What a week!!!

Ok, I know it's been a week since I posted but what a week it was. After getting home from San Angelo last Sunday, my wife and I did laundry and began packing for our trip to College Station and 4-H State Roundup. The trip to CS was uneventful except for a back road or two that the GPS took us on. That did make the trip a little more exciting. Of course, the best part of the trip down was lunch at Underwood's in Brownwood! Barbeque steak, orange potato salad and cobbler, it doesn't get any better!!

Wednesday morning we were awaken to the sound of thunder and pouring rain. Our luncheon was scheduled for 11:30 but we had to stop at Roundup Headquarters before going to the conference center at the George Bush Library. It was still pouring rain and by the end of the day, College Station had received close to 7" of rain. At the luncheon, state council members announced the awards that were presented by staff and faculty of the extension service. We were the fourth ones to receive our award and to our total surprise, our son Rusty, walked up on stage to announce our award. He had taken the initiative to go get permission to present our award. He had served on state council when he was on 4-H so he was able to persuade the ones in charge to allow him to surprise us. After our luncheon, we took Rusty to lunch then went to change clothes and go to an award announcement for some of the share the fun acts. Our county had three members participating in two different categories. One of our young ladies won the vocal category. After this, we went back to the hotel to change, then Donna's boss took us to supper at Ninfa's then we went to the general assembly where we were to be announced on stage. Thursday morning, I went to an educational presentation competition where another one of our 4-H'ers was competing. She placed first in her category and of course was very excited. I went back to the hotel, picked up Donna and headed home. As we pulled into Lockney, a thunderstorm was occurring and at that moment, the lights went out all over town. I had to stumble in the house, find a flashlight, find a candle and a lighter so we could see. The power outage lasted about an hour and a half so when the lights came on, I had to go to school to restart all the servers especially since I was leaving Friday morning to take my mom to the Putman family reunion.

Friday morning my mom and I took her dog to Plainview to board, then we headed to Petersburg to pay my daughter and son-in-law's rent deposit and look at the house they rented. We then took the keys to Donna in Floydada and finally hit the road to Mineral Wells. After taking one of her cousins to supper, I went back to the hotel to rest while they went to visit. Saturday morning we got our drinks and veggie trays and headed out to Cool, TX to gather with more of the Putman descendants. About 60 Putman kinfolks showed up for lunch and visiting. We headed home about 2 PM and got back to Lockney about 6:30 PM. From Saturday to Saturday, I traveled nearly 2200 miles and spent four nights in hotels. I'm glad I'll be home for a while, at least until we head to Ruidoso in July!

During all of the traveling, I've been trying to keep up with the crazy happenings in college football. What looked like it was going to be a fruit basket turnover, turned into a very mild rearrangement including Nebraska to the Big 10, Colorado to the PAC 10 and Boise State to the Mountain West. The Big 12 will remain minus NU and CU but rumors have it that they'll invite BYU and Air Force and that the PAC 10 will invite Utah. If those three move, the MWC will go from looking like it's going to get the automatic qualification to a BCS bowl with the addition of Boise State to not amounting to much of a conference. Boise State may end up getting the worst end of the shuffle of 2010.

My closing thought for the day: "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." -- Unknown

Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. -- Philippians 3:20 (NIV)

Summer weather made itself known this weekend!!

The weekend in San Angelo went well but man it was HOT!!! At the lake late Saturday afternoon my car thermometer read 109!!! Everyone enjoyed sitting in the shade waiting for the shrimp boil. I did put away my share of shrimp. I didn't count them but it was at least 70. It was nice to go back to the hotel instead of staying in the campers because the campers' a/c was having a hard time keeping them cool. We took the grand daughters to our hotel room so my oldest daughter could get some rest. She had foot surgery on Friday but insisted on going to the shrimp boil.

