I feel sorry for you...

...if you don't work with fun people who like to dress alike.

*I feel sorry for you if you never had a chance to shoot a Makarov. (FUN!)

*I feel sorry for you if you don't get to see West Texas sunsets and sunrises...and enjoy the TWO double rainbows we've had this week!!

*And I feel REALLY sorry for you if you missed Jeff Walling's closing lecture of ACU's 90th annual Bible Lectureship last night. (Sorry, College Roomie who knew about Jeff Walling's speaking abilities before any of the rest of us...you would have loved last night's lesson from Micah. Yes, I said MICAH.)

Makarovniks, unite!

Here's video of Dad's Makarov and me on our first outing...

...it's a true love affair, and I called him after church last night and offered to buy it. (He did NOT say yes.)

So here's my cunning plan...Dad and Mom will have to come to Texas to get it, if they really want the Mak back. (Oh, and pry it out of my cold, dead fingers...LOL!)

P.S. What would we do without Kirsten & her trusty video camera? :-)

Wordless Wednesday

The embarrassing video footage.

Well, Kirsten was as good as her word...she has added video of me jumping off the diving board to her blog! (And YES, I have to hold my nose.)

Laugh it up.

You can see the videos at Kirsten's blog (entries on Sep. 1 & 5...one where May Bee goes off the diving board willingly on Sep. 1, and the other one where she is PUSHED by a well-meaning niece!).

September's first schizophrenic post...

First, please pray for my dad...he's been in a Virginia hospital since Tuesday, and his leg is in terrible shape! Please pray that he will be able to keep his leg! Please also pray that Mom, who is in delicate health herself, can stay strong during this ordeal. (Our brother spent the day with them and called with an update on the way back to Charlotte tonight. It is VERY serious. There is no way Karen & I can get to Mom and Dad to help, and we feel SO helpless...but we can ask you to say a quick prayer for our dad...)

Second, please also pray for Mike, who lost a friend today to an accidental death. He is a husband and father...and a friend to Mike and Mick, who are both shaken at the loss of a friend in the prime of his life.

Third, and on a much lighter note--this morning, Karen and I took a break from the stress of our situations and took her kids (and my dogs) to Abilene's 4th annual Doggie Splash Day. It only cost $2 per dog, everyone had so much fun...and the dogs and I are in the Abilene Reporter-News! Dan and Kirsten and Jaeger were there, and she has threatened to put embarrassing video footage of me (holding my nose as I went off the diving board!) on her blog.


Please remember our dad! Thank you in advance for remembering him in prayer this week...

ECLIPSE!

Did you see the lunar eclipse this morning? It was eerie and beautiful and blood-red and spooky and a whole lot of other adjectives that won't come to mind before a third cup of coffee.

I risked Texas-sized mosquitoes, dog "patties," and May Bee's ankle-destroying craters (she's a digger) to see the moon, but she was spectacular and SO worth it!

P.S. There's another lizard (gecko?) in our house. This morning, a disembodied pinkie finger ran down the hall! (No wonder I didn't mind standing in the yard and then the street at 5:30 in the morning...the scary stuff is INSIDE the house.)

P.P.S. Keep me lifted up in prayer, please. Tonight, our Ladies' Bible Class starts the book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey, and it couldn't come at a better time!

Ultra hip.

Librarians.

That's right. Librarians. (You'll need a New York Times account to read this article...or two seconds to sign up for a free account.)

Have I ever mentioned how much I adore my job?


*On a personal note: If you are the praying kind, please keep me in your prayers. (Prayer=248.3, if you're into the Dewey Decimal System...)

Wordy Wednesday

August has been BUSY and really interesting. Not only did I do three days of staff development, but I also helped the Tech Support Center set up and check the district's computers. Our computer techs work really hard, and now the teachers who worked side-by-side with them have a new appreciation for just HOW hard! Oh, and we worked in many, many rooms/wings/buildings without air conditioning.

Without air conditioning, y'all. In Texas. In August. (Did I mention that I have a new respect for our computer tech team?)

Here are a few memories of the past week:

Server issues and cables. (Lots and lots of tangled network cables, printer cords, keyboard and mouse cords, power cords, computer phone cables, power strips, extension cords...it's a wonder I haven't dreamed about a massive tangle of cords that won't come undone!)

