Lessard's Lamentations

It's Time to Dig Deep

2012-01-25T04:20:00.004-06:00

With about 60 days to the New York 13.1 half marathon, it is time to officially kick of my 2012 fundraising for World Vision and clean water.

As I did last year, I will post my progress, fundraising status, information, and race results on my blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.

I hope you will visit my fundraising page to read more about this year's plan and goal. In order to $13,700.00, I plan on doing several fundraising events in addition to begging you to make a donation on my page. I will post more information as these events become more fleshed out. Fundraising will continue through the Dallas 13.1 in October.

Lastly, I am looking for corporate "sponsorship". If you have a small (or large) business and would like to make a tax-deductible donation on behalf of your business, please contact me. We can discuss options for putting your logo and website on my jersey, on this blog, FB, etc.

[[[ Click Here to Visit My Fundraising Page ]]]

I would respectfully request that you consider how you might support this fundraising effort.

As always, I thank you for your support.

SL

But Now We Have To Eat It

2012-01-01T23:52:00.003-06:00

What a fun day. Cassie and I definitely started the year right.

We decided to lay a smack down on some squirrels today, going back to our hunting land before we have to return to our lives of school and work.

We didn't actually hit any last time we hunted, so the plan was to go a bit early, site the scope in a little better, eat lunch and then hit the blind. I would bring my big rifle, as well, since it was the last day of deer season and we had seen some hog sign near the feeder.

After we arrived at the hunting area, we set up a target and sighted in the scope. After about 15 shots, we were hitting bulls-eyes, so we knew the gun was good to go.

We ate and headed towards the blind.

It didn't take a long for squirrels to show. I shot and shot and shot and never connected. The first chance and miss particularly upset me as it was a simple shot and I shot just high. After a couple of hours Cassie started getting pretty bored and she asked me if she could shoot. I told her of course, that the only reason I was shooting is because she told me to.

Not long after I gave her my permission, she spied a squirrel out of the left window. I couldn't see it the way I was sitting. Frankly, I didn't believe her that a squirrel was there because I never heard it. I just thought she was bored and wanted to shoot. She lifted the gun and while I held it to give her support, she told me she couldn't see it's head because it was behind the tree. I told her to shoot as high on the body that she could see. She tried to switch off the safety and could not...it was too hard for her to push in. I pushed it for her. She eyed to scope and fired.

At first, I was still operating under the belief that there wasn't even a squirrel there. After all the missing I had done, I thought for sure that she hadn't really scored one.

The look on her face that followed was priceless. Her aim had scored true. One look at her face, and I knew that she wasn't kidding or trying to pull one over on her dad. She was shaking and incredibly excited. I look over and there was a grey squirrel on the ground.

We recovered the squirrel and at first she didn't even want to hold it, but ultimately, she warmed up to the idea. We took photos and continued to hunt for a little while longer. She missed on the next one, as the "squirrel fever" over took her and her heavy breathing made it hard for her to aim.

We left the blind and I told her that the hard part was coming as we had to field dress the squirrel. I had never done one before, but had watched several YouTube videos to see how it was done. I made Cassie help by by holding the legs. She was interested, and not a little grossed out, at how everything worked. She helped real well and got the squirrel cleaned without too much bother.

Cassie was still so excited, so we stopped by Angie's aunt and uncle's house to share our story. They told us of some squirrel recipes, including "squirrel dumplings" that they both enjoy very much. In fact, everyone that I have heard from think that squirrel tastes very good. I'm sceptical, but believe that if we are to hunt, we need to eat our kill, or at least find someone that will. To do otherwise is, in my opinion, wasteful. Cassie agrees and we'll try a pulled pork style recipe that we found that calls for you to slow cook the squirrel until the meat falls of the bone.

We'll likely need a couple more squirrels to have enough to actually make a meal, but now that Cassie has bagged hers, she told me I am free to hunt them without her.

Now, I just need to actually hit one.

My New Hunting Buddy

2011-12-31T15:43:00.004-06:00

Today's hunt just wasn't the same.

I sat in the blind and watched the squirrels scamper around. I listened to the ducks whoosh in behind me, land in the water, and proceed to do what ducks do. I waited in vain for deer or hogs to appear. Normally, I would have been loving the experience - I like to be outdoors and the actual hunt is secondary to that experience. However, this time was different. I was thinking about my new hunting buddy and I missed her not being there with me.

You see, Cassie hunted with me on Thursday and it was the best hunt of my life - even if we missed everything at which we shot.

Cassie hasn't hunted with me prior to Thursday and when I asked her if she was interested in going, I was pleasantly surprised that she said yes. Because it was her first hunt, I wanted everything to go smoothly - as often hunting can be hard work, in difficult conditions and I didn't want anything like that to turn her off.

First, I scheduled Thursday afternoon as our day. The forecast called for sunny and warm temps in the high 60's. Since she isn't really outfitted for being in the woods, this was of paramount concern. Secondly, I wanted her to have fun, so I tried to take a lot of the work out of the hunt - even if it meant it diminished the probability of us actually bagging any game. I also had to reset my expectations; that this hunt was about us having fun together and experiencing the outdoors, not about the harvest.

We started our day in the late morning. She indicated that she might like a rifle of her own for her birthday, so we took a drive to Gander Mountain in Sherman. They have a good selection of guns and we had already been to B&S Guns, Cabelas, and Bass Pro looking for a pink .22 LR. No one had one, so Gander Mtn. was our next attempt. They didn't have any in stock, but we definitely found what we were looking for, a Remington Model 527 .22LR in Pink Camo. She indicated that this was the gun she wanted, so we talked to the sales person about when their distributor would have them in stock. We'll have to wait a couple of weeks until we can order it, but they did have the same gun in black, so I bought it for me. I figured she could use it until she gets her own and I could use it whenever I needed a small caliber gun.

We then drove to the hunting area. The first order of business was to sight in the scope on the new gun. We spent about an hour adjusting the scope until we had good groups close to bulls eye. I knew we weren't 100% sighted in, but the sun was starting its decline, so we grabbed our gear and headed for the blind; me with both the .22 and my .270 Win and her with her pellet gun. We sat and I could tell that she was terribly excited. We spoke in whispered tones about the set up. I informed her that I'd seen a lot of squirrels at the hunt area and expected to see them this afternoon, as well. However, there were none to be seen. In fact, the woods were surprisingly quiet. I explained that we likely spooked everything away with our practice shooting and that if we were quiet and still, they would probably come back. So, we waited in relative quiet.

We ended up seeing a several squirrels. We took shots at them, but missed on each one. On most occasions, we squeezed of more than one shot, but were unable to connect. Clearly, the scope still needs a little bit more adjustment. I could tell she started getting a little bored, and I suggested we wait for the feeder to go off, then wait a little after that, and if we weren't seeing anything we could go.

As the feeder went off at 5:00pm, we heard something behind us. I thought it might be a deer off in the distance, but Cassie thought it right behind the blind. She told me her heart started racing. She was right as to location, but it wasn't a deer, it was a crazy grey squirrel. Eventually, it started climbing a tree to our left and I shot at it twice, but missed both times.

We decided to call it a day, but she kept talking about how she felt when she thought a deer was right outside our blind. I know exactly how she felt, but I also know that it pales in comparison to how I felt having her by my side.

It will be the same way I feel when we go back tomorrow, my knew hunting partner by my side.

SL

The Velveteen Buck

2011-12-27T20:50:00.004-06:00

"Did it have a nutsack?"

Not understanding, I answered his question with one of my own, "What was that?"

"Your deer, did it have a nutsack?"

Thus began the solving of the mystery behind this morning's harvest.

My hunt seriously started last week when I saw a buck following his five does (Click here for that account). At the time, I thought they were the members of his harem, and I guess they could have been, but that appears to be less likely now.

Yesterday was the first opportunity that I had to hunt. My plan was to hunt hard for the entire week, as I had access to awesome hunting land and the office is shut down for the holiday break. I set my alarm for Monday morning at 4:15. Unfortunately, I wasn't careful about setting the AM or PM designation properly, so I slept until about 6:15, when I awoke on my own. Since this was about the time I wanted to get into the blind, I decided to sleep in a little more. My hunt would have to wait until the afternoon.

I finally got into the blind about 2:00pm. Legal shooting hours go from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset. This meant I could shoot until 5:53pm.

Other than an unidentified animal that ran along the tree line in front of me about 175 yards away, I saw little. Through my peripheral vision, I thought I noticed through the trees, two puffy white tails bounding on my right, but they were gone so quick I was never really certain. At about 5:40am, I heard the first of a couple of deer come into the wooded area on my left. It had gotten sufficiently dark by then, so I couldn't make them out...I never knew how many (certainly more than one) and what sex. I waited for them to leave until after six, but my bladder would no longer wait. I decided to spook them with my flashlight and shined the beam towards them. They bounded away with crashes through the timber. I was safe to depart, walk to my car, and relieve my bladder.

I had spent another wonderful afternoon spent in the woods watching crazy squirrels and listening to the sounds of nature.

Since I slept in yesterday, I was eager to get going today. So eager, in fact, that I woke on my own at about 3:15am. You think that getting up early would result in me getting to the blind on time, but it didn't. I got to the property about 6:30, and was almost to the blind when I heard the feeder go off. It is set for 7:00am, a good six minutes after legal shooting time.

As I was late to the blind and didn't want to spook anything close by, I got situated as quietly as possible. I was probably good to go at about 7:15am, and within five minutes I heard movement to my left. It was still a little dark in this wooded area, but I could make out the shape of a deer. I remained motionless as I tried to control my breathing. The deer were very cautious, but I could make out two, and then another, and another. Ultimately, it was clear that I was watching the five does from a week ago. I hoped that the buck was with them, but I couldn't see him. At the thought, my breathing became even more difficult to control. My heart was racing to match.

They funneled into the wash in front and below me. My pop-up blind is situated on the top of the bank to one of the property's tanks. The deer were about ten yards in front of me about about 10-20 feet below. I watched in silence as the single filed past me. Two mature does, a juvenile, another mature doe and another juvie. They were followed by my buck. This was the same group from last weekend. At this point, I could have tried for a shot, but decided to be patient. They were too close, my gun was not yet raised and I wasn't in position to shoot.

They continued left to right in front of me, and I soon started to think I made a mistake by waiting. They looked like they were going to continue to the right. However, the lead doe turned left and started up the rise. They were to the right of the feeder as they approached it. I thought I again was going to be denied as they now looked to be going to the right at the top of the rise, which would have put them behind another tree line. However, the lead doe turned left and went to the feeder. All of the other deer did the same.

At this point, they were far enough away from me that if I was very careful, I could arrange myself in the blind. I sat forward in my chair. It squeaked. A cautious doe looked up at me for a couple of moments, but then continued to eat. They all looked relatively relaxed. This wasn't a surprise since the feeder and the blind had been up for a week. I quietly raised my rifle and placed it on my shooting sticks. I had a very stable shot and was watching my buck through the scope as he ate. He turned broadside and was clear of the does. I couldn't control my breathing and breathed very hard through my mouth to calm down. I released the safety, exhaled halfway, held my breath and squeezed. He dropped immediately as the does scattered.

I chambered another round instantly. I've been burned by not watching and be ready to shoot again. He never moved.

I sat for a while as I regained my breathing. Unbelievably, the does returned (albeit about 50-yards away). I looked at all of them closely to make sure there wasn't a slick buck with them and they eventually went off to the right. I exited the blind and immediately went to tag the buck.

As I reached him, I noticed he was in velvet. Velvet is the soft tissue that covers their antlers when they come in. Eventually, the velvet is scraped off, shed, and the antler hardens. This should had already occurred, but on this buck it had not.

After some help from Angie's cousins who live close to where I was hunting, we removed and field dressed the deer. They were also surprised by the velvet, as was the game processor's son. However, the processor (who is an older man and has probably seen 1000's of deer) immediately knew what was up. My buck had no testicles. I didn't notice that when we were field dressing it, as Angie's cousin Russell did most of the knife work on the deer. I called him to verify and he replied that he hadn't noticed, but now that I was asking he didn't remember seeing said "nutsack". The processor went on the tell me that he's seen a couple of deer like this in his years, all of them missing their testicles. He surmised that at some point the deer likely had some kind of trauma and lost his balls. The effect of this is a little bit smaller body, a smaller rack, and velvet that wouldn't shed. Otherwise, he was healthy and a good buck. He estimated his age at 3.5-4 years old. And, in the opinion of the processor, "Real good eatin'!"

I was going to do an antler mount as a trophy, but the processor suggested a skull mount instead. He claimed I would never see another buck like this ever again...so I ordered the skull mount.

I'll never forget the story of my once in a life time buck.

The Buck Stops There

2011-12-18T22:25:00.005-06:00

I couldn't move. He was looking directly at me...hell, it felt like he was looking right through me. I couldn't understand how he could see me, but clearly he was uneasy. It may have been the fact that the five does he was with had run away in alarm, white tails up in what deer hunters call the big 'middle finger'. He was slower to leave, wanting to check out what was the cause of his concern. I don't think he actually saw me. I don't think he winded me. I don't think he heard me, but he knew something was wrong. You don't get through several seasons with a harem surrounding you without being careful. I'm hoping he doesn't get through another...but, I am getting ahead of myself.

As I walked to my spot, I couldn't get over how eerie it was walking through the woods in the pitch black. It was about 6:15am, and it was cold. I knew where I was headed, and would course correct with a quick push of the button on my bright flashlight, needed as the dim gleam on my headlamp really didn't illuminate more than a couple of feet in front of me. I had my pop-up blind on my back, my chair around my shoulder, and my rifle in my hand. I shoot an entry level Savage Arms .270 Win. Its an OK gun, but when I put a Leopold scope on it a couple of years ago, it became a much better rifle. As I emptied a magazine the previous day, I knew it was still accurate without any need for additional adjustment to the scope.

After about 15 minutes I arrived at my spot, set up the blind and got situated. I made much more noise that I would have liked, but I wasn't really expecting too much success this morning. I really wanted to set up everything and check the feeder to make sure that NEXT week was well prepared. I wouldn't have to wait a week for some excitement.

I sat and shook. It was much colder than I expected. Although decked out for winter, I was extremely uncomfortable. I had about 25 minutes before shooting light, so I doze. I had my phone set to vibrate at shooting hours which was 6:53am. As a backup, I knew that the feeder would wake me when it went off at 7:00.

I woke with the phone and again struggled with the cold. The sun was starting to come up, but I was set up in a heavily wooded area, so I never really warmed up. I checked my gun, my seat and surveyed the area through my scope to ensure that if the opportunity to shoot came about, I would be comfortable with my rest and position. I sat and waited and tried to stay warm.

First came the crows. They are loud and annoying, but I love watching them hop around looking for corn from the feeder. The squirrels descended next. In fact, a couple of squirrels were able to run off a dozen, or so, crows. However, the crows came back in greater numbers and started working on the corn again. This back and forth continued for a while...then the ducks arrived in the tank behind me. Ducks wings make a peculiar noise as they cut through the air. A large flock of ducks can make an amazing song. I listened to them for a while until they decided to fly off to another area. By the gunfire that I could hear in the distance, I thought they should have stayed with me...it would have been safer, as I wasn't hunting their kind today.

As I enjoyed the solitude, the sounds of nature, and the adrenaline that accompanies every little noise around me, I caught some movement out of the right window of the blind. I froze, although truth be told, I could no longer feel the outside temperature...there were deer in the field to my right. I was well covered by a line of trees between us, but that means I also couldn't see them well. I raise by scope to peer through it. I saw several does, five in total. A couple of larger mature does were keeping watch while the smaller ones seemed to be playing...jumping and running and generally having a good time knowing that mom was keeping an eye out.

They wandered around for a while and continued on their way. There wasn't a buck with them, but I know enough that the does often lead the way...so, I stayed motionless and quiet. Then, he showed. I saw antler, but from the side I couldn't tell if he was a legal shooter. It didn't matter anyway as I didn't have a shot through the trees. I maintained my vigilance hoping they'd show up again.

They did. About 20 minutes later, they showed on the other side of the tree line. However, they were also much further away, about 175 yards. My feeder is set up about 75 yards away from the blind and there are low hanging branches blocking a much longer shot. Additionally, the does seemed to be very cautious. They slowly started to filter down to the feeder, but the buck stayed back. 150 yards. Then, about 125 yards. I still didn't have a shot on the buck...he never really moved. He just seemed to stare at me. Before I knew it, the does had run off.

The buck just stayed there. I raised my rifle to size him up in the scope. He was about 150 yards (a makeable shot), but was directly facing me (not ideal). Additionally, the low hanging branches were very much a concern. I sized up his antlers, he was what looked to be a solid four point, with tall antlers, but not very wide. I think he is a legal buck (13 inch inside spread). I decided not to shoot. I want him broadside and closer to me....a week of no pressure getting acclimated to the blind and the feeder should do the trick. I'm going back to get him.

That's why I was there today in the first place. Not necessarily to bag this buck, but to get ready to do it right. This is the second time I've seen those five does in the same spot - so they shouldn't be going anywhere.

I think I'm going to be thinking about that buck a lot until next week.

SL

My Thoughts (and Legs) Are Racing For More

2011-12-12T20:49:00.007-06:00

I'm thinking of more. My heart is screaming for more. It's probably a good thing, since there is so much more to do.

I've been talking to Paul at World Vision on what we could do in 2012. I am thinking of something big...bigger than just 13.1 miles and $3,000. There is so much more to do and I want to do more to meet that need. I was thinking, could I raise $5,000? How about do a couple of races and raise $10,000. Then, it struck me - what about three 13.1 races next year? I think I could do that. Basically, it means training all year with no significant down time.

Now, I just needed to figure out how much I can raise and how I was going to do that...

Then, the World Vision gift catalog arrived in the mail.

The catalog is simple and wonderful. It is full of various items that can be purchased and delivered to the recipient. Although you don't get to select the recipient, you are secure that it is going to someone that needs help. Last year, the kids chose presents for others from the catalog...they chose gifts that meant something to them and they knew that the value of the gift would be taken from the budget put away for their own gifts. It was rewarding watching them chose gifts for others. If memory serves, they chose water, clothing, bibles, and livestock.

As I thumbed through the catalog, I noticed the page for a deep water well. The description reads,

Pray. That's the first thing that our well-drilling teams do when they come to a thirsty community. They take their work seriously, because they know that dirty water and poor sanitation are major contributors to the deaths of about 1.5 million children every year.

1.5 million children dying from preventable disease and diarrhea. Children dying because they don't have access to clean water. It seems so senseless, especially in the knowledge that I can get virtually unlimited clean water just by walking about 20 feet from the computer from which I am typing this message.

The description continues,

Help one of our teams drill a deep well and fit it with a hand pump. One well can provide 2,800 gallons for safe, life-sustaining water every day for up to 300 people.

Your gift will save lives for years to come, and help transform an entire community.

As I finished reading the description, I knew I found my goal. I didn't care about the price. I DON'T care about the price. All I knew is that this is what I was looking for, and I didn't need to pray about it for confirmation. I'm going to run to provide a deep water well.

I don't know how I am going to raise $13,700.00. Given the wonderful generosity of some many for the 2011 effort, I feel somewhat reluctant to ask for more. All I know is that this is a worthy, wonderful thing to work for and that I all have to do is train and run.

I trust that God will work on softening hearts.

Be a part of something that will leave a legacy. Allow God to soften your heart towards generosity to those who need what we commonly waste. Be a part of something that will transform a community and save lives for years.

What could be more important?

I will be posting more information and my fundraising page in January. In the meantime, I would appreciate your prayers for this effort and my training.

Thanks for taking this journey with me.

SL

One Foot In Front Of The Other

2011-10-16T21:41:00.002-05:00

I was just going to take it easy. I was still unsure of my right hamstring, had only done non-impact cardio all week, and was concerned of the recovery time if I pushed it too much.

That was when I left Angie and the kids at the dog park at Whiterock Lake.

I walked slowly for the first five minutes. I walked faster for the next five minutes giving me a full ten minutes of warm up. Just to be on the safe side, I walked even faster for the next five minutes. I then started running. Not fast, and not far, but running. The hamstring felt fine.

I definitely didn't push, running slower and for less distance each time for the next seven miles. It was then that I felt the hammy tighten up. It wasn't bad, so I stretched it out a bit and continued...more walking than normal, but with short bursts of running to improve my time. As I approached the dog park, I was tired and hot, but really wanted to do more than the 9-10 miles I seemed to be my plateau. I needed to know if I could do it before actually having to do it.

So, I continued. The plan was that I would continue two miles passed where Angie was, and then turn around and do the two miles back. My total would be thirteen.

As I hit 10.5 miles, I came to the conclusion I had made a terrible mistake. My legs were very tired, almost completely spent. I was becoming very dehydrated as it was quite hot, and I was a mile and a half away from my destination.

I thought hard about what I was doing out there...about the money that all of my supporters had donated, and how, according to WorldVision, $3000 can provide 60 people clean water FOR LIFE!!! I am astounded that I am a part of that. 60 people will have clean water for the rest of their lives because eighteen weeks ago I decided to take a challenge and because I have such generous family, friends, and colleagues.

As I thought of this, and the almost $100,000.00 that the entire Team Springcreek has earned, I figured I would stick to the plan and go the remaining half mile. Once there, I could turn around a return to Angie.

I continued to try to run, not getting more than perhaps a couple hundred of feet each time. I started looking at my remaining distance as short goals to each water fountain to wet my mouth. At about 12 miles, I started to think that I might have to call Angie to pick me up. My legs were exhausted. I must have been walking like a drunken sailor. I just focused on one foot in front of the other. I started to panic a bit as each stretch of path opened in front of me. I really didn't think I was going to be able to make it back. Eventually, as I turned the corner and saw the dog park, I realized I had made it. I looked at the GPS...13.13 miles in 3:44:45.

My legs started cramping and I was miserable. As Angie arrived at the car, I got into the passenger seat and felt like crying. My legs hurt like I've never felt before, but I was more emotionally drained than anything. Angie looked at me with pride, and I felt that pride, but also the fear that I have to do it again this weekend.

The 13.1 is this Saturday. I will do my best to complete it...whether it takes three hours or 13 hours. I will put one foot in front of the other until I cross that finish line.

I will do it for my supporters and I will do it for myself...most importantly, I will do it for the people of Katito, Kenya.

Thank you to all of you who have supported, whether through your donation, your comments, or your prayers. Please pray for me and the entire Team Springcreek and the WorldVision team on Saturday.

THERE'S STILL TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. If you have not yet given and would like to, please click here.

SL

A Drink of Water

2011-09-25T16:24:00.002-05:00

As I approached mile eight this weekend I had a choice to make...do I continue to push and try to do 10, or do I stop content that I completed eight fifteen-minute miles? My left calf was threatening to cramp and I was starting to come to the determination that I was dehydrating. However, I also realized that I was in a pretty good rhythm, so I continued.

After completing 10 miles, I walked for a couple of minutes to cool down. My calf was worsening and I knew I needed to get some water in me. I had a couple of bottles of water in the car, so when I got back to them I downed both of them quickly. I was glad to have that drink, and I considered our brothers and sisters in Africa that cannot get water so easily. Upon thinking about them, this fundraising effort, and the awesome things that we're funding, I was glad that I did those extra two miles. I also understood how blessed we are in that clean, refreshing water is rarely far away.

Fast forward to this morning at church. It was announced that we've met our fundraising goal and that in all likelihood any additional funds will be used somewhere else where the need is also great. This pleased me to know that not only will our "adopted" community be helped, but so will others. Then, our pastor used a visual about how our fundraising effort was literally giving the people of Katito, Kenya and elsewhere a glass of clean water. He then quoted this verse from Matthew 25:

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I take great pride in that we are doing this for the least of these. I sincerely believe that we've been blessed with so much (like bottles of water available everywhere) with the understanding that we are also responsible for so much - like being a blessing to others. This running and fundraising effort is just one small way we can make a difference. By giving to others out of our time, talents, or treasure, we honor the gifts that God has given us.

And, when we do for the least of these, we do for Him.

(((( To help with this effort and to provide a clean drink of water to someone who so desperately needs one, please click here ))))

Thanks, and God Bless.

Scott

$5 Difference

2011-09-17T14:47:00.004-05:00

I look at all of the donations that have been made on my behalf and I am incredibly moved at the generosity of others. Angie and I have been talking about how awesome my friends, coworkers and Facebook family have been and how amazing this entire process has been. As we head into the last 10-days to give, we are about $15K short of our goal and I am less than $100 from my personal goal.

I look at the list and one donation in particular jumps out at me - the $5 donation from my sister, Michele.

I will not get into her personal finances, but suffice to say I know that a $5 donation is sacrificial. And I am grateful that she took the time to make the donation on my behalf. The dollar value is somewhat inconsequential...that she took the time and made the effort to help in a way that she was able and her support is priceless...I really thought about her donation during my training today and it gave me the motivation to go faster and further. All of the donations I have received have had that effect.

However, I also dwelled on the amount. It seems insignificant, but I know it is not. I've read somewhere that the UN definition of extreme poverty is living on less than $2.50 (yes, that is two dollars and fifty cents) per day. That's basically the price of a LOW COST coffee. Michele's $5 donation is two days wages for many of the people that we are trying to help.

Furthermore, I starting thinking about what $5 could do in great numbers. I have 313 Facebook friends. Assuming 300 have not yet donated to my effort, $5 from each of them would result in an additional $1500 to this cause. That would be a remarkable addition, wouldn't it?

So, here's my challenge for you. Please take the time to immediately make a $5 donation to my fundraising. ((( Click here to give ))) If you can make a larger donation, please do so, but if not - $5 will make a world of difference. Give up a latte for two days. Take lunch to work for one day. Don't rent one movie this week. Your five bucks by itself may not mean all that much to you, but it will mean a world of clean water to our brothers and sisters in Katito.

And, thanks Michele - for taking the time to care enough to make a difference. Together, we can change the world for the better.

SL

N.B. - Although the race is Oct 22, the water project must be funded by Sept 29. Please make your donation today.

Motivation

2011-08-04T11:09:00.003-05:00

It's been very difficult getting back into a training routine since returning from Florida.

During my two week vacation I did not exercise in the gym. Instead, I relied on the fact that we likely walked 5-10 miles in each of the amusement parks we visited and that we only usually ate two meals per day. Add the fact that we were in a pool virtually every day and I was sure I was getting plenty of daily physical activity.

The last week we were in Orlando, I worked while Angie and the kids vacationed...I didn't train that week, and probably should have - especially because I wasn't dieting too much either.

We returned home on Sunday night...tired and likely in need of a vacation. As Angie got back into the household and kids routine, I got back into the work routine. I thought about going to the gym Monday and Tuesday, but did not.

However, on Tuesday, Angie spent some time giving to our friends who are also running the 13.1. She and the kids also made a large donation to my effort. This donation meant a lot. Not only was it a signal to me that they really support what I am doing, but that they are willing to sacrifice their own material wants for something more meaningful.

