and Christopher Williams. It was a great acoustic set where they each took turns playing.  Shane, also offered up one song which was fantastic.  The highlight might have been having 30 or so special people signing and worshiping.  One other big surprise was running into some old friends Eric and Theresa Davis.

Saturday in addition to riding and the concert was a day of "Elfa" organizing.  We both upgraded out closet situations.  It was amazing how many items we put together and did not have one piece missing or misaligned or faulty.  I wish I could say the same for the Hunter fan we installed on Sunday.  Sure enough after all the hard work was done and we were testing things, we realized that the pull chord for the light kit was faulty.  Oh, how frustrating to find out at 9:30 at night at the end of an hour project.


Friday, we caught the High School Musical "the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", which very entertaining.  Doug Keffer, seemed to steel the show.  It was fun seeing friends and faculty whom we have not seen in some time.

We ended this fun-filled packed weekend with dinner at Smokes in the old Kessler Park area at the Belmont Hotel.  Very tasty food and a great and unique dining experience.  Unfortunately, the smoky meat is staying with me a little longer than I would like.  We choose ribs and hummus, but the best item we tasted was the Cabrito.

Random Coats and More

Life close to a school is always interesting.  I am amazed at the number of items that are left on the school grounds and in the yards and common space in the area around the school.  We have found backpacks, coats, bikes, skooters, shoes and sports equipment.  My first thought is that someone was pulling prank or they were trying to steal something of value and dumped that which had little value.  I know that when I have helped out at Overtime it is not uncommon to have a pile of stuff left behind from the meeting.  It makes no sense to me, but often gives my a chuckle or leaves me scratching my head

Looking forward to a weekend of warm weather, theater productions, bike riding. some spring cleaning/organization along with ceiling fan repairs and some play-off pro football.

a meeting with the justice system

 Today, I had a meeting with the justice system.  I think it has been over a year since my last visit, so I guess this is happening every other year that I have been cited for running a stop sign on my bike.  I sometime understand the situation, but mostly do not, since I know that the police at one point in time were told to enfore the stop sign law at White Rock lake due to complaints of neighbors and runners.

My main issue today is that there is good evidence of a double standard.  The police and the complainers what the cyclist to strictly obey every rule and yet they do not do it themselves.  There is a running track around the entire lake and yet the runners choose to run in the street.  I get it, because if I were a runner and when I was a runner I did the same thing.  The problem is that running in the street is illegal, yet the police do not do anything about it. 

I also often see people in cars tailing too close, passing too clost, rolling stop signs and not signalling.  If we are all honest then we would all admit that we do not 100% of the time totally obey the rules.  I know that in my car I will drive as fast as I think I can without being stopped.  If I am on a side street and I can clearly see that no one is crossing or at the intersection, I will roll the stop sign.  I don't go flying through it, but I do not come to a complete and 100% stop.

It all come down with living with grace and mercy.  Give the other guy space and pass in a safe manner, proceed through an intersection in a safe and cautious manner. Consider others as more important and this big ole thing called life will go much smoother.  

PS. Ditch the headphones!

Interstate Battery

Another one bites the dust.  My 4 year battery made it a good 2 years.  Battery marketing is an interesting phenomenon.  I guess we could be offended if you take battery life literally.  I am not sure, that in the last 20 years I have ever had a battery out live its designated life.  I am always changing them out before the expiration date. It is to the point where I never expect them to go more than about 3 years.  The bad thing is that like my most recent experience, you never know when they have cranked their last crank.  The little white car has been purring along perfectly and then all of the sudden all you get when you turn the key is that all too familiar clicking sound.


I have tried the Wal Mart brand, the Auto Zone brand and the Mechanic shop recommendation.  This year in honor of Norm Miller and his tireless effort with ministry like "I am Second", the Extreme Days Movie, Celebrate Freedom and many other ministries I do not know about, I am bought an "Interstate Battery" from him via the shop.  Thanks Norm, keep up the fight!

Near Perfect Weekend

We had and nice weekend that included dinner with friends, dominoes, the “I am Second” book launch, Football, cycling, house projects and dinner with dad and Uncle Malcolm. I would call this my kind of weekend.

