They See Me Rollin...

They hatin,

Patrollin they tryin to catch me ridin dirty.

Let the Holidays Begin!

Sunday, November 25, 9:25 p.m.:  Thanksgiving weekend is hours from over.  Thanksgiving day was spent in San Antonio with the Fernandes family.  They contributed this handsome vegetarian turkey to our potluck dinner.  It looked great, and tasted even better!

After dinner, I played X-Box Kinect for the first time.  X-Box Kinnect is similar to Wii but without the handheld game controllers. After 30 mintues of playing, I learned that I throw like a girl even when the throwing is simulated.  At least I gave everyone a good laugh...

Friday brought Thanksgiving number two, this time with family.  And what a lovely family we are.

Saturday was uneventful until around 3:00 p.m., when my aunt pulled a table out of the garage and set it up in a sunny spot on the back porch of the farm house.  We covered the table with a sheet, pulled up a bench and some chairs, and sat down to feast on left overs:

This lovely picture was taken before the bees arrived.  I think the bees were attracted by our sweet tea. My dad, in an attempt to deter the bees, lit a small fire in a nearby barbecue grill and placed some dry leaves on the fire.  At first, a small stream of smoke filled the air and drove away most of the bees.  When the leaves burned up and the smoke died down, however, the bees returend.  My dad responded by adding even more leaves to the barbecue grill.  Within moments, a large cloud of smoke consumed our table.  What followed was a comical ten seconds during which everyone made various exclamations and tried to hide their faces; everyone except for my grandma, who appeared unaffected, and my aunt, who stood at the end of the porch yelling commands about turning our heads away from the barbecue grill.

Saturday evening, Chris and I returned to my cousin's house to discover that while we were feasting on smokey leftovers, Doug and/or my Cousin's dog ate two thirds of a toddler sized dress.  I suspected that Doug ate the dress because Chris found a clump of dress-colored threads stuck to one of his paws.  Doug is proving to be quite the scavenger.

Sunday morning, Chris and I drove to Buda, Texas, to look at a car listed for sale on Craigslist.  Prior attempts to purchase a car in the Valley via Craigslist were unsuccessful because apparently, most Craigslist users in the Valley are very shady people.  Luckily, Craigslist users in Buda are much more reliable and as a result, we are now the proud owners of a new vehicle.

Driving our new vehicle home was a blast, or it was a blast until Doug began vomiting dress colored liquids.   This confirmed my haunch that Doug is a dress eater. After a visit to the only 24 hour animal hospital in the Valley, we arrived home completely exhausted.

In between the vegetarian turkey, the smokey bee dinner, the new car, and my sick, dress-eating dog, I would say I had a pretty average holiday.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Life in the Valley

It is mid-November.  The forecasted high for the next four days in degrees Fahrenheit is 72, 72, 77, and 82.  This is why I have an orange tree.  This also creates winter Texans, some of whom live in the nicest mobile home parks I have ever seen.  

While driving home from work, I saw a truck with a magnetic sign advertising a concrete company.  The company's specialties?  Sidewalks, Drive-ways, Additions, and Remodelation.  Yes, someone ordered, and someone else printed, a sign using the word remodelation. 

I finally saw the Rio Grande.  To see the river, I had to walk out on an international bridge because the view was otherwise obstructed by a tall, thick concrete fence that cost $1 million a mile to construct.  In San Antonio, the river was lined with expensive homes, restaurants, lush vegetation, and sidewalks.  

Yesterday, I visited my neighbors at their house for the first time.  They invited me in and then gave me a tour of the entire house, including the master bedroom and bathroom.

The majority of my driving occurs at no more than 40 miles per hour, even when the speed limit exceeds 40 miles per hour.

My car insurance rate went up after I moved here.  Apparently, car theft is popular when an international border is only 11 miles away.  

I receive more Spanish TV stations than English TV stations.  Some of the Spanish stations are picked up from Mexico.  News broadcasts in Mexico are. . . tailored to please men.  Mexican TV programming in general is . . . tailored to please men.  

I tried Pan de Campo for the first time.  It's yummy.  I'll share some with you if you're ever in town.