go Team Rice Grain!!

We are pleased as punch to announce that we are expecting a baby!!! We just found out a couple days ago and still can't believe it ourselves.....

Roxanne was having back pain for months now and was getting basically all diagnostics to try and figure it out. MRI was normal, EMG (nerve conduction study) was normal, so abdominal ultrasound was recommended next. What they found on ultrasound was a surprise to both of us!

It wasn't a complete surprise however, while we had been trying, we didnt realize it would happen immediately nor did we realize Roxanne is already 6 1/2 weeks pregnant! They know the age because this is the earliest a heart beat can be detected. Heart rate is 120bpm, normal. Seeing the flicker of light on the screen was unreal - it looked like a little firefly.

Call to Jack and rally back at the apartment where he made me take an at home test just so he could see the "Plus Sign" for himself. (as above)

Then it was off to the university book store where we bought "Texas Grandma and Grandpa" mugs for our parents and shipped them. It was pretty hilarious when Jack's mom and dad found out as they saw the mugs and basically said.. Thanks, but so what (they already have Texas grandkids ala my brother). They had to be lead through the greater meaning and that made it all the more fun.

He/she is now the size of a rice grain... which is incidentally the baby's first nickname. I am sure in the future the nature of this blog will change from trip pics and political ramblings to the many adventures of Team Rice Grain! We are looking forward to the journey.

Madison

We just booked a flight to visit Madison in a couple of weeks. We are very excited! I dont think I realized how much I missed Madison until I booked the flight and knew I was going to be there soon. Its going to be a long few weeks... Below are random graphs about Madison I found using google image search... enjoy!

The Creatures of Troutdale

During our Ozarks trip we had a great time fishing at Troutdale. I have very fond memories of fishing here when I was growing up, and I recently found out so does my dad. Our family has been trout fishing at this secluded Ozarks spot for ~ 50 years! The whole place is a cold spring diverted into a concrete runs that serve as a trout hatchery. A certain amount of fish are released into the stream/pond at the end of the property and people are allowed to trout fish there. It is one of only a couple places in MO where people can trout fish as trout are a cold water species and MO gets pretty hot. What is so amazing is the amount of wildlife the small stream and fishery can support. Fishing was fun, but all the outdoorsy stuff we saw made it particularly awesome.

Evidently blue herons had been eating some trout so they had to erect this fence to keep them out... actually they were not only eating them, once they had their fill they were poking holes in them and leaving them! The fence now prevents this from happening.
During our couple hours there we saw frogs (multiple kinds), toads, trout (of course), snakes (2 kinds), a mink (feasting on frogs and a mouse), blue herons, geese with goslings (see below) snapping turtles, painted water turtles, and a marten (not me) or fisher as well as a host of cool bugs (some of which we used as bait).

Little David caught a speckled king snake (salt and pepper snake) floating in the water. It is not a water snake, so it must have gone in the cold water by mistake. It couldn't move very fast when David fished it out.

Here is one of a few snapping turtles we saw. Little David (always adept at spotting and catching wildlife) found the tiniest little toad in the world in the grass next to the parking lot...

Finally, here is a video of one of the many banded water snakes we saw:

half the fun

During the fun Ozark trip we spend over 24 hours in our rented Kia Sportage. We drove from Austin to Laurie and saw a lot of cool stuff on the way.

Now contrast these peticured pretties.. with my chigger chewed ankle!!!

The horror!! We learned this weekend that some people (Mom, Quinn, and myself) are very susceptible to chiggers, whereas almost everyone else is not... Who knows why that is, but we all walked in the same places many times so it must be true..

We got to see the midwest flooding firsthand. This area used to be a small creek in Oklahoma. Also on our way to the lake, we were briefly caught in a line of cars on I-44 waiting to cross the flooded roadway.

Can you feel the love coming from the guys who put this up? I want to go to his church soooo bad now!!

In MO, we kept seeing billboards for the evilest place I have ever heard of.... The Precious Moments Chapel and Museum. This alter of unspeakable horror is in Carthage, MO. May God have mercy on all who enter. A word of advice, don't stare directly into the huge puppy-dog eyes of the hydrocephalic children... thats how they eat your soul!!!

In McAlestar Oklahoma there is an exit for Electric Ave. We thought we'd just "rock on down to" there...and then we'll take it higher.

We have never been to downtown Dallas, but it is pretty beautiful from the road. Although it can be a pain to drive in as about 8 major highways intersect in the city center.
Roxanne took this beautiful picture of Dallas Flyovers... Isn't it neat?

