Fun In Dallas

We got a chance to run to Dallas and visit Booty and the family a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to post something, but I got sucked into a fancy new Blogspot interface and just barely figured out how to revert to something I could better manage and post to. The other look was very fancy, but you had to do a fresh login each time you wanted to post. Too much trouble. We arrived in Dallas on Thursday afternoon of General Conference weekend. Our flight out was a little iffy, but we weathered the delays well in Houston, and were able to celebrate National Taco Day with Booty and family at their home. It was our first introduction to Charo beans, and if you haven't ever had them, you owe it to yourself. We made them for Daniel and family yesterday and they were a hit.

On Friday morning, early, Matt and I drove south to Corsicana, TX to hook up with our favorite Texas fishing guide, Mark Parker. We were into the "hybrids" (aka whipers) within a few minutes. Caught eight or so. Nice fish, but we put them all back.

We spent the rest of our time on the water catching white and yellow bass and catfish. It was lots of fun. Saturday and Sunday, we watched all the sessions of conference between playing with the kids and naps. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and so much fun to reconnect with Leo and Clara. They are so cute and full of energy. We came away pictureless, however. Flew home to our real lives on Monday afternoon. Thanks to Matt and Laur for hosting us. It was too much fun. Buboppy

In Route to Fantasy Land!

Babsy and Entourage stopped by on Saturday afternoon for lunch and some catch-up. They are on their way to a long planned for vacation in southern Cal. It was great to see them all, have some lunch, and even convince Bean and Jake to help me with a neighborhood move-in. Of course, the ladies got to do a little quilt store work which makes them very happy.

Bubby decided to take some dress up photos of the girls. She particularly liked these two, although I know she got photos of all of the girls.

I guess there really is a reason to have a coat/hat rack in the hall covered with retro-looking hats.

Great Summer Harvest

Bubby just sent me this photo of our first picking this past summer. It represented our first beans and our first tomato. We have had such a wonderful garden this year. With all of the rain that we had, the plants are beautiful, the harvest has been plentiful, and I doubt we will top the total package in the foreseeable future. Bubby has bottled plum jam from Dan's tree, gallons of tomato soup (too bad she is the only one who likes it), and we have had lots of produce to share. We have learned that five Armenian cucumber plants is way too many! Buboppy

Tea Party

Yesterday afternoon, Rosalyn had a meeting on campus and so Bubby had some visitors for a few hours. OB was fast asleep and stayed that way throughout the visit. Bubby placed his carrier underneath the quilt she is stitching for him, to be out of harm's way. Drewf and Mevie wanted to have a tea party, so Bubby launched into it. You can see from the photo is was a proper affair with sweet and savory snacks, peachy tea as the beverage, and lots of please and thank you, proper tea party etquette. My favorite part of the retelling was that Mevie wanted to wear a girly hat to the party, and Bubby put one on, too. Drewf wanted one, but since Bubby doesn't have any male proper tea party hats, she settled for a ball cap. Too funny. Bubbopy

Happy Anniversary!

Last Sunday, September 2nd, Bubby and I drove down to San Diego to begin our third post-Labor Day celebration at the Oceanside WorldMark. We arrived in West Covina in time to get to Sacrament Meeting, hoping to surprise Aunt Carolyn. She wasn't there! We talked to some of the BP 2nd warders who were there and one of them said she wasn't feeling well enough to come to church, so she stayed home. We skipped Sunday School and PRHD/RS and went to find her. We knocked on the door and were greeted by Jerry. Can't believe he is 44 years old! Got to visit with both he and Aunt Carolyn for about an hour. She is doing fine, she just said the swelling was so extreme on Sunday morning she was unable to fit her feet in her shoes. She is asking us to help her find housing in Cedar City! We'll look into that as soon as we return home. We drove south from West Covina to Oceanside and hooked up with the Englesteads. They have been here nearly three weeks, but it hasn't been a picnic for Nancy. She is recovering from her last chemo session and was looking at another round starting the upcoming Wednesday. They went home a couple of days early just because she wasn't having much fun. We, on the other hand, have had a great time. We settled early into a routine of walking in the AM, lounging at the pool mid-day, dinner in our room and then another walk around town until dark. We have logged between 15,000 and 20,000 steps everyday we have been here (that's 6-8 miles walking each day). We haven't really done anything we didn't want to, except make a second trip to Solana beach to visit the Cedros Design District and an antique shop. We even got to try a Wahoo's fish taco (not a contender).

