Busy Weeks Seem to be the Norm

Nothing unusual to report this week. We have just been busy. Bubby starts her MWF with a 6:00 AM trip to the University swimming pool and her swimming sessions with the arthritics. She loves it! She reports feeling loose and limber after each session, and while we were walking on our 2-mile city course on Thursday (her off day for swimming) she reported how much stronger her legs are feeling. Bubby is digging this whole swimming thing.

Monday night after going to the movies (Ghost Town), we went to see the touring US Army band called The Volunteers. Bubby got us free tickets. She was expecting a military brass band, but what she got was a mediocre cover band that did everything from jazz/swing standards to country/rock. The best part of the evening was sitting next to Big K and exchanging barbs about the performance. The band ended with a very country patriotic set, and Bubb commented as we left how disappointed she was. It is a little unnerving to watch musicians, dressed in camo fatigues, trying to dance and move coolly to the sounds of popular music (are you feeling he weird image?).

On Tuesday, Bubb wasn't feeling particularly well, but I talked her into going to Sand Hollow with me. While I fished, she laid out on the rear deck in the 80° sunshine and copped a nice nap. The fishing was slowish, but we didn't get skunked. The wind came up and ended our fun just at "prime time" (the 45 minutes following sunset, for our non-fishing readers). We had to trailer the boat in a strong wind (I was glad Bubb was with me, I would have struggled alone). We finished this outing with a trip to Alberto's in Hurricane. Bubb got the taco special (which we shared) along with a plate of carne asada fries. Worth the outing by themselves.

I have had late meetings several times this week (the leaves on my lawn need raking). Last night was no exception. My presidency meeting had been moved from Tuesday to Thursday, and following it, I had a meeting at the University with the Cedar Mountain Science Camp. Following that, Bubb and I had a baked potato bar and shared a plate of fried green tomatoes (dewlicious). We did a grocery run, and after finally watching an episode of The Office when it was first broadcast, we went over to set up tables and chairs for our Stake's dinner/date night. We were home and in bed a little after 10:00 PM.

Things don't appear to be letting up. We have the dinner/date thing tonight (I am conducting) and it is Stake Temple Day tomorrow. We are going to take advantage of being in St. George to do a little shopping, but before we go, I want to rake the leaves in the front yard. The rain gutters on the front of the house are full to overflowing, too. If we get a chance, we will also pull up the tomato plants. They are done.

Of course Sunday is a ward conference, and I am speaking. Got to polish up my talk a little, too. The bright patch for us this week is the possibility of joining Dan and Rosalyn when they take students to Las Vegas next weekend. Rosalyn will be busy with a writing conference, but Bubb, Dan, Evelyn and I may get a chance to be out and about. Of course, we will have to rush home on Saturday night. Stake Conference begins at 6:00 PM. The women's basketball team starts its season that night, too. We may get to see a little of that.

Hope our readers are doing well. Love to all.

Buboppy

The Tea Cup B&B

Aunt Kathy and her daughters spent the night last night. They came for the fall Shakespeare Season. Saw a matinee of "Gaslight" yesterday and "Julius Ceasar" last night. It was fun to see them and they are already on their way north again. They are hurrying home to put on a family Halloween party! Complete with costumes and soup! We look forward to a return visit next season. We have already talked about it.

Today is yard duty day. Bubby can't wait to go to the dump! That is a hold over from her youth. Grandpa Rogers loved cleaning things up and dropping them off at the landfill. We'll be doing the same with tree trimmings and the dead part of the garden (half dozen tomato plants still survive).




We may have more to show later. Went to "Nights at Rodanthe" last night. Bubby liked it, but it has a sad ending. She says she really recommends, "Express", the football movie we saw last week. Our evening-out included Chili's (I know, I know!), but we shared a Quesadilla Explosion (a very good salad) and indulged in bottomless chips and salsa. We even brought some home with us.

This is a three day weekend, however, since I have fireside duty on Sunday, it really is just Monday off for me.

