Wildflower Drive

On the advice of someone at work, Anna and I drove down towards Fredricksburg today with the girls to check out the wildflowers. The bluebonnets are past their peak, but other flowers are just starting to come out in their full glory. We were not dissapointed. The wildflowers are absolutely breathtaking. The pictures don't even come close to doing them justice. These flowers go on and on for over 200 miles along the sides of the roads. Their smell permeates the air. It's just really neat. Take a look at the photos. Come see us next weekend.

I've posted the pictures we took today to a web album.

Great Western Loop

For those of you who are backpacking fans, Andrew Skurka is about to begin his attempt of the Great Western Loop. Yup, he's going to try to complete 6,875 miles this season, starting Monday. 9 States. 12 National Parks. 75 Wilderness areas. His pack weight will vary with the segment he is on, but it looks like his full skin out weight (that's the total amount of weight he's carrying, including the clothes and shoes he's wearing) will range between 10 and 15 pounds.

For those of you who don't know who Andrew Skurka is, he's the first person to complete the Sea-to-Sea trail... hiking from Northeastern Maine to Seattle in 11 months. This winter he also completed his "Ultralight in the Nation's Ice Box tour" hiking from Duluth to Ely in January. 380 miles in 16 days with a pack weight of 24 pounds. Average Temperature: 5 degrees. Reading about his adventures is very interesting.

Wait 15 Minutes.

There's a saying down here:

If you don't like the weather in Texas just wait 15 minutes, it will change.

Apparently, you need to be careful what you ask for. A few days ago, I posted a sarcastic post lamenting the lack of snow. It was a joke, really just intended to rile up a couple of my friends in Minnesota who were getting snow while it was 90+ degrees here.

Alas, I woke up this morning to this:



Yup... that's snow on the roof. Thankfully, this was in the forecast, so we were able to get all of the plants in the garage over night.

On another note, I've always heard people talk about how beautiful the wildflowers are in Texas. In particular, my Grandma always used to rave on about the Blue Bonnets that Grandpa and her always saw when they would spend winter/early spring in Texas. Last year, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I never really saw any wildflowers last year. Some folks told me that it was too dry and the winter had been too mild for many flowers to come out. This year has been much different. We had a cold winter (by Texas standards) and the spring has been pretty wet. Brownwood actually looks more like Greenwood.

The wildflowers are magnificent, especially the Blue Bonnets. When I realized it was snowing this morning, I decided to go take some pictures just in case they die off in the next few days. All of these were taken within 2 miles of the house. They are everywhere and they are very cool.

Life is Better When it Snows

Over the last few days, I've decided I miss snow.

It's terrible. I've mowed the lawn three times already this year. I've already had to fertilize, and I've even extended my French drain due to some backyard flooding from recent heavy rains.

Yes, life is better when it snows. Just this weekend, Anna wanted to plant flowers. Sure, you know, she went to the store and picked everything out. I sat on the driveway and played with the kids. I got sunburned. Bummer. But hey, Anna did do a swell job on the flowers. But, if it had been snowing, I could have been, you know, reading a book or something instead of getting sunburned.



Yes, life is better when it snows. This evening, it was warm. I had to crawl into the attic to turn on the auxillary exhaust fan. It was 89 degrees at 6 PM. We decided to go on a walk. I got sweaty. ewww.

Yes, life is better when it snows. Apparently the kids got hot on the walk too. I don't know if I'd consider it a "walk" for them. Tori rode in the stroller and Hope rode her bike. When we got home, Tori said, "I need ice cream. I'm hot". We didn't have any ice cream, so I was forced to go down to Sonic (Think Dairy Queen, only better).

Yes, life is better when it snows. If it had only been colder lately, I could be like all of my friends back home in Minnesota, enjoying the last forays of winter (You are out camping in this, aren't you Pete?) -- But instead, I'm forced to sit here in the shade on the back porch, enjoying the sunset on this warm evening whilst sipping on my strawberry banana slushy. It reminds me of snow I guess.