The rain stopped temporarily...just long enough for all of "our gang" to get together and eat. We met under Larry and Linda's awning, at their bus, and had salad, brisket, potatoes, onions, and wonderful corn bread! Good food, good friends, lots of fun. Then Jimmy brought "Buster" our cockatoo, out for a visit and everyone just loved him!

Then, David Stremme, The driver of the Coors Light car, came by to eat, and fell in love with Buster. Turned in early (10:30) because I had some laundry to do....more tomorrow.

Well, here we are at Bristol....got here yesterday morning. Today is practice and qualifying and it's starting to sprinkle....it looks like rain will be the plan for the weekend. Yesterday was really nice out, so we really were out enjoying it, I'm afraid it's getting damp out and they had to stop practice. We are going to find a mailbox and take the dogs for a ride... it's starting to get cold out....have to get the jackets out. More later...

This will be a short note.....I have been down for about two weeks with a bad inner ear infection. I guess it started with sinusitis, since the wind has been blowing 50 mph for several days! At any rate, it has knocked me for a loop and I have been dizzy and lightheaded so bad that I couldn't even drive. It started getting really bad on the day we drove out to meet the architect. I was walking into the restaurant and got hit with such a wave of dizziness that I had to stop and lean against the wall and a waiter came to help me walk to the table. After a while, I felt fine, then when we got home that evening, I got so nauseous, I tossed my cookies.....right in the driveway...ugh! Anyway.....I am feeling better now...! We are going to Bristol, Tn. for the NASCAR race in about 10 days, I'll post some pictures and stuff, then!

Bye!

Well......on Saturday we drove out to the lake and met with the architect, for the first time, that will be designing our lake house......

He already gave us some great ideas and we will, hopefully get a sneak peek, sometime this week.

Jimmy rigged up a "techie" camera on a pole, so that he could videotape the view from the lot, from 20 feet high!! (sigh!, Jimmy!)

you can't tell a lot from the picture because much of the brush needs to be cleared, but trust me, there's a nice view of the lake from the lot!

Well, today was more furniture delivery day! Jimmy and I were up past midnight, last night, moving the current furniture and shampooing the carpet, getting ready for the delivery, this morning.

They arrived about 10 and I was not disappointed!

The China cabinet and the Curio Cabinet are gorgeous and have a really neat feature.....the light inside turns on (3 levels of brightness) just by touching the metal hinge!!

Then, while putting together the dining room table, they showed me, a "secret" compartment.....when you pull the table apart to add the extra leaves....a special compartment, built-in to the table, reveals itself and you can store the extra leaves and pads there! PrettyCool.

The desk and credenza are really something to look at.....I can't wait to build the office that will hold them....Now, all we need are the bedroom pieces...but there are some tough corners to turn, and I'm afraid they'll get scratched, so we'll wait for them, until later.

Here's the sofa table, coffee table and end table, I love the marble inlaid part!
I had a glass top cut to fit on top of the coffee and end table, because I know someone would set a wet glass or scratch the wood, and they fit perfectly! A company called Binswanger, in Dallas, came out and drew the patterns. They finished and delivered the finished products in about 3 days. Really pretty, huh?
It is a really elegant design...my brother says they look like something out of Hearst Castle, or something......now, just have to build the house to fit it! ha!

Happy New Year!

We spent the day in Shreveport, La. installing the new Hy-Drive hydrogen equipment on 3 of our trucks that are based down there. Then, after coming home, the same day, we got a Phone call with an invitation to our friend John's surprise 50th birthday party...only it was in Ruidoso, NM! Soooooo, we drove to New Mexico of Friday. The party was nice, lots of people (54) for a surprise. We left on Sunday, stopped at the Tinnie Silver Dollar Saloon, for brunch, in Tinnie, NM. Got home about 9, this morning. More later.......

Happy New Year's Everyone!!!

Well, we went to the shooting range on Thursday after Christmas, and had a blast! Jimmy brought his AR-15 and my brother "happened" to have his semi-automatic (he brought it from El Paso) and I brought my Lady Bushmaster (AR-15), it only weighs 4 pounds!! ( and my little 38 revolver, for practice).

We all took turns shooting, and I was pleasantly surprise to find that I was a pretty good shot! ( of course the aim point scope helped!) All Bullseyes!

Then on Friday, we all loaded up and drove to Austin to see my other brother and his girlfriend.

We had lunch with our old friend from in El Paso, who is now quite a famous artist, Bob Wade. (we always called him, Robert.) Great visit and lots of reminiscing! Then he took us to his house to see some fabulous art, he's done...and his workroom...( I thought I was a packrat!!)

Saturday night was spent playing video games on Jimmy's new Wii.....Ty loves Boxing, Bill loves target practice and they both love cars...so we had race-offs!