Thinking about that gift, I had a great deal more will-power to get up and get to the gym yesterday. I did cardio and some weights, and was very pleased that I hadn't taken a step back with respect to my conditioning (although I did gain a couple of pounds on vacation).

Today, with the meaningfulness of their gift to empower me, I started my running training. I ran/walked two miles in under 30 minutes. My goal for the 13.1 is to finish, but I would like to finish in about 3:20....or, about 15 minute miles (4.0 MPH). I can likely walk 4.0 miles per hour, but I'd like to get some running in, as well.

Through this process, I'm learning that I am a guy that has to have goals. This seems to really motivate me for things that I don't necessarily want to do - like get up early to go work out. My main goal is to raise as much money as possible for this water project. If you haven't donated, would you please consider visiting my page and making a donation?

((( Click here to get to my fundraising page )))

Your donation will be meaningful in several ways...it will help me get psyched for training, but much more importantly, it will provide life giving water to those that have so much less than we have.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

SL

No Pain...No Nothing

2011-07-02T23:49:00.005-05:00

I don't know much about long distance training, but I'm learning quickly.

In the last couple of weeks, I've gone from 35 minutes on the elliptical to seven miles run/walk (mostly walk) today. Here are a couple of my observations over the course of two plus hours of activity:

1) Your body will get into a rhythm. In fact, when you aren't in a rhythm, things start to hurt.

2) Things will hurt during the training. However, if you just ignore the pain, it goes away. Over the course of a couple of hours, everything will likely hurt at some point, but it will go away. It may come back, but it will go away again. I guess the only time it might stick around is if you have an injury, but if you know your body, keep going. Today's session started with my knee hurting, then going away. Then my back hurt, my ankle, my foot, my knee again, and my back again. At about the four mile mark EVERYTHING hurt. By five and a half miles I was numb to all pain. Then, I just tried to settle into a rhythm until I was done (see number one above).

3) You have a lot of time to think about things while you are going.

4) Even though you can think about stuff, you also have to concentrate. I am really surprised that you have to focus on what you are doing. Posture, steps, the way you lean, etc. are all things that I find that if I am not thinking about, I get a little lazy and then my form goes. And, as my form suffers, your rythym suffers and things start to hurt (see numbers 1 and 2).

It's clear to me that going a longer distance is much more than just step after step. There's a lot to it.

I do know, however, that I think a lot about what I'm doing this for in the first place. I think about the water project, I think about those that it's going to help. I think about the people that have donated money on my behalf...I think about those that will support me before the race in October. ((Click here to be one of them))

I think about God. I think about all of the blessings that we've been given.

The more I think of these things, the more I am motivated to train and to do my best.

SL

A Day Off?

2011-06-29T08:08:00.000-05:00

As I train for the 13.1, I’ve been alternating weight training and cardio training at our gym. Typically, I am there every morning to work out and my training week culminates with a distance walk/run on Saturday and then I start all over again.

I’ve scheduled Tuesdays as my one day off during the week. I very much look forward to my off day as my body is quite tired by that time. Getting up early to get to the gym is difficult - most of the time the purpose for the run (funding the water projects) and everyone’s support is the reason that I get up to go. However, getting in shape is also a strong motivator. As I progress in that effort, playing sports becomes a larger part of my fitness plan. Playing sports has always been a love of mine and I’ve always been athletic. So, as I get more in shape I am able to do more things…The kids and I have been playing a lot of basketball, racquetball and yesterday we started playing some tennis.

Even on a day off, it’s fun to get some exercise and spend time with the kids.

However, it seems that my body is telling me it needs that day off. Twice over the last couple of weeks I’ve “tweaked” my knee playing on my day off from training. Actually, it’s the same nagging injury that won’t go away. Yesterday, I took a skip step and felt a pull behind my left knee. I originally hurt it a couple of weeks ago playing basketball. Same pain, same area.

I don’t believe there is anything seriously wrong, but it can be painful at times and it worries me that perhaps I won’t be able to train for a while. I’ll take it easy for a couple of days and then try to ignore it as much as possible. But, it’s gotten me to thinking – what if I needed my legs to walk to get water? What if I was hurt, but I still had to get water? I know I can stop training for a couple of days and then even change my training routine, if needed. In fact, I’ve been thinking about swimming for a couple of weeks to get off my legs and give them a break. Imagine that, I’m going to jump in a pool full of water to train for a half marathon that we’re using to fund projects in Africa that will provide life-giving clean water to people that don’t have enough.

It seems ironic to me. It also serves as a reminder to how much we've really have.

It also makes the nagging pain in my leg seem very inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. We have so much when others have so little. That seems to be very important – as does the call for us to share.

Won’t you please share and support me in my run? Click here to go to my Team World Vision page to give.

Thank you for your support and I’ll keep training, no amount of pain will stop my efforts to make a difference.

Scott

87 cents

2011-06-18T10:48:00.003-05:00

Don't take this the wrong way...I have been incredibly moved by the support that I received around my decision to run a half marathon in October. I received several very generous donations this week and I am so grateful for them, and for the good friends that made them.

In fact, it was how my friends' generosity moved me that led to a very meaningful, albeit much smaller, donation.

I was sharing with Angie how much it meant to me that Al, Jeff and Greg donated to Team World Vision on behalf of my running the race. As I told her how much it meant to me and how grateful I was for my friends, I hadn't noticed that Cassie left the room. I figured she had grown bored of our conversation and looked for something more exciting to do.

That was until she came back to me a little while later. She handed me eighty seven cents and said that she wanted my to take it for my fundraising. She said it was all she had, but that she thought the water projects were more important. I was speechless, but eventually tried to give her the money back, thanking her for her giving heart. She insisted...

So, I have an $0.87 cash donation from a nine year old girl with a very special heart. I can't stop thinking about the old woman who donates all she has to the temple, and how Jesus comments that she has given so much more than the rich who give with no sacrifice (Luke 21:1-5). Although all of the donations that I have received, and will receive, mean the world to me - there is a special place in my heart for the 87 cents sitting on my desk.

Would you please consider your own donation for this very worthy cause? Whether 87 cents, 87 dollars or 870 dollars, it would mean the world to me and would help with these very important water projects for those less fortunate. Click here to give.

And know this, any donation helps fuel my motivation and drive to train. As I took step after step during my five miles this morning, all I could think of was the good friends that have supported my and all those that will.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Scott

What The Hell Am I Thinking?

2011-06-12T22:20:00.005-05:00

The organization World Vision has impacted my family in ways that we never imagined. We sponsor several children in Katito, Kenya though them. Dylan has gone to Bolivia on a World Vision study trip. The kids are very involved in 30-Hour Famine. I subscribe to and enjoy their weekly podcast. Even Cassie understands that they are doing amazing work and was incredibly moved by the "Step Into Africa" exhibit. All of the kids gave up some of their own Christmas presents and instead chose gifts through the gift catalogue to send to some needed place. World Vision has been a big part of our church for several years, and Dylan and I have often spoken about perhaps going on a mission trip to Katito - to help in any way we can, to see meet our sponsored children, and to bring back the message of the good work that is going on over there.

I've always told myself that once I get into shape, that I would pursue the trip.

Until then, I didn't think I could make a significant impact other than praying and by making our monthly sponsorship payment.

That was until last week. Springcreek Church is teaming up with Team World Vision to run the 13.1 Half Marathon in Dallas on October 22. The idea is that you commit to run, ask people to donate on your behalf, and then run. When I saw the video, it sounded like a great idea and something that I wanted to get behind...until I thought about what kind of shape I am in and the fact that I really can't run 13.1 minutes, let alone 13.1 miles.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that this was an amazing opportunity that God was putting in front of me...an opportunity to help those that have incredibly urgent needs and an opportunity to continue to work towards the fitness goals that I have set for myself. I've lost 35 pounds so far and spend several hours in the gym each week - but now I really have to pick of the pace. I am afraid that I won't be ready, but I also realize that I have 19 weeks to get this done. With the support of our church family, Angie and the kids (who may decide to commit to doing this themselves), and team World Vision, I pray that 13.1 won't kill me.

I will share my journey through this blog, and I ask you to consider helping me reach my financial goals. I am hoping to raise $200 per mile with the money going to World Vision. 13.1 miles times $200 per mile means I need to raise $2620.00. I would be most appreciative at any donation amount...$1 per mile ($13.10), $2 per mile ($26.20), $5 per mile ($65.50), or more....whatever you can afford would be so helpful.

If you can't help support this effort at this time, you can still help support this effort. Pray for my training, the training of the entire team, for the water projects that this money will go towards, and for the people of Kenya and Malawi that have such huge needs.

To visit my Team World Vision page, please click here.

Thanks for your support.

Scott

Dovers Lane

2010-09-06T23:01:00.003-05:00

I didn't notice the sign the first time I drove to the hunting area. This time, however, I didn't miss it. As I approached Midlothian, I saw the exit sign, "Dove Ln".

I was invited to an afternoon hunt today and my host informed me that we'd be meeting at around 5:00pm at the hunt site. I marked the site on my nav the last time I was there, so I knew exactly where to go. As I saw that sign, I thought to myself that we'd have a good hunt.

What I didn't know is how much fun we'd have. Most of my experiences around dove hunting is that to have a long walk through pasture, while carrying your equipment, all while suffering in the Texas heat. And, once you get to your spot, you may not see a lot of birds or get a lot of shooting opportunities. Although I hunted hard last year, I only harvested a single bird. Since it wasn't enough for even a snack, I saved it for my sister so she could try a grilled breast.

However, since I hunted this site last week, I knew there would be lots of birds. And, although there were less birds than last week's morning hunt, we had better shooting opportunities tonight. My buddy put out two mojo decoys and they really worked, attracting a good number of birds closed to us. Additionally, we decided to hunt together, so we talked, laughed and shared a couple of beers while we scanned the sky for our quarry. I ended up harvesting three birds and my buddy six. We both shot almost two boxes each...it was great fun.

In addition to all of this, there were another ten people hunting with us, so there was a lot of shooting going on. In all, I brought home sixteen breasts, all of which are now vacuum packed and in the freezer.

After the hunt and cleaning the birds, we told stories of our hunt - yes, there were probably some exaggerations - shared another beer and a cigar and planned another day in the field. Given another opportunity, I will always choose to hunt with friends, both old and new, rather than by myself.

It is the way it was meant to be...

SL

Stanniversary?!?!

2010-04-26T19:08:00.009-05:00

As the recession reduced incomes, staying home for inexpensive vacations have become more popular. This phenomenon spawned a new term – staycation. I used this as the basis for a new phrase used to title this post – staying home to celebrate a wedding anniversary.

Since Angie and I are planning for a huge European 10th anniversary trip next year, we thought we’d do something on a much smaller scale this year. I told her to make arrangements for the kids and I would take care of everything else. I wanted to go to Las Vegas and take her to see the Elvis Cirque du Soleil show, but we just didn’t have enough time so I looked for something closer to home.

She’s previously asked me if we could stay at a Hilton hotel that is part of the Rockwall Harbor. The hotel is nice and is surrounded by a harbor on Lake Ray Hubbard with restaurants, shops and a movie theatre. I thought this would be perfect for our stanniversary. I booked the bed and breakfast package with a room overlooking the lake. My plan was to go to a restaurant that we went to as one of our first dates, then go to the hotel for some drinks. The next day we’d have a nice leisurely breakfast, go to a movie and then return home so I could go to work.

Last minute Sunday afternoon she asked me if we could go to dinner a little later. I said we could, so she made plans surprise plans for us earlier in the afternoon.

When we left, she told me where to drive. I didn’t know what she had planned and she didn’t know what I had planned, but her directions to me were to head towards Rockwall. Suffice to say, I was surprised when we ended up in the parking lot to the very hotel that I booked for the evening.

After a drink at the bar, she took me to the harbor and informed me that she had booked a sailing trip on the Seawolf – a catamaran that sails the lake. We boarded with several other people and proceeded to leave the harbor. We cruised for 90 minutes while enjoying the wonderful evening, wine, and each other. When we returned, I informed Angie that I had booked the hotel where we were and gave her a choice to head to the restaurant that I had planned (about an hour’s drive) or we could stay at the harbor and eat at one of the restaurants there (that we could walk to). She said she would prefer to stay where we were, so we went to the Blue Canyon and had an awesome meal.
After dinner we walked around the harbor and then retired to our room.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast and we went to the movie. I hate going to the movies and she loves to go, so it didn’t matter what we were going to see – she was happy. I had purchased tickets to the chick flick “The Backup Plan”.

We had a great time and a great stanniversary. Next year, though, there is no staying home. We are doing Italy, France and England.

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart.

SL

Fresh Fish

2010-04-25T15:12:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I posted about my deep sea fishing excursion off of the coast of Florida.

Today, I am going to share a much different fishing story.

The weather was so pleasant here in North Texas that when Cassie asked me if we could do something outside, I jumped at the offer. We had been talking about fishing because of my trip, so I just threw it out there, "Would you like to go to the park and fish? You could bring your scooter, too."

When she said yes, I was pleasantly surprised.

I packed up the poles and tackle box. Mom put together a cooler of snacks and Cassie got her scooter. We stopped at a gas station on the way, picked up some drinks and some minnows.

We got to the fishing area and noticed that the wind was up, and it was blowing very hard right into our faces. This was not going to be good weather for casting, so I added a couple of weights to each of the rigs. I baited one pole, then another. Cassie wasn't too interested in fishing to start, so she went off exploring and playing with the dog.

She quickly tired and came to me for a pole. I gave her one and kept the other and we waited. She then stated she thought she had a fish. Her line was not taught, so I told her probably not. She started reeling in and mom confirmed that she saw her pole bend. I was skeptical and took her pole. I reeled in a little and said, "nope, no fish sweetie." I gave her the pole back.

She continued to reel in stating she had a fish. I doubted it until we saw silver at the top of the water. She reel him in, a pretty good sized fish. I didn't know what kind of fish it was, noting that the mouth was pretty small. I asked someone else at the fishing area and he said he thought it was a small mouth bass. We took the obligatory pictures, and thinking he was too small to keep (small mouth are 14 inch minimums), we released him - he swam away and we hugged and high-fived.

I told Cassie how proud I was of her. In fact, the entire afternoon she was a very conscientious fisher. She watched her line and remained patient. She was rewarded, too - as she was the only person to catch fish in that area that we saw. Funny, but the guy that I asked what kind of fish we had was pretty pissed off at her, stating that he fished all day and didn't get a bite and we come and get a fish pretty quick.

I printed a big copy of our picture and I will be placing it on my trophy wall with all of my other trophies. However, as I started looking at it, I started doubting that it was a small mouth. There are just no vertical stripes. In fact, there aren't any real stripes at all. I pulled out the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting and Fishing Annual and now believe that she caught a white bass. The minimum on these fish is only 10 inches. I'm thinking she might have had a keeper.

All I know is that the memory of her first fish will stay with me. She may forget about it, but I was as happy as if I had caught the fish. I'm hoping that she wants to go more often...perhaps more outdoor type activities will be in our future.

Now that would be a keeper.

Salty Fish

2010-04-24T19:40:00.006-05:00

I had the good fortune to have my travel to Amsterdam cancelled this week due to the volcanic ash cloud of 2010.

In fact, the ash cloud and the chaos to air travel that is caused was a blessing in disguise for a couple of reasons. The first that it kept me in the US. The second that it kept several others from coming to the US. These cancellations opened a spot at a vendor event to which I was invited as a last minute replacement.

The vendor event was in West Palm Beach and it was excellent. Great speakers, a good opportunity to get to know a prospective vendor better, a similar opportunity to get to know a colleague, and finally a couple of days of excellent food, great drink and some deep sea fishing.

Out fishing excursion closed the event. We boarded the bus from the hotel to the marina at 8:00am. At the marina, we learned that our boat was a no show, so we boarded another and were taxied to another marina to board a replacement. This may have been another blessing in disguise as our captain and our mate were top notch and put us on the fish.

We motored to our fishing area and I the mate placed our lines. We had six or even our with a couple of teasers and waited. We were going for sailfish, swordfish, dolphin fish, tuna and wahoo. The first strike ended with no fish on a hook, but that got all of our blood flowing. We also had to pick the order and as the prospective client, I was given the honor. A little while later, we had another strike. The mate coaxed the fish to bite again and it was fish on...he handed the pole to me and it was my turn to work.

The fish was taking line out fast, and I didn't realize I was supposed to be reeling in, so I let him take even more. I was yelled at for not reeling, so I started. Instantly, I was tired. It felt like a monster. I reeled for what felt like forever. As the line started getting closer to the boat I saw a glimmer of silver. I was instructed to step back with the pole and the mate brought the fish on board. It was a Bonita - a trash fish that is used for bait. I didn't care. First, I was exhausted. Second, I was ecstatic. Third, the fish was beautiful - blue and silver with these amazing black patterns on its back. He had the fish in the hold and I took a look at him. I commented how pretty its markings were, and the mate informed me that Bonita is Spanish for "pretty". Made sense to me. We made note of the time, 10:15am as I sat down with a celebratory beer.

As we progressed through the rest of the order, we caught more Bonita. The last of the five on the boat brought in a pretty, if not small, black fin tuna. We finally had a game fish on board.

I was up again and brought in my own small black fin. A very pretty fish and a little easier to reel in.

We ended up going through the order again and caught another black fin, more Bonita, and a blue runner (another trash fish used for bait).

I actually got to go again and brought in another Bonita. Not as big as the first and not as difficult to bring in. I was thankful, as my arms had had enough.

All in all, we caught twelve fish. Enough to win most fish on the boat. The next closest to us had only 5. One out of the six boats that went out was skunked. We also learned that my first was the first for all of the boats, so I ended up winning two wonderful bottles of wine.

As we shared fish stories over an amazing lunch of fresh seafood, we learned that the largest fish of the day went to someone who brought in a 13.5 foot tiger shark. The pictures of that were awesome.

There is a saying that goes, "a bad day on the water beats a good day on land". Thankfully, we didn't have to test its validity. We had a great day on the water.

The Point

2010-04-04T00:14:00.003-05:00

The last comment I remember was a question about why I would “give up” Facebook for Lent.

The implication was that it had no point.

The good thing is that it doesn’t have to have a point to that person, or anyone else for that matter. It made sense to me and frankly it was a good experience. Even now that Easter is here and that my Lord is risen and I am “allowed” back on Facebook, I won’t spend nearly as much time on it, or engaged in as much of those activities that aren’t a good use of time. Yes, we all need to relax and have some down time, but there is something wrong with the state of things when others are depending on me and I am wasting the day away on Facebook, or playing online poker, or shooting zombies, or watching TV.

So much of my life recently seemed to have a lack of discipline. The only area that I seemed to have under real control was work. That never really seems to suffer, maybe because I know so much relies on my paycheck. But, when my health is suffering from my lack of discipline, or my marriage is suffering because of my lack of discipline, then it is time to make a change.

Giving up Facebook and reclaiming that time for more productive pursuits seemed to be a good start.

First, I committed myself to quiet time with God every day. Reading scripture, prayer and journaling are typically the first thing to suffer in a busy day and I hadn’t done it regularly in a long time. That has been corrected. I am current in my bible reading and actually look forward to this time alone with God. In fact, for the first time, I miss it when I don’t have this time. And, the funny thing is that Angie can tell when I miss a day or two. She sees the change in me, and so have I. That alone is enough reason to ensure that part of my day, every day, is spent in scripture and prayer.

Second, Angie and I started the Abs Power Diet. Ultimately, the diet shows us to eat healthy foods and to build muscle. We are just starting week two and are feeling great. I’ve lost five pounds and have done abdominal workouts for the first time in years. Not pretty, or fun, but finally putting some discipline around what we are eating. The amazing discovery here is that what I eat actually tastes better than the crap I had been eating. Angie made me these chicken feta crumble things on wheat rolls and salsa for dipping yesterday. They were delicious and healthy.

Lastly, Angie and I have started to reengage around service towards others. We are mentoring a young pre-wed couple at church. We know that only through discipline in our lives will we have the time to do charity or other service for others. We both hope that this mentoring actually helps strengthen our marriage while we help a younger couple. We both used to be really involved in service, but because our lives got so hectic and disorganized we pulled back a bit. We have both felt that we should be doing on more, and only through creating more time will we be able to do so.

Ultimately, the last forty days have been transformational for me. And, that was the point. I heard a definition of disciple that I really liked (paraphrasing) “Discipline is doing today what we are able that will help us to the things we cannot do tomorrow. So, like an athlete who cannot bench two hundred pounds today, I will push as much weight as possible until I get there. That’s discipline and that’s why I took a break from Facebook.

I would venture a guess that the people who can relate do so because their lives are hectic, too. Perhaps they also feel the same pull that I feel – that we were meant for more in our lives than just living in our own small universes of ‘self’ or ‘mine’. And those that can’t relate – either they are already incredible disciplined, or perhaps no one is dependent on them.

Either way, I missed you and it’s good to see you. I hope you’ve been well and Happy Easter.

SL

N.B. – Angie gave up fast food for the duration, even to the point where she would watch Cassie and I eat lunch while she sat there foodless. Oh, and Cassie’s lunch didn’t include sodas, because those were her Lenten sacrifice. I am really proud of both of them and I think lunch at Whataburger, with a bunch of cokes, is on me on Monday (we get one cheat meal per week).

Cookie Time

2010-01-08T09:58:00.004-06:00

It's that time of year again. Help support Brownie Troop #8459 and fill your tummy with awesome girl scout cookies. They only come around once a year, so stock up. They freeze well, too.

The new cookie this year is named, "Thank U Berry Munch". The name stinks, but the cookie is good. Think shortbread with a little hint of berry.

I'll ship as needed, or better yet - donate your order to the troops overseas!

Texas Duck

2009-12-28T16:51:00.004-06:00

I haven't had much success in Texas. In fact, the only two times I have gone have been brutal.

The second time we drove a couple of hours, then walked up and down hills for about an hour. Once we were situated, we sat in the freezing rain and saw nothing. It wasn't a total loss, however...the views were amazing.

The first time was not much better. Although much closer to home, we walked through calf-high mud to get to our spot. Once there we also saw nothing except a beaver (which was actually pretty cool) and a sunrise.

Some say that the third time's a charm. They may be right.

Dylan called me yesterday to tell me he and his dad were going duck hunting in the morning and that I was welcome to join them if I wanted. After the first two times, I wasn't overly excited. However, I knew that there would be little walking involved as Lake Lavon had recovered from its very low water level and that we could boat to where we wanted to hunt. Additionally, we have had pretty cold weather, so I was hoping we might do better than not see any ducks. I also knew that this may be the last opportunity I had to hunt this season so I accepted.

I tried to get to bed early but by the time everything was done it was around 11pm. I must have been excited because I slept like crap. After waking up for the umpteenth time, I rose at 2:11am. I met Dylan at his dad's at the predetermined time. We packed the boat and truck and were off.

Dan took us to his "good" spot. He hunted there a couple of days earlier and saw lots of ducks. We set up the decoy spread, hid the boat in the brush and waiting for sunrise. Dan was very optimistic that we would see ducks landing in the spread quite early and quite often.

He was wrong.

Although we saw ducks, they avoided the decoys like the plague. He'd call, the ducks would check us out and then leave. They often landed in areas close to us, but not in range to shoot.

After about an hour, or so, a flock of canvasbacks came in right towards us. Dan and I fired. I was to Dan's left (Dylan was back in the boat, complaining about cold feet) so I shot at the duck to the left. I hit him, and he coasted to the water. Although not dead, he could no longer fly. We shot at him again while he was on the surface. Dan and I both started to give chase while the duck swam away.

We'd run and fire again. I quickly got winded and Dan said he would get him. An hour later, Dan returned empty handed. He had walked perhaps 500 yards, or more, in 3ft deep water and never was able to recover the bird.

In the meantime, I had returned to the spread. I had no call, but that didn't seem to matter. A lone canvasback approached. I shot and missed.

Dan finally returned, but went to the boat to catch his breath. While there, a flock of eight mallards came into the decoys. I lined the closest and fired. The duck fell. It was a beautiful mallard hen.

Not the greenhead I have been coveting, but a beauty nonetheless. The blue-purple on its wings is stunning.

We finally had a bird in the boat and that seemed to do the trick. We stopped calling and the ducks started coming in.

A pair of widgeons came in. Dylan and I lined up the one on the left...it fell. We're not sure who hit it, but it doesn't really matter. Dan missed his on the right. His continued to circle, looking for its mate, but we never got a good shot. It was amazing to see him fly around and quack searching for the one we downed.

Dan finally got his when a gadwall hen came into the spread.

We stuck around for a while longer seeing ducks, but never able to get them close. We ended the session watching a huge "V" of Canadian geese fly high over head.

I finally got my Texas duck. More importantly we had a great time on the water enjoying a beautiful morning in God's creation.

SL

One Shot Wonder

2009-11-21T09:19:00.005-06:00

We started stirring around 8am...we were all well rested and very hungry. After a wonderful breakfast from Jerry of eggs, chorizo, bacon, tortillas and the last of the tamales, we planned our day. Jim and I were going to score a javelina. I had originally planned on bringing the meat home and actually trying it, but had been dissuaded earlier by Jim and Jerry. Had they not convinced me that eating the javelina would not have been the most pleasant experience, I would have come to the conclusion on my own as we cleaned them - but that is for later.

Jim had mentioned a group of hunters that had come through a couple of years ago and how they planned on making a skull mount of a javelina. I thought that might be an interesting momento to my trophy hunt weekend. They grow tusks similar to wild hogs, so the skull has some character. Combine that with the fact that Jim knew of people who would appreciate the meat and I was convinced a javelina was a good way to end the hunt.

Now, we had seen javelina on the property and they didn't appear the be the most wary of game. In fact, some would approach the mule as they had learned to equate the sound of the engine with the dropping of corn. However, they typically didn't get too close.

We started driving around the property. We were both convinced that we would be back at the lodge in short order. It didn't turn out that way.

We drove, sat, dropped corn, drove and sat some more. We did this for the better part of two hours and had only seen one javelina. It was a small pathetic one with a hurt foot. We left it alone.

We finally happened upon a feeder and about 20 javelina milling around. Jim turned the mule to face them at about 100 yards.

We glassed them for a while watching them eat and fight. It is amazing that they aren't related to hogs and they look and act so much like them. I had read that they are actually related to hippos. We watched them for a while and Jim instructed me to find the largest of them. I instantly identified the largest and tried to acquire him in my scope. The problem was that there were so many of them running around that the one I had picked was always behind at least one other javelina.

Because we never had to get out of the mule, I had a perfect rest. I also didn't experience the same level of buck fever with these as I did with the deer. I knew I had all day to wait - the javelina weren't going anywhere as long as there was corn on the ground. In fact, of all the hunting I've done, this seemed the least sporting. It seemed a little more like shooting to me. The javelina weren't going to go anywhere. I could have gotten out of the mule, mooned them, did a song and dance and they still would have hung around.

