Strange But True

We've had coyotes in our yard since one got our white duck. I had a 22 rifle and shot 3 times at that one. On another night the dogs were barking at midnight. I took the rifle out and saw a huge coyote eating pears that had fallen from the pear tree. I took one shot and he ran so fast I could not even get another shot off.

One afternoon there was a huge wolf spider in the wellhouse. I took the handle of a shovel and smashed her. Hundreds of little spiders took off running in every direction. Amazing. We have a crop of wolf spiders for next year.

Nana and I went out into the field at about 8:00 pm to see the space shuttle fly over tonight. It was bright and fast. Makes you think about walking in space at hundreds of miles per hour.

Nana got a cheap weekend fare to go see Madison and Caleb last weekend. Boy howdy, did she have fun. Rumor is that they did too.

I finally finished with the tractor's rototiller and removed it. I had tilled up the orchard and put out 50 lbs. of oats seed and 50 lbs. of rye grass seed. Let's see if it'll rain, if the seed will sprout, and if the deer come to eat it.

I changed out my worm bins and put new paper and leaves in both. I put in a couple thousand starter worms in both piles. The last month I've harvested about 75 gallons of worm castings which have gone in the garden. I've also got three old "cooler" nurseries going to breed new worms for next spring.

Up the Poudre River

We had fun in August on our trip up the Poudre River valley in Colorado. I wanted to post a couple happy pictures with Donovan. As we were driving up he was saying, "I'm bored. I want to go home." Then we went to a fish hatchery and stopping at places as we came back down and he didn't want to go back home as he yelled, "I'm not going home. I'm staying here."

Visit from Hurricane Ike

We had an "Ike" visit today. The hurricane started here at about 5:00 am, the wind reached it's peak at about 9:00 to 11:00 am and the rain has been heavy from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Wind estimates in our area were about 55 mph (just Cat 1) and rain estimates about 8 inches. We're sad because a lady Nana worked with in Huntsville was killed by a falling tree in her bedroom this morning. Although our house is fine, see some of the trees that have blown over. Our lake which was 4 feet low is now overflowing. Many have had their homes destroyed including a neighbor who had a tree fall across his house. Although millions have lost electricity, we've been fortunate because our electricity never went out. We used the tractor to move the trees out of the driveway.

Coyotes

Well Nana and I saw 3 large coyotes with very long tails running in the field behind us last night and coming within 20 yards of our yard. I kept thinking they would run away so I went about watering and putting the ducks away. Later Nana yelled from the garden "GET THE GUN." By the time I got out there with it they finally disappeared. But we've been seeing them a lot lately, so I'm going to keep the gun handy.

A FISH Story

Well on Labor Day weekend this bass produced about 4 lbs. of meat & we estimate he must have weighted over 6 lbs. That's a 26 inch cutting board. He feed 5 hungry folks dinner with Nana's Special Fried Fish recipe. He was caught by Nana's aunt Linda's cousin Johnny shown here holding him. If this doesn't make you want to come fish, I don't know what will.

In Ft Collins Aug 9-19

Nana and I had a great time in Ft Collins in August with Alexa, Aaron, & Donovan. They are all special and we're glad things are going well for all of them. On "Faith Day" we went to a Rockies game with Nana's cousin's family. Speaker at Faith Day was former All-Star pitcher, Dave Dravecky and music was by five-time Grammy award winner Steven Curtis Chapman. We then went to Dave's BBQ after the game. Everything about the day put smiles on our faces. From left Sarah, Nick, & Lexy Stevens, Grandpa, Smokey with the sign, Alexa & Donovan, Nick Jr., Nana, & Aaron. Nana & I had a great time while there at Estes Park, Poudre River, the Fish Hatchery, Cheyenne, the Bud Brewery, on local trains, and even at the "Pouch Plunge" (dogs in the swimming pool at Ft. Collins).

