Westfest in West, Texas

Every Labor Day weekend, thousands of people head to the little community of West, with a population of less than 5,000 (and that number is probably being very generous). There is a parade, beer, native Czech food, beer, Czech dancers in costume, beer, a kolache run, beer, arts and crafts, beer, Polka dancing, beer and good music. Did I mention beer? Well, let me tell you, there is lots of it served there, lots of it spilled there, too!!!

The beer bread sausage sandwich line was the longest when we got to West at about lunchtime. We figured that was a good sign that the food was yummy!!

And we were right!! Jalapeno beer bread, Czech sausage, mustard, sauerkraut, and shredded cheese....it was really a good sandwich!!

Watched the Czech dancers for a while. Thank goodness the weather was much cooler than in years past. These poor folks nearly melt in those costumes!!! We headed home on the motorcycle mid-afternoon. It was a nice adventure for the day!!

Greg's Smoker

Greg has been making noise about a smoker for a while now. When he started talking about "building" his own, knowing him as I do, I figured it would be much cheaper if we could find one for sale!!! Craigslist to the rescue!! I found this one and the rest is history. I didn't see it before but apparently he cleaned it up a bit. We haven't gotten to use it yet but hopefully with the cooler weather, we will get out and get some "smokin" done!!!

Bottle Tree

Looks like I need one more bottle.....

For thousands of years, superstition has held that bottles can trap bad spirits at night, which are then destroyed in the next day's sunlight - legends of "bottle "imps" and geniis in lamps originated in Arabia over three thousand years ago, and have been handed down through sub-Saharan Africa, up to Europe, and finally to North America.

Greg made me a bottle tree. Well, he made two but we only have one up so far. I had seen one in a garden magazine and really liked it. Blue is supposedly the "preferred" color for the "bad spirits"......this blue one came from a bottle of wine Jeremy/Marci brought us from Canada, blue is hard to find. The two clear ones came from the house next door after the neighbors moved out....I really thought they were pretty cool. Now I shop the wine department by bottle colors..... :)

It is done!!

No one can say we rush through home projects, they seem to drag on forever for some reason....(I know the reason just won't list him here)......

Finished the walls, found a shower curtain I could live with (glass doors will have to wait, not willing to pay that much for them right now!!)

Yes, that is a flat screen tv in the bathroom......yessss!!!!

No more projects for a while now that Greg is back in school and football season started. But I can still make my list......

Our new baby parakeet....

Our baby parakeet left the next box this past weekend while we were out of town. It is a yellowish green color with a little bit of blue on its tail.

The blue parakeet is the poppa....

...the yellow parakeet in the box is the mama (yellow and blue make green, haha), the blue one growing feathers is a sibling. We are assuming that the eggs were laid at different times, thus the difference in age of the babies. We are also assuming that not any of the other eggs are going to hatch.

This baby looks like the daddy as far as color goes. I got it out of the nestbox today and it is cuter than it looks!!!

More from Corpus

Our entertainment after Friday night's dinner outside at the hotel.....

The building next door, I think it might have been a bank??.....

Saturday evening after dinner at Snoopy's......

It was really hot until the sun went down, then it was a bit more bearable. We headed over to the beach party with my work peeps after dinner. I traveled to Corpus with a coworker in the g-car on Friday, Greg came down Saturday morning on the motorcycle so I rode it back with him on Sunday afternoon. Stopped in San Antonio and ate, then dropped in to see the kids in Round Rock for just a little bit, then on home by about 8 PM. Back to work on Monday, ready for this holiday weekend....

Corpus Christi

I had a work retreat in Corpus that started Friday, ended on Sunday at noon. The view from the room was pretty nice, Landry's Restaurant is on the right side.

The room was really nice.....soft bed with a warm comforter because I set the thermostat at 65!!

The theme was something about Waves into the Future, or something like that. Me and my partners in crime.....again......

Me and my coworkers from the Waco office......my peeps.....

Early morning photo out the window on Saturday....