We have had great weather. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. Today for example the temperatures are going to be in the 70's with some clouds. The last several days it has been sunny with temperatures in the mid to upper 50s. I could stand to have the whole winter go this way, although we might need a good hard freeze to kill some bugs and weeds.

 

Oh yeah, I have weeds in part thanks to the mild weather, but also due to a new sprinkler system. I am looking forward to having grass, but in the mean time need to learn the schedule for per-emergent weed killer while keeping my St. Augustine growing.

One very interesting thing from the weekend was running to old friends at the “I am second” book launch. It was funny that on the way to the event, John and Bev were talking about this certain family, but we were not putting the names together, but once we saw and heard the names of the Curtis's we knew right away we had a history and low and behold it finally h it us that our boys used to play together in elementary school. The book launch was fun and enlightening and offered us the chance to tour a small portion of the Hope Center.

Thinking through pictures from the last several days, I was reminded how much I ritualized life in terms of prepping for the next day. It is a bad attribute for long term planning. My alarm continues to ring at the same time every day, I have my morning work-out bag in the same place, I have my cycling stuff hanging in the same area and almost every night I am making steal-cut oats before I go to bed.  I am sure my repetitious lifestyle gets boring for everyone around me.

I also love to catch the sunrise and sunsets and logged in my first sunset for my Picture a day project.

One other thing about this past weekend, I think we completed the easiest electrical project in our history. It was so nice for something to come together so easily.  We now have a nice bright hallway where you can find some old family photos and portraits.

Exchange and Me at 50

The Exchange Club officially celebrated its 50^th birthday. We had a good turn out of former Presidents. It was probably about 80% of those still around to make the 7:00 am meeting. There were nice comments and a few stories from Bob Potts and Alan Walne. It hard to believe ECLH and I started in the same year. I am not sure what to think about that.

The rest of the day has been pretty mundane. We are still looking for Tenants and cleaning up files and working on year end accounting, 1099's and such. I have cleaned out a few files which feels nice, clean and organized. The sad thing for me is that we are facing the end of a Friday without anything on the Calendar for the weekend.

I should have some warm weather and some time for cycling, but that is about it.

Ups and Downs

The year with me weighing 5 pounds more than on the 1st day of the year.  That is a bummer for me.  What is unexplainable is the fact that since that day, my weight has fluctuated 3 to 4 pounds every day.  Hopefully soon, it will begin to decline on a regular basis.  This is one reason why some weight loss programs do not want you weighing yourself daily, but for me it is and has been the best way to keep eating in check.  I can't rely on the "how your clothes feel" method.

Men's Bible Study at PCBC started today.  It is a 13 week look at Apologetics.  I like thinking about and talking about these issues, but I am only slightly enthused about the study at this point in time.  I rarely find myself in discussions with people about these types of issues and 30 minutes does not seem like enough time to really delve into the topics.  I do see the value and know I will enjoy the study in the end. 

stuck in neutral

Our baby girl headed back to school today. It elicits a not so fun feeling. It was especially unsettling today because we have rain falling down and according to the weather experts it is lasting all day and extends from San Antonio to Dallas. She was ready to get back to her place, but not really ready to get back to the stress of school. I am sure the readiness is because it fun having your own place and as fun and comforting as home is, your place is "your place".

It leaves me wishing that we would have had more opportunities to sit and visit, but between celebrations and lots of running around, the opportunities got pushed aside. I am still amazed how quick the kid's high school and college experiences have gone by. It is crazy and there is no way to slow it down. We are about to start down hill on the college responsibilities. Very hard to believe. I keep hoping to have that feeling I had when she was starting her Sophomore year in HS. That fall life seemed so fresh, so new and so exciting. We were redoing our house from a water leak, real High School was beginning, Highlandettes was up and running, we had a new car, I was realatively thin had no blood clots, TB3 was graduating, KB was off to college. Life just seemed so be all out in front of us with hope and aspirations.

Contrary to that, this year in general seems stuck in neutral. The days are clicking by, but I do not know where the time from those days has gone.

We made a quick trip to Houston for a funeral. Little Caroline's broken body has been laid to rest, so now hopefully her mom and dad can experience some closure. We are praying for peace and wisdom to try to start their family her in the short future.

TB3 has great news. He will be working on a Disney project. How fun! What an answer to prayer for us and hopefully a testiment to him and the prayer support from his family and their friends in Big D.