With Jason in Austin, TX

Nana and I had a great time with Jason in Austin this past week. We really liked going to chilly 68 degrees Barton Spring when Austin was hitting 104 degrees. I liked watching (not joining in) as Jason swam laps in the 900 ft long pool. Imagine millions of gallons of cold water a day... The water is soooo cold it took my breath away. We also liked our trip over to Whole Food Market. I would weigh even more if I lived near one of those stores but I had to get the whole-wheat peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies. Monday evening we went to watch the bats come out of the bridge over Town Lake. It's eery seeing 1.5 million bats going out to eat 30,000 lbs. of insects a night. We also visited a couple organic gardens to get ideas. We especially liked the Boogy Creek Farm east of downtown. We wish we could get to see Jason more often, so we're scheming to bring him back to Texas.

Powell Family Reunion

Last weekend Nana and I went to the Powell Family Reunion in Wake Forest, NC. My great-grandmother was Lucy Powell Lloyd who's grandfather was Wiley Powell, seen in this picture on the left. The reunion has descendents of Wiley's eight children.

Wiley's g-g-g-g-g-grandfather was David Powell, a Welshman who came to Jamestown in 1615 where he had inherited land from the King of England. Wiley's wife was Alcy Peebles whose g-g-g-g-g-grandfather was Capt. David Peebles, a Scotsman who was paid Virginia land by the King. They came in 1647 on a smaller ship like those above on the right.

During the late 1700's many Virginians came to North Carolina in a northern section opened by the Earl of Grandville. The Powells, Peebles, and probably the Lloyds came to N.C. before 1800. Nana and I had a great time at the reunion, meeting all these 3rd, 4th, and 5th cousins who had stories of their ancestors. We especially liked touring Wiley's homestead which he purchased in 1843. We toured the Grandville County Historical Museum and Raleigh Natural History Museum (which had a special exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls).

Nana's New Pride & Joy

When I was younger I remember my parents saying they had a picture of their "Pride and Joy." I think they pulled the same trick on my brother and sister also. Here's their picture on the left.

I thought that was shocking. So I have been hestitant to ever use the words "pride and joy."

But I wanted to add a picture of Nana with her new Pride and Joy = Madison. We are very happy about our first granddaughter and looking forward to more time with her.

Here's Nana with her at about a week old. As you can see, Nana is gleaming and beaming. She just given little Madison a bath. Notice: No Tears! Nana had fun with everything she did with Madison.

Green Bay, WI

Well, after a long day of travel, here I am in Green Bay, at a cool 70 degrees (their high is colder than our low), close to the oldest continuously operating pro football Stadium. Yes "City Stadium", built in 1957, became "Lambeau Field" after Curly Lambeau died in 1965. It is so green up here since they've had a lot of rain. I have three days of training up here and go home on Friday (Green Bay to Cleveland to Houston to College Station -- only a 9 hour trip).

I met Nana at Love Field on July 15 and we drove home that night. She's missed her little Caleb and Madison ever since, so we'll have to go see them soon. Nana and I had to do a lot of watering during the past two weeks. We've watered every day since. The okra is starting to produce, while the squash is dying down.

Nana had a copperhead slither away just inches away a couple nights ago while we were unloading the mushroom mulch off the trailer. We now have a huge pile of mulch for the garden and other endeavors. I planted tomato seed from a rotten tomato in one of my old "coolers." Now I have a couple hundred "Early Girls" coming up to plant in August for this fall. I'll give away plants to whomever wants some.

Nana has been cleaning up the house. We never caught up from the last trailor load of her mom's stuff in May. Nana also wants to do a little painting in the next couple weeks.

Making Jam

I picked about two gallons of figs today. That's more than we've ever picked here. Since I can't eat that many and Nana's not going to be back until Wednesday, I'm going to try making one of my favorite jams - Strawberry-Fig Jam.

Speaking of "jamming," I have my first conference call with trainers in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines on Monday morning at 7-9 am (7-9 pm their time). So I've been studying "Creating Team Synergy," the program I'm teaching them to deliver. I'm making ideas jell on that also. I have about 30 phone calls with them over the next year, so I want the first one to make a great first impression.