I watched and the one I picked out finally became clear. Or, at least I thought he was clear.

What actually happened is kind of hazy. I fired true and the one that I had picked out dropped right where it stood. My shot was placed on the shoulder and instantly killed my target.

However, another javelina went flying off to the left...He was clearly gut shot and hurt badly. Jim noticed it first and instructed me to put another bullet into him to finish him off. Unfortunately (as we would discover later as we cleaned him), my second shot went through the back and out through the belly - he was now gut shot twice...although definitely dead as well. To my point about the lack of sporting nature of javelina hunting, the others who scattered were back eating around the two carcasses within 30 seconds of my shooting.

So, my one shot killed two javelina. I'm still not sure if the second one was actually behind the first and the bullet passed through both or if there was some strange ricochet off a bone of the first. Jim made the point, and I completely agree, that it doesn't matter. As the shooter, I am responsible for the outcome. If this had been two deer, I would have had paid a significant price for the error. As it was, each hunter is allowed two javelina a season, so I was done.

Javelina are known as stink-pigs and they are aptly named. In fact, these were two of the more nasty creatures on God's green earth. First, you have to leave them alone after you kill them to give the fleas a chance to make their escape. I'm not sure we gave them enough time because I have a bunch of nasty bites on my hands. Additionally, they stink. Forget the fact that one was gutshot - they both stunk and stunk bad. Javelina have a musk gland on their back that they use when they are alarmed. This gland really gives off some odor. Also, while we were cleaning them I brushed off three ticks that had travelled from the javelina to my hands.

We finally got done with that nastiness and took pictures of the javelina and a couple more of buster. We washed and drew up plans for the meat and the trophies and prepared to say our good-byes and Angie and I were anxious to get home and had an eight hour drive in front of us.

I told Jim that I had planned on a trophy hunt weekend and got the added bonus of making a friend.

I'm not sure which was the greater pleasure, but in the end, it all made up a weekend and a birthday present that I will never forget.

SL

Buster and I (The Dressing)

2009-11-20T08:22:00.003-06:00

After taking some pictures, we finally got Buster out of the field. Jim has an area for cleaning that has winches, water and tools.

After weighing the deer (220 lbs), we hung him and field dressed him pretty quickly. I helped as much as I could, but Jim did all the areas where its important to be careful. Because I am shoulder mounting the deer, we had to keep the cape intact which made it difficult to finish the dressing. Angie stayed with us, but tried not to look at any of what we were doing. At one point she looked up and got a good look and didn't enjoy the experience. Frankly, I think she was surprised that I was, literally, up to my elbows in it.

Jim kept telling her that she had to take a bite out of the heart, but when we realized where my shot was placed, there wasn't much left to bite. Although the shot hit about an inch or two to the left of where I wanted it to, it took out the shoulder and the heart for a clean ethical kill. Buster traveled those 50 feet on adrenalin only. I felt good about that.

We finished cleaning Buster, and Jerry and Jim scored him while Angie video taped (she conveniently did NOT tape the dressing). His scores were:

We returned to the lodge, our work done for the night, to finally sit down to dinner. Jerry put some steaks on and we had an amazing dinner over the story of my deer. It was after midnight by the time we went to bed, so I told Jim we could sleep in Sunday morning - there was no reason to get up early - a doe would have been anticlimactic at this point.

The plan for Sunday was to score a javelina, but we could do that at 10am just as easily.

I dreamed about Buster.

SL

Buster and I (The Harvest)

2009-11-19T08:43:00.005-06:00

Jim asked me if I marked the spot. I had, so he informed me that he was going to get out of the blind and I should yell to him when he gets to the spot on the road where the buck was when I shot.

He walked about 75 yards down the road and I stopped him. He waved me down and began to look for blood.

The shot occurred with about 15 minutes of legal shooting time left. As we looked for blood it became dark. Jim couldn't find a single drop. Neither could I, but this was only the second time that I ever looked for a blood trail, so I knew if Jim couldn't find any that I wasn't going to be of much help.

We looked for what seemed like an eternity - the whole time I got more and more frustrated and fearful that we weren't going to be able to find my deer. I started to think that perhaps my shot missed. I thought the shot was true, and I was confident that I knew where my shot impacted the deer, but with no blood trail, it seemed as though I was wrong.

Jim gave up looking for blood on the road and entered the brush to look.

He appeared to be too far from the spot, so I started looking in the brush, too - but closer to the blind (about 50 feet closer than Jim). I noticed something shiny on a cactus right near the road and shiny means wet - it could have been blood.

I crossed the road, but couldn't find that shiny item again so I started looking further into the brush. I heard something move about 50 feet into the brush. It scared the hell out of me and I yelled to Jim that something was in the brush. He took a couple of steps closer to me and I took a couple of steps further intro the brush. I heard the noise again. There was definitely something in the brush with us and I said the same to Jim. I moved further in, and could see the deer. It was down, but still kicking. I yelled for Jim that I found it. He yelled to me that if it gets up I should shoot it again.

He came over and sure enough, my beautiful buck was lying still under a mesquite about 50 feet into the brush from where he was shot.

We waited several minutes before approaching and brushed the eye of the deer with my gun to make sure it was down for good. It was then that I got a good look at him and he was absolutely amazing. Jim shook my hand and congratulated me on a successful harvest of an excellent deer.

Now that we found him, we had hard work to do. First, Jim and I dragged him the 50 feet back to the road. We were careful not to drag him over cacti or through mesquites, which made our 50 foot drag more like 100. We noticed one thing...the deer was extremely heavy.

We got him into the road but quickly realized we weren't going to be able to get him into the mule. Jim suggested that we go back and get his truck with the winch. I thought that was a great idea. We drove back to the house (passing a very large rattlesnake crossing the road on the way) and picked up the truck and Angie.

The hard work was about to begin...

SL

Buster and I (The Shot)

2009-11-18T13:57:00.013-06:00

I've affectionately named him Buster. He is the most beautiful deer I have ever seen and I will enjoy him on my wall for many many years; not to mention enjoying him on my dinner plate for many many meals.

It might sound strange to a non-hunter that I think he's beautiful, but the truth is that he is a magnificent creature. His death, by my hand, is honored by the fact that he will help feed my family and that I will remember the wonderful time I had on my trophy hunt - which just happened to be my 40th birthday present from Angie.

In fact, the entire weekend was perfect, in every way.

Angie and I arrived at Las Tejanas Ranch thirty miles outside of Laredo at about noon on Friday. The drive from the front gate to the lodge took what seemed like fifteen minutes. While we drove, we noticed acres and acres of mesquite brush, cactus and other hardy desert plants. The country is foreboding, but also beautiful in its harshness. Las Tejanas Ranch encompasses over 1,000 acres of this rough terrain, surrounded by high fence and sports whitetail, feral hogs, and javelina. The owner, Jim Winch, met us along the way to show us to the lodge.

Once at the lodge, we settled in. He had lunch waiting and Angie and I unpacked our gear and ate a little bit, all while taking in the sights of the lodge, it's decor of old pictures and signs and antlers everywhere. Most of the antlers were castoffs, but several were taken as part of harvests and Jim had a story for all of them. Jim ended up being one of those very kind souls wrapped in a tough exterior hardened by a life of physical labor and the Vietnam War. He also was quite sentimental and had a number of items and pictures from his past, each of which also had a very interesting story. In fact, when we weren't hunting, we enjoyed Jim's stories, or those of his cook for the weekend, Jerry.

After we settled in and had lunch, we went to a clearing on the property and sighted in my gun. After nine shots, we were confident that when it was time to shoot the bullet would go where it was aimed.

We returned to the house and decided it was time to get in the blind. Angie planned on sitting in the blind with us for this afternoon session, video camera in hand, in case there was any action to capture. We got into our cammo and into our snake chaps and headed to the blind in Jim's 4x4 gas powered mule. We got into the blind around 3:30pm and got ready.

Two does came in and we watched them eat, get spooked, and return to eat some more. I've seen many does before, but I was still mesmerized. The are so graceful and skittish, it is fun to watch them. I think Angie enjoyed it, too. We hoped for a buck, but we only saw those two until darkness.

That evening, we met Jerry and he prepared a wonderful meal of tamales, rice, beans, and tortillas. It was delicious and Jerry added to Jim's stories. We sat outside talking, smoking a cigar, and enjoying the campfire under the stars.

The next morning, Angie slept in while Jim and I headed to a ground blind. Although the days were in the low 90's, the morning was surprisingly cold. We sat and watched a doe and her yearling buck come in and eat. Another pair of does came in, as well, so we had four beautiful deer in front of us, but no shooters. The mom and son pair got spooked and left, and we watched the doe pair a while longer. A javelina joined them until they all ran off. We didn't see anything else, so we abandoned the blind at around 9am.

We returned to the lodge and had a wonderful breakfast of bacon and eggs and the left overs from dinner the night before. Jim kept saying that the afternoon session would be the one where we scored the buck I was hoping for. I had no reason to doubt him, so I was confident, as well.

After a nap, we left for another blind. This elevated box blind was located at the junction of six trails and Jim instructed me to keep my eyes out on the four in front of us...one had a feeder and he had scattered corn on the others. For several hours, all I did was count dove. Had I had my shotgun, I could have had a nice meal and there were many dove flying around or landing and eating the corn. At this point, I was getting a little frustrated. We hadn't seen a single deer this session and it was getting close to time to go in. But, that's when it happened.

In a whisper, Jim goes, "Scott. There's one to the right. It's a doe."

I raise my binoculars, but I really didn't need them as the deer was within 100 yards. A buck had walked into the middle of the road to eat. It presented a perfect broadside shot. I whisper back, "that's no doe. It's a buck."

Jim replies, "Shoot it". I hear "DON'T shoot it".

I look again through my binoculars...it looks pretty big to me, so I don't understand his instruction. I ask, "is it a shooter?"

"Yes. Shoot it when you are ready. Just don't bang your gun."

I put my binoculars down and move to get my gun. Maybe because Jim warned me not to do it, I bang my gun on the window sill. The deer hears the clang and looks at me. I remain motionless and the deer looks away. I slowly move my gun into position, resting on the ledge of the open window. I am starting to breath very erratically and the buck fever starts taking over. I look through my scope and it is all blurry. I cannot see the dear clearly, and the crosshairs are invisible. I do notice that he is a very nice buck with a big rack, but that just makes my breathing even worse. I blink to clear my vision and the sight picture becomes clear.

I take deep breath after deep breath to slow my breathing and my heart rate down. As I do this, the crosshairs on the scope move less and less. I finally have gotten myself under control and the scope is still. I exhale, hold my breath, hear Jim say "don't jerk the trigger", and slowly squeeze. The gun fires. I believe that my shot is true. The deer jumps straight up in the air, lands, and bolts into the brush. Jim says, "I think you got him".

I breath again...

Das Ladenstraße

2009-11-17T16:30:00.005-06:00

It's every man's nightmare. The very thought of it makes me break out in cold sweats. The 'it' I am referring to is accompanying his better half during a shopping spree.

When Angie first informed me of my birthday gift (a trophy whitetail deer hunt in Laredo), we knew that we would have a long ride on our hands. I thought it would be fun to do some sightseeing together on that ride. Fredericksburg was a destination that was often mentioned as a neat little city (and, by chance, it is about the halfway point in the journey). So, we knew we were going to want to stop and spend the night.

I thought this was a great plan. We were going to stop in a German town in the middle of Texas. This meant two things to me: beer and wiener schnitzel. I am not a huge beer drinker, but when I drink beer, I prefer a flavorful German import. I have since I started sucking down 7 ounce nips of Lowenbrau as a much younger person.

We got there pretty late, so much of main street was closed. That was fine by me. In fact, there were only a couple of restaurants open, we were hungry, and I could smell the hops...we found two restaurants side by side. One was indoors and one outdoors. It was a beautiful night, so we opted for outside. We both ordered a Spaten pilsner and all was good. In fact, Angie didn't like hers, so she gave it to me and all was better. She ordered a glass of German white wine to make up for the difference. I ordered the wiener schnitzel and she got a wonderful country fried quail. The meal was great and wasn't completely ruined by the live music which wasn't very entertaining. Angie mentioned going store to store tomorrow, as well as a bunch of other sight-seeing items, but I didn't really understand what she meant.

We got up and ready and left for main street. We parked about halfway down as to keep the full car in sight of a lot of traffic and entered the first store. It was a holiday collectibles store. We entered and didn't come out for over 30 minutes. The store went on and on and on and on and Angie needed to look at everything little thing it offered. I started thinking at this point, if we take 30 minute for every store we'll get out of Fredericksburg sometime in 2012 - just in time for the end of the world which, by then, would have been welcome.

We did the next store and the next. Angie really looked at the stuff and took her time in each. At this point, I noticed that I was neither inclined to keep up nor capable. So, I did the next best thing...I sat on the husbands benches while she shopped. Each time she reached me, I'd move the the next bench. If I needed to stretch my legs, I joined her in a store. This went on, store after store until we reached the end of the block....several hours later.

We decided to have a late lunch in a brewery and then some gelatto in a small shop. We purchased some cigars for the other side of the block and started it all over again. Antiques, collectibles, toys, clothes and touristy stuff...she is like the energizer bunny when she shops (think Lithium) - she just keeps going and going. I went bench to bench, cigar in hand. Sometimes I would talk to another husband, sometimes just play on the phone. She was happy and I was patient, or rather, she was happy because I was patient.

Unfortunately, there is a ton more to do and see in Fredericksburg and that will be for another trip. For now, understand, that the cost of my hunt was not only turning 40, but also shopping with my baby.

Finally!

2009-11-11T07:14:00.003-06:00

As I approached my 40th birthday this summer, I told Angie that instead of a big party that I would prefer a guided hunt as a present. She had had her 40th birthday blast about a year and a half earlier and she wanted (and got) the big surprise party. I opted for some quality time in the woods.

In May, she shared with me a hunt idea that she was pursuing. She was looking to get me out to the desert of west Texas for a trophy mule deer hunt. Although this sounded awesome, I thought perhaps it wasn’t the best idea for two reasons: 1) the hunt was VERY expensive and included only the deer and perhaps whatever predators we came across and 2) a desert mule hunt can be very difficult usually consisting of spot and stalk hunting across rugged terrain and ending with a long shot. Truth be told, I am a little intimidated by this kind of hunt, so I suggested she call her cousin Steve.

Steve is my 20-minute Turkey caller. He called two gobblers in within 10 feet of us and we had NO cover with four of us sitting in the wide open. He is a very gifted hunter – knowing the game very well. He always puts his son in a position to harvest a big deer and I trust his opinions and instinct. We shared the lease last year and I hope to get to hunt with him and his son many more times.

Angie called him and he put us in touch with his friend Jim in Laredo, Texas. This friend owns 1,100 acres of high-fenced ranch outside of Laredo. His hunt is all-inclusive and is about half the price of the muley hunt and includes a trophy whitetail. Now, the whitetail will likely be much smaller than the muley I might have gotten, but considering I’ve never even scoped a buck, I will be more than happy with anything that I get. Add the fact that he has hogs, javelin and predators on the property that I may shoot at and I think this hunt is a much better value. Add a possible doe harvest and it could be a very productive weekend.

Jim has been sending us pictures from his trail cams. The deer are VERY large and quite numerous. He’s also regaled us with stories of the hogs and javelin and a very mature diamondback rattlesnake that accosted him in one of the ground blinds. I am very much looking forward to the hunt that begins Friday afternoon. Angie is coming but is not too happy that it will be warm and that the snakes will be active (we’ve both purchased snake chaps for protection).
Angie will be coming with me on Friday afternoon’s hunt. She will cammo up and she will be in the blind. However, the only thing she will be shooting is the video camera.

Her anticipated part of the trip is the ride to Laredo. We are planning on taking two days to get down there with a stopover about midway in Fredericksburg. I’ll be updating Facebook and this blog the whole time. I have told her that she is in charge for these two days. If she says turn left, I turn left. If she wants to stop in a small town and go antiquing, I pull over and go shopping. For her birthday, I gave her an itinerary of small towns and printouts of their antique stores. She is definitely looking forward to the first two days…

…Friday afternoon, not so much (although, truth be told it’s the whole idea of the possibility of coming across a rattler that is what she’s concerned about).

Me? I’m going to enjoy the whole time. Being alone with her and hunting are two of my all-time favorite activities. Whether we score a big buck or not, this will be a 40th to remember, even if it is six months after the fact.

Some things are worth the wait.

SL

Exchanging Pheasant Trees

2009-11-10T08:10:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, Utah opened its pheasant season. I didn’t think much of it as we were scheduled to hunt ducks that day.

When the ducks didn’t materialize that morning, we decided to cut out and get a big breakfast at the nearest Cracker Barrel. Fortunately for us, the trip took us through the fields of rural Utah County. We passed many lines of hunters carrying shotguns, retrieving dogs, and families enjoying the beautiful weather.

However, as we drove away from the lake, the most incredible sight any of us ever saw happen right in front of our eyes…about fifteen pheasant flew in front of the truck from the hill on the right to the brush on the left.

Jeremy immediately pulled the truck to the side of the road and got out. He stated putting his waders on. I asked him what was up and he informed me that he was going after those pheasant as there were plenty of roosters in that flight. I didn’t fancy putting my waders back on and he informed me that it was pretty marshy where they landed, so I told him I’d wait for him at the truck. However, Rob said he was going in without waders, so I grabbed a gun and a couple of shells and dove in with the rest of the group. We lined up about 30 feet apart…Rob on the left, Rob’s son next, then me and finally Jeremy on the right. We began walking forward.

After several minutes, we knew we were getting close – we had to be as the lake was fast approaching. Another step and out came a bird. It was literally 10 feet directly in front of me. Unfortunately, it lacked the beautiful red color of a rooster and was obviously a hen. You are not permitted to shoot the ladies, so I let it go.

In an instant, pheasant after pheasant flushed. Shotguns blasted.

When the smoke cleared, we all missed. The several roosters in the group had flown away safely.
We walked back to the truck amazed at the experience that we just had…a five minute pheasant hunt in the middle of our duck hunt.

Perhaps next year we will plan on a real pheasant hunt as part of our waterfowl weekend.

SL

Ducks and Cover

2009-11-09T17:43:00.005-06:00

This weekend I participated in my annual Utah duck hunt hosted by Jeremy and Robert Hunter…I’ve worked with Jeremy for almost a decade and we share a real passion for hunting. He’s appropriately named, for sure.

We met at 5:00am at the park and ride – I was waiting as the Hunter’s pulled up with their boat. They have a great little john boat with sides that popup as blinds. About a month ago, Rob’s wife painted the outside of the boat in a cammo pattern so it looks real sweet. It’s got three seats and although a little unstable for three people to hunt from, but it is perfect to use to get out to where we are hunting. They’ve got a very large number of decoys, mojo’s and feeder-butts, so they added a sled this year. They pull the sled full of decoys behind the boat. Additionally, Jeremy jerry-rigged a step on the front of the boat so you can step up and get into it without fear of tearing your waders. I don’t know what they will have next year, but some kind of chair for standing/sitting in the water or some kind of stabilizer to shoot safely from the boat is a good bet. Oh, and they were waxing wishfully about something called a muddy–buddy motor to get them through the shallows much more quickly than the 5-hp lawnmower engine they have today.

Ultimately, I was just happy to be in a boat. My Texas-based experience of duck hunting is that it is very hard work, often trudging through waist-high water or knee-high mud for an hour to get to your spot. And, after getting to your spot, not seeing any duck not to mention shooting at any.

So, it doesn’t much matter to me that we went out three times over two days and got skunked twice.

On our first morning we got out into the water and set up pretty late. In fact, it was after 7am by the time we were ready to go. However, the duck that flew into our decoys while we were setting up told us we were going to have a great day. It was to be a lie.

Jeremy and his brother are great hosts and allowed me the first shot. A swimmer entered our decoys. Most of the time, the ducks that swim in are coots; a duck that forages in the mud and tastes appropriately bad. This time, however, this was a real duck. As the duck took off I shot. We had blood in the boat, a golden-eye hen. As I retrieved my duck, I got stuck out in the open. As it usually happens, when someone is not prepared, the ducks come. In fact, two came in a buzzed right over Jeremy and Rob back near the boat. Unfortunately, they flew right in my direction and no one could safely shoot. The circled and crossed us again, everyone taking a shot but all of us missing. They flew off and I hurried back to the boat.

As you would expect, as I returned, the ducks stopped showing up. For a while, ducks would fly around the perimeter of our set up, ignore our calls, and fly off. Rob got bored and took the boat to see what else was going on. While he was away, a flock of gadwalls flew directly overhead. Jeremy and I dropped one each. While he was scouting, Rob bagged a pintail. Later on, I took a coot figuring I would try and eat it – but I was dissuaded from my plan.

We stayed out for a little longer enjoying the beautiful weather and the amazing scenery. Even if the hunting is slow, I can just look around and enjoy the beautiful mountains that surrounded us on every side. We decided to call it a day and motored back to the car.

We decided when we were finished in the morning to return for an evening session. We were a little disappointed with the showing, so we thought we’d try again. Last year, we scored three in the boat, so our five actually an ok day one.

That evening however, and the next morning, for that matter was more of the same – ducks either completely ignoring us or taking a look by flying the perimeter, but never coming in. It was a completely foreign frustration. Last year, Rob was able to turn any duck and convince it to flair into our spread for a good shot. In fact, we killed fifteen ducks on day two last year…this time? Nada. Nothing even came close. The only interesting thing about our evening was a couple of flights of Canadian geese that flew overhead. We shot at them – all of us unloading our weapons, but they were out of range.

By then, the sun was beginning to hide behind a mountain to the west. A beautiful site for sure, but one that also let us know our day was over. Beside, the mosquitoes started swarming by that point, so it was time to go.

The morning of day two (our last hunting opportunity) was more of the same without the geese or the mosquitoes. We gave up early and decided to call it a day.

That was before we realized it was opening day of pheasant season – but that is a story for another time.

SL

Change of Scenery

2009-09-06T22:03:00.011-05:00

I guess all that was needed was a change...

I decided to hunt section #2435 tonight. It's in Blackland, TX and I had scoped out the field last week. It is a 160 acre field with a V shaped border facing a couple of farm roads. It's unimproved pasture, so it doesn't have anything to pull in the doves other than a small tank, which is where I parked, with my back to the boundary (and a tree to provide some cover and shade).

I set my decoys up at the edge of the water and waited. I got their about 4pm, so I expected some company but there was no one there. I began to wonder if this was going to be a good spot after all. The fact that I didn't see any dove and didn't hear anyone shooting in the distance and I really started to wonder if this was going to be a continuation of the slow action from last week.

About thirty to forty-five minutes later others started arriving, and so did the doves.

It's amazing to see the difference in some people. Some were very courteous, apologizing as they walked past me to get to their spot. Others - they just took up a spot that was well within shooting distance and within the range of fire. I couldn't believe this idiot twosome who sat right along the water not 50 yards from me. As they eyed my decoys, I spoke up - I was afraid they were gonna shoot them, they moved on...what a bunch of bozos.

Regardless, having other shooters in the area helps stir up the birds. In fact, the one I bagged tonight was driven right to me from another group of shooters who missed. I used to not want to see others around - like all of the dove were just for me and I didn't want to share the area with them. Now, I want to see others around and hear them shooting. If often means that the birds are headed in my direction. The fact of the matter is that some of the nicest people I have met are the hunters with which I share public land. They are friendly, helpful, willing to share information and tips, and (for the most part) are respectful of rules, courtesy, and fair chase.

I ended shooting about a box worth of shells. There was a lot of stop and go action. The bird I harvested approached me head on (after being fired on). As I stood up to take aim, veered to my left a little. I led him perfectly and fired. He folded and dropped. Unfortunately, he dropped on the wrong side of the boundary fence by about 15 feet - and in some pretty thick stuff. I decided to quickly jump the fence and look for him. About twenty minutes later, I gave up - frustrated again.

I went to sit and hunted for about another half hour when I got up and searched some more. I was so pissed that I couldn't find another and I knew about where he landed, I really spotted it well when it fell. After about five minutes I found him - my first of the season. Unfortunately, some fire ants found him, too, so I had to clean them off of him - getting stung a couple times in the process. It was worth it.

After hunting several more hours and shooting and missing a lot, I called it a night. I know it's only one, but hopefully I'll add to him and turn a small snack into a meal. I used my vacuum packer that Angie bought me last Christmas for the first time, so I have one little dove breast in the freezer. This one has my sister's name on it, but I'm hoping for many more.

SL

Half The Battle

2009-09-04T16:44:00.004-05:00

I was back at it this morning. I'm lucky - I can go hunt for a couple hours and still be at work around 9AM.

I went to the same location as on Wednesday, location #2266 in Royce City. I brought my dove decoys with me on this one. I'm not entirely convinced they work - certainly not like duck decoys, but hey - any little bit helps.

I set the mojo dove with a couple of still ones and prepared for the action. I immediately noticed that it was very still - not a breeze to speak of which made it a little steamy. I soon found out that the birds were as still as the wind. There was nothing for at least an hour.

In fact, I didn't even hear a lot of shots around me. There was a father/son duo to my right about 100 yards away and I never heard them shoot - not once. There were only a couple of shots in the distance. Apparently, there were no doves flying. Perhaps the thunderstorms that moved in last night changed their behavior.

After a couple of hours, and as many birds you could count on one hand - A pair came in - they approached me a little left to right. As they entered into range, I shot. The dove folder and fell. Unfortunately, it fell into about 5 foot high grass and weeds about 20 yards away. I marked the spot and started to retrieve. I had to cross a very steep dry creek and when I took my eyes off the location I lost the spot. I knew the general location so I headed over and started the search. I looked through that stuff which was very thick for a half hour. I couldn't find my bird. Their coloring makes them disappear on the ground and unless the field is tilled, it is very hard to find them. I hate that. It seems wasteful, and frankly I don't get enough not to harvest what I shoot. Makes me really want a dog as shooting them is only half the work necessary to harvest.

I returned to my spot empty handed and continued for a little while longer, not seeing any more doves.

I did check out a new spot about 20 minutes to the south, in Blackland. As I drove there, I saw a great many dove...on the power lines, on the side of the road, on fences and in flight. By the time I got to the new spot it was passed the good time to hunt, but I hope to try it out this weekend. Maybe a afternoon hunt on Sunday.

In addition to that, Angie agreed to a weekend dove hunt/camping trip. Not sure where we will go yet, but we're thinking of taking a road trip down south a little.

Anyone have any suggestions as to where there's good dove numbers on accessible land?

SL

Optimism Remains

2009-09-02T17:29:00.005-05:00

The first time out is preceded by an optimism like no other.

I figured since this was only the second morning of the season and I've seen a lot of dove all over the place that I would have fast and furious action for a while. As I drove to my spot, I scared up a good number of dove that were feeding in the road. In fact, within 10 minutes of legal shooting time, I had my first shot at a dove crossing from right to left. I missed, but the familiar adrenalin rush was back and thoughts of a freezer full of dove breast began to coalesce in my mind. I was sure that this is the year I get to try out my vacuum sealer to keep a couple examples of that wonderful dark meat dove breast in good condition for my sister's visit in November.