January @ 55 degrees

The year came in with some mild weather that has allowed me to ride both on the 1st and the 2nd.  Sunny skies and 55 degrees make for some early riding in spite of my head cold.

We have also been enjoying some home made s'mores.  Home mafe in terms of the graham cracker, the chocolate and the marshmallows thanks to the generosity of the Yorks.

Men's bible study has cranked up as well.  We are in are same ole digs but under a new name, JJ's Breakfast & Lunch..

New Beginings

You don't real get “do overs” in life, but with the start of a new year you do get a chance to start over on plans and goals.  Actually, "His mercy's are new every morning", so we really restart each day. I am one who likes to look back and try to figure out what things I can do to make me and the new year better. I have grabbed on to the definition of Insanity form Albert Einstein: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If I can make a few changes, then maybe I can have some new outcomes.

My system has been to look at life in terms of Spirit, Family, Work and Me. The bible says to make a plan and let God direct your steps, this has been my mantra as the year begins. My Test:,

• Are you closer or further from God? This in my mind with a good year in knowing God better and being closer to him (Actually, as a Christian you do not get closer or further, but your conscience awareness of Him and is involvement in your life is better or worse)
• Are you closer or further from your wife and family? This is an area that I feel good about the year, but see as an area for a lot of improvement.
• Are you increasing your income or decreasing in income? In spite of the economy I think I have faired better than many. This is always an area that is far below my desires and expectation.
• Are you more healthy or less healthy? I am probably fine here in terms in internal health, but I know for the last two years my weight has been on the upswing and not on a down swing or stability. What I am doing is going OK, but not really well.

I am not sure what to stick a couple of random things in my four categories: Household-Hunting-Learning-Photography-Trips. These seem to be more in just personal growth and enjoyment. These items are: A picture a day * A new tree and expanded drive-way * Reading * Excursions * Purchases

The last thing that currently comes to mind is my Journalling. I actually have been journalling since High School where I have to credit Mrs. Passmore for putting the idea I my head. Being a hard core low “C” student in terms of “English and writing”, this was a good way to learn how to put thoughts and words on paper. I continued this through college and life and have made it a part of my spiritual journey from keeping prayer journals to just expressing life. Most if not all of these journals have been tossed aside after reading them a year or two after the fact.

A significant event in my life that moved my journalling from pen, paper, notebooks and “word” documents to a blog format was a cycling accident by Paul Jerde. He was hit by a car while cycling home from a child’s birthday party of a family friend. His friends and family began documenting his recovery via a blog. That was the first one I had read and one a still check to this day.

I did not and did not know Paul well, but he attended “spin class” on a pretty regular basis. Spin class bike assignments are a lot like church pews and classrooms. Spinners walk into the room and go to the same bike day in and day out, if the bike is available. I am all in with this, I go to the same spot if I can. I am in the front and to the right of center. Funny, I just realize I sit in this spot at church and movies. This spot gives you a place where you are not staring at a person in front of you, have a good line of sight to the front of the room but are not being the ““front-and-center.” of everything. Paul was a guy who sat behind me. We spoke on an occasion, but never really had much conversation, typical of me and exercise and I although I did not know him well his accident was significant.

Paul was involved in a cycling accident on Mockingbird Lane and this really caught my attention, because once the City of Dallas removed road dividers on the cycling lane, riding on Mockingbird had become a little scary because of the speed of traffic and the angry nature of drivers toward cyclist. One Saturday, within a hour of so of riding the Mockingbird bridge myself, Paul was hit my a driver who was in a hurry.

I enjoyed this medium of expressions and really liked the ability to add photos to my thoughts and thus I began a blogging adventure. Blogging was further enhanced when I survived a massive DVT in the fall of 2008 and then my decision to take a picture a day for a year.

Just as in the past I have tossed out old journals and started new, this is what is happening now.........

2012

We brought the new year with old friends over a meal of fajitas and games of 42.  Thanks to the Cox for being great host and will to time the time and effort to have a huge group over for donner and festivities.


I am having trouble solidifying my New Years resolutions.  I have a good idea of where I want to head, but I am not sure what are the best steps to get there.  I am reminded of the phrase.."the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."  I have found that it is not necessarily big steps to make change but just a few little steps.  My experience for some success at weight loss has been as simple as keeping a food journal.


