So, this is the film my brilliant and funny 12 year old entered in a local film contest. It was the first film he has ever done. He did pretty much everything by himself, except Allen did what little editing was needed and recorded the music. Yep. Everything else was all Zane. He didn’t win any awards but, there is always next year and the year after and the year after and the year after….
This is a spider Allen discovered last night making a web in our back yard. We took a ton of pictures trying to get the perfect one. I have looked through all types of spider websites and can’t find what it is yet. I will keep looking. It was maybe around 2 inches or so, with the legs. It was huge. It was the fattest spider I have seen in a long time that wasn’t in a zoo or behind glass somewhere. I think it is a type of orb-weaver spider but, I don’t know what kind. If you know, let me know. This morning, the spider was gone and so was his web. So, if Allen hadn’t accidentally seen it in the dark, we wouldn’t have even known it was there. It is not very gratifying to know my yard can support the appetite of a spider that large. Oh well. Check out how the design on the back looks like a skull! I thought that was really cool.
I have filled up my Flickr account with all my hoards of pictures for this month. I could pay for a larger account but, I am cheap and unwilling to spend money for something I already have for free. So, it looks like picture day will be the first of every month. Luckily, it starts over every month. So, I have a bazillion pictures of all the fun stuff we have been doing and tons of stories to tell but no pictures to go with them. I am SO glad it is a short month. So, check around the first of March and see what I got for ya.
Last weekend, there was that super-hate group/cult that posted a flyer saying they were coming to Corpus. Naturally, like any normal, sane human being, I was a bit disgusted by the news. I had already asked for Saturday off so, I used the opportunity to go down there and support everything going on. According to the Corpus Christi Caller Times, there was almost three thousand people that showed up in support of the military, the largest in recent history. It was awesome to be able to participate in something like. It was the first time Allen and I have ever really joined a group to support something we believed in and it felt damn good. So, now, we are totally going to be looking for the opportunity to do something similar again. My dad and his wife participate with the Patriot Guard Riders so we knew they were there and found them. In our looking, we also discovered my cousin, Eugene, working traffic as a Corpus Christi Police Officer. He LOVED having everyone there mucking up traffic. He said he wishes we could do something like that every week. Okay, no, not really. A friend of ours, and a new member of Allen’s band HOBO, Garry, was there with his group of people. They decided since the super-hate group/cult didn’t show up and they didn’t have them to protest against, they would use the opportunity to protest the war. Please re-read that part up above about close to three thousand people there to support the military if you don’t think Garry’s group’s idea was a little poorly thought out. I was a little disappointed the super-hate group/cult didn’t show up. It is always interesting to see, from a distance, what the face of hate looks like, but, I would have been intimidated by us too. It does amaze me, however, that these people would have such strong hateful beliefs that they believe their god gives them yet, so obviously fear death, well…at least a bad beating by a large group of people. I will never come close to understanding them. Anyway, here are some pictures from the rally.
My Dad and His Wife
My Cousin, Eugene…working
The Crowd and the Bikes and the Flags
Some cool signs
A Super Cool Bike
Sunday morning was just gorgeous. Finally, the sun seemed to be peeking out at us, my sweater was on the seat next to me instead of on me, and the water was calm as glass. The only thing missing was Allen. Here are the pictures I took of my morning. Yep, that’s my finger in the last one. I think it adds a certain charm. Obviously I did it on purpose, otherwise the picture would have been SO wonderful, it would have made people cry.
Could you say no to this dog? Because I can’t. He is our lovely “little” dog, Rio. Actually, I do not know how his name is spelled. He came with the name but, I like the spelling “Reeoh”. Allen disagrees with me and he IS Allen’s dog so…. I guess it’s okay.
As some of you may already be aware, we have an African Spur-Thighed Tortoise named Thor. He is an awesome little guy who doesn’t require too much attention. Thor is a just a handful of years old. Our neighbors, however, have two African Spur-Thighed Tortoises that are over 15 years old. They are HUGE. Their intent was to breed them. However, despite them trying and trying and trying (somewhat vocally) to procreate, it just hasn’t happened. They (the neighbors)recently had them tested and, ta-da, they are both boys. So, yep, my neighbors have gay tortoises. They will actually try to hump just about anything they can climb on top of. Here are some pictures of their tortoises.
This is a picture of the male woodpecker that is boring his home into the tree in our front yard. According to my handy-dandy Birds of Texas Field Guide, it is a Golden-fronted Woodpecker. I could be wrong but, I don’t think so. I realize him and his lady making their home in our tree means there are probably bugs in the tree, which will need to be taken down sometime soon. I am SO okay with that. Being able to watch these guys tap away with their bright little heads is just awesome. There was a pair in a tree in the backyard last spring. It was great being able to watch the babies start to come out and try things out. I can’t say it is relaxing because that tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap isn’t really conducive to relaxation but, it is still interesting.
Zane had been counting down the days until Halloween. He was VERY excited it was finally here. I think he even woke up early. He was excited even thinking he couldn’t eat any gum or candy because of his last dentist visit. (We waited until he was done trick-or-treating to tell him he could eat candy.) Jaxon was probably just as excited as his brother. They started the day out by getting to carve their pumpkins.
After that was completed and all the pumpkin brains were cleaned up and they were cleaned up, they got to put on their costumes. Zane was the astronaut and Jaxon was Wolverine. (duh.) Allen took them around to see all the grandparents. Then, when I got home, me and Allen took the boys trick-or-treating. They got WAY too much candy. I don’t know how they will ever eat that much candy in one lifetime. Especially since we have been limiting them to about five pieces a day.
Yepers, we had a great Halloween.
We have been trying to live all-around healthier. We are dieting. Some of us because we have to, the others only because the other one has to. So, we know we have to throw exercise into the mix somehow. There is a nice little park a “few” blocks from our house. It is too far for an everyday walk right now with the kids but, it is nice for a once or twice a week walk. Here are some pictures of our latest excursion.
Here are some fun and interesting things we saw on our walk. The first is the view of downtown from where we were. It was really clear. The second one is a bird. I realize these are all over the place here but, I love seeing them. And, the last picture is of a huge dead fish. I know it doesn’t look that big in the picture but, it was gia-normous. The scales were larger than my thumbnails. And the eyes were…gone. But, they would have been huge it they were there. And that’s no fish tale!
AND, of course, it is a sad thing but, there was quite a bit of trash. Literally, every color of the rainbow plus some.
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