Caribbean Rum Cake

Samantha and Brandon brought us a cute little rum cake from the Bahamas, apparently they make them there. This one was banana flavored, and shaped like an itty bitty bundt cake. We finally got to cut into it tonight. It was YUMMY!!!

All that is left.....at least until after the picture is taken!!!

Charley

Jonathan went home Saturday morning, then it was just me and Charley all the rest of the day.

The settings on the camera were off on this shot but I liked that the wind was blowing her hair and she was being still enough for me to take it!!

Kitty gittin' some love from Charley.....she got more than love from Charley but she is such a good, mild mannered cat. No matter how much hard love she gets from what children, I have yet to see her bite or even show her claws. As cats go, she's a good one!!

Papa made a new water feature that caught Charley's eye. We finally just took her shirt off and let her play in it.

Mmmmm......goldfish crackers and a cool beverage for an after nap snack. Sadly, Mimi has to head back to work so Charley went back to stay a couple more days with Nonnie and Pops. She was lots of fun. Hope she gets to come visit again!!

Whew!!

Charley has been in town this week while her parents are on their second honeymoon, celebrating their 10th anniversary. She stayed with us over the weekend, and so did Jonathan. I thought it would be good for the cousins to spend some time together. This was about 9 this morning, after they had had a big breakfast. Banana break!!

They seem not to notice how hot it is outside. They will play outside until they are made to come in where it is cool. Jonathan was showing Charley the finer points of throwing rocks from the driveway into Mimi's bucket that is for catching rain water. Needless to say, there isn't much water left in it!!

I think Jonathan must have told her some really funny joke, "did you hear the one about...."

The visit was not without a skirmish or two or three. They were in the big chair with all the balls we could find.

Race you to the last one.....

OK, we both got a hand on it, whose is it, Referee Mimi???

I am so glad that God realized that children should be no closer than 9 months apart, these two at 6 months apart were on the go the whole time they were here!!

San Marcos

Clerical support staff from all over the state met in San Marcos for a retreat last weekend, staying at the Embassy Suites. They put me on the top floor, the 10th. This picture kinda makes me dizzy, it didn't feel that way looking over the edge in person......

The hotel was really nice, and we each got our own room which was a living area, wet bar, and separate bedroom, and of course a bathroom. Two flat screen tv's.....

My four partners in crime, representing Austin, San Antonio, and Del Rio, and of course, Waco.

Our Chief, and my boy, Charlie.......

We had a lot of fun learning and visiting. We have another district-wide retreat coming up on a weekend in the near future in Corpus, joining with the Southern District of Texas. Looking forward to it......

We're Back!!!

Ever try taking pictures from the back of a motorcycle? Sometimes going 70 miles an hour?? We took about 1300 pictures, thankfully taking that many there are some decent ones. Notice the water on the windshield and the wet road......we rode in rain many days, on some really scary roads, with no guard rails and steep drop offs!!!

Yes, look closely, that is sleet on the ground at the top of Pikes Peak!! And sleet coming down in the picture, that is why it is so light looking. There was thunder, lightning, and sleet. Thank goodness we rode the train up!!

The ride was beautiful......even the scenes in the rearview.....
Monarch Pass...at the summit and at the bottom....What a beautiful lake!!

A timed shot.....you always feel so silly waiting for the camera to click!!

I HAD to take this picture......will get rid of the "not so good" photos and post a link. We had a wonderful time, it was hard coming back....especially to 100+ temps when it was usually anywhere from 50 to 75 degrees while we were in Colorado!!! We are ready to go back!!!

No A/C

In Poncha Springs last night in cabin with no air conditioning!!! It was in the 50's....great cool weather all week!!! Do we have to come back to that heat???On to the Royal Gorge tomorrow, not sure what is happening after that.....

Happy BD!!

Happy Birthday this week Marci and Samantha!!! Hope y'all have a great day!!

Colorado

We are in Colorado on the new motorcycle and having a great time!! Was so hard getting through the Panhandle, at one point the thermometer on the bike said it was 106, we were miserable. But once we got out of Texas, the weather began to cool off. We had a temp of 50 at one point in the mountains!! We have had rain off and on but wonderful cooler weather!! Time to hit the road.....