BIg Picture

• Know and Love God better-
• Be a better Husband and Father-
• Increase my income by at least Ten (10%) Percent-
• Be lighter and Healthier-
• Be a Better Friend and Influencer-

The question is what are the little steps and changes I need to make?

End of 2011

I am finishing up the year with a head cold and sinus drainage, but that did not keep me from catching the final sun down on the year 2011.  I am looking forward to what the new has to hold.

Post Christmas Pre New Years

We are in the lull of the end of a year.  A lull because in many years we have been off on some type of adventure, but not this year.  We are home with family enjoy the waining days of 2011. 


A huge highlight of the season was having our out-of-town son in for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I hope this continues for many more years, but I am not sure we can bank on this.  It was nice of our middle son to stay Christmas Eve with us so that we were one big happy family on Christmas Day.  This year is an off year for two of my sisters who are splitting time with family outside of Dallas and the State, thus we had dad over for breakfast and the celebration as well as gift opening.


We had our traditional meals and time together and since we were few in number this meant a movie after Christmas lunch.  This year it was Sherlock Holmes.  An enjoyable film with the typical attributes from the 1st film.  Over the week we also took in the new Mission Impossible which, like Sherlock was fun and entertaining.  We caught it on imax which always makes for a good movie experience. 

We ended the time with TB3 with a nice lunch at the Meddlesome Moth and a quick tour of the new Omni Hotel.  Lunch was wonderful.  The digs are comfortable, historic and cozy and the food was very flavorful.  The Omni really did not do anything for me.  It is very modern and in my mind did not "Wow" me at all. Everything was nice and I know it would be fun to stay there and try it out one day, but the "wow factor" was not there

Generations

Three generations! It is amazing how we can populate.  There are 16 grand-kids/great grand-kids on just one side of our family and five of the grand-kids are not married yet.  If were were to have all of our immediate family over to the house there would be 48 of us.  Luckily we are split into two families or Christmas Celebrations would be crazy.  This is a year where we are spread thin with some families traveling to see family out of town.  It will be interesting to see who all is ultimately around on Christmas Eve and day.  I am looking forward to it all.

Ginger Snap Bakers

Kitchen Goodness.  Mom and daughter whipping up not one, not two, but three different recipes of what is to be the ultimate ginger/molasses cookies.  It will make for some fun conversation on Christmas Day.


I did my taste taste and they are all fairly different, but all with a blast of ginger and cinnamon to your taste buds.


Other baking included Toffee, Peppermint Bark and chocolate dipped pretzels.  I'm gonna need to get some extra time in at the gym!

Goatee or No-Goatee

I have been vacillating between clean shaven and a Goatee.  The Goatee originally lasted approximately 15 years, but for some reason, I have wanted to remove it.  I did remove it and got little feedback.  Most was neither Pro or Con.  There have been one or two with stronger-like feelings, but all of those from not the closest of friends. Comments have been: 

• you look younger,
• you look thinner,
• I like it, I am not into facial hair
• It's so weird you don't have a goatee
• Goatee is you,  I think you need the compensation (reference to my bald head)

You would think the younger thinner comments would play hard, but at my age looking and bald head, I have looked older for some time now.  Personally, I like the feel of no facial hair, but with a bald head I think I might prefer my look with the extra hair.  The shaving savings is not much one way or the other, so that does no play into my decision.

As for now, It is no-goatee and I think it might last into the new year.  If I decided to go really short on top, then I might have to add the facial hair.

New Year Resolution pre planning

It is that time of year when I start thinking about the coming year 2012 and what things I might want to do.  I see this as a transition year with several potential changes and I am not one who easily makes changes.