Louis does very well on long car rides.. except he always tries to be vigilant and alert... even when he is super tired. Here he is falling asleep in the sitting position...
Air Supply, your songs once taught a nation how to love, now you are reduced to gigs in an Oklahoma Choctaw Casino? Say it ain't so!!! The Oklahoma Highway Patrol was out and about... we somehow managed to not get pulled over...
At Big Cabin, OK just off the Roy Rogers Turnpike lies Big Chief Truckstop...

We knew we were back in Texas when we saw this bumper sticker on the back of a corvette.. it says "Republican: Because not everyone can be on welfare" Ahhh... contempt for the poor and meek... one of the paradoxes of the "bible" belt.

Ozarks Trip

We're going to link our Kodak Gallery pictures to this blog for the full spectrum of photos. But here are a few of my favorites from our weekend. We had a blast!! So relaxing and yet so fun. It was great hanging out with the whole family.

Here we are on our way - Jack is relaxing a little too much!







Here is Quinn with Peggy - he's getting soooo big!!


Here's Bella with Aunt Kate just before the gift extravaganza. Aunt Kate brought lots of goodies for the kids.

Jack and Quinn.

David Jr found a snake at Troutdale I just love this hat of Marty's...it's his rib-grilling hat.



The kids got chalk this weekend, and Keith got a surprise.





Quinn is starting young - after this picture he took a swig out of the bottle in his right hand and used the back of his left hand to wipe his mouth. It was hilarious!
Jack will follow up with some of the great images we saw on the route to and from the lake. There are some interesting people and billboards to be seen through Texas, Oklahoma, and southern Missouri....stay tuned!!




Thanks everyone! We had a great time...

Excited!

Rx just got done working 50 hrs in 4 days (4 overnights)!!! She is sleeping the sleep of the dead now. After her recovery I am sure she will join me in being excited about our forthcoming trip to the Ozarks!

We will be going to the Lake of the Ozarks. It is like Wisconsin Dells South for those who are unfamiliar. Lake of the Ozarks has 1100 miles of shoreline ... That is 100 miles farther than the distance from Austin to Madison!

cold activated bottles

I saw on the boob tube tonight that Coors light has "cold activated bottles" that show blue mountains when cold and white mountains when warm.

Are you joking me? Was telling whether a beer was cold or not EVER a problem? Coors has totally cornered the "people wearing welding gloves who just put new beers in the fridge and mixed them up with the old ones" demographic. Or maybe the "quadriplegics that control a bottle opener/beer grabber with their teeth, and just arrived at a barbecue and some beers have been on the table for an undetermined amount of time" demographic. How about making it not taste like crap? How many people you got working on that Coors? Is the whole world going crazy? Am I becoming Andy Rooney?

Addendum: I am STILL utterly perplexed by this; it is driving me crazy!!... Anyone who touches a beer (who does not suffer from Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome ) immediately knows whether the beer is cold or not right? Ah ha, there is 1 notable exception: people who have put coozies (koozies?) on their beers. This is the ONLY time (other than the scenarios above) where a visual cue would aid in helping you determine whether your beer is cold or not... However with a coozie snuggly in place on your beer. . . . YOU CANNOT SEE THE MOUNTAINS!!!! Please if you can think of a reason why this would possibly be necessary PLEASE TELL ME!! I am going crazy!!

ACL schedule

We are considering going to the Austin City Limits festival in September... it is expensive, but there are a lot of shows... Of the shows I really want to see though there are scheduling conflicts!!! Damn... check these out... Beck or Robert Plant and Allison Krauss... its hard to choose... I think either would be awesome...of these 2 I might pick Beck just because Robert Plant is starting to look like an old poodle. Only because Allison Krauss is there can you tell the difference between these two photos...On Sunday... the last night the Foo Fighters are alone, as they should be, but Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs are playing at the same time!!!
Gimme a break!!, I would have to go with Gnarls on probably... I think Rx would say the same thing. We probably wont go anyway as we don't watch much live music anyway... who knows.. maybe we'll splurge...

shout out!!

Happy Birthday DW!!
And Happy Anniversary Olivia and Chris!!

Hot Sunday Afternoon

Lou and I went on a little hike today in the 95 degree heat. Here we are on the trailhead. Rx sees lots of heatstroke dogs at her clinic this time of year so I was careful not to have lou out too long without a swim.


We got pretty far before the swim though.. here is the road we started at.

Here we are up on the bluff overlooking the creek

This is an awesome beetle we saw on the trail... peace out

jb