Baby Madison's Arrival

The second half of June flew by. Nana and I worked hard to get ready to leave for Jimmy & Ashley's on June 23. Then we waited until Wednesday afternoon when Madison arrived. What a joyous time! Everyone there was so excited and happy to see Jimmy bring that healthy granddaughter out of the operation room and to the hospital nursery. We could tell immediately that she was doing great. And Ashley's recovery has been going well also.

I drove up to my 45th high school reunion June 28. It was so great to see all the friends I had at ole' Triad High. It was hard to get around and chat with everyone who was there, but great to see them. I'm now looking forward to the 50th.

I finished the 2000 mile road trip with a fast (but 32 mpg average) drive home July 3. It was great to see the dogs, cat, and garden again, but the 400 lb. black hog in the road sure surprised me. I was driving out into the field on the golf cart last night and startled two does about 100 feet away in the field. Instead of immediately running off, they stood still and looked at me for over a minute. And today I went down to the orchard to pick figs before the birds pecked them all. As I was picking, a male & female Cardinal dive bombed me to try to drive me away from their lunch. Sorry high flyers, I'm taking 'em all. Then Flash uncovered a rabbit in the field, and the barking chaos of the hunt ensued. And when I got back home, I saw another Whistling Duck fly up into the trees. I love nature.

Fun with Donovan

It's been so much fun having Donovan with us for 12 days! He is such an amazing boy. We worked on a puzzle, played Clue, did the "magic dice" trick, practiced telling jokes, saw the baby donkeys, saw the littlest baby deer I've ever seen, watered trees & garden, mowed grass with Nana, played games on "pianoladynancy.com," ran "quick as a flash," transported the ducks to their babysitters, fed the fish, played dominos, feed the donkeys, drove the golfcart & tractor with me, picked blackberries & raspberries, and had "sayings" that Nana and I have to write down! I can't believe how amazing he is. We love having him come so much so that after he left Nana said, "I get up looking for him -- I miss him."

As some of you heard, I passed out at church one week ago. During my short hospital stay we checked out all kinds of possibilities. Apparently my dosage on the beta-blocking blood pressure medicene was too high and my pressure dropped too low. I'm feeling much better now. Thanks for all the phone calls and best wishes.

I'm in Secaucus again tonight and tomorrow. After a 2-hour hot wait at Avis, I got here too late to visit with Jason. Then I'll be in Philly Tuesday & Wednesday. We leave for Ashley's next Monday, June 23 for the birth of Madison on June 25. Nana and I are so excited about being there with them.

We'll be thinking of Alexa and Aaron as they leave for Colorado next Friday. Moving is such an emotional roller coaster. I've never had an easy one.

Nana and I pray for each of our kids every night.

Snakes Alive!

Well, Nana and I were glad to hear that her biopsy was not cancerous. We were both very worried, so we were very happy with the good news.

Last Thursday night, I was putting water in the cattle tank when I saw a 6 ft. long rat snake (aka "chicken snake" as they eat eggs) crawling through the grass toward a big oak tree. He crawled right up that tree -- about 25 feet up to a limb. Nana had joined me about that time and was also shocked. He crawled out onto a limb into a hole. Out came two snakes all twisted up. He had found a female and they were mating at about 30 feet up in the air. I thought they were going to fall out of the tree at any minute. Kathy ran into the house to get a camera, but we can't email you the snake porn. After about 15 minutes, the one who had been in the hole, crawled back in (probably up there to lay her eggs).

The next day there was a squirrel out on that limb watching that hole most of the day. I couldn't help but think that that female rat snake loved baby squirrels also. We've been seeing those 6 ft. snakes for awhile -- I think they are getting some of the duck eggs, so staying around for more.

Buster, our tough cat, had been constipated for about a week. We took him into the vet yesterday, only to discover that he had rectal cancer which kept the muscles from working. So he had to be put to sleep. Nana and I had quite a cry over that, but buried him in a beautiful spot overlooking the lake. We both remembered him climbing trees when Fudge chased him or putting his head into Bear's mouth -- we laughed again.

