Astros Game

Tonight Kenneth and I went downtown to Minute Maid Park and took in an Astros game. They played the Cincinnati Reds and won 8-6. It was great to get out of Katy for the evening and have some time to ourselves.
I got dizzy when I looked down from where our seats were! They were so far up I finally understand why they call them the "nosebleed" seats. There wasn't a huge turn out for this game and since our tickets were free we weren't worried about the seats.
After the fourth inning we took a walk down and around the field to where a group of guys were dressed as pumas (the animal) and cheering on Oswalt. It was crazy how much quieter it got the closer we were to the field. You would have thought it would have been the opposite.
Kenneth squeezed this photo in of us in front of the field. He thought someone might take off with our camera if we asked someone to take it for us! I'm posting the picture anyway, even though he told me to delete it. I think he looks pretty good in it, don't you??

Hurricane Ike in Conroe

Hurrican Ike in Katy

Hurricane Ike, what can I say?? I don't know exactly what I expected, but what we got was pretty close. The power went in and out for most of the evening, finally going out at around three am. The winds blew from the north to the south here in Katy, the damage occurred mainly to trees and fences that ran perpendicular to it's path.
After the storm passed and the rain stopped I drove out to take pictures of the damage around town. This tree barely missed the car in the driveway!

I got such a laugh out of this spray painting on the plywood of this house. I can only imagine the owner inside with a shotgun!
This is the wooded lot next to our neighborhood. If you look closely you can see the mess Ike left behind.
Our house, clean as a whistle!! No branches or limbs in the front or back yard. I mowed yesterday before the storm so that I wouldn't have to worry about it with everything else the storm could have brought us.
My two penny hospital patients!! The only things in our yard to have any mishap happen to them. I had re-staked them a few days ago, apparently the storm just blew them sideways and with the wet soil they stayed that way. I re-staked them again and made sure they were stable. All better!!
This is Buffalo Bayou, you go over it on your way to our house. We have seen it much fuller even during normal rain storms. All in all we are fine, thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers. Sam did not need to be medicated but I was fully prepared just in case!! He spent the evening on the couch with me keeping a careful eye to make sure that "mama" was ok. Once the power was back on we both crashed and slept until almost noon. I hope everyone else is ok and that the damage they may have is minimal.

Dove Hunting

This evening after dinner Sean, Kenneth, Sam, Coco, and I went hunting. Since it was Sam's first hunt I was the observer while everyone else was on the hunt for Dove. Opening season was this past Monday and this was our first chance to get out to Sean's property.
Sam thought it was crazy to ride in the kennel. He is so used to riding in the truck with us or loose in the bed on his own. Coco only rides in a kennel so we thought it was best to put them back there together.
It was so funny to watch Sean and Kenneth hunt together. Practically mirror images with dogs in tow. When Coco heard the first shot fired she took off! Hunting comes naturally to her.

Sean and Coco work well together. He put a lot of time into training her.
If you look closely you can see the dove Kenneth is aiming at. I didn't realize that they flew as fast as they do.
The first of many hunting photos to come!! I love this one so I'll have to make sure that Linda gets one to frame. Sam only ducked and covered at the first shot, after that it was like "where did the bird go and what was that noise??"
Sean and Coco on the bank of the watering hole for the cattle. Kenneth and Sean took opposite sides of the field flushing the birds out of the trees for each other. After so many years of hunting together they work like a well oiled team.
As we were getting ready to leave the cattle began gathering by the gate. Sam had walked past a few earlier, but this time was a little different. There were some young calves from this past spring with a mature mama cow. Sam decided that this was a perfect time to play chicken with her. He would dart close, stop and stare, and when she would move forward he would tuck tail and run like it was some fabulous game. He did it over and over again until we called him away and loaded up to go home.

Happy Birthday Kristyne!!

Happy Birthday Kristyne DeRoch!! For her birthday Sean got her tickets to see Counting Crows and Maroon 5 in concert. He had to work last night so we went and had a good time celebrating.
The weather was gorgeous, instead of being hot and humid it was surprisingly comfortable with a breeze after the sun went down. Dinner at Guadalajara with margaritas and then a cold beer at the concert. That combined with great company and wonderful music, I couldn't have asked for a better evening out.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend Kenneth and I kept Sophie and Abby for Lori. We were on our way to the dog park and I couldn't resist taking these photos. Enjoy!!

Abby and Sophie... so pretty!! They did so well at our house, it is really a pleasure to dog sit them.
When you see them all together you can tell they are family. I think the rainbow of their coat colors are amazing. We played a game of look right... they all turned their heads right. Look left... they all turned their heads left. I know, it was silly of me but it was so much fun!
They could not wait to get to the park. It seemed like it took Kenneth forever to come back with breakfast when in fact it only took a few minutes.
Oh look! Daddy's back! Time to go have fun at the park! We wore them out with all of the swimming, chasing, and tackling. Abby has to go make friends with every dog at the park. Sam has to mark every tree like it's his own backyard. Sophie just wanders along enjoying the outdoors and being playful. We had a blast!

Fire Pit

This weekend Kenneth and I packed up and took off for Conroe. Kenneth has had it in his mind to build a fire pit out there and we finally made it happen. We got there late Friday and first thing Saturday morning he got up to get the excavator. Just imagine, Linda and I sitting in the living room enjoying coffee when from around the corner comes this giant green monster!! You should have seen the look on her face!!There had been a burn pile in the yard for a few months so we put the fire pit in the same place. Every couple of scoops was loaded into a trailer pulled by the lawn mower and moved to low spots in the yard. What hard work that was... and I hadn't lifted bricks yet!
During one of my breaks I took these pictures of Gretchen and Fritz, Sam's cousins and Linda and Robert's dogs. It was rare to get a good picture of them holding still. I don't think they understood all of the commotion outside.
Family picture!! An even more rare event since Gretchen cannot normally stand Sam that close to her without barking and growling. I think they were all resigned to being kept inside and gave up fighting each other.

Work in progress... There are flat rectangular pavers in a trench under the brick pavers you see. The bags that the loose rock came in were deceiving, you would have thought they only weighed ten pounds. More like thirty! After lifting twenty of them and emptying them in their proper spots a girl could get worn out! Notice Kenneth and Linda are the observers at this time... hmmm!!
Linda built be a tent like structure so that I was in the shade while I worked. It was so humid out there! I was really proud of how level the pit was turning out. Every time I laid a brick the level was there to tell me if I was off or not. Tedious work but so worth it!
Kenneth on the porch admiring his handy work. He did such a wonderful job making a place that we can all come and enjoy this fall and winter. I am so proud of him and his ingenuity!!
The finished product!!! Of course the lawn around the pit needs a little bit of work... we tore it UP!!!! I can't wait to see Robert's face when he sees it for the first time, and then when he looks around the yard! Eventually there will be an extended patio around the ring where you can place chairs and still prop your feet up on the edge. Please don't walk on it!!!! I'm not sure how well the paver glue stuff we used will work yet and I really would like it to set well. Look for an invite for the first fire!!