Buboppy

Quiet Fall Week

It has been a quiet week at home and a wild one at work. The dust seems to have settled on our 4% budget cut, and although I am not at liberty to give the complete details yet, we only lost one position in chemistry and a few miscellaneous pots of money. The rest of the reduction will end up doing some good for our organization.

This is the first winter-like weekend. Snow is predicted, and a few flakes have fallen this morning. In preparation, we covered our tomatoes and peppers last night (of course they are at peak production) and harvested all of the basil (four varieties). This image shows (foreground first) the cinnamon, sweet, and lemon basil also hanging to dry.

Here you see the Thai basil hanging in the solarium waiting to dry. We have tried to separate the varieties so we can know what we are using later.

Finally, a sample of our garden harvest. It has been a good, if not great, year. One variety of tomatoes (the well-shaped ones in the photo) has been excellent. Don't remember what they were, but they sure have done well. Of course the romas are great and we use them most for salsa, etc.

We are taking it easy today. There is a little yard work to be done, but it will have to wait for the storm to pass. I ran down and fished Sand Hollow on Wednesday afternoon. Pretty slow for me. I didn't catch numbers until about 30 minutes before it got dark. The total was about 10 and they were all small. Caught most drop shotting with a skinny green worm.

Buboppy

General Priesthood Meeting

This was a conference Saturday, and we spent a lot of time just chillin'. We were able to watch things over the internet, so we didn't have to run to the church to see them. Of course, Leo was charming, and particularly likes to sit up like a big man.

Here he is watching conference with his Dad. They are already cool buds and he takes quite a bit of teasing. Between sessions, Booty ran to Costco and bought himself a new TV (with some encouragement from us). We set it up, and he can even run his computer through it, so when they watch conference on Sunday, they can do it on a 32 inch screen.

Here are the boys just before general priesthood meeting. Leo had to stay home and watch "North and South" with his Mom and Bubb, but his Dad and I went to the meeting anyway.

We are headed home before the first conference session this morning. It has been a fun, if brief, visit. We are glad we got to see Leo, and Booty and Laur, too.

Buboppy

Bathtime for Leo

We got to witness a really interesting event this evening. After some quality time with the Eves family, which included a field trip to an amazing market (Central Market in Plano) and Costco (we have to get ready for the conference buffet and Laur and Leo stayed home), we left Leo home with Bubby and visited a neighborhood Italian restaurant. It felt a lot like Bruno's. We ate some great pizza and brought Bubby home a nice baked pasta dish. We then got to witness the bathing of Leo. What he hates most is feeling cold, so as the bath preparations proceeded he got more and more anxious. When they laid him in the tub, this normally quiet and calm little guy started to really cloud up and storm. Of course, Matt and Laur are veterans of the bath now, and they had warm water ready to put wash cloths into. As soon as they covered him with these nice, warm cloths, his anxiety disappeared and he uttered an audible sigh. He was perfectly happy to finish the bath. He did crank it up a little during the change to jammies, but calmed right down once he was warm again.

Our boy is quite the eater. He works his mom over and then gets topped off with a couple of ounces of formula, as you can see in this photo. In Jake's honor, we call it "breakfast bessert". Of course that is probably why he gained 1.5 pounds in a couple of weeks (not a record, but very impressive). He is just a big eater and let's you know that he hasn't had enough.

Buboppy

Bubby and Leo

We arrived safely, even early, after a very nice flight. Booty picked us up and whisked us home. After a quick visit, we crashed hard. We have spent the morning catching up with Leo. Bubby wants him to know all about her, she keeps saying, "This is the Bubby speaking, pay attention."

He is very long and handsome. He has some Williams characteristics (long face and body, he grew an inch since birth) but he looks very much like his Daddy. We are also convinced that he is a very cute baby.

Bubby insisted on this photo, so don't ask.

Bubby is sitting in Laur's chair holding Leo while he sleeps. He was looking very sweet.

RLE