It was nice to get home Sunday but now we are packing to go to College Station in the morning. My wife and I are receiving an award for leadership at State 4-H Roundup. It's a very nice honor for our roles as leaders the past 13 years.

It's official, my oldest daughter and son-in-law are taking jobs in Petersburg, just 25 miles from us. That means the grand daughters are close to us now!! My daughter will be teaching fourth grade which is out of her comfort zone since she has been teaching second grade for three years but she'll do fine.

Later this week we should all know what's going to happen in college football as far as how the conference alignments will be. Does the Big 12 stay together? Does half the Big 12 join the Pac-10 and the other half join the Mountain West? Do Nebraska and Missouri get invited to join the Big 10? There are lots of "experts" talking and writing about it, but who knows what is actually going to happen. I guess we will all wait and see!!

My closing thoughts for the night: Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves. Scottish Proverb 

My mouth is filled with Your praise And with Your glory all day long. -- Psalms 71:8 (NASB)

Big 16? Big West 16?

If the rumors come true about Texas Tech, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado joining the PAC-10, what will they call it? What will this do to the rest of the football world? Things may get interesting if schools start jumping from one conference to another. I do believe that there will be changes coming in the next couple of years because the TV money will be too enticing for the power conferences. I would really like to see the Big 12 remain intact and add 4 schools such as Boise State, Utah for the north and TCU, Houston for the south. Or how about OU & OSU go north (the old Big 8) and the south add Houston, Rice, TCU and UTEP.

And then there was one, only Betty White remains from the Golden Girls cast. Rue McClanahan passed away today. GG was a funny show to every age group. I've heard the BW is devastated over the death of her friend. I pray she can find some comfort during this time of sorrow.

The weekend is upon us and it's suppose to get HOT around here. Some forecasters are calling for temperatures around 106 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. I don't think there will be any place that will be very cool. If you're outside remember to keep hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids such as water and sports drinks. Stay cool this weekend!

My closing thought for the night: "To be brave you must see the danger and feel the fear; only then will you know what must be done to be brave."

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. -- I Chronicles 29:11 (NIV)

Quiet night at home...

I took the grand daughters to Lubbock to reunite with their mom and dad after four days with Doakie and Gramps. The house is sure quiet tonight and I'm not going to have to battle anyone to get them to go to sleep. I am looking forward to the weekend when we'll meet up with them in San Angelo at my father-in-law's shrimp boil. The three-year-old grand daughter likes shrimp nearly as much as my daughter and myself.

I'm not much of a major league baseball fan but baseball really made some news tonight. First, the first base umpire in the Detroit/Cleveland totally blew the call on what should have been the THIRD PERFECT GAME of the year. Give the ump credit for admitting his mistake after the game but that was too late for Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga. Bud Selig needs to make it right and overturn the call!! The second big thing was the announcement of the retirement of Ken Griffey, Jr after 22 years, 630 home runs and numerous outstanding catches in center field. Junior was one of the class acts in MLB even in a time when others were "cheating" with steroids and human growth hormones.

BP still can't get the oil well plugged down in the Gulf. Maybe it's time they admit that they are incapable of solving this major problem and ask for help for any and everyone that's willing to help. Can you believe that Obama is trying to distance himself from this mess?

My closing thought for the night: "You might not be able to solve the World's Problem but when you help even one person, you become part of the Solution."

Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. -- Hebrews 9:28 (NIV)

I missed a couple of nights!!

Keeping up with the two grand daughters and stormy weather has prevented me from posting the last couple of nights. I'll be taking them to meet their parents tomorrow in Lubbock. Doakie and Gramps have enjoyed having them the last several nights and days. They do keep you busy, especially the 16 month old!!!