I remember when Alexa's "White" kitty was killed by a bobcat and when the boys' "Black" kitty (with one eye left) was run over by a car. Those where also sad days, but today has been tougher.

Well Alexa and Donovan arrive tomorrow. Alexa will stay until Saturday and Donovan until June 16. We're going to have fun.

Busy as a Beaver

Well, Alexa's graduation went fantastic. We had a great trip up there -- staying with Ashley & Jimmy on the way up. Alexa's party was also fun -- probably the last party at the park. Aaron bought Alexa a beautiful necklace as a graduation gift. Then we went with Dale & Janis back to Ashley's for her baby shower on May 17. Dale & Janis then followed us through the back roads of Arkansas, Oklahoma, & Texas to get to our place on Monday, the 18th. These four old folks were pretty achy by the time we arrived home 10 hours later. I wish we all lived closer together.

Well, Dale caught a couple bass at about 2 pounds, but I saw his huge one get away. Nana did fry fish for us one day -- she does the best at it. But Dale was having too much fun to just fish -- changing a flat tire in the 95 degree heat, cutting trees and brush for a burn pile, and working on fixing things around this place. Janis went nuts sorting cards for us. We now have them organized.

Janis won the Pegs and Jokers game we played one night. The last night they were here, as we were playing Mexican train, Dale stomped all of us with a score of about 28 while the rest of us were close to 200 points. He went out every time but once. Nana and I had a lot of fun with Dale and Janis visiting for the week.

We got a "pod" (a cargo container 20 feet long) to put Nana's mom's stuff in. Then last Saturday and on Memorial Day we carried trailer loads of "stuff" and put it in the pod.

Nana was mowing Memorial Day evening when she yelled "snake" at me. I "ran" (as fast as my sore muscles would move) to get the gun. We thought it was a huge water Moccasin and kept the dogs away from it, but after I shot it, I saw it was just a chicken snake.

Nana's breast biopsy surgery this morning went well. She's taking it very slow today. We find out Friday afternoon whether it was just calcium deposits or possibly cancerous. I've been praying that it's just calcium. More later on that.

We go to Nana's Johnson reunion this coming weekend.

Time Flies

Who said that things slow down with retirement? Nana and I have been so busy I can't keep up with what we've done. I'm afraid to retire myself because then we'll be moving at warp speed.

Got rid of 5 ducks this past week. Finally planted the okra, eggplant, peppers, beets, and zucchini. Have had to do a lot of watering because of the draught. Brought another truckload of stuff from Nana's mom's house. Nana repainted a cabinet and has been going though boxes of stuff. Meanwhile Nana has had a fight with diverticulitus. And so on.

Last week was the annual International Team Excellence Competition and I was a judge for the 10th time. This year the competition was in Houston, so I commuted (4 hrs. a day). I judged teams from Boeing C-17 Retrofitting, from a chemical company in India, and from CSX railroad operations. All three had amazing projects and it was hard to tell who had done the best. Nana went with me on Wednesday to hear a speaker on Innovation and a speaker on Workplace environment. Then we ate lunch at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

It was great having all the kids call for “Mother’s Day.” Nana is a special mother! We're fixing to leave for Alexa's graduation this coming week. Really looking forward to this!

Unusual Happenings!

This past week had all kinds of unusual happenings! I'm going to mention a few. First, we had a mole digging holes out in the garden. Buster, our cat, went wild pretending to be a lion. We would sneak up crawling to a hole and then jump on it and act like he was fighting a huge mole. He did that for hours. I was laughing each time he "shook" the critter.