Goals/Resolutions-Potentials

• Spirit: Growing Spiritually
• Bible in a year again
• Band of Brothers
• PCBC/YL
• Mind:  Retreats and Events
• Trips with my bride
• California, Beach or East Coast 
• Couples to Angel Fire
• Road Trips with Friends
• Cruise or Mexico/So. America Adventure
• Events 
• Grand Fondo somewhere
• April 15 San Diego, CA?  City Approval
• April 19-20 Sea Otter_Monteray, CA
• July 8 Axel Merckx Canada
• Sept. 29 Levi's King Ridge Santa Rosa, CA reg. 1/17/12
•  Shiner GASP no.3? (May 5)
• HHH (Aug 23)
• LiveStrong Challenge (Oct 21)
• HUnting
• Ozona: Axis, white tail, and Quail
• Montana: Mulie and an Elk
• Kansas: Deer, Duck and Pheasant (1st or 2nd week in Dec)
• Body: 
• Cycling:  5,000 miles (Bailey Bike?)
• Core Work:
• Misc. Items:  
• A picture a day
• Mini Countryman

 Interesting dates this upcoming year

• 03/06/12
• 08/10/12
• 10/11/12
• 12/12/12

Christmas Party Week

It has been unseasonably warm in Big D.  This is Christmas Party week and a week I have been looking forward to.  We have three events on the Calendar where we are meeting up with friends for fellowship and celebration.  The YL Party, the Tuesdays party and the ECLH Christmas Party. 

Clara arrives Saturday and Thomas a week later.

Pheasant Fun in Kansas

Kansas Pheasant Hunt #3 sans Truitt, Jon and Tom.  I just returned from Kansas for out 3rd annual pheasant and quail hunt.  This year was not as good in terms of the amount of birds we saw, but was like the rest a great way to decompress from the big city, the hustle and bustle or Christmas and have a retreat with God and nature.  We were short 3 hunters.  Truitt with a heavy work load, Jon with some scheduling conflicts and Tom who was recovering from open heart surgery.  We did have a new guy meet us, Brian Hallman from Houston, who is a a cousin of Lisa  Briggs and a former Kansan from the metropolis of Hutchinson.


The plans were in line with plans from trips past.  Leave early on Thursday to be in Kansas in time for an evening hunt.  We then hunt Friday and Saturday and then head back to "Big D" early on Sunday.


The Thursday plan worked out in spite of a flat tire a little past Ardmore.  We were able to make a tire change,but also stopped and in Oklahoma City to get a new tire from old reliable "Discount Tire".  They had us in and out with little effort or time loss.  We made great time to Stafford and were able to manage an evening hunt although, unsuccessful in terms of shooting birds.  We flushed one rooster pheasant and that was about it.  It flushed early and no one had a shot on it.



Saturday was set up for us to try a few new areas a little further north and west of where we have been in the past.  We worked a couple of fields but rarely saw roosters and and had even fewer options for shots.  Just before lunch David Briggs and I were working a water way and we got a rooster up and both took shots.  David had a quicker pull of the trigger, but mine was the deadly one.  It felt good one to have a shot at a bird, but two to have a hit on the first time  I threw some lead.  Unfortunately, that was the only rooster we saw and those were the only two shots fired after several miles and hours of hunting.


We got to bed early on Friday in hopes to leave a little earlier on Saturday and work a few more fields where we have had some good success in the past.  We had received permission to shoot in some fields controlled by Marty Zeigler and he and his brother we going to be some reinforcements in terms of the number of walkers.  The field was available, but Marty and his brother were not.  His brother had downed a huge deer and they had to do some tracking and deer business.  In the end we found out that the deer was a 250 pound 10 point white tail.  I'd love to have seen that one.  Marty's field turned out to be the best spot of the trip.  We quickly flushed a covey of quail and several hens.  Brian  was able to get a bead on the first rooster to fly and like his quail, he had him down and we had matched the previous days kill.  We jumped several other birds, although none were in my path.  We also kicked up two more coveys of quail.  Saturday ended with a pheasant and two quail in the bag.


Since the birds were so rare this year,we actually cut the trip short and headed home by 4:00 on Saturday and made record time to be able to be in our own beds by midnight.  A great trip with great friends and another mark on the Calendar to return in 2012

Soggy Saturday

A fun Saturday of Spin, yoga, projects and rain.  It was not much fun watching Baylor beat Texas, but this is the year of RG3.  Texas is on the rise, but they have so many young players and so many player with injuries that it is not a big surprise that UT is struggling.  I am looking forward to see how this team develops the next year.


Belle is studying and did not make the day trip to Waco.  Good thing because it is a soggy Saturday with temperatures dropping as the day goes on.  It will be very cold for the White Rock Marathon.


Christmas is fast upon me and I have so much yet to do.