We'll, that was at 6:40am and a lot changed from that point. I sat and scoured the skies for flights of doves for several hours this morning. I took four shots in total, all misses. All of the doves I shot at were singles flying right to left. I saw several more flights, most out of range and one pair that snuck up on me. By the time I saw them, my chance to shoot was gone.

However, there were a number of shotgun blasts all around me. Clearly, there were doves flying - just not so much in my area. Although I was well concealed, the recently harvested field I was hunting over must not have provided enough food and the trees to my back must not have been roosting spots.

Even without a ton of action and with no success, I still love being out in the field. I enjoyed the orange sun as it rose through a clearing in the trees to my back. As I sat there, I thought of what being outdoors means to me. After a long hot summer, being outside before the sun came up was a wonderful change. In fact, it was a little cool this morning. There was a breeze which made the temperature perfect. It was so refreshing - sort of like an ice cold glass of bottled water. The tap is good, but not nearly as much as a glass from the bottle (at least here in Dallas). Being outside was like that. It IS like that. Especially after being cooped up all summer.

Maybe that's why I love dove hunting so much - or all hunting. I am outside, not in a centrally air conditioned house or outside sweating my you-know-whats-off, but outside drinking in the fresh air, the sounds of nature and connecting with the earth, and with God. When hunting alone, I can spend much of my time in prayer conversing with the Almighty. When not alone (usually with Dylan), dove hunting affords an opportunity to talk - as silence isn't nearly as important as concealment.

So, although I got skunked today, it was great to be out. I don't know if I will have a lot of success this year, but it won't be for lack of trying.

And, as I departed the hunting area, I passed a field of milo that hasn't been harvested yet. I know where my next hunting spot is going to be.

It would seem that my optimism remains.

SL

See, I Wasn't Lying

2009-08-31T12:08:00.004-05:00

Not a day after I posted about public hunting in Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) posted this video. They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words and they are right. This video covers public land availability better than I could. And, it's got some neat dove hunting video, too!

I'm going to show this to Cassie and see if she changes her mind about coming with her dad into the field. She's been reluctant, even with promises of pink guns and special time with dad. Maybe seeing another girl with her dad will help convince her.

SL

Hunting In Public

2009-08-30T22:57:00.003-05:00

It begins again.

A wonderful thing happens in Texas beginning with September 1st; the date marks the beginning of hunting season - more specifically, the beginning of mourning dove season in North Texas. This is a time of year that I look forward to and it goes all the way into January - which is typically the end of the winter hunts. In fact, other than for spring turkey season, the winter contains almost all of the hunting we can do in Texas.

For September and October, my time will be spent in fields with shotgun in hand watching for doves to come into range. Dove hunting isn't so much as hunting as it is shooting. Unfortunately, shooting and missing is more common as doves can fly extremely fast, they seem to have an innate ability to shuck and jive when being shot at, and become extremely wary as the season progresses. In fact, even with a great deal of time spent in the fields, I only bagged one dove last year. The year before I scored significantly more, but had better spots. This year, I will be dove hunting public lands exclusively as we did not renew the lease in Honey Grove from last year.

Because Angie arranged for my trophy white tail hunt in November, we decided that spending additional money on a lease wasn't in the budget for this season. That means that except for two and a half wonderful days in Laredo, I will likely not be hunting mammals this winter - unless, of course, I get selected for a public hunt.

Texas puts aside over 1 million acres for public hunting. Several of the areas are by permit only and the only way to obtain a permit is to win the lottery for a particular area. Last week I spent several hours putting together my entries for permits. I entered Dylan and I in several deer hunts, a wild hog hunt, a javelina hunt, and a spring turkey hunt. If our entry is selected, we'll have a three day weekend in the particular unit.

The state does a good job of managing the entire process. Each entry cost $3 per adult and the chances of getting selected for some units are actually pretty good. Each year you aren't selected, you get an additional entry point in that category for the following year. At some point, we'll get selected and have an awesome weekend adventure. The javelina hunt, for example, is in the mountains of West Texas near Mexico. If we get to go, it will be a long drive but a great adventure.

Our entries for this year include the following:

Pat Mayse Wildlife Management Area (WMA) - Gun Deer, either sex (limit: 3 deer, one buck). There are 60 permits available and last year they had 150 entries. Hunter success in bagging a deer was 30%.

Cooper Lake WMA - Gun Deer, antlerless or spike (limit: 3 deer, one buck). There are 12 permits available and this is a new location, so there were no hunts last year.

Gus Engling WMA - Gun Deer, management either sex (limit: 3 deer). There are 120 permits and last year they had 833 entries. Last years success was 32%.

Elephant Mountain WMA - Javelina (limit: one javelina and one elk). There are 8 permits available and last year they had 564 applicants for 10 permits. Hunter success was 0%.

Fort Boggy - Feral Hog (limit: unlimited). Last year there were 133 applicants for the 20 permits available with 22% hunter success.

Pat Mayse WMA - Spring Turkey (limit: one gobbler). Last year there were 140 applicants for 32 permits. This year there are 30 permits available. Hunter success was 7%.

As you can see, the state manages an excellent public hunting system. In addition to these hunts, there are several others - including Mule deer, exotics, alligator, and others - including several youth only categories. All are affordable and are located throughout the state so they are reachable regardless of where you live. Except for the Javelina and Hog hunts, all of the hunts we put entries in for are within a couple of hours from the house.

In addition to the hunting opportunities above, the state puts aside a significant portion of land for public dove hunting. A $48 annual public license gets you access to these areas - typically 60+ or more acres of harvested farm land that may, or may not, get a ton of dove fly overs. There are about 1,000 acres close by in Royse City (about 30 minutes from the house) and an additional several hundred acres up north near where the lease was last year. I'm sure I will be out there as much as possible.

Add a possible goose/duck hunt in Wyoming this winter and it should be a full season, even if I'm not in a blind every weekend like I was last year. Unfortunately, if we are going to get a freezer full of meat we'll have to get lucky twice - once to get selected and once to bag some game.

Either way, I will report all of the goings on right here.

SL

Disaster Averted

2009-08-29T12:39:00.004-05:00

I remember the pain and the suffering. I remember that, at the time, I thought the only way to the sweet relief I desired was at the end of a bullet to my temple. I wanted to die as the pain of death would be a cakewalk compared to the suffering I was going through. It seemed that the sweats, the pain and the vomiting would have no end.

I was a victim of a known drug reaction between the antibiotic Flagyl and the alcohol in a mouthwash. Did you know that mouthwash has alcohol? I didn't, but I learned it then - and I learned it the hard way.

Flagyl is one of the antibiotics that my doctor has prescribed to me to take care of a bug I picked up while traveling abroad. Several years ago I came home from a trip to India and he prescribed the drug to fix the problem. He warned me at the time to stay away from alcohol, as the drug causes a violent reaction to it. In fact, he informed me that Flagyl is sometimes prescribed to alcoholics because of it's properties. Take the drug, take a drink and suffer the consequences.

I was very careful then...but I wasn't aware that my mouthwash contained alcohol. So, even the very small amount absorbed as I gargled caused me to suffer. The description above is NOT an exaggeration. It was horrible and I wouldn't wish that suffering on my worst enemy. Well, maybe my WORST enemy, but no one else.

So, why bring up that suffering from several years ago? Because I was minutes away from suffering it again - and probably to a greater extent. Angie and I were having dinner with friends last night. Not thinking, I ordered a beer. About thirty seconds before the beer arrived, I remember that I was taking Flagyl. I couldn't believe it. I was a sip away from some of the worst suffering on the planet - all from my own stupidity.

The beer came and someone else at the table drank it. I ordered a Dr. Pepper and averted a disaster.

At least I think I did...what else has hidden quantities of alcohol?

SL

Haggle Rock

2009-08-19T01:32:00.002-05:00

I just got back from shopping. Since I didn't have much of an opportunity to do it like a local (and benefit from the much lower prices), I was forced to do it in the hotel mall. Now, this mall has a Hugo Boss as you enter it, so you can only imagine the beating I took as I looked around for souvenirs and gifts for the kids.

Combine that with the fact that the kids have every sandalwood carving and marble collectible available in India, and bringing the kids back something meaningful is not the easiest of responsibilities to carry out.

I did have an idea as to what I wanted to get them. Marissa actually asked for something specific this year and Cassie is relatively easy to shop for. However, the boys present a challenge.

Ultimately, I wanted to get everyone something that was either desired or meaningful. I think I did pretty good. The problem is that all of this meaningfulness comes at a much steeper price than usual. In fact, since I didn't think I was going to have an opportunity to really shop, Angie and I discussed my coming back empty handed. We both agreed that we could do more meaningful things with the money that just bring back a bunch of crap from India.

However, that really left an empty feeling in me. I want the kids to share in the culture that I have come to know, but more importantly, I want to kids to know I am thinking about them when I am gone, and that I miss them and love them. Ultimately, it has become clear that the gift has less to do with the gift and more to do with the message it conveys, "that you're special and I was thinking about you."

So, with that, I decided I would brave the shops of the mall. I know what is in store for me when I walk through the halls - hard sells, haggling on price, and the ultimate feeling that I just got my ass handed to me. I would so much prefer to pay the asked price, but I know that isn't how you do things here, and in much of the rest of the world.

So, I shopped...trying to find everyone the perfect gift (or at least one that would be enjoyed). Justin was first. I asked for help with his and I found something pretty neat. Dylan was included in that search, and I found a really neat one, but it was $500 USD, so I continued to look. I found him a very cool substitute. Marissa was next. I knew what I wanted there, and not exactly what she asked for, I think she'll like them. Angie was last - always more difficult and more expensive than the others. I try to get her what she will like, not what I like. Cassie's was in another store so I knew I would pick it up later.

So, I have all of these gifts on the table, and the hard charging salesmen are calculating my tab. As the do this, I start preparing my act. Once they give me the total, I am going to play completely surprised and a bit put off by the amount. It's weird, I am completely at ease during a contract negotiation with a vendor, or even dressing down a vendor when necessary, but I felt my heart starting to beat harder just then. As I stated before, I do not like to haggle.

So, he gives me the amount and I am shocked!!! In fact, the shock was somewhat real. I shook my head, said I couldn't believe it was so much, and tried to make myself look like I was about to leave. He saw this and lowered the price a little. I shook my head again and gave him a counter offer. One that ultimately would have given myself a 50% discount.

He laughed and gave me some response that the discounts were already in the prices. I told him I appreciated that, but the total was too much. After some back and forth we ended up at about 75% from the original number. In the end, as they tried to sell me another item I told him to throw it in for free. He laughed again and then consented to the final price. I wasn't messing around here.

As I walked back to my hotel room, I can't help but feeling like I just got spanked. My guess is that a local would have gotten it down more, perhaps even to the original 50% that was my first counter. That's where the empty feeling comes in - that, and the fact that I have no idea how much the stuff I bought is really worth.

That being said, though, I am comforted by the fact that it isn't about the cost...

...its about the more important message.

SL

Mysore Feet

2009-08-13T04:14:00.004-05:00

My feet are sore...not because I just finished a workout, but because we did a ton of sightseeing yesterday.

We explored the "City of Palaces" more commonly known as Mysore in the state of Karnataka.

Mysore is about 2-3 hours by car from Bangalore. My host arranged to have one of their local staff accompany us. Not only did he help with any language needs, but he was a bit of a history buff and gave us a fantastic rundown of our agenda for the day wrapped around a review of the history of Mysore.

Our first stop was to the city of Sri Rangapatna. This city is important to the history of Mysore because it was the home to Tipu Sultan who had wrested power from the Wodeyar Dynasty near the end of the 18th Century. Tipu Sultan was eventually defeated by the British, but his summer palace, tomb, and gatehouse survive. Additionally, the Ranganatha Swamy Temple which was built in 894AD and houses a statue of one of the forms of Vishnu.

Next, we visited St. Joseph's Cathedral (now, more commonly known as St. Philomena's) in Mysore. It is built in the same shape as St. Peter's Cathedral in New York and is one of the oldest and largest churches in India. The church contains catacombs and a shrine to St. Josephine which is purported to contain a relic of her.

After this stop, we drove the Chamundi Hill which has a statue of the demon Mahishasura, a temple to Chamundi who slain the demon and a very large statue of Nandi. In addition to these sites, the hill provide beautiful views of Mysore at the base of the mountain.

Following lunch, we visited the Palace of Mysore. The reigning Maharaja still uses portions of the palace, and we paid for a guide to explain to us particular aspects of the temple. Seeing the receiving room, the great marriage hall, and the rest of the palace was amazing. Apparently, the Wodeyars were rulers of the people and their kingdom flourished until Indian independence in 1947. We ended at an art museum which contained a great deal of paintings and artifacts from the period of the palaces.

It was a great day only marred by traffic in Bangalore that did not move. It took us about 3.5 hours to return to the hotel - at one point we had moved about 1.5 km in 35 minutes time. It was bad even for India's normally bad traffic.

However, that was the only issue with a wonderful day. The pictures above are from our host and I will upload the many that I took when I return to the States.

Farting Imitates Blogging?

2009-08-01T12:37:00.004-05:00

There's an old joke, not particularly funny, but maybe more true than not in the larger sense. It goes:

Q: Why don't women fart?

A: Because they never shut up enough to build up pressure.

Like I said, it’s not particularly funny. But the idea got me to thinking...particularly around the fact that I haven't blogged in a while. In fact, I haven't blogged a great deal since I joined Facebook.

I've begun to ponder some of the reasons why my blog has been neglected; to think about the reasons why I blogged in the first place. My initial idea was that it would be a good way to have family back home in New York kept up to date on all things going on Texas. Quickly, however, the blog became more of a public diary; part confessional, part therapist, but all cathartic. Getting out some of the junk that accumulates in our brains is good for us - and the blog provides a mechanism for just that...sort of a huge brain fart that feels oh so good.

Then, I finally succumbed to Facebook. That was more of a way for me to keep up with what everyone else was up to. And for the most part that continues to be true. Over time, though, it seems that quick updates about the universe that holds me as its sun has changed my behavior in the same way that the women who never shuts up never farts. Ultimately, two or three updates a day seems to have reduced the need to express myself in the long rip of flatulence that is my blog.

That’s not to say that everyone once in a while you just have to just lift a cheek and blast away. Sometimes your digestive system demands it and I suspect that my need to blog will continue similarly. Hunting season is fast approaching and hunting and fishing seems to be the one topic in which blogging is easy. I also have a two week trip to India coming up, so there should be significant opportunities to blog. We spent last weekend in Houston on our third annual New York Mets @ Houston Astros trip. I’ve had a nagging desire to blog about families and my desire to pass traditions down to the kids.

I don’t know what else is in store for my blog, but I’m sure that my need to post will continue. Just hold your noses, because I’m sure some of them will stink.

SL

Pictures From Vacation

2009-07-06T17:41:00.007-05:00

Our condo. The decor was beautiful and the location was perfect. About a 60 second walk to the boat slip and about 2 seconds to the pool. It was a short drive to Hot Springs from here, as well. All for a reasonable price, too. Angie now swears by the site: homeaway dot com.

Our boat. A 2009 21-foot party barge by Sun Catcher. It was awesome, except for the 115-hp 4-stroke motor. It was a little under powered for tubing and knee-boarding. If the kids skied we wouldn't have been able to do it. We tooled around the lake pretty good for two days and used only 30 gallons of the 40 gallon tank. We are sold on a pontoon and are now looking for a fishing version.

Cassie posing as she does in every picture. The marina was nice enough to let us borrow the three life vests so the kids could be safe. If you are ever in need of a boat on Lake Hamilton, check them out - they were very friendly and reasonable. Hot Springs Marina

Marissa knee-boarding. She was really good when she wanted to be out there. However, I think she would have been happier staying in the room and texting the whole time. She surprised me with how good she was.

Dylan swinging off one of the several islands in Lake Hamilton. We were told to stay off of them, but this swing was just too alluring to Dylan and the many other boats that anchored here to let their kids play. Dylan played here for what seemed like hours while Cassie, Marissa, Mom and I swam, ate, and sunned.

The goofy hat that Angie thought hilarious. She's still upset I didn't let her buy it and has taken to the Internet looking for the hat for me. I can think of a thousand of better things to do with $22.

The top of the hot spring cascade looking down. Standing over this place you could feel the heat and the steam coming out of the spring. Apparently, it heats to almost 150 degrees. I could really understand why the bath houses were so popular. The story goes that 5 separate tribes of American Indians would bathe in the waters under treaty, so that all were welcome. De Soto was shown the springs by the American Indians in the 1600's. The last bath house closed in 1983, although one remains open as a spa, offering the tradition bath as done 100 years ago.

One of many pictures of the kids getting along. They were awesome all week. Too bad they don't get along as good all the time, but if they are going to pick a week to do it - I am thankful it is vacation week.

A picture of the spring through a restored bath house that now serves as a National Park. The self tour through the Fordyce Bath House which is now run by the US Parks Department provided an opportunity to experience what the guests of the spa would experience. From the gymnasium, to the baths, to the cooling room, etc. the bath house is restored to its condition from its hey day in the early 1900's.

One of the few times that Angie didn't have the camera. We're tired, hot and sweaty - but also enjoying a week together with each other and the kids.

A family picture in front of the collection area for the cascade. Dylan walked up to it, plunged his hand deep into the water, and immediately screamed. It was HOT! But seeing the spring, and feeling its heat, it really helped us understand the allure of the baths. Then, we read about how the waters are from rain on the tops of the mountains from several thousands of years ago. Once again, Hot Springs became an intellectual puzzle.

All of us building a structure meant to survive a simulated earthquake. The kids were learning even though they just thought it was play. It was something we all did together, as well. The building did NOT survive.

Marissa posing by our arch. We all put it together and prayed it stay up. It did!

Don't know what this was called, but we filled it with sand and started it swinging. The sand came out of the bottom as it swung making a pretty design. I think the kids learned some patience on this one.

Angie and I snuggling. Actually, my skin isn't that dry and hers is really soft. However, she liked this picture because the gator at the bottom just crawled up to the gator on the top and put its arm around it. Pretty sweet for a cold blooded reptile.

Angie about to get Syphilis. Al Capone would frequent Hot Springs because of the soothing aspect of the baths; apparently he had a pretty bad case. He would rent out the entire fourth floor of the Arlington Hotel (his favorite room was room 442).

SL

Hot Is More Than A Name

2009-07-05T18:42:00.005-05:00

Last week, Angie and I took the kids to Hot Springs, Arkansas for our family vacation. The decision to go to Hot Springs was made as the result several variables...the most important of which was that the vacation had to be affordable. We are saving for our 'no expense spared' vacation to all things Disney next year, so we wanted something that wasn't going to break that budget.

Secondly, the kids wanted to be near water (not surprising since they are part fish). The difficulty was deciding which type of water, salt or fresh. We considered the gulf coast, from Corpus Christi, TX all the way to Destin, FL. In the end, the kids wanted fresh water because of the options it provided - boating, tubing, knee boarding and fishing.

Once we new it was fresh water, we started searching for lakes. We wanted to go out of state for something new...and Angie found an affordable condo on the shores of Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs. That type of destination was perfect...several days of boating and a couple of days of sightseeing and other fun activities.

We left on Monday and drove north east through East Texas and ultimately to Texarkana where we stopped for lunch. Texarkana is the halfway point from Dallas to Hot Springs and the bulk of the trip travelled along I-30 which runs pretty close to our house. We arrived at the condo and got our bearings. The kids tried out the pool, we drove through downtown Hot Springs, we found our boat slip and the marina where we were to pick up our pontoon boat for a two day rental.

The first two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent almost entirely on the water. Thanks to the GPS on my iPhone we were able to locate our position at all times on the lake. On day one, we checked out the lake, tubed, knee-boarded and swam. We all got sunburned pretty bad, as well. We did the same on day 2, but explored other sections of the lake.

Everyone enjoyed being on the water as there was a little bit for everyone. The kids played in the water, Angie and her mom looked at the million dollar homes, and I played Captain Scott. It was fantastic and cemented our decision to purchase a boat soon.

We played minigolf the first evening - Dylan beat Angie and I by a stroke with Cassie coming in a distant fourth. It was HOT, but we had a good time. The second evening, we drove through Hot Springs trying to get an idea as to what we wanted to do the next day. Whenever we weren't doing anything, we were swimming at the pool at the condo.

On Thursday, we went into Hot Springs. We walked 'Bath House Row' taking in the National Park tour and checking out the spas. That was really interesting. At the end of bath house row is a cascade from the spring. As we walked to it, we could feel the heat coming off of it. Dylan plunged his hand into the water and quickly pulled it out as the water can reach 147^o Fahrenheit. It wasn't until we saw the spring and felt the water that the history of the bath houses came alive. Once we could feel the heat of the water, we could imagine the crowds bathing and soaking in what they believed to be the healing powers of the waters.

We continued down Central Ave. and ended up at "The Gangster Museum of America". An hour later we knew we had been had. Basically the museum consisted of small exhibit areas where they make you watch a 5-10 minute film on the history of organized crime, corruption, and gambling in Hot Springs. Although interesting, the way the museum presented the information was horrible. Thankfully, although dreadfully bored, the kids behaved wonderfully. We ended the day back at the pool and with a pizza dinner. The memory of the wasted hour at TGMOA faded.

Friday was supposed to be just a leisurely drive home day, but the museum really soured us (and we wanted to end on a good note since the kids had been so well behaved), we decided to add a couple of stops to our itinerary.

The first stop was "The Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo". Now, I understand that anything with "petting zoo" in the name is going to suck, but the kids were into it, so we went. Our expectations were low and were met. The petting zoo had some goats and a donkey. We weren't allowed near the deer that were advertised. I've been to better petting zoos at the fair or at the zoo. This one was really bad. The rest of the place was poorly done, as well. The alligator pits were what you'd expect and the cougars and wolf were pathetic. I really felt bad for them in their small enclosures. The rest of the animals didn't look so great either. The kids were happy, so when it comes to something like that, it's all that counts.

Our last stop was the "Mid America Science Museum" where we could touch and do the activities. Dylan was the only kid who wanted to go, but the girls persevered. Once we got their, they were pleasantly surprised - and so was I. We built bridges, boats, airplanes, buildings, windmills and a ton of other structures - all to see various scientific properties. The kids thought it was about playing with stuff, but we know better. They were learning, and so were the grownups. Their 1.5M volt Tesla coil was my favorite - and I learned that Tesla was working on wireless power long before Apple, Sony and IBM.

We left the museum, and Arkansas at about 3:30. We stopped at Ta Molly's on I-30 on Greenville, TX. I mention that because the food was some of the BEST Mexican that we've ever had. If you ever have opportunity to eat at one of them, do so - it is fabulous.

We came home to two very excited dogs and crashed...although vacations are wonderful, it is ALWAYS great getting home. And, it is unbelievable how tired you are when you do get home. I know that for now on, I will always include a weekend between the end of a vacation and a return to work - so I can rest from what was supposed to be a restful week.

SL

Everyone's Gone...Almost

2009-06-22T11:27:00.004-05:00

I wonder what Angie is doing right now? Relaxing in the jet tub with a cold glass of Chablis? Taking a nap? Stretched out on the couch watching Oprah while snacking on bon bons?

I'm not sure what she's doing, but it probably isn't any of the above. If she isn't working hard, she's probably at the computer looking at decorating blogs, connecting on Facebook, or catching up on e-mail.

That's assuming she's not doing anything.

Why would I be wondering this of all days? Because for the entire week, she has three of her very needy family on the road. Dylan and Marissa are at church camps and I am at our Support Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

This, by itself, would like result in a relaxing week. However, add to the fact that Cassie is going to drama camp for 3 hours a day, and Angie really has some quiet time to enjoy. Given that Justin is likely to be at work or school during much of these days, and I can hear what she is thinking...

"Can you hear that? Silence! How awesome."

Although, knowing Angie, she'll enjoy it for a day or two, and then the silence will start to bother her. She's a real friend to her kids. She genuinely enjoys their company and, by Wednesday, she'll be missing them terribly. She probably will not start to miss me until later because I am much more needy than the kids. That will hit on Thursday or Friday.

By then, the kids will be returning, she'll have to go do Cassie's week end production, and I will be arriving late.

I hope she enjoys the quiet and her week...she'll need to charge her batteries for our family vacation to Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

'Cause I'm needy!

SL

Truth Hurts

2009-06-21T15:00:00.004-05:00

Angie came up to my office last night. She asked me what I intended to do that evening with respect to Cassie's second lost tooth since Thursday. Basically, she was looking for a plan for that evening's Tooth Fairy (T.F.) activities.

After explaining to Angie what I had in mind, she let me in on the fact that Cassie had been asking her if the Tooth Fairy is real. Angie thinks that honesty is the best policy in these situations. Me, I prefer to lie my ass off. I think that we should let the kids believe as long as possible because once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Our differences in opinion caused a major battle when Angie decided on her own to let Cassie in on the Easter bunny secret. I was livid when she did. The way I look at it is that I only get one shot at this stuff with Cassie and I want to enjoy it for as long as possible. So, even though the Easter Bunny was gone, I still had Santa and the Tooth Fairy....now, I only have Santa.

After Angie told me about Cassie's questions, I called Cassie up to my office. She sat on the bed with me at my desk. I asked her about her questions and I asked her if she REALLY wanted to know the truth. She said she did. I asked her why it mattered and she told me that some of her friends told her the T.F. wasn't real. I asked her again if she REALLY wanted to know, and again she said yes. So, I went against my better judgement and told her the truth - that mommy and daddy were the T.F.

She clearly didn't believe what I was saying. Had I thought more quickly, I would have told her that I was only kidding and left it at that...but I didn't, I said it again,

"Mommy and Daddy are the Tooth Fairy"

I felt like a monster...I FEEL like a monster. You should have seen her; she looked like someone that just got punched in the stomach. She asked for proof. I told her about her tooth exchanges, including the one that happened two night previous. She asked to see the teeth. I had the first one in my drawer, so I showed her. By then, the truth was starting to sink in and that is when I made my most serious mistake of the evening.

I told her that now that she knew the truth, that the tooth for cash thing was off the table.

By her reaction, you would have thought that I just told her that her best friend, favorite puppy and Joe Jonas were all just killed in a freak accident. She bawled. Not for a couple of minutes, but for a long while.

It seems that her being upset had nothing to do with the actual demise of the T.F., but with the fact that she wasn't going to get cash money anymore. I tried to console her, but she was having none of it...so, what's a good dad to do? I told her to put her tooth under her pillow and we'll see what happens.

She woke up and the world was all well again. She had $2 more than the day before.

That's the cheapest crisis avoidance fee that I have ever paid, and well worth it. In fact, I think she thinks that last night's revelation was nothing more than a dream. Mom told her that she didn't put the money under there, and I said the same. I told her I passed out and never came downstairs to do it.