On Friday night Nana and I went to the 28th annual gospel singing in Franklin. We met Uncle Johnny and Aunt Linda at the Mexican restaurant for dinner before the singing. Then we went over to the church and got a seat right before it was to start. Somehow, Linda and Nana disappeared. The singing started at 7:00 pm and at 8:00 pm the "Sounds of Glory" -- Nana's Uncle Lanier's group came on. There were only a couple of his 6 singers there. He proceeded to tell the story - one was sick, one had his daughter's soccer game, one's daughter was having a baby that night, etc. Then he said, "but I twisted my niece Kathy and her aunt Linda's arms and they are going to sing with us." Nana walked up on stage with Linda! So for the next 30 minutes, they did a great job. I wish we had recorded it. Of course, it was a big suspenseful concert - would they know what to do. And they did.

Also, we were praying for Alexa's dissertation defense this afternoon from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm. At 4:17 I had a text message on my cell phone, "you can call me doctor daughter now." She did it! She was exhausted and will probably sleep 12 hours tonight, since she's had very little sleep for over a week. We're very happy for her.

Then tonight Nana and I saw a pair of black-bellied Whistling ducks on the lake. I heard them and saw them fly a couple times. They were very, very impressive as you can see by this picture. Bright red beaks, long pink legs, black under-belly, black & white wings, and rich brown front. First time I've ever seen them. What an unusual week.

The Frog and the Snake

As Nana said, "I've never seen that before!" -- We were driving home down the rock road when we saw a huge frog hopping down the road toward us as fast as he could. Then we saw behind him a black racer snake coming as fast as he could to catch the frog. Both headed into the ditch on the right as we drove by.

We've planted some more tomatoes and squash. The green beans are coming up and the little lemons, oranges, & grapefruit are starting to show. The asparagus is starting to slow down. I got a load of mushroom mulch (about 1 ton) on Saturday and have already spread it over the garden with the front-in loader. I need to get another load to put around trees and in flower beds.

Nana's happy as her parent's house and property sold last Thursday. We've gone to pull a few more things out of the house. I wanted to buy a seedless Mandarin orange plant at Wal-Mart that was on sale for $15, but Nana thought we didn't need it.

We're working on figuring out how to save money on gasoline. To fill up my 5 gallon can for the lawn mower, I spent about $20. We are conserving trips to town. What next?

A Great Retirement Party

On Friday afternoon, the Extension office in Walker County hosted a retirement party for Nana. The room was decorated including pictures of Nana from long ago (Dairy Princess in Madisonville, the Trashy Lady in Port Lavaca, and others). There was all that great finger food, spinach dip, fruit, ham salad on rye bread, cheeses, and other treats. People came from her distant past and recent past as well as several relatives. People brought and sent presents and flowers. She received about 60 retirement cards. I heard so many people thanking Nana for all she's done. Her District Manager gave her a beautiful plaque and clock. Needless to say, I'm very proud of her.

At the Scott Mulch Plant in Huntsville there were dozens of 18 wheelers lined up to pick up bags of mulch to take across the country. The trucks were coming out loaded rather quickly. It's that time of the year and the first time I've seen that.

It was fun having Jimmy & Ashley come down for the week with Caleb and Jimmy's parents (Arvin & Patsy). On Saturday morning they caught about a dozen bass from 2 to 3 pounds. Caleb and his grandpa Allen flew a kite. They also helped fix my rotortiller and golf cart. I finally got the garden rotortillered today -- woo-hoo! They also helped clean out some more at Nana's mom's house. They left Saturday night about 8:00 pm and got home Sunday at about 6:00 am. Madison is just beginning to show and Nana and I are looking forward to being there when she's born June 20. Nana, Grandma Allen, and I all grew up in Madison Counties (Texas, Arkansas, and Illinois).

Nana and I are happy that Alexa and Aaron will be moving to Fort Collins this summer to start work at CSU. They've been working hard to fix up the house for sale and Alexa's been working hard to finish the Ph. D. degree requirements. We're hoping Donovan will come stay with us for awhile this summer.

I caught this allergy thingee again and am coughing and sneezing continuously. I had to have a 3-hour nap this morning after I got up. I don’t like missing church, but I think the tree pollen started it and in cleaning out the shop yesterday the dust added to it.

Out with Old - In with New

The Purple Martin chicks are sticking their heads out the doorway of the birdhouses and calling for food. What a great sight!