I avoided the malls on Sunday and pretty much stayed indoors listening to the rain fall, watching bits and pieces of High School and College football highlights as well as some professional football.  I thought hard about going to the gym, but I decided that Sunday would be a legitimate rest day.  I also decided, that I ought to add a little swimming to my winter routine to change things up.  I am having zero results in weight maintenance and thus a little extra effort will need to be expended.

Finally a Celebration

 After several attempts to pull off a birthday celebration for Beverly York at Tillman's Roadhouse, we finally made it happen.  It was almost a month after her birthday, but that did not take away from the fun it was to have a double date night.  We were all very pleased with the food, atmosphere and the whole event.  The only thing I would have changed was leaving at 6:00 instead of 7:30.  There was nothing we could do about that and it did not really affect the evening.  

We feasted on a trio of potato fries, blood orange Margaritas, malbec wine to start the meal off.  The ladies had salads with fish and mac & cheese whereas the men went with red meats.  John with the prime rib and me with a strip steak.  Everything I tasted was wonderful.  We finished the meal with homemade S'mores cooked at the table. The S'mores came with 3 flavors of homemade marshmallows, one Maple, one coffee and one orange flavored.  They were all a hit.  We are all looking forward to heading back sometime before long to try a few other items.

Thanksgiving Thoughts 2011

A Thanksgiving like most Thanksgivings.  That describes this years event.  One sister had commitments and was able to visit the weekend before the event, but was home in Houston on Thanksgiving.  The rest of the Bailey clan was in town for the celebration.  There was one member of the Schwarz clan who had to work and missed on Thursday's gathering, but was able to come up for part of the weekend.  It was especially good to have our boy in from LA, we never want to take for granted that he made it into town.  We got to take full advantage of the backyard improvements and upgrades.

One new item on the menu was bacon-wrapped venison around a jalapeno pepper.  It made for a good appetizer and a little extra lean protein for the day.  Our meals were pretty normal for us.  Turkey, dressing, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls and of course a sundry or pies including rhubarb, pecan and pumpkin along with some ginger cookies.  The second meal of the day was tamales, with beans, rice, salad and all of the same pies as  we had earlier in the day.  As always everything tasted great and for my family the Turkey dinner is an all time favorite.  It seems we all love the flavors.

 Football for  the majority of the Bailey family was great.  We all support the Cowboys and are heavy backer of the Texas Longhorns.  It is the opposite at the Schwarz clan, but all in all everyone was very nice about the situation.  It is hard to believe that we witnessed what could be the Final Texas Longhorn vs tamu Football Game or at least it could be the last one in my lifetime.  It seems a shame to loose this 100+ year old tradition.  I am as most people know, not too happy about the change, pretty much blame tamu as having gotten their feelings hurt in this big rivalry.  I don't like that for one, the series is over, two a State funded school is abandoning Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech.  The cross state rivalry kept a lot of dollars here in the state.  It now seems like a break-even in that regard to out of state money coming into town since half the game are home and half are away, and finally the Big 12 is now a little shaky.  OU and OK State did not bolt.  As some say "It is what it is".

Saturday, as part of what is becoming and annual tradition, we went out and shot shotguns.  This year we were rushed, so I would love to get a re-do on this at the next holiday.  We relieved some childhood days by watching the Muppet Movie, which is about what one would expect from a movie full of Muppets.  We did, on our own get some research done on Muppet history


It was a very fun holiday and I am so blessed to have such a great family, to live in a great community and to b blessed beyond comprehension.  The only negative, was missing out on a Thanksgiving ride.  I managed to ride on Sunday, but not on the day of 3500 calories.

3 Year Anniversary DVT

It was 3 years ago, I entered the hospital with a DVT in my left leg. I am thankful to be alive especially when I now know of several folks who did not survive such an event. The son of a lady who worked in my dad's office, a guy I know from business, John York's mom and another person from the neighborhood.. It was a little scary at the time, but even more so as I look back on the situation. I just did not have enough information to really know what peril I was in. Reading an journal entry from the day before I entered the hospital is both comical and sobering. 