So, that $2 not only repaired the hurt that she felt, but I think she may actually believe in old T.F again. We'll see - she's got some more loose teeth.

It's OK To Lose

2009-06-12T12:37:00.006-05:00

I've posted previously my dislike of California. I should clarify that statement. I dislike the economic liberalism that is the state's government - a liberalism that is manifest in ways that seem to say, 'You are too foolish to protect yourselves, so the state will do it for you.' I hate the thought that the government seems to think they know what's best for me and that I don't have the freedom to live like a jerk if I should choose.

That being said, there are some things about the state that I do like. The state itself is beautiful and contains two of my all-time favorite cities, San Francisco and San Diego. I also have good friends and colleagues there, so it isn't all bad.

Ultimately, however, the state is bankrupt and I can't help but think that it has something to do with the above liberalism. And, just so I can say 'I told you so', the same California left-wing thought process is in charge of our national government, as well (bashing Pelosi could be a future post).

So, if you are still reading through this rant, you are probably asking, "why is he going off on California again?" The answer is because California seems to follow the European way of thinking and something has been occurring in the EU that just seems wrong.

My fear is that I will be seen as a Microsoft apologist, but the EU is so far off base with how it is addressing anti-competitiveness issues with Microsoft that I feel compelled to blog about it. And the same thought process that is pervasive in California is running the show here. The 'we are too stupid to take care of ourselves thought'.

In a nutshell, the EU has been battling Microsoft for years saying that it has unfairly used its market position to stifle competition. The use the whole Windows Media Center vs. Real Player thing as one example. The current battle is Internet Explorer vs. Netscape and other browsers. I won't comment about the ultimate claim, but even if Microsoft has wrongly taken advantage of their position to squeeze out the competition, the EU hasn't handled this case well. They fined Microsoft and stated that IE presents an unfair advantage.

So, what does Microsoft do? They announce that they'll sell Windows without IE.

Now, the EU states that this solution isn't adequate. Yet, Microsoft has addressed the concern that has been communicated by the EU.

But, since the concern wasn't communicated well, the EU has to backtrack. They want Windows to ship with alternatives. Ultimately, the EU got what it wanted, but now that it did, it wants more. This is where I have a problem...

The EU wants Windows to sell with a competitors' products integrated. Does that make sense? Would that be like making Airbus ship planes with Boeing parts? Or Nokia phones ship with Motorola parts? I don't get it. And, I don't get it because there are choices out there. If you don't want to use the MS browser, download Firefox or Safari. Both are available, work really well, and are free. In fact, in the time it took to post this message, I downloaded and installed Safari (I already had Firefox installed). A recent article states that half of eleven million Safari downloads have been on Windows machines, demonstrating that this is exactly what consumers are doing.

Therefore, my message to the EU is, "get off of our desktops." We're not as stupid as you think we are - and even if we were, freedom means that we are allowed to act in ways that might be counter to our well-being. In fact, it is the ultimate freedom that allows participants TO LOSE.

That's what we seem to have lost [pun intended]. At the end of the day, every little leaguer who plays doesn't have to get a trophy. In order to win, someone has to lose. You can't have one without the other. In today's bail-out, hand-out society, it seems that winning has now become a bad word, and that it is wrong to allow anyone to lose. The problem with that, is that you take all motivation to compete away. Look at the 32-hour work week in France, or the socialism that is becoming more and more common in Europe, or in California.

Perhaps the best way to ensure competition isn't to restrict the participants but to ensure that losing is a real possibility.

SL

I Dare Ya!

2009-06-10T14:07:00.005-05:00

Some marriages are good, some not so much. I would venture a guess, however, that most marriages could stand to improve. Whether it is an unresolved issue or some other nit that continues to bother, we all have areas in which we can get better.

My marriage is no different.

Angie and I have spent an interesting eight plus years together. Some times have been very difficult, some have been heavenly. Ultimately, we are always looking to make them better.

Enter the movie, "Fireproof". I have a link to it on the right side on this website. We watched it a couple of months ago and are soon to start a small group couples study on it. However, it wasn't until I took the dare that things started to change.

I started "The Love Dare" a couple of weeks ago. "The Love Dare" is made up of 40 daily dares that we are to do for our spouse. Some are as easy as being intentional about your greeting. Some are very difficult, like not saying a negative thing to our spouse for an entire day. "The Love Dare" is the premise behind the movie. A marriage that is falling apart due to neglect is saved because one of them learns unconditional love through the dare.

Although I would say that Angie and I aren't in danger of failing anytime soon, our marriage isn't all that it could be...and we both know it. So, I took it upon myself to take the dare. I kept it a secret until one of the dares instructs us to ask our spouse for things that bug them about us. Once I asked her, she knew I was doing it.

I recently completed day nine (I've redone some days due to failing on the first try, and some days I couldn't do that particular day for some reason or another, so nine daily dares have taken a couple of weeks - that's OK, though. Its more about the journey as a whole than each of the tasks). Things have already changed for us. Day seven, in particular, was a real eye-opener. We are instructed to make a list of the good things about our spouse and another list of the bad. The good list took about two minutes and took over the entire page. The bad list took about a half an hour, and I only could think of a handful of items. It wasn't what I expected. What I learned is that I dwell on the few negatives instead of the many positive. All of the dares have a learning opportunity if you let them.

I guess I have been letting them because Angie says she sees a difference. I know we've been closer to each other, kinder to each other, and have enjoyed each other's company more.

I think I'm changing in her eyes, as well...I feel like she's appreciating me more and that I've become easier to love. In fact, if what she posted on Facebook today is any indication, things are excellent.

She wrote, "[Angie] thinks she has an amazing husband! He loves me enough to be who God intended him to be!!! Love you, baby! ;)"

I can't think of kinder words from the most important person to me on the Earth. You want your spouse to say the same?

C'mon, I dare ya!

SL

Burrito Bleakness

2009-06-03T13:35:00.004-05:00

I'm a big guy. You only have to have read this blog a couple of times to know that I am in need of losing serious weight. As such, it should be no surprise to anyone that I enjoy a good meal. Once in a while I have a real hankering for something. Starting yesterday, that hankering focused on a steak burrito from Chipotle.

I think Chipotle (pronounced: chi-POTE-lay) is the most amazing thing wrapped into a sixteen inch flour tortilla.

I was introduced to Chipotle when I ran the security operations center at McAfee. They were a customer and the engineers that worked for me LOVED the place. I think that's why they had to visit the store weekly, in person, to reconfigure the routers. That work could have been done remotely, but then there would have been no steak, chicken, barbacoa, or other meats shoved into a large tortilla with black beans, cilantro rice, guacamole, cheese, lettuce and a selection of salsas ranging from the mild roasted corn to the very hot tomatillo red.

Just typing up the description above makes my mouth water.

However, as I chowed down on my celebratory post colon-/endo- scopy burrito, I shared the experience with Angie and Justin, both of which are not only picky eaters, but have not really been acquainted with Chipotle. As they dissembled their burritos, I knew it was going to be a weird meal. Any experienced Chipotle-aphile knows you never unwrapped the foil around the burrito. The roll it down as you eat so everything stays together.

Next, both of my lunch companions began to open op their burrito. I nearly fell off my chair. Angie's had tomatoes which she does not eat. She was the victim of a poorly placed order. Justin was just looking for the chicken. He didn't care for the rice, the beans, or the roasted corn salsa. I just shook my head and ate in silence. Justin took my silence as though I didn't enjoy my meal. Not at all. I just couldn't understand why they didn't enjoy theirs.

So, I finished my burrito as quickly as possible and departed the scene. I did, however, learn a couple of lessons. The most important is to never eat Chipotle with people that special order from McDonalds. Next time I have a craving, I'll go alone.

SL

A Surprise, Just Not A Party

2009-05-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Angie handed me her laptop and said, "Happy Birthday, sweetheart!" I didn't know what she was doing since I had bought the laptop for her birthday the year previous. As I sat on the hospital bed waiting for my discharge papers, I had no clue as to what she was doing.

What she was doing was trying to make my birthday somewhat special. After being prodded and poked and worked out on the treadmill on minimal sleep and even less food, I think she felt bad that my birthday was a bust. (Truth be told, she hadn't done anything for my birthday because I wasn't supposed to be home, I was supposed to be in Raleigh working.)

So, she came to the hospital today with some KFC and a birthday cake. I had just eaten the lunch that the hospital provided, so I think she wanted to do SOMETHING special - even if it was small. And, she decided to let me know what my present was...

Now, you have to step back about a year and a half to understand how our birthdays were planned. A year and a half ago, I had thrown Angie a big surprise 40th birthday bash with 50 of her closet friends and kids, catering from her favorite restaurant, etc. etc. That party was awesome and I assumed when I turned 40 she'd reciprocate.

Then, last year, I bought a rifle and hunted. At that point, I knew that for my birthday I didn't want a party but a hunt where I could have a reasonable chance at a large deer. Not necessarily a trophy buck, but something large enough to hang on a wall while filling my freezer. She's been tight lipped since then. If I asked her about it or even mentioned it, she'd give me that look she has; the look that says, "shut up!" For the most part, I'd shut up.

About a week ago I walked in on her while she was on the phone with someone...it was evident that she was planning my present. (Either that or she just got busted having an affair and since I really didn't think that was the case, I knew it was for a hunt). I honored her request not to bug her, so I didn't even ask. She asked if I wanted to fly or drive and indicated that she would accompany - but that was all she gave me.

Until she handed me her laptop. On the page, I saw:
I was blown away. She indicated that we'd be going for the pre-rut package. She then showed me pictures of the ranch, lodging, food, etc. I can't wait. This is going to be a hunt of a life time for me. If I never shoot at a trophy again, I know that this is the trip to savour and enjoy.

I don't have a lot of details yet and I have a list of questions for her and the ranch...but, Angie is real dedicated to pulling this off all by herself. I don't think she understands this, but she took such great care of me at the hospital and she's doing all the work for this hunt that even though I spent my 40th birthday in the hospital, this has been a really awesome birthday.

SL

Happy Stress Test to Me

2009-05-19T16:46:00.003-05:00

An aunt tells me that I just entered my fifth decade. I think that somehow I really started a new beginning. I spent the beginning of my birthday strapped to a heart monitor dissolving Nitro and getting a battery of tests on my heart.

I hadn't been feeling great all weekend, having suffered a couple of bouts of shortness of breath, profuse sweating and chills. None of them lasted very long, so I basically committed to visiting my doctor when I had an opportunity.

I had a very early flight scheduled for Monday morning, so I went to bed early on Sunday night. However, I could never really get comfortable, I felt "off" and then the chest pains began. Not bad pain, but a dull squeezing sensation that never went away. I postponed my flight for the evening and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep. As the day progressed, the pain remained, but it was when I had another episode like that from the weekend, I called my doctor. As expected, when I mentioned chest pain, he said to get to the ER immediately. I did.

EKG, blood work, Nitro pills and an extensive history had the doctor thinking I might have had a clot from my leg. The did a sonogram on my leg and a cat scan on my chest. Both checked out OK. They decided to admit me, but had not beds, so I basically lay in the ER until about 1am. Angie stayed with me the whole time and a good bud came up to visit and pray. The next day, some more blood work and a stress test proved that my heart is fine. They discharged me at noon today and I've been resting since. I will take a day off of work to continue that rest.

So, my birthday mystery is that we don't know what set me off, but Angie is already beating me up to exercise more and to eat less and more healthy. Being sent to the ER on your 40th is a real wake up call, one in which I don't plan on pressing the 'snooze' button.

Besides the motivation behind getting health Angie gave me my present which gives me about six months to get into shape. More on that tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers, well wishes, and birthday wishes...

SL

Red Hot Poker

2009-05-16T13:34:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure why, but I have gotten very much into poker lately. It may come from the small cash tournament that I won several weeks ago. Since then, I've been playing online a lot, AND winning a lot.

I know that the chips are not real money, but there has to be something to the fact that every 'sit-and-go' tournament I am in, I am among the top, if I don't win outright. Even Angie seems on board with me playing - not the fact that I'm on the computer playing, but that I seem to be pretty good at it. She's telling me that Justin and I should to go Choctaw and enter one of their cash games. She's also making plans for us to go back to Vegas with her sister and her husband so we can play some poker.

I think that what really has her convinced is that I entered an online World Series of Poker qualifying event at PokerStars.net. It was a free entry qualifying tournament where the top 10 got to play for a paid entry into the WSOP's Main Event (a seat that costs $10,000.00). There were almost 7,300 entries into the qualifier that started at midnight. About an hour and a half later, I had won my table. After waiting for all of the 1000 tables to finish, we started another. Another 90 minutes later, I had won that table. By now, there are 10 tables of 10 players each...it was also 4am by now. I ended up getting knocked out from that table, but I ended up in 71st place out of 7,233 players. That's pretty good and would have been in the money in any tournament.

As I crawled into bed at 5am Angie asked me where I had been all night. I told her and she shook her head at me like I was some kind of dummy...

I might be, but I bet she wouldn't be shaking her head if I was handing her a wad of cash.

SL

Soft Spoken

2009-05-11T11:59:00.004-05:00

It isn't uncommon to ask Dylan to repeat himself not once or twice, but several times. But don't let his soft spoken demeanor fool you...he's got a lot going on. Here's his birthday post as he turns fifteen today (driving looms - will we survive?)

When he comes out of his shell, which he does more and more these days, he's as funny a person I've met. He's got these voices and sayings that make the room erupt in laughter. I've seen him do things that were so funny that his mom and I have almost puked from laughing. It's funny, because he doesn't always get silly, but when he does, watch out because you are going to laugh and laugh hard.

Dylan has to face things with humor - before Justin moved back, during the day he would basically be outnumbered by three females . Thank God for his presence. I can always count on SportsCenter or a ballgame being on TV when he is around. He's a welcome contrast to all of the HGTV and iCarley that goes on around here. Especially during baseball season. Dylan is singlehandedly responsible for rekindling my love for PLAYING the game. When he got involved with Little League, I started getting the competitive urge again. I played several seasons with the MSBL in North Texas before blowing out a shoulder. I'd love to do that again - maybe we can play together when he turns 18.

Dylan is also very artistic. He's just good with his hands - whether he is making something or drawing a picture. He's definitely got some skills there. He's designed his own house and he's got some amazing drawings. He's got a great future ahead of him if he stays focused. The picture with this post is his most recent creation - an amazing pencil self-portrait. Did I mention he can play drums rather awesomely? Yeah, he can do that, too.

Come to think of it, there isn't anything he can't do when he chooses to. That's why we love him so much, and why we thank God he is in our lives. He's awesome, period.

Happy Birthday, Dylan. We're enjoying watching you become a man.

Mistaken Identity

2009-05-04T11:14:00.005-05:00

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned the yahoos at the IRS and thanked God that those same yahoos don't work for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The TSA are the good people that keep us safe in the air (hopefully).

Based on my experience going to Las Vegas this week, I have some serious concerns if this is indeed true.

Our trip began like any other business trip for me, except that Angie was accompanying me. We got to the airport early and decided to get some breakfast at a restaurant. This took a little longer than we had expected, so by the time we got to our gate, the plane was almost fully boarded. In fact, they were calling my name for final boarding. Angie and I gave the agent our boarding passes and then things got weird.

The agent said that there was someone already in my seat, 18F. The sorted some stuff out on the computer and told me to tell the woman in my seat to move to 19E. I knew that we'd be moving that person from an exit row window to a normal (non-legroom) middle seat so I balked...and told the agent that 'that was her job'. She assented and boarded in front of us.

So, we get to the row and the lady is a little upset at having to move, until we looked at her boarding pass. She has a boarding pass WITH MY NAME ON IT!!! Basically, when she checked in, she got my boarding pass from the ticket agent. So, mistakes happen, I can understand that. Additionally, I rarely look at my tickets when I get them, so I can completely understand her not checking. But, what I am having a problem with is how she got through security, particularly that TSA agent with the ultraviolet light flashlight and highlighter pen who checks your ID, your boarding pass, and marks the pass to show that things are good to go.

Hers had been marked up....basically, the TSA agent fell asleep, didn't verify the names and allowed her to pass.

The more I think about that, the more I get pissed off. Is the agent at the x-ray machine making the same mistakes? Have they become so comfortable that diligence isn't maintained?

More importantly, have we? Has terrorism once again become something that happens elsewhere to others? I guarantee there are still those who hate our way of life and are motivated to cause fear and terror. I'm sure that our president bowing to foreign leaders is interpreted as a sign of weakness by those same people - instead of the conciliatory tone that is presumably intended.

I know this is probably a better post for a September 11 anniversary, but any day is a good day to be reminded not to forget.

SL

Insane Footage

2009-05-02T22:57:00.003-05:00

This is footage from the roof collapse at Dallas Cowboys special teams practice. The storm is raging pretty good outside - I hope the same doesn't happen to my roof and pray for those injured.

SL

Not Quite to Paris

2009-04-26T10:03:00.003-05:00

When I was younger, I wasn't the type to commit to things. I didn't do anything for the long haul. Not sure if this was a personality flaw, or just a quirk, but I typically never completed the things I started. I'd do something for a while and give it up for another activity. Even before high school ended I no longer played sports, having opted out for employment.

I'm sure you why I thought of this, other than I was thinking about my marriage. Today's probably a good day to do this, as Angie and I celebrate our eighth anniversary today. It's amazing to think that we've been together this long. I know eight years pales in comparison to many of your marriages, and that is fantastic. I'm glad that God has blessed your marriage and I pray that he continues to do so, but keeping the above in mind, eight years seems implausible.

At least as far as the old me goes. The new one, not so much. I grew out of that "never completing anything" stage. Angie might argue this point if she looks around that house at all the incomplete 'honey-do' items, but I am talking about the bigger items.

Work items get completed...not that there was really ever a problem here. I am a self-started and understand what work provides for my family and I.

School will get completed. I may be on the 20 year plan, but I will earn my degree. In fact, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I expect to complete my last two classes by Christmas 2010. Eve though I plan on getting my MBA, I really see the undergraduate degree as the completion of my long elusive goal.

Finally, my marriage. Angie and I have our ups and downs, and sometimes our downs are pretty down, but we both enjoy the safety of our relationship - as we both have committed that divorce is not an option. We came to this decision several years ago during a particularly down period. We came to it after we both recognized that we are both selfish, broken people in a union sanctified by God. Because of this we also came to understand that we needed to honor our union and work through any issues that we might have. This had a profound impact on our marriage. Basically, we know that we can be honest which each other in safety and that we know the other isn't going to bail at the first sign of another down period.

Fortunately, we've grown in other meaningful ways, as well. We've come to understand that marriage isn't about what we can get out of it, but about what we can put in.

That alone has made things so much better. You see, it's freed us to be everything that we are meant to be to each other. The complement of each other - one half of one.

Now, if I can just see through my commitment to get the landscaping done.

Happy Anniversary, baby. The Paris hotel in Las Vegas this year, and Paris, France by number 10...

Previous anniversary posts:

2008, 2007, and 2006

SL

Taxing Situation

2009-04-23T22:14:00.002-05:00

I knew the letter wasn't going to be good before I opened it.

Sort of like when you were waiting for that college acceptance letter. A thin envelope was bad news. In today's case, it was from the IRS and the letter was fat.

I opened it. According to some yahoo in our federal government, I owe several thousand dollars from 2007 Federal income tax. Basically, someone needs a new hammer and they want me to pay for it.

My first reaction was one of fear. Holy crap, my tax guy messed up. I can't afford to pay this. Does he guarantee his work? What are we going to do?

However, as this matter has stewed a little, my fear has turned to anger. There are interest charges of 131, 92, 92 and 76 days. There are no penalities, but a bunch of warnings in the letter that they are next if I don't resolve this quickly. Isn't there a statute of limitations for tax refunds? And, what the hell are they picking on me for? I pay my taxes, I don't go out of my way to find bullshit exemptions, I work hard, I'm not asking for a handout or a bailout, I support my local church and I'm not defaulting on my mortgage or my credit card debt - what gives?

I finally read through the documentation closely. Admittedly, I don't understand half of it. However, it seems as though the government is stating that I didn't prove my charitible contributions for the year. When they reduce my contributions, my tax burden goes up. The letter states, "

Since you did not establish that the amounts shown were (a) contributions, and (b) were paid, the amounts are not deductible.

Ok - I think I know what they are saying. So, since I am the type to save every receipt since the inception of the cash register, I go into my files and voila - I find my 2007 return and all supporting material. I have the receipt from church stating that my contributions were, in fact, the very amount that the IRS is questioning.

So, tomorrow, I'll call my tax guy. I'll discuss it with him and we'll appeal their adjustment. And, with luck, we'll tell the IRS where to go. Who says you can't take on city hall?

I'm just thankful that the yahoo who reviewed my return doesn't work for something important, like the TSA.

SL

Excellence Expected

2009-04-20T21:58:00.003-05:00

A leader that I work with recently said in a meeting that she expects excellence when she deals with the services organizations of companies that she patronizes. In her opinion, it stemmed from the fact that she works and leads a services organization. Although I don't lead one, I completely agree with her. Because of our technical support background, we are uniquely in tune with service, when it is done well and when it is lacking.

I've blogged numerous times about those "lacking experiences". Whether the company was American Airlines, Emerson, or Comcast - I have not pulled my punches when I thought their service was crap.

I hope that I haven't been reluctant when I've seen an organization go beyond...

Note, that I didn't say do it well. I believe that every organization must do it well, as a minimum. What I mean is when an organization goes above and beyond. When excellence of performance is systemic and is celebrated. I'm talking about when a company, organization or group have it in their DNA to be the best.

I believe I work for a company that does this. I believe that mediocrity is frowned upon and that excellence is expected. If I didn't feel like the organization didn't celebrate the "job well done" I wouldn't work there. However, that isn't the purpose of this post. Rather, I'd like to celebrate another found example of excellence expected - at least in services.

The Texas Rangers baseball club seems to have it right. Unfortunately, I don't mean on the field (although, with some pitching, they might be excellent). Additionally, I am not talking about the concession. Irrespective of the ridiculous prices, I don't believe there is any excellence in the concession. The soft drink taps weren't working, the food is mediocre, and - sorry, I can't get past it, the prices are larceny.

However, there were of a group of people there that understood that excellence is an attitude...and even a day after the game, I still remember how helpful and friendly they were - and ultimately - their presence is what I still hold from the game. I don't know what you call them, but they were the individuals that were around the stadium who asked if we needed anything. Some held signs that said, "How Can I Help You?" Some just gave off the vibe that said, "I don't mind helping you, so please ask" instead of the "I work for minimum wage, so don't bother me....besides, I won't know anyway". The "ushers/assistants/concierge" people helped direct us to the girl scout parade, to the best viewing for pictures, to the bus between parking and the stadium, to a bathroom, etc." They also were turned away several times because we didn't need anything.

Most importantly, they provided a sense that the Ranger's organization really appreciated our dollars being spent at the ball park. To me, that's the greatest sentiment any company can convey to its customers.

Now, if they could do something about those $3.75 hot dogs - that would be excellent.

SL

Play Ball

2009-04-06T09:53:00.003-05:00

About this time two years ago, I posted about a Springtime ritual...Opening day for Major League Baseball.

I love baseball. I love everything about it. I truly think it is the perfect game. The dimensions have never changed....there is something special about the baseball field (diamond) where there is 90 feet between bases or 60 feet 6 inches from the pitching rubber to home plate. Four balls for a walk or three strikes for an out seems to be the perfect ratio....Ultimately, the fact that there is no clock, and that the game isn't over, "'till the fat lady sings" is part of its perfection.

I understand that the game has been marred by the widespread cheating that occurred during the "steroid era". I agree that this has tarnished much of the history of baseball during this time. This is unfortunate because history is part of what makes baseball so special - in fact, it may be history which fuels my passion for the game. Previous to this era, you could realistically compare achievements of old with achievements of new. My heart holds a special place for the debate as to who was the greatest <<>>. The great thing about the debate is that you could compare two players from different eras because their was a continuity in the numbers. AND, that there really is no right or wrong.

I really enjoy the strategy of baseball, as well. Hit and run, sacrifice bunt, moving the runners, taking an extra base, hitting the cutoff, etc. It's the small things that cumulatively result in wins for a team over the marathon that is the Major League Baseball season of 162 games.

Perhaps my love for the game ultimately stems from the fact that it is played in summer, and that it starts during a season of renewal. Springtime is a period where everything begins anew...the flowers, wildlife, and my chosen team's chance of winning the pennant.

Today is opening day, so Let's Go Mets!

SL

Silly Monkey

2009-04-05T23:15:00.003-05:00

I don't remember how she got the nickname, but it has stuck. The amazing thing to me is that she doesn't mind. Even though every little thing that I do that garners attention embarrasses her, I can scream out "MONKEY!!!!" to her and she doesn't mind.

The monkey I am referring to is Marissa - my stepdaughter who turned thirteen today.

I told each of the kids that I was going to post specifically about them on their birthdays, so here is Marissa's.

Marissa is at that weird age...not quite a young woman, but no longer a little girl. What is so great about Marissa is that when she isn't worried about what others are thinking - she is amazingly fun. She can laugh and carry on with the best of them...and she has a great sense of humor, which adds to the fun.

She is very athletic, too - probably the most naturally gifted of all the kids. Although she doesn't cheer or tumble anymore, she was amazing. She easily could have been a gymnast. She plays volleyball now, and is naturally good. She would be excellent at basketball, too, if she liked to play.

Ultimately, however, the best way to evaluate how special Marissa is is to look that the company keeps. She has excellent friends, which tells me that she is excellent in return. I know that because I see glimpses of it when she isn't being moody or selfish. She has a wonderful heart and it is reflected in the friends with which she surrounds herself.

As she matures, I hope and pray that her awesome heart continues to shine and that she continues to be happy in all that she does.

Happy Birthday, Marissa. I love you.

The Amazing Justini

2009-03-31T10:35:00.000-05:00

He’s back performing his greatest trick…reappearing.

Last night, Angie and the kids helped move Justin back home. This is the fourth time he is returning, but unlike the previous three, this one is with my blessing.

He’s a different young man now that he’s been away from home for a year - a year in which he completely took care of himself. He paid rent for his small, but nice, apartment near Lake Ray Hubbard. He’s paid his car payment and insurance during this time. In fact, other than some tuition help, he’s taken care of all of his needs and wants for the last year. In order to do this, he’s worked his butt off. He commonly works 50+ hours at Pizza Hut, managing, driving, cooking, and generally doing whatever needs to be done.

The experience has changed him, too.

The change in him has been dramatic. He’s more responsible. He’s not afraid of hard work. Ultimately, he’s come to understand that sometimes we need to forgo the things we want because of the things we need. At the end of the day, that’s one of my definitions of maturity. Personally, I think he’s come to understand that his mom and I aren’t the monsters he thought we were when he left twelve months ago.