Yesterday, we caught the Coaster into the downtown for our annual trip to a Padres's baseball game. Bubb shot this awful photo while we waited for our train in O-side.

We are quite proud of our ability to get around San Diego. We got off of the Coaster at Old Town and jumped on a trolley that took us to within four blocks of Blue Water Fish Market. Bubby said she was going to have something different than her usual jumbo shrimp salad. She settled for a calamari steak plate. Look at all of that calamari! It was grilled to perfection. It came with jasmine rice and a nice green salad with blue cheese dressing. She has told me several times how much she enjoyed her dinner last night.

I had a couple of these, one shrimp and the other calamari. The latter was absolutely fabulous. This is a great restaurant and if you are ever in San Diego, . . . We jumped right back on the trolley and it took us to Petco park for our baseball game.

Our seats were on the left field line, about seven rows up from the field. Bubby almost felt like they were too close to the action. The Padres won, including a heroic eighth inning home run by Chase Headley to seal the deal. We had a nice long walk on the beach this morning, did our pool time (I finally got some cribbage revenge on the Bubb. She schooled me in Crowns on the train yesterday.) We are currently planning our last walk down to Harbor Fish for a farewell fish taco. Will leave here bright and early tomorrow morning. It has been a wonderful break and we have enjoyed every minute. We did have one adventure I should tell our readers about last evening. While we were waiting for the Coaster to take us back to Oceanside, we were approached by a man who asked if we were going that far, and if we would assist a woman who's husband is a new Marine recruit undergoing basic training at Camp Pendleton. We agreed and helped her buy a ticket and told her to tag along and we would help her get where she needed to be. She was a very young Hispanic woman from Houston, TX. She was a little overwhelmed by the whole experience, but her husband of two years had instructed her to get to Oceanside and obtain a motel near the base and he would join her when he got liberty at 10:00 AM Saturday morning. We got her to Oceanside and drove her to a motel near where we are. She checked in and I hope that she and her husband had a joyous reunion this morning. Buboppy

2012 Orange Ball Tournament

It happened on Friday morning, July the 13th. All of the UP kids were in town for a sort of reunion, welcoming Jim home from Portugal. Booty was in town, and Dan turned his weekly exam over to his TA to administer. The only one MIA was Beany, who, unfortunately, had to stay home a work. The teams were Mike, UP, and Tony; Jim, Booty, and Dan; and Poppy, Jason, and Mark (Maddie's husband). I thought our team might have a chance, but we played the back nine and ran into trouble on that long par 4 with the ditch cutting through the fairway at about 100 yds to the pin. With a lost ball on our second shot, we ended up having to take a seven for the hole. That pretty much cooked our goose. Jim, Booty, and Dan ended up winning it all and we (alas) were the biggest losers. Here is the crew that turned out to play (sorry we're out of focus). The odd placement of hands on some of the participants is an allusion to an old photo of UP at Cindy's wedding. I certainly won't say more than that.

We finished up with breakfast at Alberto's, on the losers, so a good time was had by all. It was just fun to be together and remember all of the fun we had over the years with the author of our party, Lumpy (aka Grandpa Jasper). We have done this for 10 years now, and I hope I never see the end of the tradition. Buboppy

Field Seminar

This past week, we convened the 17th annual Bryce Canyon Natural History Association Field Seminar. We have been doing these events these many years with essentially the same staff and a group of very loyal participants. With the untimely passing of our dear friend Marilyn Bulkley, there was a very subdued (limited) response to this year's event. We made the decision to go forward, despite the small numbers, and keep our long standing record of holding the event in-tact. Here is the best reason for attending. Having some time to be around Dr. Bowns, our favorite range ecologist. He is getting along in years, and I often wonder how long his health will hold out, but he is a great guy. Bubby says he is the consummate gentleman. I think he likes her, too. The trip included a drive through Garfield county to pick up the participants. The drive over Boulder mountain was beautiful, albeit windy. We spent the first night in Price, and did the long drive up Nine Mile Canyon. This is the famed Big Hunt panel (above the heads of our smiling group). After a night in Price, we toured our way to Vernal, and the Uinta Basin. Lots of fun, great company, and things to see. We are already planning next year's adventure to Mesa Verde and the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, near Cortez, CO. Buboppy