Nana and I were given some leeks to grow a couple years ago and they've multiplied. We decided to dig up a couple and try them. We found a leek-asparagus soup recipe -- tried it with fresh asparagus from the garden -- and loved it. We then made a second pot of it this week. I had never eaten many leeks outside of a rare occurrence of soup in a restaurant.

We cleaned out more of Nana's office yesterday, but still have a little more to go. We're looking forward to getting it all done. Tomorrow's the retirement reception.

The big news is that Alexa and Aaron called last night to make it official -- they're moving to Colorado the end of June. Alexa will be at Colorado State and Aaron will find a research job in Loveland. We're excited about that.

As life moves on it seems to have a new pace. I'm still sorting all this out in my head.

It's amazing what life will bring
When God opens a new Spring.

Now in Nana's Retirement Era

Well, Nana already found our first project for her retirement -- lay a paver stone patio outside our side door. During the last rain the water stood at the side door, so we thought we'd raise the area a bit also. So she found a 50% off sale on some red paver brick at Home Depot last week and we picked it up with the truck after church yesterday. I had to put more air in the tires before we drove home slowly from Huntsville. We unloaded it today and the truck gave a sigh of relief.

As we were unloading the stone this morning, we saw a flock of about 100 blue jays fly through stopping in the trees and calling "Thief, Thief." They were looking for bird eggs in the trees to steal. Later in the afternoon I saw the wrens out in the citrus orchard fluttering around. I looked in their nest in the lemon tree and the two eggs were gone! The blue jays must have robbed them.

The lemon tree is full of bees -- more than we've seen in a year. That's great news as we were getting worried about the bee situation. I'm working the garden now and eager to put in cantaloupe. Nana and I had trouble getting the bees to pollinate melon last year.

Nana and I are feeling great as we are feeling a lot less pressure. She's almost done with her work and my work has suddenly slowed down. She has just a few more reports to do and a session later in the month. My next trip is to Dallas on April 16-17. The reduced pressure is making it obvious how much we love we other and enjoy being with each other. Wahoo!

Nana is being taken to lunch tomorrow with Nell Williams, a lady she appreciates so much. Then Nana has a doctor's appointment to discuss the mammogram from last week that showed a suspicious object. She might have to experience a biopsy. More later.

March Out Like a Lion

March flew by. I had a week (10th to 14th) in Burbank with Warner Bros. facilitating "Writing Netiquette" sessions. One beautiful evening I had a great Oriental dinner sitting outside with my talented cousin Dave (Mongo) Lloyd and his interesting writer friend, Miv, from Wales.

On March 18, Nana and I picked up Alexa and Donovan in Dallas at Love Field, spent the night with Jeff & Emily (and 2 adorable 'munchkins' as EAT puts it), and the next morning Alexa drove home in her "graduation present." Meanwhile we started our 1900 mile trip with Donovan to Big Bend Nat'l Park by stopping in Austin to stuff in Jason to go with us. God has put a taste of heaven in west Texas and Big Bend National Park. Everything was a lot of fun -- we saw a herd of about 100 big horn sheep, I saw a herd (?) of javelina (not hogs but peccary), hundreds of deer, a herd of pronghorn elk, incredible rock formations, the pink granite at Enchanted Rock State Park (near Fredericksburg) , the LBJ Ranch Park (Johnson City), hundreds of windmills (as Donovan called them - "new ones" and "old-timey ones"), the art of Marfa, and the rail tracks through Marfa where Donovan wanted to spend all his time crushing pennies. Retrieving an old railroad spike was the best part of Donovan's trip. We passed through many ghost towns - Study Butte, Terlingua, Boquillas, and others -- a moving experience for a history dreamer. And camping in a tent in the Chisos Mountain Basin with the sun going down and the full moon coming up was a spiritually moving experience. Even hot dogs and chili over a campfire was a memorable experience. But the little coyote running through our camp gave me a quick fright. Nana and Uncle Dudley (Jason) walked almost 3 hrs. and were exhausted that Saturday night. Donovan and I played P's&Q's by flipping a quarter instead of using cards. Darn - I had to get up three times in the middle of the night with TB (tiny bladder). But in so doing I saw the Big Dipper rotate around the North Star for the first time in my life! The unexpected cold and wind on Easter morning made me think of the Lord coming from the tomb.