This is really the reason why we entertained him when he said he was thinking of coming back. Our relationships have improved during his time away…He is more pleasant to his mom and I, and we have really come to enjoy his company because of it. He’s funny, amazingly musically talented, and smart. The kids adore him, too.

The plain truth is that we are proud of what he is becoming…

And, if we can help him become whatever that is, we will. His objective is to come home so he can reduce his expenses. By doing this, he can work less and go to school more. This will allow us to add him back to our medical insurance. While he’s here, he will pay a small rent and help out around the house (he agreed to own the lawns as part of his rent). We’ll help him get his community college done as his long-term goal is to get into the music program at UNT.

I’m just proud he has a goal.

That’s the best trick he’s performed yet.

SL

To the Moon, Alice

2009-03-30T23:23:00.004-05:00

Just yesterday I was talking to Dylan about it. Our conversation was about our favorite movies (Saving Private Ryan) which led to a conversation about Tom Hanks, which in turn turned to a conversation about the movie Apollo 13. By the time we were done, I had talked about the moon missions and how I wished I was old enough to have watched and remembered. I expanded on how I used to cut class to see shuttle launches and landings.

I've always been in love with space exploration and still try to see launches, missions and landings on nasa.tv whenever I can. Perhaps that has fed my love of Star Trek and Star Wars, or maybe it is the other way around.

Space travel, to me, represents one of the great human achievements. When I look up into the night sky, I can't imagine that we [the collective humanity 'we'] actually walked on the moon. I just find that astounding that we launched a spaceship, landed it on a heavenly body, launched it off that body and returned it safely to earth. It is an awe inspiring achievement and one that I have personally yearned for our country to repeat in my lifetime.

Now, God willing, it seems that I may actually get my wish. Several years ago, President Bush announced an aggressive plan to put man back on the moon, and eventually Mars. I believe he was derided for that announcement, but I celebrated it. Apparently, so did NASA. They've been making progress to that end with their Orion delivery vehicle.

In fact, by as soon as 2015, we'll have vehicles launching for an eventual return to the moon by 2020. Assuming funding remains, we could realistically be on Mars by 2050 [my guess]. I would be 81-years old-by then.

Statistically speaking, the chance that I would be alive to see that is good.

And what a sight that would be...

Great Debaters

2009-03-27T16:53:00.001-05:00

My wife has a good heart. She cares for others in a way I do not. She tends to err on the side of those in a weaker or subservient position. Me? I tend to side with those in authority. Not always, but usually – unless of course, we are talking about Congress…then, neither of us is a real supporter.

That being said, we often debate things that are going on in the news. The current debate is whether or not the police officer in the Ryan Moats traffic stop incident acted improperly..

At first, from the short clips I saw of the video, I was completely on the side of the officer, PO Robert Powell. I understand that cops are necessarily cautious during traffic stops. I also understand that four cops were just killed in Oakland, CA. So, I saw a cop handling a traffic stop, carefully, forcefully and within the law. Yes, HE was being a jerk, but he had people running from the car, the driver pleading with him, and he was trying to control the situation. The truth is that the driver ran a red light and then did not immediately pull over. I’m sure if every police officer had a dollar for every sob story they hear during a traffic stop, they would all be millionaires. I have no problem with him ordering passengers back in the car and threatening towing and other punishments for not following directions.

I would imagine that being a police officer is a hard job – not one that I would like to have, that is for sure (although carrying a weapon seems somewhat enticing) They have to protect themselves, control situations AND treat the people with which they interact with respect. That is sometimes very hard to do – particularly for a 25-year old man.

Ultimately however, especially as the whole video has become available, it would also seem that the officer did not exercise common sense after the situation was clear as to what was happening. Once it became clear that there was no threat to the officer, he should have been more understanding. He could have let them go at that point. I give credit to the driver for listening to the police officer and following directions.

Angie asked me what I would do if it were her in the hospital. (I did NOT take the obvious opportunity for a joke), but instead informed her that I would have sat there, with my hands on the wheel (so as to not frighten the officer) and plead mercy on him to let me go see my wife – the whole time knowing that he is well within his power to detain me while he writes me a ticket. However, I was once taught that the best way to get out of a ticket is to do nothing that could frighten the cop – probably why I only get warnings and usually do not get cited when I get pulled over.

I don’t know if that police officer is going to lose his job, or not. He may, and that is the price that public servants pay for making mistakes. For 90 seconds he did the right thing. But for the 11 and a half minutes he made serious mistakes he may pay with his job…However, I don’t believe this case is as cut and dry as the media is making it out to be.

Or, Angie, for that matter…but when it comes to issues like this, I’ve learned that she is usually more right than wrong, so I listen to her carefully.

SL

Coupon Craziness

2009-03-15T16:25:00.004-05:00

Let me start by saying that we are incredibly blessed. I have a good paying job that does not involve digging ditches or other manual labor. Angie and I have sacrificed little even when we decided that she would stay home to be a full-time homemaker. Even as the economy tanks and many lose their jobs, mine seems to be relatively secure. We have much to be thankful for...

Over time, Angie and I have come to learn that our finances are about enabling us to do things that are important to us. To give the kids advantages and experiences, to share with friends and family, to help support causes in which we believe are just some examples. However, what we never figured is that we could actually CONTROL our money instead of having it control us.

We've gone through a couple of different classes with church. I fully understand that the church has a vested interest in our finances. If we were able to live in a way that honors God, there would be more for supporting the church. I'm not naive enough to miss the point that this benefits the church as well as benefits us. However, the benefits to our family have been astounding. The most drastic of which just happens to be our connection to our money...it's been an eye opening and freeing journey.

However, the one thing that Angie and I have been unable to do is live completely within our means. We've built up a huge debt load three times and each time have worked to eliminate it (we are currently in our third reduction right now). We built a budget last year, but even on paper we were negative. We just couldn't get to a balanced monthly budget. It's almost like we knew we'd live negative and use a bonus or an income tax refund to get out of the hole we built.

A couple of weeks ago, this changed. I blogged about the Financial Learning Experience hosted by Joe Sangle. It was a life changing three hours. We learned one simple truth:

Income - Outgo = Exactly Zero (EZ)

To do this not only did we need to change our habits, we needed to change our plan. We immediately moved to a two week budget to match my pay checks. We used Joe's budget planner to get this done. It reduced the number of categories we had to budget for from about 40 to 10. It helped us spend the money on paper before we spent it for real.

In order to get a balanced budget, we needed to change some things. An alteration to the W4 resulted in more cash coming in. We changed our auto insurance carrier and saved $400 per year. We reduced our health insurance withholdings, but must go to plan doctors or pay a premium.

And, we've started cutting coupons.

I've never been a real fan of the coupon thing. It always seemed kinda cheesy to work to get things for reduced prices. A couple of beliefs caused this attitude; 1) I always thought there was value in paying. For example, the more you pay, the more quality you get. This is one of the reasons that I go to the dealer for routine maintenance on may car. And, 2) I also valued my time as being more valuable than any possible amount saved.

That's changed. Angie and I sit and do the coupons before we purchase things now...this includes before we go out to eat. In fact, with the economy so tight, there are deals to be found everywhere. Save $2 on a burger. Save on car repairs. Get a free Dr. Pepper. If you just take the time, the savings can be considerable. Angie and I have saved over $70 in a little more than two weeks. If we save even $50 between paychecks, that's $1,300 per year. That may not be a huge amount in the grand scheme of things but every penny counts.

Especially when you are looking for financial freedom.

SL

The ABC's of the WBC

2009-03-08T22:27:00.004-05:00

I have to admit it - I am totally digging the World Baseball Classic. Ultimately, it is just a competitive version of spring training, but there is something appealing to seeing Derek Jeter next to David Wright on the same team.

It seems as though all of the competitors are really into it, as well. As I watch the US team pull away from the team from Venezuela, I see them taking extra bases, moving over runners, and all the other "little things" that make baseball such a wonderful game.

Typically, you only see that kind of play in the post season, but seeing it in March is very cool, and it is whetting my appetite for the start of the MLB season in April.

I understand that the timing of the tournament is not perfect as players are really only starting to get into game shape as they develop their timing. However, I also understand that there is no perfect time. If they waited until after the regular season, it would be anticlimactic. Holding the WBC during the all star break doesn't make any sense either, as it would diminish the midsummer classic that is the all star game.

I think the only way to really accept the WBC is to understand what it is about. It's about marketing and spreading baseball to countries that do not have a real big baseball heritage. For example, in this year's tourney is South Africa, Italy and the Netherlands. These teams aren't expected to go very far, but it is fun to watch them play. The power houses like the US and teams from the Caribbean are all made up of current and former big leaguers. Not so much the other teams.

But, in the end, it isn't about the players and where they come from. It is about the competition and the pure play of what I believe is the PERFECT game. It's about playing for pride the same way you see exceedingly wealthy players perform in the Olympics (baseball is no longer an Olympic sport, so the WBC is meant to replace that forum).

Ultimately, what I find most appealing is that you are watching some of the best in the world play - play for pride - their own and that for which they have in their country. And steroids or multimillion dollar contracts are not part of the discussion. That will return in a couple of weeks and then we can watch multimillionaire jerks just being Manny.

In the end, I'll be there, soaking it all in. I love this game.

A (Wii) Fit With Technology

2009-03-04T12:00:00.001-06:00

I just finished reading an article about a company who makes heart sensors to work wirelessly with the iPhone to track heart rate during workouts. Their apps allow you to track workouts and workout intensity. It's amazing how technology and biology continue to meld. Interestingly enough, I started working out this week in my living room following my Mii on the TV. Angie and I bought Wii Fitness based on the numerous endorsements we received from family and friends. We've been playing with it all weekend and today Angie and I figured we might as well step up our play.

I've done 30+ minute sessions of yoga, strength exercises and aerobics. Surprisingly, I was sweating pretty good at the end of the workouts. The yoga is surprisingly hard. I've typically stayed away from yoga because, 1) it looks doofy and 2) I'm not a subscriber of the spiritual aspect. However, I have been real surprised how difficult it is. I did Warrior, Sun Salutation, and tried Tree. My legs were burning. I loved it and can't wait to get better at it and more flexible because of it.

I did upper body, abdominal, and leg strength training. Pushups, jackknives, and lunges. Even though the workouts only took a couple of minutes each I could feel the burn. I'm feeling pretty spent right now.

Lastly, I ended with a couple of balance games (for fun) and with a run. Running in place with my Mii keeping up with a pace coach was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Combined with the scores that you receive for each event, there is a competitive aspect that I find appealing, as well.

Ultimately, I don't know if you'd call the workouts we are getting as real strenuous. I do know, however, that it is getting us of the couch, getting us to move our bodies, get our heart rates up and getting a good sweat on. Perhaps this will be a good reintroduction to exercise and perhaps an improvement in the quality and length of our lives.

Either way, it is pretty fun.

SL

Sabotaging Success

2009-02-28T16:54:00.003-06:00

Why do we do it? Why do we take actions that are in direct opposition to the things we want to accomplish?

Angie and I have been talking about that lately. It has come up in response to some of our own sabotaging and to others around us.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. Recently, I posted about how Angie and I attended a Financial workshop, and coming out of that workshop, we decided on a course of action culminating in a budget. We decided, together, that we were going to get out of debt, save up to purchase her next vehicle in cash, go on vacation (paying with cash), and then start investing regularly. That budget started with the paycheck I received on Friday.

By Friday afternoon we were off plan. I mean it literally took a couple of hours and we were done. My purchase of some Wii equipment for the house was all it took.

Looking at my inability to stay on a diet would be another great example. Why is it I can rationalize the need to lose weight. I truly understand to the core of my (too large) being that I need to lose weight. My weight keeps me from enjoying time with the kids the way I should be, it keeps me from enjoying time with Angie the way I should be, and ultimately keeps me from doing some of the things I want to do - yet, I seem powerless to stop sabotaging the plan that I know would change things.

Since the confessions are flowing, I'll give one last example. Angie has complained about how I talk to her for years. And, for years, I've tried to address it. Although things are a little better in that not all of my reactions to negative things are harsh, they are still too harsh too often. I know this and yet have been mostly unable to change. Again, I am sabotaging the most important relationship I have on this earth.

So, the fundamental question I must ask myself is why. I know I'm not alone. Angie does it. The kids do it. Our friends do it. Our families do it. There are stories of people sabotaging success all around us, both in the news and within our circles of friends and family. Are we so flawed that we cannot help it? Are we so broken that we cannot abide by happiness? I don't believe either of these are true, but they sure seem so.

I think the answer lies in the fact that we do everything for a reason. A good bud of mine always asks me "what's the payoff?" By this, he is asking me why I did something. He explains that we do everything for a reason and often the reason we do things that we shouldn't are for a perceived payoff, or to put it plainly, because there is an expectation that we'll get something in return for doing it. Why over eat? Because the comfort value in food in the short-term is more desirable than losing weight in the long-term. Why purchase outside of plan? Because the return of good grace from the kids (short-term) is more important than getting out of debt (long-term).

Although the above analysis seems to make sense, it doesn't address the other main question - how to change the behavior. For this, I don't have the answers. If I did, I'd be at my ideal weight, out of debt, and have the perfect relationship - among other things. I do know, however, that these issues are mine. It's too easy to blame OTHERS for this...I don't know how many times I've said, I wouldn't be so harsh if she were so [[insert perceived failing]]. What a bunch of crap that is. Yes, I may run to the fridge after we fight, but that's still MY decision.

Ultimately, that may be the answer. Perhaps we have to focus on us within the process and "ignore" what's around us. It seems easy to allow excuses to creep in. Perhaps if we can just remain focused on our part, the others will come around. That's sort of the topic of my last post. Instead of going out and spending, just because Angie did and I feel "entitled", I can choose to break the cycle.

The cycle of sabotaging my success and ultimately my happiness.

SL

Never Leave Your Controversy Behind

2009-02-26T08:36:00.005-06:00

Angie and I watched the movie Fireproof last night. The movie tells the story of how a man (who happens to be a firefighter) saves his failing marriage by taking "the Love Dare". The Love Dare is a book of 40 daily devotionals and actions that are meant to teach him and his spouse what it is to love unconditionally - the same unconditional love that God has for us.

We very much enjoyed the movie. Yes, the acting is pretty bad and the "cheese" factor is on the high end, but the message is outstanding - and real. Any married couple can relate. We are all, to some degree, selfish and for those of us that are married for any amount of time, our marriages need work. When you bring two broken people together into a marriage, you invariably get a broken marriage. The movie's message - one in which I could always stand to hear, is that we need to give to our spouse to get. If we want our spouse to love us, we need to love them - unconditionally and without the expectations of reciprocity.

What I personally found compelling about the movie is the reactions of the couple during the 40-day challenge. At day four, the husband thinks about quitting because his wife isn't responding. That would be me. I'd be like, "I've broken my ass for four days and it hasn't meant a thing..." I appreciate the movie for going over the top in this respect. At day 18 he makes a candle light dinner. His wife walks away. Another day he leaves a love note and flowers. Her response - divorce papers. As I watched, I came to understand that the movie HAD to represent the results like this...because it would be exactly the same way. He tries, she doesn't respond, we wants to quit. Why? Because his actions are still for all the wrong reasons. It isn't until he understands that his relationship with his wife is exactly like his relationship with God (albeit with roles reversed) can he understand what it is to love. God loves him, but he continually rejects God. In this lesson, he learns what it is to unconditionally love. He now can unconditionally love his wife. Then, she begins to respond.

This message is biblical and is the same message that we've seen elsewhere, either through teaching at church or through other couple's studies that we've done. However, dramatizing this process is very effective in making it real to us. Being preached to in a sermon is one thing. Seeing it happen in a movie is another. This is what makes this ministry so powerful. The movie was made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia. They also made "Facing the Giants". My understanding is that the cast (except for Kirk Cameron) are all church members. It's great to have a resource that makes Christian based movies. What I have a hard time understanding is the venom with which some have responded to this movie. The following is but one of the many negative reviews of the movie from Blockbuster.com.

Could have been a good movie. If i want to be preached to I will go to church. I think they should put an evangelical warning on the cover of this movie.

I'm not sure I understand that. Should film makers put warnings on movies that contain anti-Christian sentiment? Isn't watching a movie a purely voluntary act? Couldn't the reviewer have turned off the movie if he didn't approve of the Christian message? Since when do we have to project our children from Christian and biblical concepts?

I particularly seethe at the reviews that treat faith as some kind of crutch. Not because I don't understand that position, but because I do. Although I have always been raised a Christian, I have not always lived a Christian life. In fact, I believed as many of "crutch" commenters believed, that having faith was a crutch. In my BC (Before Christ) life, I thought the religious a little wacky and a little weak. However, I no longer hold that belief, not because I have become one of them, but because I have learned the truth that they knew. There is only one truth and the realization of that isn't a crutch, or being judgemental or elitist. It just IS.

And, through time, I've come to experience the truths of the bible AND of the movie Fireproof. The more I make it about Angie, the more I get in return. It's one of those miracle contradictions of life. You have to give to get. However, the key is to give with no expectations of getting. That's the hard part.

Its changed my life and its changed my marriage. If you allow it, it can change yours, too.

SL

Too Good To Be True

2009-02-23T08:30:00.001-06:00

Moving into the manor this week is R. Allen Stanford. He'll be bunking with the manor's first resident, Bernie Madoff. They have a lot in common and should get along just fine.

Like Madoff, Stanford is accused of bilking investors of billions. His toll is expected to be around $8 billion dollars affecting as many as 50,000 investors. His modus operandi was promising investors impossible returns. It would seem that there really are things that are too good to be true.

What is interesting about the Stanford case is that there may be a lot of collateral damage. Not from the investor list, but with whom Stanford could call associates. Apparently, Mr. Stanford has some contacts with Washington and it will be interesting to see who gets some heat for any possible association. Already mentioned are several campaigns, including Obama's presidential campaign, John McCain and fellow Texan John Cornyn, among others. I wonder if any of them are potential future residents. Stewart Parnell needs a roommate.

Also under scrutiny is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who apparently allowed Stanford to continue to operate even though he was high on their list to scrutinize and that they (the SEC) only stepped up an investigation after the Madoff story came to light.

The FBI finally found Stanford serving him court papers that declare the SEC suing him for perpetrating a "massive and continuing fraud". Why the 239th richest American (worth $2.2B), who is a distant relative to the founder of Stanford University, would defraud that many people is beyond me, but he still sounds like the perfect new resident to our little hall of shame.

SL

You're a Dick, Ted

2009-02-21T14:04:00.005-06:00

I apologize for the crass phrase, but that's how it sounds. It's pretty much become a joke between Angie and I. She says it, then I complain that my name isn't Ted.

What's she is really saying is: "You're addicted". The object of my supposed addiction is Facebook.

I am neither addicted to Facebook nor I am that other word (mostly). However, in the three days that I been connecting, it has been a very interesting experience.

I've garnered 43 friends without trying. I think Angie sent out a notice that I joined, so I got a lot of invites from that. Also, it would seem that my entire extended family from NY is on, so many of my friends are actually blood relatives.

I've chatted or communicated with four family members that I haven't seen in at least 15 years. That has been awesome. I can't believe how much every has grown. Some of us even got old.

A "technologically challenged" aunt joined and a "manly" cousin joined. She's lost and he's convinced that the only fun to be had it to make fun of family. I can understand her issue (I'm still a little lost on how to do things) and it's been fun abusing family (AND BEING MADE FUN OF).

I've joined an old neighborhood group and have found many long lost friends and acquaintances from the 'hood. My sister and others have been posting old pictures from the first days of school to school closings to parties. Neighborhoods were different those days. We played from sun-up to sun-down. We never checked in and our parents never worried. They knew that most of the other parents in the neighborhood were watching out for us, too. Everyone knew each other and there were always ample friends of similar ages to play with. Heck, the day started "calling for someone" and ended at dark. Now, Cassie doesn't walk two houses up the block without an escort.

When I get a chance, I will start putting an effort into reconnecting with more old friends and family. I'll also start reinforcing newer relationships.

It's funny. One of the guys from the neighborhood commented on how he's come to realize that relationships get to the heart of what's important. I'm coming to understand how correct he is. It's typically not what I've been good at, nor has it been something that I've focused on, but I see that changing. Doesn't the bible command us (as the most important commandments) to love God above all else, and others as ourselves?

I still don't get a lot of the stuff going on and I have no clue how to "tag" someone in a photo...but maybe I'm less addicted and more interested in using Facebook as a tool to live out the second part of that commandment.

SL

Saving Face(book)

2009-02-18T16:56:00.002-06:00

I swore I'd never do it. I've been on Angie's and I've been completely lost.

The truth of the matter is that I don't get it.

However, I've succumbed. I joined Facebook.

Why the change of heart? I was messing around with Angie's the other night. I honestly still don't get it. However, I was linking through family and ended up at my sister's page. I looked through her friends and saw cousins that I haven't seen or spoken to in years. Not just a couple of years, but many years. I saw that one particular cousin commented about my picture. I saw young cousins that I last saw when they were babies (they are high schoolers now). When I saw them, I really started feeling like I was missing an opportunity...a chance to reconnect with family that I've allowed to fall out of touch.

I decided that now that I am older and wiser that I'd use the networking site as an opportunity to reconnect with these people. Who knows, maybe even a family reunion with long lost family is in our future.

I'd joined today and I've been poked (not sure what to do with this), befriended, and even asked to confirm that Angie is my spouse. I've been called "a hottie" and thanked for taking care of some basic car repairs.

I've also looked up some high school friends and a couple of other people that were important to me at some point in my life. I look forward to reconnecting with them. I may never get to 575 friends like my buddy Bob, and I will never maintain my page like I will maintain this blog, but I will use it as a tool to connect with others.

Who knows, in the process I may even find myself.

SL

Miscreant Manor MonTuesday

2009-02-17T10:40:00.003-06:00

It took all of five minutes of research to find enough on this despicable human being for a post.

The short story. He's a scumbag. He ran a peanut company, but couldn't see past his profit to take the appropriate steps to maintain quality standards. Because of this, salmonella found a home in his products. He was informed about it. He couldn't risk his profits so he shipped the product anyway.

His quotes:
"I go thru this about once a week. ... I will hold my breath .......... again,"

"We need to discuss this ... the time lapse, besides the cost is costing us huge $$$$$..."

"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution."

The toll:

9 dead
600 sick
and, last week, his company filed for bankruptcy protection.

I can't wait until I can add "indictment" to the list.

He's a perfect find to add to the list of manor residents.

Here are some dishonorable mentions that just didn't have enough scumbaggery to get into the house:

1) Luzerne Co., PA judges Mark Ciaverella and Michael Conahan
2) NY Yankee Alex Rodriguez
3) Bradenton, FL Dad Of The Year Mark A. Belanger

SL

Goodness

2009-02-15T16:49:00.003-06:00

The same day I posted my Miscreant Manor introduction, I received an e-mail with a link to the story of Patrick Henry Hughes. He, and his father, are an example of all that is good in us. Enjoy.

SL

A Valentine of Nothing?

2009-02-14T15:37:00.002-06:00

I am a very lucky guy. There are so many things to love about my wife Angie that I could fill a daily blog about them. However, this Valentine's Day, I'll talk about one of the things - the fact that Valentine's Day isn't a big deal to her.

Does she need flowers today? No.

Does she need a present today? No.

Is the day a loss if nothing sparkly comes her way? Nope.

Admittedly, she likes those things, but they aren't important to her and she isn't disappointed if she doesn't get them.

She would much rather have a pleasant day where he kids and husband to something nice for her and get along than have selfishness and a new necklace or bouquet of flowers.

Her love language is all about service.

I love that about her. I love the fact that she doesn't have a materialistic bone in her body. I love the fact that she'd rather spend a nice day with her family than get presents. I love the fact that I know these things about her and meet those needs.

She got a card this morning and that made her feel good. However, she'll feel much better about the fact that I finally spent some time getting her cross wall up. And, she already feels great about the fact we told the kids we were gonna get them a Wii because our tax preparer gave us good news. And, when momma is happy we are all happy.

I gotta go - I got some service to do.

SL

Miscreant Manor

2009-02-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

A few posts ago, I blogged about Bernie Madoff. I referred to him as a scumbag and I stand by that post. Since that post I've seen a lot of wacky stuff in the news. These wacky news stories range from people succumbing to unbridled greed to just plain lack of common sense.

Now, the truth of the matter is that I don't judge these people because they gave into temptation. I do that daily. I give into my anger and lash out at Angie or I give into my selfishness and act accordingly. I completely understand that we are human, flawed and sinful. I am not above that.

However, there really must be a special place in hell reserved for those that are just plain depraved. Madoff may be one of them. There is such a huge difference from defrauding a couple of wealthy investors of a couple of millions of dollars to ripping off a ton of people of $50 BILLION.

The question to me is one of scale. To me, there is a huge difference between a CEO of a company “cooking the books” to make his personal stock portfolio more valuable and Stewart Parnell. If you don't know who Stewart Parnell is, you will. He will be the focus of my first “Miscreant Manor” post. I will summarize the account of Mr. Parnell and how his greed has been responsible for the nine recent salmonella deaths in the United States. With that post, Mr. Parnell will join Bernie as the first two residents of the manor.

I feel compelled to spew off on these scumbags, er...miscreants. Whatever you want to call them, they are examples of what is worst in humanity. I have such a visceral (non-Christian) response to these people as I read their stories. I hope my posts help get you angry, too - angry at the unbridled greed that seems to be so pervasive in our society. I am all for corporations being successful and earning profits. I should be, I work for one. However, I truly believe that these corporations have a responsibility to the community and profits, although a primary objective should never be realized at the detriment of mankind.

Therefore, I present to you, “Miscreant Manor Mondays” (selected as the name of these entries instead of “Scumbag of the Week.”). Bernie Madoff already lives there and we’ll add a new occupant every week as warrants.

These people and their stories should get you really pissed off.

SL

Transmission Received

2009-02-12T07:00:00.002-06:00

Hello Earth. We are receiving your transmission.

Unfortunately, Angie’s 2002 Dodge Caravan is receiving a transmission, as well.

Angie’s tranny has been slipping for a while now. When we added fluid, it rode better, but never for long. Hard “clunks” when putting the van into drive followed by “stuttering” on the up shifts and a hard “bang” on the shift into first were real signs that we had a real problem.

She drove several hours to Granbury this weekend. At the end of the trip she complained that the van was really driving crappy. We used her car to get to church on Sunday and when I drove it I knew we had a problem.

We took it to the transmission repair shop as soon as we could.

The 10 minute test drive was enough to experience all of the problems. For a small amount ($360.00), they took apart the tranny and inspected it. It was interesting to hear the owner/operator tell me that he was legally obligated to inform me that this $360 did NOT include reassembling and putting the tranny back into the van. In fact, he was clear, that even if he gave me an estimate for $1M, and I told him to “go screw yourself”, that he would box the transmission and that would be the extent of his obligation.