Had a nice Sunday brunch at the Iguana restaurant...then had to head home. Back to work and the daily grind!

Well.....I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Ours was kinda quiet, my brother and his wife, from El Paso, drove in for the holidays. I am waiting for a couple of more pieces of furniture to be delivered, today.....then we are all going to the gun range to shoot my new Lady Bushmaster that Jimmy gave me! (I know, I know, "only in Texas") it weighs only 4 pounds! I will post some pictures, when we get back.....then, tomorrow, we plan to all drive down to Austin to see our other brother and his girlfriend. After a few days, they will go back to El Paso, from there, and we will head back home on Sunday or Monday. I will be posting some pictures from that too....so stay tuned!!!!!

Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Well. I've been really bad on keeping up with the blog, but, Hopefully, I will be better in the coming year!

The month of December has been a little busy..... We started off the month buying a houseful of new furniture, before the house is even built, yet. (The infamous "house at the lake" that we plan to build). Maybe that will spur us to start designing it! Anyway, a piece or two has been delivered, The furniture store is keeping it in the warehouse, until we can receive it. This will be after we have moved the current furniture into the 45 foot container (yes, like the ones you see on a train), that Jimmy has placed in the yard, at the shop. The furniture is MASSIVE, so I don't think we'll have room for all of it, here at this house. We plan to , hopefully, start building the house before the end of the summer. I've included a picture of the sideboard.....

Then, Jimmy's newest project, is installing a new Hydrogen system on the trucks that is supposed to improve fuel mileage by 27 percent. The company is outfitting about 40 trucks to run a test for 6 months.....this could be helpful for us when our weekly fuel bill is $4000.

Jimmy taking his picture in the mirror!

Well, it's Monday night and Jimmy called...the birthday boy (our friend Kim) and his friends are going out to dinner and party, get this..... dressed like Pirates! Kim's wife (also named Kim)had this planned and they are going to a bar that has a pirate theme.....serves Rum drinks, etc. I think that they're having too much fun...without me!

Don't you think Jimmy looks good in dreadlocks?

Kim looks like one of the Royal Navy and his friend Dave, looks like a swabby!

Well, Thanksgiving was nice. We had a big cold front come in Tuesday night and my brother and his wife drove in from El Paso on Wednesday. On Thursday, Jimmy picked up the turkey that I had ordered from Luby's and his nephew (does that imply something???). Then we had our friend David and his mom (he's the one that lent us the gurney for Jimmy's mom), so we had a real hodgepodge for dinner! Good food, watched "Transformers", then the Dallas Cowboy game.....They're 10 and 1! Who woulda thunk?? It was really cold and rainy all weekend then Jimmy flew out at 6:55 Sunday morning to Seattle for our friend Kim's surprise 50th birthday party. My brother left to drive back to El Paso by about 9 am.....The news said there was about 6 inches of snow aound Midland.....hope he made it okay.

Then we left for the Phoenix International Speedway for the next weekend NASCAR race! Jimmy's aunt Margaret is involved with CASA....a national court appointed advocate group for children. They get celebrities to autograph Ostrich Eggs and then auction them off for money for CASA. We got several of them...Kasey Khane, Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson, Kerry Earnhardt and even Mike Helton ( the head of NASCAR) to sign, in Texas. Then we took them to Phoenix with us and got a couple of more signatures.
Kurt Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Cup Champion, signed them and then, we got "THE KING" Richard Petty and his wife Lynda Petty to sign them. He had come to our Marathon Coach Rally to see about buying one of their new $1.8 million dollar coaches! He also seemed interested in our little Road Hog!
Once again, my driver just missed out on winning the race. DRAT!

November 4th, 2007 weekend was the Dickies 500 NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway.

We took the coach up to our parking spot on Thursday. Jimmy had agreed to meet a new business client, for the satellite dishes, at the shop on Friday, to install an "in-motion" dish and an F1 (internet capable) dish, on the roof of his "Command Post" truck...so, after a myriad of electronic problems, stretching into Saturday, he finished and came out to the track. I was pretty bored, out there in the coach all by myself, with the animals. Unfortunately, my driver didn't win, but it was fun seeing friends from Tennessee, Mississippi, California, New Mexico and Louisiana. I also sold another Road Hog to another couple who own a Marathon coach, too.

Well, hello everyone!
Sorry it's been so long, but there's been a lot and nothing going on.....
It was pretty quick, but Jimmy's mother, Pat, passed away on October 22nd, of kidney cancer. Just about a month after she was diagnosed. Jimmy and I think she knew something, but was ignoring the symptoms. At any rate, she would have wanted to go quickly, so it went like she wanted.