I had not properly diagnosed the situation and was going to spin class and then swimming, both events were enough to create blood pressures and blood flows to dislodge the clot. I am so fortunate to be alive, which causes me to ask myself, why is it that I am still here? I am not sure I have the answers. I do know that my acknowledgment of mortality is more in the forefront of my mind. I am not sure how it has changed my living other than some diet changes that have caused some weight gain ( 173 vs 190 = 17 lbs ) and some risk changes that have slightly altered my lifestyle. My Cycling has changed in the way I cycle and the risk associated with it, but my mileage has not been affected ( 3,420 miles vs 4,172 miles = 752 mile increase ) There is a tendency to appreciate some of the beauty of life I might have overlooked before, but I do not have a urgency that I thought I might have.


Below is the journal entry from 11.21.08.
little pains: I am just a little bit tired of some of these little pains I have been feeling. 1st it was a self-diagnosed sciatic nerve issue, now it is the muscle strain issue. It is crazy to me. They are starting to slow me down. I think they are just little reminders that my real age is very much older than my perceived age. This leg issue is will hopefully end soon. It makes cycling tough, but was not an issue swimming. My entire left leg seems to be a little swollen. It was interesting watching my heart rate in spin. I thought it would affect it, but it seems it did not. Hopefully there will be a little healing today and I can push it a little harder on Saturday either at the lake on an outdoor ride or at the gym at a spin class. If I go outdoors then I can make a little progress on the 289 miles to a my new record.

Another Stop Sign Ticket on my bike

It has been another frustrating week, but I am not in a bad mood about it.......

• Dog Issues:  After our last weekend trip, we came home to a dog with some Kennel cough and what seems to be some tight of injury from some over-aggressive doggy play.  Unfortunately, the injury got infected and now she has a nice little bald spot for several weeks.
• Flat Tire:  Not too long ofter the  whole dog and vet thing, I went outside to head off for my day and had an entirely flat tire as a result of a nail.  Fortunately, it was not directly in the sidewall and I was able to salvage the rather new tire.
• Traffic Ticket:  Lastly in this chain of events, I was on a liesurely bike ride and was ticketed from rolling through a stop sign while riding my bike.  I find this the most irritating.  There is real crime like drunk drivers, drug dealers and smash-and-grabbing happening all around the lake, that my trivial lack of a full stop on my bike seems ridicules.  That cop has stopped a travesty and our streets and lives are so much safer now.  "What better thing does a cop have to do on a Sunday afternoon other then this kind of work?
• Next?:  Only time will tell

We did make gigantic steps in finishing up a yard project.  We installed some vegetation as well as finishing up some flower bed retaining walls.  It took all day Saturday and is a nice relief to have done.  There are still lots of things on the list of "To Do's", but this one is off until the Spring.

Holidays are Bearing Down on Us

We are still working on holiday plans.  The weekends are coming fast and furious.  This weekend we have an option to go to Austin for a football weekend, but then next weekend is Thanksgiving, so we are not sure we want to be out this weekend.  Dad and I are trying to get a trip to Ozona on the books.  That will have to be the 1st or 3rd weekend in December.  If that does not work out, then I am not sure what will happen.  Deer season is basically done for us.  The only other times are Christmas weekend and New years weekend and I am thinking that being out on those two is out of the question.


5K of cycling miles is unachievable seeing that I need to ride 861 miles in 6 weeks.  Weeks that contain lots of holiday and family time.  It looks like its a goal for next year, that I will need to get going on early in the year.


Its short sleeves today, but a weather change is on my door step.  Tomorrow's hight is 61.  My buddy Steve Rose is riding in 28 degrees.  If I had that resolve, then I would have made my goal.

Eleven.11.Eleven

An interesting thing I am learning about myself is that I have a fascination with numbers.  I find myself more and more intrigued and humored by how they work.  The strange thing is that although l liked math, I always struggled with it in school.  An example was Friday.  I found joy in experiencing and noticing the day  11.11.11 and in fact noted when it was11:11 on 11.11.11

It was a fun day for me especially since I headed out to the country to  be with some buddies and spend some time in a deer blind/deer stand. We saw lots of wildlife, especially buck deer.  I think the buck to doe ratio was close to 5 to 1 which is very high.  I do not know if it is an indicator of the actual population or if the culling of the doe has made them more leery of people in the woods.  The bottom line is that it makes it fun to watch and look for all big male deer that come by your way.  There was still several cull bucks to harvest, but since I have done that on two occasions, I went with the culling of the does as directed.  