After about 24 hours, the owner/operator called. A transmission overhaul with a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty on the entire transmission would cost us over $2,600. A $2,200 option which just replaced worn out parts had a 12-month/12,000 mile warranty.

Since we expect to have Angie’s van for several more years (my cousin, the Yankee, Jon-Paul, inspected the van when he was down here and said it still had several good years left in it). We decided on the longer warranty and more thorough service.

Hopefully, that this service will hold us off until we trade the van in for a new car for Angie. That's the transmitted message that I want to receive.

So, is this experience normal? Did I get screwed?

SL

Hair Raising Sound

2009-02-11T08:35:00.003-06:00

There are few things on earth that cause me to get spooked. When I say spooked, I mean the kind of eerie feeling that makes your stomach queasy and causes a cold chill to go down your spine that ends up raising the hair on the back of your neck.

I’ve felt that way three times in the nine plus years since I moved to Texas.

It’s the feeling you get when you hear a tornado siren.

I’ve written many times about the awesome springtime storms that we experience in North Texas. I’m still unaccustomed to the rage within the thunderstorms that we get. In New York we’d get thunderstorms and some lightening, but nothing like what we get down here. The storms are awesome, and I often sit by the window just to watch the light show.

However, on occasion, the storms are so fierce that they require a bit more diligence. Last night was one such storm. Angie and I were watching a movie in my office when the storm hit. Right outside the window we experienced heavy rain, 70 MPH wind gusts, thunder and lightening. The kids were in bed and Angie commented how they were likely to join us. We turned off the movie and turned on the local news. I put some lights on and got a flashlight in preparation.

The kids didn’t join us – they are hardened to the storms. Dylan complains that he cannot sleep due to the noise on his window, but none of the kids are particularly scared by thunder and lightening – unlike me.

Angie and I noticed that the news wasn’t reporting a whole lot in the way of tornado warnings and the radar wasn’t showing rotations, so we decided to go back to our movie.

Then, things changed and changed fast.

I heard them first. I turned to Angie, “You hear that?” She said “no”.

I muted the movie. The sounds of distant tornado horns could be clearly heard. They sounded like they were from another town, and not the sirens in Rowlett. There are two sirens relatively close to the house and they would have sounded much louder. However, they were loud enough. Marissa joined us first, followed by Dylan. They were scared, but (truth be told) not nearly as scared as me. In fact, my fear has become a little bit of a joke with the kids. Although I try to keep a tough exterior so they aren’t scared, tornados are terrifying to me. Give me a hurricane any day because that is what I grew up on – and they were typically infrequent and weak by the time they got to Long Island. Tornados are killers and I have never been sensitized to them.

We watched the local news and they started to report about the rotations in the front end of the storm. By the time that they formed, they were past us. Those were the horns we heard. I’m still not sure if anything every touched down or not, but I tend to think not since the news isn’t reporting anything except for wind damage. Unfortunately, that cannot be said for Oklahoma, as it appears they had three tornados touch down with this storm, one of which killed several people.

I remember very clearly the other tornado sirens that I’ve heard. I blogged about the previous one from April 2007. The other was from several years before that as a new Texan. I was working late one evening and heard a funny sound. I didn’t know what the wail of the siren was, but I did get that creepy feeling. Only later did I learn that there had been a tornado.

You know, now that I think about it, it’s the same feeling I got when I experienced a small earthquake in Southern California. Mother nature can be awesome!

I sure do miss those hurricanes.

SL

Reply From The Troops

2009-02-10T08:00:00.001-06:00

There are many things I've never done. I've never picked up a rattlesnake. I've never eaten haggis. I've never ridden a bull. Up until yesterday, I never received a letter from Afghanistan.

The 715th Military Police Company, currently deployed at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, replied to the letter and candy that the girl scout troop sent them in November.

It was so exciting to open the letter. Those boys and girls are putting themselves in harms way for us, and for them to take a moment and acknowledge our support of them...well, it was pretty special for me.

Cassie read the letter to me and I welled up. Heck, I'm welling up typing this. She didn't get it. To her, it was a piece of paper with some cool pictures of the troops and the beautiful snow covered mountains. To me, it contains pictures of sons, brothers and fathers. I'm so proud of our troops and cannot begin to fathom their sacrifice for us. I hate being away from Angie and the kids during a three day business trip. I could never imagine the heartbreak of being away for a year. Not to mention that every day their lives are in danger as they carry out the orders of our commander in chief. I don't care if you agree with them being over there, or not. You gotta appreciate what they do.

I did a google search for "715 mpc" and learned that the 715th Military Police Company is part of the Florida Army National Guard based in Melbourne, Florida. They deployed on June 24, 2008 after a "short fuse" deployment (three months notice instead of the normal year notice). Knowing where their from makes it feel like I know them a little better.

And, I'll remember that as I pray for their safety.

Let's Get Physical

2009-02-09T16:08:00.003-06:00

I just got back from my semi-regular annual physical exam. I typically get to them every other year or so. I figured with 40 approaching, I'd get checked out. I did it a couple of months BEFORE my 40th so I could argue against the 40-year old baseline exam...eg, PROSTATE check.

My argument worked. I've postponed that unpleasantness for another year, or two.

However, after a substantial wait to see the doctor, we talked about my weight. Every issue that has him concerned stems from my weight. It was interesting to see the timeline. Over the course of the last several years, I've had two significant periods of weight gain. The first in 2005 that didn't coincide with any particular event, but did relate to some physical complaints.

The second was May of 2007 when I quit smoking. Since then, I've packed on nearly 40 pounds to my already too large frame.

I've posted and shared about my weight on the blog many times. Clearly, public ridicule has not helped motivate me. Nor has back trouble and other physical issues. Perhaps financial impact will make the difference.

As part of the Financial Learning Experience, we learned that we don't have nearly enough life insurance. Since I pride myself on my ability to provide for my family, it only makes sense that we take the appropriate steps to ensure that they are taken care of in the event of my death. However, as we start in inquire about quotes, it is clear that my weight is driving up premiums. Perhaps if I can lose a bunch, I will also lose some of the premium amount.

It sure wouldn't hurt my blood pressure or cholesterol, either.

SL

I Was Broke...

2009-02-08T20:11:00.003-06:00

...and I'm still broke, but at least NOW we have a plan.

Our church ended our annual money series today. Oh boy, I can hear the reactions now. I totally understand those reactions, too. Everyone has heard the horror stories of churches or ministers and how they take advantage of the well meaning. I've heard those stories, too. Heck, I grew up Catholic and had a very weird understanding of giving, tithing and the Church.

When we started attending Springcreek years ago, we did not give. Springcreek did not ask us to give nor did the plate get passed during service (Instead, there are offering boxes at the exits for those that choose to give).

However, as we became at home at the church and as we became part of the church community, we decided that we wanted to give. We wanted to support the church that was teaching us and that had become home. We were motivated by the desire to support our church so others could find what we found. At first, we gave sporadically. Sporadic giving became regular "first-fruits" giving. Now, our budget and our plan includes automated giving, as well as, regular sacrificial giving. I mention this not for a pat on the back, but to frame the rest of this post.

Angie and I have come to believe that we have been incredibly blessed and that our blessing has a purpose. To share more and more. We try to live our financial lives according to biblical principals, particularly the "Parable of the Talents (MT 25:14-30)." Ultimately, our purpose is to do His will and to help others and thus, His kingdom.

However, Angie and I are not perfect. We have been incredibly blessed, but have allowed ourselves to get into some credit card debt. We honor our gifts, and give regularly, but often purchase on credit - robbing us of freedom and of money. Starting today, that will end. We attended Joseph Sangl's "Financial Learning Experience" at church today...it was the PERFECT ending to the six part series on money and biblical principles we just concluded at church. Based on his book, "I Was Broke, Now I'm Not", Joe discussed how to make money work for us, how to get out of debt, and other financial principles. Based on this conference, Angie and I are going to alter our budget with the plan to get out from under our credit card AND to start having our money earn more for us.

Why? We answered that question at the beginning of the conference. Our answers we to eliminate worry and conflict, to give the kids the best of everything, to have freedom, to retire earlier, and most importantly, to give more away.

We aren't real fans of the whole "gnashing of teeth" thing.

SL

Super Entertaining Weekend

2009-02-02T11:52:00.005-06:00

No, the weekend wasn't super entertaining. Actually, it was...but that's not what I meant.

What I mean is that Angie and I entertained this weekend and it was awesome. In fact, late last night while we were cleaning up, she said to me, "We've entertained more this weekend than in the past several months combined."

I love hosting in my home. It's one of the reasons why I feel like we have a larger home - so we can have people over comfortably. We've done some big ones in the past. We had 40 plus for a July 4th party. We've done New Years. We've done holiday get togethers, etc.

This weekend started with Cassie's birthday (see previous post).

On Saturday, all we had to do is straighten up from the party and we were ready for our couple group. We belong to a group of like minded Christian couples where we ditch the kids for a couple of hours every other Saturday night for some food and fellowship. Typically we do a bible study as part of the meeting. This turn was at our house. Angie prepared a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. She made a very nice salad and a refreshing dessert. We sat around the table and ate and joked and talked. It was so much fun that we never moved to the living room to watch the video for our study. We just continued laughing and eating that we never did do the study. It was the best group session we've ever had.

Sunday continued the entertaining. Since church cancelled the annual Superbowl party, Angie and I decided to have one at the house. What the heck, the house was already cleaned, right? All we did was do some more vacuuming and we were good to go. We had a couple of friends and their kids over. We never saw that kids as they played outside and upstairs. Us adults, we watched a great game and enjoyed the commercials. The Doritos one with the snow globe was really funny and the hulu.com commercial was good, too, but the one that elicited the biggest reaction (especially from the guys) was - no - not godaddy, but the G.I Joe movie commercial.

Since the game went to the wire, the kids stayed up late - but everyone had a great time consumer good food and enjoying each other's company.

Angie and I cleaned up, unwound and went to bed exhausted - but very content.

She even said she appreciated all the help that I had given her all weekend...the best compliment of all.

SL

My British Accent Stinks

2009-01-31T00:48:00.006-06:00

subtitled, "You're Going to Hollywood!"

Cassie had her 7th birthday party tonight. For the first time since her third birthday, she decided not to have her birthday party at the Little Gym. I guess it was only a matter of time. It seems that when she had her second party in a row there, she became a bit of a celebrity. When she had her third in a row, she was given the key to the restoom.

She told us that she didn't want her party there this year. Instead, she informed us that she'd like a friend party...an American Idol party at the house.

Her idea was to perform on stage with mom and I acting as the judges. Everyone would get the friendly Simon and the coherent Paula routine, and everyone would get to go to Hollywood. It sounded like a fun idea, it fit within our finances and Angie was willing to do much of the planning - so we said yes.

Cassie invited friends from school and a friend from the neighborhood. In all, seven children attended. Add Cassie, and we had eight kids running around and screaching all over the house.

As they arrived, they were given contestent numbers and practiced their singing with some Kareoke. Then, each child picked a song and performed it on the stage we set up. Dylan decided to be Randy "Dog" and we all gave the kids positive reviews. Each time we did, the screamed in that way that only first grade girls can.

I took pictures of the kids as they performed and we printed them out as part of their loot bags. Angie made English Muffin Pizzas and had several games ready for the kids. The ate jello and searched for bananas in whipped cream - all with no hands. That was funny as faces got real messy. The kids did presents and cake.

They finished with more singing on the stage.

It was a great time. Angie did a fabulous job keeping the kids busy for three hours and the all had a ball.

I'm just glad they are gone even though I can still hear the screaming.

SL

(n)ice

2009-01-28T06:21:00.003-06:00

The kids are sleeping, dreaming of God knows what...

...when they wake up they'll realize that one dream has come true. The ice/winter storm that hit last night was bad enough to close school.

It's currently 23^o in Rowlett. That's pretty cold for Texas. Add the freezing rain and sleet from last night and the streets, lawn, driveway, cars, house, everything are covered with a nice layer of ice.

There is just no way to drive on this stuff. It's worse than if we got two feet of snow. At least with snow, there is something for your tires to grip. With this ice, there's nothing. The cities here put down sand, but that just makes sure your car gets dirty before sliding into some immovable object.

Since I'm in Texas, I've always had the option to work from home (either at my discretion or full-time). Ice storms were always a good reason to do so, and I would, so I've never really had to drive in this stuff too much. Except once. We were coming home from Amarillo (where some of Angie's family is). We hit an ice storm and what should have taken at hour, maybe an hour and a half drive from Denton to Dallas took seven. It was a white knuckle drive in which I asked the kids to be silent so I could concentrate on the road. We had my Cherokee those days, and even in 4-wheel drive low gear, we couldn't go faster than a slow crawl the whole way. We past cars spinning left and spinning right. I still don't know how we ever got over the interchange bridge that connected 35E South and 635 East, but we did.

It would be nice to be a kid today, where driving isn't a concern - and where staving off boredom is.

SL

Food Snob

2009-01-25T22:08:00.003-06:00

Angie and I had a date night on Saturday. Date nights for us are few and far between. They typically present a dilemma for us. The decision to go out to eat isn't the dilemma - where to eat is.

Since we don't go out often, we typically go to our standards and favorites. Usually, I will allow Angie the honor and we'll do the Blue Goose Cantina so she can get a fix of her favorite enchiladas. I'll get fajitas and we'll both enjoy a margarita or beer.

We're usually both stuffed and contented. Add a movie rental and some cuddling while we watch said rental and we're happy.

However, once in a while we'll stray off the path. In the past, our straying has led to Japanese buffet (not so good), and Wiener Schnitzel and Strudel at a local German restaurant (VERY good). Sometimes we'll sample a local new restaurant.

The one thing on which I feel strongly is that there is a real dearth of good Italian in our area. Angie likes Campisi's and Taste of Italy, but in my opinion, they both suck. In fact, not only is the Italian not good here, but the pizza sucks pretty bad, too. I'm from a part of the country where Pizza is made by guys with first names like Vito, Sal, or Guido. Last names vary, but typically end with a vowel.

I'm not saying there aren't Italian guys here in Texas. I am saying that there isn't good Italian food here. Angie thinks I've become a bit of a snob. Perhaps she's right. All I know is that I know what I like and I know what is good. For example, we tried a brand new Italian restaurant last night. We had salads, an appetizer of fried meat ravioli, and I had veal parmigiana for my entree. Angie had a pasta combo which included meat ravioli, manicotti, and lasagna. Add some Italian bread and a couple glasses of wine and the meal was complete.

The first thing we noticed was that the sauce was served MOLTEN hot. Sauce shouldn't remove layers of epidermal cells - it should be simmered over low hear for long periods of time.

Second, we noticed that we couldn't actually SEE our food. The put so much of the molten liquid on our plates, we couldn't see what we were eating. This is a telltale sign to me that the food isn't good. Truth be told, the food was ok. I found my veal thick and bland. The sauce was ok, but it didn't seem to have been slowed cooked. Again, it was bland.

In fact, other than for the wine, the food just didn't have a lot of taste to me. Some of this I blame on my snobbery. I spent the first 30 years of my life living in a place that is known for its municipal water. I truly believe that the water is so good in NY because it has a high mineral content, particularly chlorine. This mineral content comes out when you cook with it. I am still looking for bread down here that tastes anything like the bread you can get in NY. Same holds true for the marinara sauce. Combine both into a single food (eg., pizza) and now you know why I can't enjoy the pizza down here. Bagels, Italian breads, etc. These are the things that I jones for when I go back north.

I’ve heard rumors of an Italian place in Plano that had their sauce delivered from Jersey. I think there are some guys from Brooklyn in Quorum Circle in Addison. These are unsubstantiated rumors at this point.

Until I get to check them out, we’ll have to continue to consider me a snob.

SL

Seven

2009-01-24T01:06:00.003-06:00

Angie and I were discussing the passing of time today...she marked Cassie's birthday with the incredulous, "I can't believe she's seven!"

I came from the other direction.

You see, in addition to marking time with my daughter in the normal way, I also look at it differently. I mark time with Cassie as relative to five and a half years.

That's because I was five and a half when my own father died.

I remember vividly when Cassie was five a half. Every day since then is a day more that she has with me than I got with my father. What's worse is that I also look at that from my perspective - I couldn't imagine only having five and a half years with her.

I can't imagine not seeing her become so smart. Her intelligence makes me feel stupid some times. She reads very well, but more importantly she can hold a conversation. Talking to her is pleasurable as she is able to communicate what she is thinking and she is capable of logical thought and abstract thinking. I can't imagine not seeing that.

I can't imagine not seeing her grow and learn more. I can't imagine not seeing her love and hurt, and running to her daddy when she needs a hug.

I hope to get many more birthdays, but I think I may start enjoying more each of the days in between.

The regret that my father never got to know her, or me, will never go away...but at least I can ensure that Cassie and I don't suffer the same.

SL

Uniquely American

2009-01-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

I don't know if the statement is true, but the news commentator called it, "Uniquely American".

The 'it' he was referring to was the transfer of power for the president. He said it when the Bushes and the Obamas stood on the north portico of the white house. From all reports, the Bush team has been working with the Obama team to make the transfer seamless and orderly.

The commentator went on to discuss how the way the United States transfers between outgoing and incoming administrations is not typical. It is an orderly and cooperative process involving no bloodshed. I figure that more and more countries are fortunate to have democratic elections, but we've been so blessed to be doing it for more that two hundred years.

It was said that we transfer power the way we do because we do not honor or follow single families, but an idea - and idea that is made real through our Constitution. Clearly, the Constitution of the United States is a remarkable document, written by remarkable men. Men that seemingly put what they thought as proper and right ahead of personal fortune and well being.

As I see the reaction of the people at the inauguration, I can only believe that this is their great hope - that the incoming administration will put the needs and the well being of the people, and the country, ahead of their own.

I don't know if we'll have politicians like that ever again...but as I ended my last post, the hope is certainly present (and welcome) today. It's the same hope that, as a country, we've held 43 times previously. However, this one is clearly different. As our first black president is sworn in, this country has undeniably taken a step forward. A step that says we are more united today than we were yesterday. A step that recognizes humanity, regardless of race.

Although I abhor the politics of the man, I am so proud that he is our president. Although I believe that the liberalism of an unbridled Congress run by Succubus Pelosi will spend us to oblivion, I also realize the amazing historic situation that President Obama represents.

I can only say that today, I am uniquely proud to be an American.

SL

Separated at Birth...

2009-01-20T08:13:00.005-06:00

...Bernard Madoff and Sesame Street's Count Dracula.

Bernie Madoff may or may not be news in your household, but he may go down in history as one of finances biggest scumbags - in a year of monumental scumbags.

He is responsible for perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme ever committed. That's not newsworthy. What is notable, is that we all now know what a "Ponzi scheme" is...

A Ponzi scheme is anytime a supposed investment pays earlier investors with newer investors money. Ultimately, there is no profit being made by the scheme. The scheme is inherently unstable and guaranteed to fail. The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi who perpetrated the first notable one in 1920. To me, it is a perfect example of the greed that seems to have taken over wall street and big business. How may billions do you need? Wouldn't a single billion suffice? For good 'ole Bernie, it seems that $50B wasn't quite enough.

So, as authorities dig into this some more, the victims are lining up. One has committed suicide after learning of $1.5B in losses. My beloved Mets are involved, as the owner (Fred Wilpon) may have had as much as $300M invested. Countless others will surface.

As I type this, the inauguration is on television. I am feeling an overwhelming sense of pride that this country has elected a black man as president. My cynical side didn't believe it could happen. I feel the hope and the energy that his presidency is causing. I think his politics are crap, but it is about hope right now.

And frankly, with bailouts surrounding us, necessitated by unbridled greed and general "scumbaggery", a little hope is a good thing right now.

Just watch out for the individuals pictured above...they'll both suck you dry.

UnAmerican Idolatry

2009-01-13T19:36:00.006-06:00

No sooner than I started typing this, Cassie and Marissa started fighting.

Prior to the pugilism within our household, we were having a family moment as we are all sitting on the couch watching the premier of season 8 of American Idol. We just watched the gollum lookalike butcher a song of the new judge. Then came up the walrus boy.

The kids love this show. If I want to connect with them, I need to watch it too. It gives us common ground with which to talk. I couldn't care less about this show, the contestents, or the results - but Dylan, Marissa, Cassie, and even Angie do. Therefore, so do I.

I can't remember the last time where everyone was interested in doing something together. Perhaps when we played "Scene It - Movie Edition" with the yankees in town.

It's kind of nice, but very hard to accomplish. Things that the younger girls like typically don't interest Dylan. Things he likes may not be interesting to the girls. We are in constant search of other activities that fall under the "everyone likes" category.

Got any suggestions?

SL

Cookie Puss

2009-01-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

Usually, I just buy and eat them. This year, I'm selling them. Actually, Cassie is since she is the second year Daisy Scout for troop 8459, Rowlett, Texas. Them being the perennial favorite - GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.

Since I don't really have an office to go into, I'm selling to my Internet family and friends. I'm not allowed to sell via the Internet, so send me an e-mail or give me a ring and I will hook you up.

Click HERE to see the menu

I'll ship anywhere (on your dime), or you can donate the amount to the troop or the cookies to our soldiers (my dime). Or, you can do what AMA does...tell everyone to pick out what they like so we can keep them local.

I vote that option. I'll take a box of Samoas.

And, thanks for your support. Our troop is almost fully funded by cookie sales.

SL

Packed With Protein

2009-01-08T10:19:00.005-06:00

The other night Angie made a fine dinner consisting of protein provided entirely by my own hand.

We had fried Alaskan halibut and we had pan fried ham and deer steaks.

It was delicious and even the kids seemed to enjoy the meal. Marissa, not caring for the mammalian flesh, enjoyed the fish. Dylan and I enjoyed the hog. Cassie, Dylan and I enjoyed the deer. Angie tried the deer, but seemed to enjoy the halibut much more.

We used a recipe out of Ted Nugent's Kill It and Grill It (given to me for Christmas by my sister) which basically fried the meat in clarified butter. It was good, but dry. It seems that we continue to over-cook the meat in out effort to ensure that it is completely cooked.

Therefore, I am calling on you for help. Anyone have a recipe for wild game steaks? I'm saving the backstraps until I know we are gonna make them perfect.

SL

N.B. - When Cassie shared the fact that she ate, and enjoyed, the deer with AMA, I was challenged to provide everything for the meal. This would entail starting a garden in the backyard. We have a little space not getting used and we've thought about gardening back there. I think this spring, we'll actually do it. I'm sure that will provide additional fodder for this blog.

Help a Virtual Brother

2009-01-06T19:32:00.003-06:00

I am consistently entertained by the writing talent of Travis Erwin. His blog is a regular stop for me...he's talented, entertaining, extremely funny - and although I only know him through his blog and his comments on mine, he seems like a decent human being.

Why he follows my stupid site is beyond me.

If you follow my site, you've probably checked his out. Assuming that is true, than you probably have become a regular of his. Then, you might already know that his recent post on his blog was that his house burnt to the ground.

It's amazing to see the effect that something bad happening to "an Internet bud" can have. There have been over 125 comments from well wishers on his site. I am sure that many are like me - pleased that everyone is ok and morbidly curious as to what happened. Sort of like his multipart posts about when his infant son was sick and his subsequent breakdown. We were all hitting his site many times per day waiting for the next installment and weeping when it came.

I bet many are doing that waiting for an update.

In the meantime, some of his extended Internet family started a blog for donating to a fund to help Travis out. The price of a brick or two is insignificant to the value of his regular entertainment that he provides.

And, more importantly, to the help of a fellow human being and his family.

Here's the site, if you haven't already clicked the link above:

http://habitatfortravis.blogspot.com/

SL

Yankees Invade Texas

2009-01-05T09:39:00.004-06:00

I've been in Texas for eight years. In fact, I flew here with a one way ticket on December 28th, 1999 - just in time to celebrate the millenium New Years with Angie. We watched New Years ring in around the world.

It took my family some time to come down to visit. I know the trip isn't cheap, but it seemed like a long time to have visitors. My AMA came down first. She's been here the most. My nephew and sister received tickets as presents. My brother won his ticket. My sister has been down again since. My nephew has made stops and his odd jobs took him to Texas.

Several years ago, I started giving my cousin JP and his wife Jill the business for not having come. Their twin girls, Natalie and Cecile, play "Going to Texas" in their dining room. They've learned the words to "Deep in the Heart of Texas", but they've never been.

Until now.

The funny talking yankee foursome arrived last Monday.

MON: We didn't do much. We visited and relaxed. We toured the Rowlett police station as part of a girl scout meeting, and had the awesomest Tex-Mex in North Texas, the Blue Goose Cantina.

TUES: We went to the Dallas Arboretum and scavenger hunted animal statues and plantlife. The yanks experienced Sonic Drive In for snack and Dickie's Barbeque that evening for dinner.

WED: We relaxed for new years eve, attending the Lone Star Circus. It was surprisingly awesome. That evening we grilled steaks and halibut.

THURS: The adult yankees went to the Garland Shooting Range for some pistol and rifle shooting. The youngins got their nails done. Breakfast for dinner finished the evening.

FRI: Cowtown was calling. We experienced the Fort Worth Stockyards cattle drive and championship rodeo. Riscky's Steakhouse was selected for dinner. Yum.

SAT: We went to the country as the stop on which all New Yorker visitors must participate. We visited Angie's aunt and uncles and cousins around Bonham. We ate, shot clay pidgeons and fished. The kids pet Anibel the cow, the cow that thinks she is a dog.

Yesterday, the yanks had a 6:20am flight home. I'm still tired from the week, but we had a GREAT visit.

I can't wait until another eight years is done, so they can come back.

SL

Back in the Saddle

2009-01-04T21:53:00.007-06:00

For the last twelve days, I haven't given too much thought about work. I've checked e-mail and even took care of a customer issue, but not much else. Because of this, I haven't been on my personal computer a lot, either. Add to this the fact that we've had New York family in town for the last week, and I've been busy playing tourist and host instead of blogging. I meant to remedy that today with a summary of my cousins' visit.

That'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Today, regular deer season ended and I spent the last four hours of the season at the lease.

I didn't have many expectations, as I hadn't seen game in over a month. But, I thought I would sit in the popup blind, out of the wind and in a comfy seat, to close out the season. My expectations were so low that I didn't even worry about the fact that I couldn't find my hunting knife. There wasn't going to be anything needing cutting, right?

Wrong!

The first hour and a half were spent more trying to stay awake than anything. In fact, I think I took a little nap. However, I eventually got a second wind, and started actively looking. There have been several times that actively looking (instead of just sitting there hoping something comes out into the open) has paid off. The first was when I saw a doe in the trees. She ended up coming into the feeder and I was in shooting position because I was alert. Had she been a buck, I would have had more venison in the freezer. That was a couple of weeks ago, but the same thing happened today.

I saw a glimmer of movement in the trees. This made me more alert. I saw more movement behind the brush in front of the feeder. It was a deer. I started looking for horns, but the deer never lifted its head to where I could see. Then, it was gone.

