Only in Texas?

So I was on they way to Corpus Christi Thursday...and saw this at the gas station. I took a picture because I never seen anything quite like it. The guy driving the truck was selling them for 40 bucks a piece. I told him that I didn't really need a cow or have room to keep one, so I couldn't help him.

I wonder how he did.

Dinner at Origami makes me happy

Old Tools

Sometimes I forget that old things are the best. I had some drilling to do this afternoon and, of course, the batteries weren't charged on my handy dandy cordless screwdriver. I was peeved at the thought of having to put my project off, but then I remembered the good ol' PowrKraft that my father-in-law gave me after his dad, the previous owner of the PowrKraft, passed away. I've used it a couple of times and it has always gotten my out of a pinch. It may not be pretty, and it may have a slight electrical problem which may someday be the cause of my untimely demise, but...it's a great tool, still kickin' after all these years, and still doing what it was designed to do. I hope that when I'm old, and when I have been replaced by some newer, faster, more lightweight version of me , that every now and then I can save the day and scare the bujeezus out of them at the same time.

So we took the cabin to the beach...

A couple of my favorite piccs from our trip to Goose Island state park.

Christmas Plans

I'm hopeful today...really during this Christmas season, I've been hopeful. It's strange because I'm normally a bah humbug type...really, I haven't been that fond of Christmas in the past; or at least the commercialized Christmas I've been fed all my life. This year, however, I've been all about singing Christmas carols, going to Christmas parties, buying gifts and the whole bit. I'm not sure if it's that I'm mellowing out or if something else is different inside of me. We'll see. We've yet to actually take the long trip to East Texas and spend that time with family, but you know...I'm really looking forward to it.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is Shaune's Solitary Songwriting Escape. Next Tuesday, I'm off for some solitude at a cabin in the woods. I'll spend that time praying, writing, singing and playing guitar....oh yes, and recording. I'd like to come back with at least two songs, but I'd be OK if the trip happened to precipitate more than that.

Today, however, I'm actually in the office about to do some work that I've been putting off. After that, Kristie and I will go to Corpus for church and a meal, then tomorrow we're off to The Great State. Sometime in there I'll have to wrap Kristie's presents too. Fun times.

Peace.

A Year In Perspective

It's been almost a year since I last blogged, but with a new found affinity for Facebook and Twitter (@shaunedavid), can you really blame me? However, now that the new has worn off of those two time wasters...er, I mean "social networking tools," I've decided to try again to make Anythingtastic something that at least get's updated one week. Is that a New Year's resolution?....maybe, but I'm saving the NYR spot for some other ventures as well.

This really isn't a year in perspective. I'm at work and don't have time for that. However, I can tell you that this year was a blessed time in my life and has given me many opportunities for service and growth. I started playing at my church more, so I was able to get back into the swing of playing music, which always lights me up. I started back to finish my master's degree and learned that I really dislike online classes, but mainly because of the consistency they require. Also, this year at camp was interesting as I have taken on some new roles and responsibilities. Last but not least, Kristie and I had a great year of growing together to be an even stronger couple and have taken on some mentor roles with other couples...weird but cool.

That's the short of it. As the semester winds down, I'm finding time to hit up the blog again, but maybe...just maybe, when the semester starts up, I'll be able to keep it going.

Peace.

Whirlwind

Today was a travel day. It started around 7:30 am when I realized I could sleep no longer since Kristie was up and packing up to leave for the annual Christmas trek to East Texas. Knowing that I had done very little packing, I decided to go ahead and get started. Normally, we can leave by 10 am and be to our intended destination approximately 6 hours later...including meals, gas, and other stops...including letting the dog walk around a bit. That would have been good today, but we had a few stops to make and a few additions to our normal travel scheme.



Like we were hauling a 16' trailer with this very large mesquite tree on it. I was taking this to Pineywoods so that they can cut it into boards for our camp. The backhoe operator, always good judges of the weight of large objects, estimated this thing to be about 2000 lbs....so I was a bit tentative. We had to stop so many times to check the tie downs and the tires. It was pretty funny how many people would pull up alongside and stare at us. "Hello, it's just us. YEs, we know we have a huge tree on our trailer." We finally made it to Pienywoods around 7:30 after leaving the camp at 11:30. We amazingly stretched the first leg of our 6 hour trip into 8....nice.

Besides stretching our entire 6 hour trip into a mere 12 hours, the best part of the day had to be my final task before leaving the house this morning. Yesterday Kristie had mentioned that something was in the chimney and it sounded like it was trying to get out. A full day at work kept me from coming home to check on it, and I forgot about it last night. Regretfully, I had resigned myself to the fact that the poor animal was probably dead and I would need to remove the body or reap the benefits of a ripe carcass in the chimney for 6 days. The absolute last thing on my list this morning was to open the damper and throw away whatever I found...what I found, or more exactly what found me was a very alive and very in my living room South Texas freaked out squirrel. I had barely cracked the opening and this blur of life came flying by me and dove underneath our couch. I immediately remove our cat from the situation and begin to build a pitiful barricade to keep the squirrel in the living room and not in the rest of the house. I open the back door and before I know it the squirrel in headed toward to the great outdoors. The only problem is even though the squirrel knows the way is open, he or she cannot figure the whole door thing. We have these really low windows in our dining room and Flash the Squirrel in repeatedly throwing itself against the windows to get out. I finally have to step into the dining room (no I wasn't in the same room as the squirrel until this point) and begin to ask Flash to use the door instead of the window. Just when I think I 'm gonna have to catch this thing and let it out. It's gone. Out the door. It was the most exciting part of the day and it lasted about 5 minutes. Funny how life works like that.