I was really hoping to have some chances to shoot at turkeys and hogs, but I was never in a place where they were there and available.  One night while spotting, we crossed paths with some piglets and while dropping Brooks and D.Briggs off at the Potter Pond we say some turkey.  They actually stuck around long enough for David to get one.

I over ate, saw some great sunrises and sunsets, helped with some work on a barn, and had a some good time with the Lord.


Other pluses = shooting my AR15 and  Koffee Kup pie

Shrek at bass Performance Hall

The show Shrek is in town at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.  Our dear friends the Walkers have a daughter who is Stage Producer, so we headed over and watch a great musical.  We met up at Mi Concina's for some great Tex-Mex food and fellowship and then walked down the street to catch the show.  It was us, the Walkers, newlyweds Austin and Emily and another good friend, Delanie.

The show was great and although we did not see any big flaws, I am sure Caroline did.  It was very entertaining and very close to the original animated film.  The bonus of knowing the stage manager was a tour back stage.  There where some really amazing props, drapes and backdrops.  Being back stage really opens your eyes to all of the pieces that have to flow together to make the show so amazing.

UT Football, Make-a-Wish Weekend Adventures

This is the 2nd year to be a part of the Chi Omega Make-A-Wish fund raiser.  It was much like last year in terms of auction items and people.  This year we ran into a couple of old high school friends Jeff and Kenna Coats who have a daughter in this years pledge class and Jimmy and Laura McBride who have a daughter who is graduating this year.

Saturday morning football was great the weather was perfect.  It was cool when we got up and walked to the game, but warmed up and was sunny all through out the game.  The seats next us which have been nearly always unused were used this year.  Three by family friends of the seat owner and one by a guy who bought the seat in front of the stadium.  We squeezed Clara in with us and had a great time.  It was great fun watching Texas have an outstanding performance.  There have been too many bad games in the last two years.  



After the game we did some random time wasting by grabbing cupcakes at Hey CupCake and buying shoes for George.  After dropping Debby and George off to meet up with friends, we pulled things together for an early dinner at Z Tajas  with a couple of friends and their parents.  We missed being able to be on the porch, but had a nice table, not too loud a crowd and were able to have some nice conversation.  My meal was smoked chicken enchiladas, with beans and rice along with the complimentary corn bread that is served at your table.  LSU vs Alabama.

After dinner we all split up some to go home, some to catch the LSU vs Bama game and us to do a little shopping at the Domain.  The girls did there gig while I did mine which consisted of some window shopping and some Starbucks.

Sunday we attended Austin Stone Church and then had a fabulous meal at the Omelettry.  It was a home run of a breakfast.  Good coffee, huge fluffy egg white omelets and great wheat and pumpkin pancakes.  This place is will be on my weekend routine while in Austin.

Parents weekend   Make-A-Wish Benefit   UT Football.  These are a few things on the agenda for the weekend.  Hoping to ride a day or two, although that is looking a little doubtful.


I did have a road trip with Dad on the Calendar, but a series of events have pushed that back to another week.  Still looking forward to that as well as other good times that come with this season.  

I'm still looking for a good and long group ride.  I am looking for my own Texas Oncology Cycling jersey.  I am missing the Tour de Gruene Time Trial this year, but being with my grown up baby girl is the place for me. 

Boerne Boastings

The past weekend was spent in Boerne and the hill country of Texas at the home of David and Kay Rodger along with Ross and Debby Walker.  "So fun to connect and re-connect with good ole friends"  We had perfect fall Texas weather that made for cool evening and warm afternoons.


It's hard to believe we are at the age were you have friends in your life who have been around 30 years.  It is amazing thinking about our introductions when our kids were 4 years old, just starting school and learning team sports.  It seems that with these two couples the women were all pregnant with babies when we met.

We spent the hours chatting, watching the Rangers loose the World Series, drinking coffee and driving the hill country.  We tried out two new vineyards the Grape Creek Vineyards and Chisholm Trial Winery.  They were both fun but very different.  My favorite from Grape Creek was the 2009 Bellissimo whereas after lunch at the Peach Tree Gift Gallery and Tea Room we all enjoyed a bottle of 2010 Ghost Rider a sweet read at the Chisholm Trail Winery.

My only regrets is not having my bike and not taking some morning walks.  I ended up being very lazy over the weekend from that standpoint.