Nana and I took Jason to the airport to fly back to NYC on March 26 and had a great Luby's lunch with Aunt Jo. Donovan fished that afternoon and on Thursday and Friday catching four 2-lb. bass and several 1-lb bluegills. The pain of his sunburn was offset by the joy of his experience. I enjoyed the fried fish at Luby's and at home!

I flew Donovan back home on March 29, enjoyed a great weekend (although suffering with either allegeries or a cold) with Alexa and Aaron, devoured a meatloaf sandwich at Cracker Barrel, heard a moving sermon on "3-way honesty" at their church, and flew back today.

I'm exhausted. Nana and I have been on the run all month and today was her last day of work - first day of "retirement" is tomorrow. I predict she'll finally sleep in. She's had a crazy busy month also - too many 4 or 5 am mornings and 1 pm bedtimes this month. I'm sure April will come in like a lamb. I'm hoping for daytimes in the garden and evenings just sitting with Nana cracking pecans.

San Antonio Weekend

Nana and I drove to San Antonio last Thursday night to pick up Sister Joy. Then on Friday we toured San Antonio - Huervos Ranchero breakfast, Alamo, Trolley Ride, Mercado, River Walk, Botanical Garden, the Four Missions, King William District, and that old Bermann hotel. It was a packed fun day.

Then on Saturday it was Nana's Aunt Euna Faye's 80th birthday party at the Country Club in LaGrange. It was a great party with Nana's aunts, uncles, and cousins (lots of them).

A great worship Sunday morning at Madisonville and then worked all afternoon to get ready for a week in Burbank. Nana and I have been tired -- sleeping long and solidly each night lately -- travel gets to us.

Workbook Frenzy

A crazy busy day yesterday. Nana helped me put together 75 workbooks yesterday to ship to Warner Bros. for my sessions there next week. Putting workbooks together - strategy, development, printing, collation, packing, and shipping it off is fun when we do it together. After that we went to a basketball game at SHSU to watch them thrash UTSA. I love b-ball, but the game made me want to coach basketball again. I had a great time when I coached little league back in about 1988-1991. It was also exciting to get the phone call from Alexa at Colorado State saying they offered her a post-doc position for next year. What a day!

Today Nana has a presentation at SHSU so I'm going with her and will get a blood test while she's there. Then we leave for San Antonio to meet Joy who's flying in for a conference. We'll spend Friday with her sight-seeing in the Alamo city.

Trip to Birmingham, Alabama

I'm at the Birmingham airport with Nana, about to fly home. We came over the weekend to visit Bill Moss (college buddy) and his wife Pat. Then yesterday I visited trainers at Maxwell AFB, Verizon Wireless in Huntsville, and at NASA's Marshall Space Center. Hopefully some new business will come out of this. Nana and I had a great time together, and I really liked having the companionship on a business trip. They can be so lonely.

Flew to NYC - It's Cold Here

I have a session at Ernst & Young tomorrow at Times Square, so I flew up today and am preparing illustrative stories and a more impressive slideshow tonight. Boy howdy -- it's cold and windy on the street. But all the people laughing and happy make this a city of energy. No wonder Jason is loving it here. I wish he were here tonight instead of Mexico City because he would know a special place for dinner.

February 26 - Went to Huntsville

I'm not sure I have time for this, but since the kids have done it, I guess I should. Here's my site. The day is as rushed as usual. I'm trying to finish two workbooks and prepare for a session in two days in which I don't know exactly what I'm doing. I'd rather be out in the garden working, but that doesn't bring in the income. My blood test today was 3.9 - a bit scary. My haircut looks good. Nana had a great meeting with her club and luncheon. She's in a rush also today. God has been good to both of us and we're laughing today.