Besides the grand daughters, we've had their Schnauzer. He's a very good dog but I found out last night that he's afraid of thunderstorms! REALLY!!  I was rocking the baby during the storm last night when I heard this loud panting and noticed my chair shaking. I discovered that Hanz was squeezed between my chair and the end table and he was shaking like he had just come out of a cold bath as well as nearly hyperventilating. When I could get him in my lap and started petting him, he calmed down. He started the same thing tonight when it started storming. I really feel sorry for the poor dog.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. We're going to San Angelo for my father-in-law's annual shrimp boil with his traveling club. We "have to" go help!! If you've never had shrimp boil, you are missing out. Shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn all boiled together in huge pots! The shrimp is my main focus. I can easily eat 75 to 100 shrimp at one of these shrimp boils. Red Lobster hates to see me coming when they do their all-you-can-eat shrimpfest in September or October but I really look forward to it about as much as I enjoy the shrimp boil.

I guess Al Gore is suffering from his own "climate change" at home since he and Tipper have announced their separation after 40 years. I am not a democrat but I do feel sorry for people that have had a lengthy marriage and it fails. (Actually I feel sorry for anyone whose marriage breaks up, unless it's because of an abusive spouse.) God said marriage is forever and it takes a team effort to make it succeed. I've had some good examples in my life, my parents were married nearly 62 years and my in-laws nearly 49 years when death separated them. If you are having marriage issues you need to do two things: 1) get in touch with God and 2) get in touch with your spouse!!

My closing thought for the day: "To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity." -- Irving Wallace

The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.-- Proverbs 16:9 (NASB)

It's Saturday night ...

The grand daughters are in hand for the next four days!! Spent a wonderful evening at the park in Plainview celebrating the great niece's 2nd birthday. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, cake and ice cream, just couldn't get any better. Watched all the little ones (there are 6 from 3 years 10 months to 16 months) run around and play all over the park. Some of the adults played horseshoes and bocce ball. The youngest grand daughter fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep while the oldest has had her bath and is in bed watching Shrek 2. It's going to be a fun but tiring next few days.

Well it looks like British Petroleum has failed to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico with the "top kill" procedure. I'm all for finding and producing our own oil so that we don't have to rely on foreign oil, but this disaster is really a setback for off-shore drilling. I hope someone somewhere comes up with a workable solution real soon!

My wife may get tired of what's on TV this weekend, a marathon of Deadliest Catch!! I've seen many of the episodes, but they're still fun to watch. I guess I missed that Captain Phil Harris had passed away in February of this year. I sure his family will miss him deeply, you could tell he had lots of love for his sons. DC will be a little different in the coming years with him not at the helm of the Cornelia Marie.

My closing thought for the day: Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not. -Nathaniel Hawthorne

From everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness. -- Psalms 103:17-18 (NIV)

A long weekend!!

It's the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. Let's remember those that gave all to defend the greatest nation in the world!! Without their ultimate sacrifice, we would not be able to do the things we do today including expressing our own opinions on our own blogs!!

Grand daughter alert!!! We are going to be fortunate enough to keep our two beautiful grand daughters (age 3 & 1) for 4 nights!! Their dad is driving a busload of choir kids to San Marcos and mom is going along for the ride so gramps and doakie get babysitting duties. That's just fine with me even though I'll have to take a day off that I wasn't planning but summer is a little more relaxed so an extra day off is no big deal.

Two entertainment icons passed away this week. Both made us smile and laugh, one lived a full life including a marriage of 75 years, the other had some issues during his adult live but he was trying to get things right. Art Linkletter was a early TV icon. I can remember watching House Party when I was growing up. I remember enjoying the segments with the kids (even though I was a kid) because, as Mr. Linkletter said, "Kids say the darndest things!" Gary Coleman, "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?", was a wonderful child actor but he had lots of trouble when he got to adulthood. They both made their marks on the world and provided us with lots of entertainment over the years.

My closing thought for the day: Remember those that gave all, starting during the Revolutionary War until the conflict today in Iraq and Afghanistan. The price they paid is so we can enjoy the freedoms we have. God Bless Them and their families.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. -- Romans 12:15 (NIV)