However, I kept alert. I saw more movement by the feeder. Except this time, I watched as a hog fed itself. Again, a shot didn't present itself, but I kept watching. It disappeared behind the brush and into the treeline. I kept alert and saw movement in the woods. As I tracked it's movement from left to right, I remained ready with my rifle up. I switched from one window in the blind to another, hoping that the hog would continue.

I was convinced I lost my opportunity when the hog appeared from behind some brush. I placed the cross-hairs behind its ear and fired. The shot was true and the hog dropped. After floundering for a minute or two it was still. I chambered another and kept my rifle on it for another several minutes.

Upon inspection, this hog was much larger than the first. It is perhaps three hundred pounds and not stinky. I called Angie's uncle and cousin as I needed help cleaning the hog (didn't have a knife) and lifting it into the truck.

They came and we took pictures and tried to field dress it. However, the knife they brought wasn't sharp enough to cut the thick tough hide. We called the processor and he told me to bring it over. We could use their knives or someone there would do it.

So, on the last day of deer season I got another hog.

Good thing, too, as we were running low on breakfast sausage.

SL

I've Seen the [Christmas] Light

2008-12-25T16:43:00.003-06:00

This year, we've added to the Christmas lights outside. A couple of years ago I posted how we could see the house from space due to all the lights, but this year, I think you might be able to see the house from Jupiter. The good thing is that we are basically done - and frankly, we've made it so easy, that it isn't even that big of a deal to put them up.

I love the way the house looks when we pull into the driveway. The kids love it too. I say that I do it for them, but it is more for me. I grew up with lights on the house and a nativity scene on the lawn. I want the kids to have those same memories. In fact, although I haven't added to the nativity in a while(we have Jesus, Mary and Joseph, a Shepard, and a sheep), I found the entire set (which adds the three kings and a life-sized camel). I'll save my money up for that and we'll have it for next year. We'll also add a nice light-up wreath to the second floor window, fix the lights that are out now, and we'll be done. As we take down the lights this year, we'll number the boxes and cords to remember where everything goes. I bet we have the whole house done in a couple of hours next year.

And perhaps, we'll add our cheer to other houses, as well. A good bud of mine who doesn't share my "give--your-money-to-the-electric-company-because-you-are-burning-megawatts-of-power-with-those-fifteen-million-little-bulbs-on-the-house" mentality dared me to put lights on his house. The truth is that for years I have been giving him the business for his dark abode and I've threatened to put lights on his house, but haven't because it's his castle. However, I interpreted a recent blog post of his (see number 7) as approval to mess with the visibility of his house for extraterrestrials. Angie and I put twelve boxes of colored mini-lights on his shrubs. They came out good and his family was happy. Not too sure about him, however. I do know that our friendship is not in jeopardy.

Good thing, too. I have twelve boxes of icicle lights with his name on them for next year.

SL

"Best Christmas Ever!"

2008-12-24T13:47:00.005-06:00

I shook her hand and I looked into her crying eyes as she said it..."This is the BEST Christmas ever!" I told her, "I know, mine too".

You see, Angie, Justin, Dylan, Marissa, Cassie, My mother in law, and I volunteered for an hour and a half this morning on the Red Carpet of the Christmas Angel Project for the Soup Mobile. Basically, we cheered, danced, sang, shook hands, gave out hugs and wished "Merry Christmas" and "God Bless You" on a couple hundred of Dallas' homeless community as they entered the Dallas Hyatt Regency hotel at Reunion Tower. They were there for a night of comfort, good food, and fellowship as part of the Christmas Angel Project.

Angie and I have been feeling like Christmas should mean more than just ripping open presents that are forgotten about in short order. This feeling started a long while ago and was reinforced with our church's Give Different.org campaign that started last year and continues. Also reinforcing this feeling is the fact that the kids get so much for Christmas that they often become obnoxious and don't even realize it.

Now, for anyone who's ever served, service typically does more for the server than the served. Today was no different. I feel good about what I did this morning, and even better that the kids were involved. They seemed to have enjoyed it and they all said that it meant something to them. So far, they seem much more gracious with what they've received today, as well.

That being said, I'm somewhat convicted about how I've viewed the homeless previously. Living in New York City, you get pretty sensitized to the homeless pretty quickly, and then you just stop making eye contact, and ultimately viewing the homeless as needy souls.

That changed today. Every person I looked at, I saw a person, not someone who doesn't have an address. As they wished blessings on me, I couldn't help but be touched. Here is someone that has nothing in the way of possessions thanking me for being there and asking God to bless me (like He hasn't already, more than I'll ever deserve).

Then, I realized what was going on. I was helping the homeless man or woman feel like a human being. I was LOOKING at them. I was TOUCHING them. I was cheering them on.

And, it still holds true. My heart is filled more than it has in a long, long time.

This has been the best Christmas ever, that is for sure.

SL

Last Minute cRUSH

2008-12-23T07:55:00.002-06:00

Today is Christmas Eve - for our house, anyway.

When you share holidays due to step kids, than sometimes holidays fall on days other than scheduled on a calendar. Tomorrow, December 24th is Christmas Day in our house.

That means that for Christmas Eve, I had to work. After authorizing the payments of almost a million dollars, I left the office (house) to finish some shopping of my own. The second I left the house, I felt as frazzled as Travis Erwin trying to pack for Florida.

First, I went to church. Christmas shopping at church? Yes. We have a gift shop in the new building and the staff opened it during the day this week for us last minute shoppers. Since Angie and I are rarely up there without each other, I took advantage of the extended hours to pick her up a present. The gift shop is like Kirklands and is so nice that Angie and I decided to volunteer in there. I picked up a little something for her and some GiveDifferent.org stuff for the kids.

Next stop was Kohls. Now I know why I hate shopping. There were tons of people shopping and spending money. I found a couple of things that I was looking for, waiting on line, and paid. Fortunately, no one really pissed me off too bad. In fact, the cashier was very pleasant and said "Merry Christmas". And the way back to the car, I made contact with a guy walking in with his wife. We communicated telepathically. I was happy to be leaving and he was unhappy to be heading in.

Next stop was McDonalds. I needed some double cheeseburger energy to continue. The old lady who took my money said "Merry Christmas" with a lot of excitement.

Home Depot was next. This stop was somewhat for presents and somewhat for home projects. They didn't have what I needed (they NEVER do - I dislike the Home Depot). I left empty handed. The strange lady at the door said "Happy Holidays". Did I mention I don't like Home Depot?

Lowes is my preferred do-it-yourself home supply store and as luck would have it, is next to Home Depot. As expected, I found everything I was looking for. Some gifts and some supplies. Re-caulking the tub is in my future. Also, as expected, the cashier said, "Merry Christmas".

Last stop, Target. The Super Target was my wife's most anticipated store opening when they built it a couple of years ago. She really prefers Target to Wal*Mart, but she hardly ever shops there because it is so much more expensive. Me, I think the store sucks. They never have anything and I end up at Wally World anyway. However, this time, I found what I was looking for. Taylor at the register, who couldn't have been more than 17, did NOT wish me a Merry Christmas, or anything, for that matter.

So, now I'm done. I'm not wrapping presents or anything tonight. I'm gonna let Santa do all the work, cause we are getting up early for the Soup Mobile.

More on that tomorrow.

SL

Thanks, Eric...You Don't Even Know Me

2008-12-20T22:07:00.006-06:00

My sister's comment to my last post (scroll down) prompted a Google search. I entered, "It's OK to Say Merry Christmas". Actually, I didn't even have to type the whole thing...Google knew where I was going because it finished it for me.

I got "about 84,000 hits".

Most were pictures of the button on various sites on which you can purchase, but it would seem that I'm not the only one that seems a little perturbed by this issue. Heck, even Citizen magazine has an article about how Christians are organizing in support of businesses that recognize Christmas and against those that keep the sales season non-religious AND are hosting a petition on their website titled, "I Stand for Christmas".

However, one interesting result was from the Tonawanda News and a column by Eric DuVall of North Tonawanda, NY. He agrees with my sentiment, but he comes from the opposite direction. As a Jew, he comments that it's OK to wish someone a "Merry Christmas". I won't paraphrase his column, you can read it here.

So, as we enter Christmas week, I'll be even more confident that my "Merry Christmas" is acceptable. And, if I know you celebrate something else, I'll add that, too.

So, Merry Christmas, Eric. Oh, and Happy Hanukkah and Happy Birthday, too.

SL

Happy Holidays? Bite Me!

2008-12-18T18:04:00.004-06:00

No, I'm not Scrooge. In fact, I love this time of year. I love the way people seem to be just a little nicer to each other (except for when they are stepping on peoples' faces trying to get to the limited quantity sales at Wal-Mart at 5:00am on the day after Thanksgiving). In fact, even though traffic is a lot worse, I’m even a little bit nicer. There’s something to the holiday cheer that gets me.

I do have a peeve, however. I hate the way that Christ is removed from Christmas – like it’s wrong to be a follower of Jesus.

Commercials and corporations seem to go out of their way to eliminate all religious aspects of the holiday. It’s “Happy Holiday” this and “Season’s Greetings” that. What about “Merry Christmas”?

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, those that claim to be Christians make up more than 80% of American society, yet the less than 20% seem to have been successful in taking out the Christ from Christmas. How does that happen?

How does this same minority eliminate God from schools and all other public establishments?

I’m not sure how this occurs, but I know it bothers me. The founding fathers were farmers, merchants and ministers. They read and knew the bible and gave credit to God for certain rights that we enjoyed. In fact, as I read the First Amendment, God is not prohibited to be included in public works, only that the government cannot insist that God be included. I’m not sure how the ACLU bastardized this and convinced the public that this meant that God cannot be a part of government, and worse, publically worshipped, but they have.

I know that you may read this and think that I’m some religious yahoo, and that’s ok. I also realize that there are enough religious yahoos out there and that they typically give a bad name to all Christians, but I, for one, and done apologizing for my beliefs.

I am a Christian, and thankful that I’ve come to understand the Good News, and I won’t judge you if you haven’t. I’ll pray that you do, however.

And, either way, I’ll greet you with a hearty “Merry Christmas”. None of that “Happy Holidays” crap for me.

SL

Don't Know What To Write

2008-12-14T22:30:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted in a while, but that's only because I don't believe that the things going on these days are really interesting. Sure, they are important to me and my family, but not terribly exciting to read about in some one's blog.

I thought about writing about Cassie's Girl Scout Troop and the event they went to on Friday night. A Senior troop hosted "Glamour Day", where they gave the girls makeovers (hair, makeup, etc.) and then took "glamour" photos of the girls. It is a way for the hosting troop to earn money as a fundraiser and for the younger girls have fun hanging out. The girls had such a good time, especially having make up put on and getting to select their outfits. As soon as I get some of the pictures, I'll turn them into a pic of the week.

I thought about writing about our social outing today. We went up to friends up in the country about an hour away. They are part of our small group, and they travel down here every other week for fellowship and food. They thought a social event at their beautiful home would be fun - and it was. We had a "white elephant" gift exchange. I came home with pens, pads, and paperclips.

I thought about writing about our (Angie and me) desire to do something more meaningful for Christmas. Angie asked me to make a donation on her behalf to the Soup Mobile for one of her Christmas presents. However, we want to do more and also get the kids involved. We are still working on those plans and I'm sure I'll blog about that when appropriate.

When all is said and done, the most interesting thing I did this weekend was hunt...and even that doesn't make for an exciting story. I got to the lease at about 6am and was in the tripod by 6:20. It was WINDY and the wind made it cold. It also made it for a constant adrenalin experience. Every cracked trig or sound I thought I heard put be on alert. For three hours that "alertness" was a false alarm, and when my bladder and butt had had enough, I saw motion in the trees. I wasn't sure what I saw, but I knew it was safe to lift my gun into position. I did so in slow motion while I looked to see if I actually saw something. Eventually, I saw a deer through the thinning. I couldn't make out its sex, but at least it was something. Unfortunately, at this point in the season, you can only shoot bucks. I looked for antlers - none. I looked through my scope for spikes - none. I looked again, just in case. It was definitely a doe. A beautiful mature doe. I watched her eat for about thirty minutes. She had her fill and walked off in the direction opposite from where she came.

As soon as she was gone, I began to feel my bladder and butt again. I toughed it out for about thirty more minutes, hoping to see a buck, but never did.

On the way home I stopped by the processor. My doe from a couple of weeks ago was done. I have deer steaks, tenderloins, backstrap and ground venison in the freezer.

I can't wait to try it.

SL

The Huntcast

2008-12-05T23:46:00.003-06:00

I just listened to the latest episode of my favorite podcast, Huntcast: The Outdoors Show (episode #73). I found the show about a year ago and typically catch up on episodes while I fly.

Joe Duckworth from Michigan hosts the show and I found the podcast on iTunes. I started listening to the show because I wanted to learn more about hunting. Since then, I've found the show informative on more than just hunting strategies, but on important issues such as gun control, land access, the second amendment, and others. The show is very well done and I wholeheartedly recommend it. He's got a great message board, as well. I've bragged about some of the success I've had this season and it's fun to share pictures and tall tales with others around the globe.

Well, imagine my surprise when I stopped by his site and I saw a link to MY BLOG on it. I was amazed by that. I couldn't imagine why he would link to my site. I have been posting about hunting and being outdoors a lot lately, but my stories are nothing special - just about a man, some family and friends, and a new found love for the outdoors - whether actually harvesting game or not.

I proceeded to listen to the show immediately. I have a trip coming in a couple of weeks and would normally have saved it up, but I was really curious if he was going to speak about the blog, like he usually does about the links he posts. Well, to my amazement, he did. He mentioned my name, the site, and how I am a former Yankee just learning about nature and falling in love with what I'm learning. He said something in his podcast that really struck home - he said "Scott gets it".

I think he refers to the fact that I am totally and completely obsessed with being outdoors. Whether staring up at stars so close you could touch them, or watching an armadillo walk across my feet because it couldn't hear me approach in the wind. I feel so connected and alive being outdoors. In fact, my wife recently commented about the "passion" I currently have for the outdoors. It isn't about the hunt and it isn't about the kill, even though that sometimes those are a part of it.

It is about connecting to God and His creation in a way that you cannot when you are sitting at a computer or on the couch. It's about understanding the effect of the wind on game, or how the stage of the moon will effect an early morning hunt. It's about where the fish are hiding in the lake because of cover and shadows, or how hogs can't see very well. It's about listening to the yelp of a turkey or knowing what time sunrise is - and being out there to see it.

However, with the help of Joe's podcast, and other resources, it is also about becoming involved in what's important to us. It's about defending the 2nd amendment and our rights. It's about becoming involved with conservation efforts, either with our pocketbooks or in some other way. It is about handing down a heritage to our children and others. It's about letting politicians know what's important to us and that we vote and doing so unapologetically.

Ultimately, it's about a soon to be 40-year-old man who grew up in New York City and the suburbs of Long Island, who was introduced to the fun of shooting a firearm by a caring man, who fell in love with firearms, then the outdoors, and ultimately with hunting and fishing...and making up for 40 lost years as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the shout out, Joe. Keep up the great work and the awesome show. You, and your podcast are a large part of my love of the outdoors.

SL

Stinky Feet Meat

2008-12-04T13:22:00.003-06:00

That's what Angie called the Ham Steaks that she prepared (see pic of the week to the right). She thought they were gamey. Cassie agreed, but what does she know? She's only seven.

Dylan, Marissa and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Baked wild hog pork seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and other unidentified seasoning. It was tasty, mostly moist, and delicious. Add the french fries, mixed veggies, and garlic bread and we had an awesome meal. I've since eaten leftovers for lunch and still cannot fathom how good the meat tastes.

Last night, we ate the breakfast sausage that came from the same hog. Angie and Marissa made breakfast for dinner; pancakes, cheesy eggs and sausage. Best spicy sausage I have ever had. It had a great little kick, just like I like it. Pour maple syrup all over them and they are perfect. EVERYONE enjoyed the sausage, Cassie and Angie included.

I've also been eating the "Big Stinkin' Hog Sticks" made by the processor. They are hotdog sized slim jims that are very hot and spicy. Delicious snacking is what I think.

We still have summer sausage and pork chops to try. Given our experience so far, I am sure they are going to be awesome. If you have a pork chop recipe, send one over. I think I may try a bacon apple glaze on it, like they serve at the Foundry Grill at Sundance in Utah.

I'm just hoping to bag another hog. I will definitely have to get one every year. I don't want this meat to end.

SL

A Tail of Two Deer

2008-12-01T10:26:00.004-06:00

This is the story of two extremes. One of elation and one of despair, and how quickly one can replace the other.

Dylan and I have been looking forward to this past weekend since we got our hunting lease. This was the one weekend in Fannin county that an "Antlerless permit" was not needed to bag a doe. We've been referring to the weekend as "doe weekend" and basically it just means that for the three day Thanksgiving weekend you could hunt does, as well as, bucks. Since we've seen many does on the property and only a few bucks we looked forward to the weekend as our real chance to bag our first deers.

This past weekend was not looking good as of last Tuesday. I "tweaked" my back and since I've had too much experience in this area, I was afraid I was going to be bed ridden for a week. When I felt the twinge, I got into bed and took muscle relaxers as quickly as possible. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday in bed. I figured that not only was Thanksgiving lost, but the hunt, as well.

I never went into spasm, so I proceeded to do the stretching that I've been directed to do from the previous times I've thrown out my back. On Thursday, I felt ok and decided to accompany my family to Lake Whitney, where Angie's cousins were hosting the holiday. It's our first time hanging with them on the holidays and everyone was there. We had a wonderful day and I mostly just sat on the couch watching the football games.

Friday morning (3:00am) came and I got up. I felt ok. Our original plan was to camp out at the lease on Friday night, but it was raining and I was afraid for my back, so we decided that if we didn't bag our does, we'd drive home and return the next morning. It's a little less than two hours to the lease and since gas is down to about $1.65, I thought it would be better to spend the night in my own bed.

Friday was a loss. It poured on Dylan as he sat in the tripod. I was in the pop-up blind behind him, so I was dry. Don't feel bad for him. I wasn't hunting, he was. I had to be with him because he never completed his hunter ed. He never saw a deer.

Friday night, we decided to sit together in the blind near one of our tree stands. We saw nothing until dark. At about the same time where it was too dark to see (or shoot) a number of deer came out of the woods to our right. Dylan saw them and raised the gun. However, it was dark and hard to make out the deer. Because he wasn't sure, he didn't fire. I was proud of him. That two minutes after many hours in the blinds was enough to get us jazzed for day two. He knew he was gonna come back and sit in the same spot.

On day two, we sat in the blind where we saw those deer the day before. Dylan tried to go to sleep. I told him if he slept, I would shoot what I saw...He stayed awake at that point. About ninety minutes in, we saw two deer come out of the woods. They headed towards the feeder and were does, so Dylan got into position. He scoped the larger doe which was facing away from us. I told him to get ready and that as soon as she turned to fire. She began to turn and he fired with no hesitation. I don't know if he fired too quickly, or not, but the deer dropped. The other (smaller) ran into the woods. Dylan began to shake as the effects of the adrenalin took over. Truth be told, so did I. We congratulated each other and as our attention left the deer, it staggered to it's feet. Dylan was the first to notice, but he had moved out of position to fire again. The deer staggered to the edge of the woods and stopped. Dylan raised his rifle to fire again, but the deer disappeared into the trees before he could fire. We weren't concerned. We knew he hit it and we figured it wouldn't get far and we could track it. We called Steve (Angie's cousin for instructions) and waited.

He told us to wait a couple of minutes and track it. While we were preparing to leave the blind another doe came out of the woods to our right. Since Dylan had shot his, this one was mine. I moved into position as Dylan moved out of the way. The doe heard us and began to run for the woods. I bleated, it stopped and I fired. The deer dropped. Since Steve had told us when we called him to always keep your eye on the animal, I chambered another shell and reacquired the deer in my scope. She kicked for a couple of seconds and then lay still. We waited for several more minutes to see if she was going to get up. She wasn't, so we departed the blind. After inspecting my kill, and calling Steve and Angie and letting them know we got a second in the ten minute interval since our last call, we decided to start tracking Dylan's.

We walked over to the feeder. No blood. That's not good. We did know EXACTLY where she entered the woods, so we walked over to the same entrance she used and expected to find her there. We didn't. We weren't terribly concerned yet, except for the fact we couldn't find a blood trail. Since she fell and stayed down for a couple of minutes, we figured he had shot true and she wouldn't get far, but the lack of a blood trail was a bad sign. We searched for a while to no avail and called Steve. He would come and help us look. We found a single drop of blood on a blade of grass at the entrance of the woods, but no more.

We walked for what felt like several hours. We searched damn near the entire 205 acres of the lease, and many of the neighboring properties. I figured we'd find her at some point, but the more we looked, the more pessimistic I got. We looked hard. I knew that Dylan was going to be crushed, and frankly, I was also motivated to make sure we didn't waste a kill. However, after over two hours of looking, we gave up. Steve believes that Dylan shot a little early and didn't get a good broadside, and either grazed her chest, or more likely, gutshot her. That would explain the lack of blood and the possibility that the doe ranged very far before bedding down and dying.

Dylan was crushed and I was very disappointed for him. Although I had harvested my first deer, my elation was countered by my hurt for him - compounded by the fact that I would not have shot my doe if I knew we weren't going to find his. Basically, my hunt had become elation tempered by disappointment because of the hard lesson we both had to learn. To Dylan's credit, he remained mostly positive. He said something to the effect that "this happened for a reason and maybe he'd score a buck later", or something like that.

We hunted the evening. He chose to sit in the tripod again, since we figured the spot where we were was lost for a couple of days. Unfortunately, he never saw another animal. Since he couldn't hunt on Sunday, his doe weekend was done. He was bummed and our ride home on Saturday was pretty quiet.

I returned on Sunday afternoon and sat in the tripod myself. However, I also saw no game.

We still have a month and a half to get bucks or hogs, so we still have some time. Until then, I'm sure the venison is going to taste a little bit bitter and a little bit sweet.

SL

Dog Eat Dog World

2008-11-24T14:47:00.003-06:00

I didn't think it was funny when I said it, but as these pictures can attest, the dogs (Tipsy and Mr. Higgins) were tickled. I think it is more due to the fact that these dogs are laughing on the inside.

They lie around all day, lick themselves as desired, eat whenever they want, crap whenever the want, get pet whenever they beg, and even sleep in our bed.

What's not to laugh about?

The GREAT Outdoors

2008-11-21T08:58:00.013-06:00

I've been blogging a lot about hunting lately. I am completely hooked on it right now. Call it an obsession or an addiction, but either way - it describes me. When I'm not working or spending time with family and friends, I am outdoors (either literally or figuratively). I sometimes wonder if my background is the reason for my love of the outdoors - because it is so foreign. As a kid, I camped every month as a boy scout, but probably spent a minimum of time outdoors over the past 25 years. That ended about three years ago. I started camping, fishing, and shooting. When I did, I realized how much I enjoyed all of the activities. Shooting turned to hunting very quickly. A couple of dove hunts later, and I was hooked hard. Add a turkey hunt, and a couple of futile duck hunts and I wanted more. All I could think of was spending more time in the outdoors and finding ways to hunt more.

Then, I got a call from Angie's cousin. We were supposed to do a hog hunt in Goliad, TX (where he lived) during the summer, but never got it done. He and his family had moved back to Bonham, and he found a lease and wanted to know if I wanted in. I thought about it for about 0.003 seconds, got approval from Angie, and said yes. We would have access to 206 acres about 90 minutes away that we could hunt dove, duck, hog, and deer and it also had a pond stocked with fish. We were set.

Since opening day dove season (Sept 1), I have spent a part of all but one weekend on that property. I've gotten my hog, and will get a deer next weekend as it is antlerless weekend. Perhaps another hog or deer during the rest of our time on the lease and then it will be over...until we start looking for a place to get turkey in the spring.

Although the hunting is the highlight, and harvesting game the purpose, spending time in the outdoors is so much more than that. This week in Utah is a great example. Yes, we had an amazing time bagging duck, but some of the other experiences will not be forgotten, as well. In fact, when shooting becomes a hazy memory, I will continue to remember vividly the "Hawaii 5-O" theme on the duck call. Or, that Jeremy and I almost took a fall into the water when I took an overhead shot at a duck.

Or, perhaps the two bald eagles we saw when we were leaving the lake on day 1. I looked for eagles during the entire time I spent in Alaska, and never saw one. But I saw two perched along the shores of Utah Lake.

Or, perhaps the not one, but TWO, shooting stars I saw. Not little transient flickers, but large, bright and long burning shooting stars that made the hair on the back of my neck raise up as I watched them.

Or, maybe the sunrises that I saw come up from the mountains. Or the lake surface, so still it looked like glass and how it reflected the snow capped mountains in the background.

Or, one of the many other bird species we saw flying.

Or, the ducks that never came into shooting range. How they took a look at our spread, circled, maybe even answered our call, but then decided not to come join our party.

That's why I am out doors and why I love it so much. Yes, the harvest is awesome, as is the eating, but the whole experience is so much more. And, as a hunter and as a member of various conservation organizations, I am proud to know that my dollars help preserve the very same outdoors that I have come to love.

As a local commercial says, "if you want to preserve an environment, hunt in it!"

Spend some time outside, you'll see what I am talking about.

Our spread, from the boat, on Day 2. We are waiting for the sun to rise from the mountain the background. During the day, the water calmed and became completely still, turning into a mirror at the horizon. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Our spread, from the boat on day 2. My hosts added two mojos to the one they had from day 1. They made a huge difference, as we increased our harvest from 3 to 11 between the two days.

The view of our Day 2 location from out in the water. The sun is to my back, so we are looking back to from where I took the two first pictures. We are in the boat taking this picture, but imagine that the boat is within the reeds you are looking at. We were almost completely concealed. Jeremy is standing to the right of the reeds in this picture and he is just about invisible.

Our harvest from Day 1. A black duck, a drake Goldeneye and a hen Goldeneye. Here is the Hunter's boat. It is such a sweet deal. A jon boat with this flip up sides that function as the blind. When backed up to the reeds, or better yet, parked in the reeds, it is a stable platform for shooting that is virtually invisible. Add the 4 dozen or so decoys and the three mojo's, and they have the perfect set up for duck hunting.

Our Day 2 harvest. 11 ducks in the boat with 15 shot. The widgeon I shot and that we chased but never found, was my biggest regret. The other widgeon is about halfway in the picture with the green stripe on its head. In order, two redheads, a pintail, a black duck, a widgeon, two shovelers, and four green wing teal.

One of my hosts (Jeremy - his brother Robert is taking the picture), their boat and our harvest. If you can't tell, we've shed our heavy coats by this point. The weather was perfect. About 40 degrees when we started and significantly warmer when we ended. We hunted from legal shooting hours (about 6:50am) to 10am the first day, and about 11am the second. We just didn't want to leave.

To see all of my pictures, click here.

SL