Gum under desks. (Crickets, too!)

Sometimes with wrappers...in every color of the rainbow...

Here's a computer lab we built...without network cables. Without DESKS, even!

"Old Age and Treachery"

This sign in one of the district's gyms cracked me up. (I worked for years with the coach who wrote it...and he's a BIG guy...so y'all feel free to point out his terrible grammar, but I'm keepin' my big mouth shut!)

In front of Woodson Early Head Start. (We worked on computers all over the district this week...offices, elementary schools, high schools, you name it!)

Elementary schools are more fun, though. Madison doesn't have any statues like this...

This giant statue reminded me of Tanzy, our city zoo's elephant who died a couple of days ago at the age of 49. Now that Tanzy is has gone to that Great Veldt in the Sky, they're going to permanently move her exhibit mate, Tanya, to another zoo. Going to the zoo just won't be the same...

Story at http://tinyurl.com/3ylqgj .

UPDATE: Oh, I forgot to tell you--the four days of hard work at Tech Support were actually FUN! You could order onion rings to go with your Harlow's burger, knowing you would work them off/sweat them off later that afternoon. (And going to Mr. Gatti's with GROWNUPS was certainly a new experience!)

Dog Days Parade!

If you missed ArtWalk in downtown Abilene tonight, you missed out!

Weather Report

Damon Lane, the Weather Hunk at KTXS, just announced that today was the hottest day of 2007 here in Abilene.

Because it hit 95.

95, people! This has been the BEST SUMMER EVER here in Abilene; meanwhile Karen is up in Virginia and North Carolina, where they're sticky and swimming in humidity and OVER 100 degrees!! (In fact, it's still 102 in Charlotte at 6:18 p.m., Eastern Time.)

Getting ready to take Miss May Bee to the "Dog Days of Summer" pet parade at ArtWalk,
me

Wordless Wednesday

Toss "that feller" in jail "by his gills."

I passed this convenience store every day on my Highway 29 commute to the Greensboro Historical Museum back in 1996 and 1997. I'll be sure to stop there next time to buy something, in hopes of seeing Alisha, the Spunkiest Tar Heel in North Carolina.

You will not be able to quit watching this video..."popo," "three packs of Newports," "I'm gonna' git that little feller," "polka dot blankie," "locked up by his gills," and "towed to the POlice."

All favorites.

:-)

SALUTE to you, Alisha! Here's hoping you have a wonderful life.

This kiss, this kiss.

from http://www.fototime.com/AAA9BD1B7EE6D6D/orig.jpg
Well, the decades-old mystery of the V-J Day kiss has finally been solved! Lois Gibson, the forensic artist credited by the Guinness World Records folks for having helped police identify more criminal suspects than any other person in history, has determined that 80 year-old Glen McDuffie is the sailor in the famous Eisenstadt photograph.

And he's a TEXAN, like we couldn't have guessed. (Okay, a Tar Heel-turned-Texan, but that's okay, too.)

Read more here. Search for video clip at ABC's Good Morning, America. (Mr. McDuffie just fell in love with Diane Sawyer. He adored her, and it was so sweet...)

Exercise update: Walked/ran a little over 2 miles with the dogs this morning, one at a time, of course. Also, May Bee went down all of the 4 slides in the park...and the scariest, twistiest one TWICE (once forwards and once backwards when she changed her mind too late). One walker stopped dead in her tracks when she saw us coming out of the tunnel slide and told me she sure wished she'd brought her camcorder!

The green-eyed monster...

Trying to keep my jealousy at bay today...since BOTH of my siblings got to hear Dad's sermon this morning! That's right--Mom and Dad are having another summer Church Homecoming as two of their chicks are spending a weekend back in the nest.

Email it to me, Dad! (It won't be the same as hearing your sermon while sitting in the same pew with a sainted mother, sweet sister, and handsome brother, but it's better than nothing.)

Love,

the lone baby bird in Texas

I love my job.

AISD librarians spent all day today and yesterday in the basement of the Ad Building, working on lessons and aligning databases. Sounds awful, right? I LOVED it.

Ask me to show you the 1st person quizzes in eLibrary. Or Charles Babbage's brain in a *photos only* search. Or the Encyclopedia Britannica video clip of an anglerfish eating lunch.

You will wish you were a librarian...and you CAN be!