Spring Break 2010 - Vol. 3

Slight delay since I published Vol. 2.  So, didn't go fishing that day.  Still too foggy and the wind was blowing out of the west, which is not good for East Matagorda Bay.  Did some shell hunting back on Surfside Beach.  We ended up with a number of nice Lightning and Pearl Whelks, Lettered Olives, Angle Wings, Pen Shells and one Murex.  Got online and ordered a shell id book from Amazon.  We are going to start keeping a log, the same way we do with birds. 
Fishing got rescheduled for Friday.  Went to bed early Thursday night for a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call.  Needed to be on the road by 5 a.m.  So, Alyssa calls at 11 p.m. to check their directions.  Then they brought Sherlock in and he barked for an hour.  I tried putting a pillow over my head, but that dog has a penetrating bark!
Despite the short night, I got off to a good start Friday morning.  Met Capt. Gene in Sargent.  We loaded up and headed out.  No fog, gorgeous weather.  Stopped for live shrimp and some dead bait, too.  Wind started picking up almost immediately and it continued to blow all day long.  Kept the bay muddy and we had little success drifting over the oyster reefs.  No trout and no keeper redfish.
To fill the ice chest we hit one of his honey holes.  Caught 19 nice black drum, kept a limit of 5.  Also caught about 9-10 sheepshead.  Kept a limit of 5.  They were the biggest sheepshead I have ever seen.  The largest was almost 7 lbs. and the smallest was 5 lbs.  Caught two  on one line at the same time.  Thought I had hooked a monster!!  Also caught two stingrays and a number of hardhead catfish.  Which are just a nuisance.  Hooked and broke off two big fish.  Never got them close enough to know what they were.  That's one of the great things about saltwater fishing, never know what you might hook up on.
The rest of the weekend was all about food.  Cooked some drum Friday night.  Put on a dry rub and sauteed in a little olive oil, served with Matagorda Bay Sauce.  (Our new secret recipe.)  Saturday night we fried some of the sheepshead.  Used a beer batter.  Spencer did the frying when Tamie and I went to meet a real estate agent to look at a nearby beach house that was for sale.  Hmmmm.
Beach was amazing on Saturday.  No surf.  You could have waterskiied out there easy.  We did get out the camera and binoculars to watch a pod of dolphins go right by just outside the surf.  We were able to watch them for almost 45 minutes.
Sunday morning we got up early.  Packed up the cars and cleaned up the beach house.  On the road by 10 am.  This is a great beach house in a great location.  If you want to stay on Galveston Island, call me and I'll put you in touch with the owners.
Still no pictures.  Having trouble with the camera's memory card.  Spencer is working on rescuing what can be rescued.  Hopefully, we will have them all soon.  My proof for my fishing story is on that card.  Course, if Spencer can't save them, my story can get better and the fish can get BIGGER!!

Spring Break 2010, Vol. 2

     Writing this on Wednesday morning.  So foggy this morning you could stand on the deck and not be able to see the sand on the beach.  That's pretty foggy.  Two hours later we can see about 100 yards. 
     We are about to leave for Lake Jackson.  Mrs. Honea has a closing on her house at 10:30 and we are picking her up afterwards and taking her to lunch.  If she wants to, we are going to bring her back here for the afternoon and take her home tonight.  Have to see how that goes, stairs at the beach house could be a problem.
     Yesterday was another lazy day.  That's what the beach is for, right?  We met Ayla at Gaido's and had a wonderful lunch.  Ayla shared a dozen oysters on the half shell with me.  Tamie and Avery declined the opportunity.  They didn't even seemed troubled by having missed the experience.  I'm sure Alyssa would have tried one!  Not.
     Spencer is coming down with Grander and Gramps this afternoon.  They should be in around 5 p.m.  Tomorrow is my day to go fishing in East Matagorda Bay with Capt. Gene Allen, Living Waters Guide Service.  Alyssa and I spent a half-day with him last May and we caught lots of fish.  We had speckled trout, redfish, whiting, sand trout, and a vermillion snapper in the ice box by the time we were done.  He also cleaned, fileted and bagged all the fish.  Hope tomorrow is that good, too.
   Time to leave for Lake Jackson, more to come in Vol. 3!!

SPRING BREAK 2010 - GALVESTON ISLAND

     Tamie, Avery and I are sitting in a very nice beach house on the south end of Galveston Island.  We are maybe five miles from San Luis Pass.  It is 59F and drizzly this morning with a bit of a breeze, too.  I would be sitting here watching the waves and drinking my second cup of coffee.  (Starbucks House Blend)  BUT Alyssa is at work and not very happy.  Because she is at work and we are at the beach.  Having a real job can be such a pain sometimes!!
     We were supposed to leave Bryan around 4 pm.  Avery forgot a book and had to double back to Baylor, so she was running late.  I had a couple that needed to get wills signed before their trip next week and since I was going to be gone this week......ended up with a 3:30 pm appt. on Friday.  We did finally get out of town about 7 pm.  Missed the last turn to find the house on the first try, but blame that on the dark.  Got unloaded and that was the end of Friday.
     Saturday started off sunny and breezy, think it got up to 62F by lunch.  Which is the first part of the day that Avery actually saw.  I, of course, saw the beautiful sunrise at 6:15.  Once we were all up and moving, we decided to go into town.  Had to, actually.  Someone forgot to pack ANY underwear.  Won't name names, but it wasn't me and it wasn't Avery.  Combined that trip with lunch and grocery shopping.
     By the time we got out of Target (pronounced tar-zhay) we had three DVDs, new unmentionables for "she who must not be named" and Avery had a new dress!  Not bad for a "this will just take a second" dash into the store.
     By now it's 2 pm and we are more than ready for lunch.  I had checked out options and picked out The Mosquito Cafe on 14th St.  We ordered a pulled pork loin sandwich, a grilled shrimp sandwich and the turkey chili.  All were good, but the chili was not very hot.  (spicy or temp.)  We did the usual Erratt pass the plates every 2 minutes so we all got a taste of every dish.  We definitely advise you to check this place out if you ever get to Galveston.  Nice wine selection, but no dark beer.  Threw the lady when I asked about dark beers, found out Shiner Bock was it, and then ordered a diet Coke.  One must have standards.
    So, after getting lunch just in the nick of time to keep us from starvation, we headed to the grocery store.  Stocked up on a few things and headed back to the beach.  On the way we stopped at Alex's Seafood Shop in Jamaica Beach and picked up scallops, shrimp, clams and grouper for dinner.  The rest of the day was spent napping and reading, which my two vacation partners do a lot!!
     At Tamie's request, I made a white wine sauce and served it with the seafood.  We had rolls to soak up the juice and it was HEAVENLY!!  Outdid myself, I must admit.  The grouper turned out to work very well.  Saved a piece  to cook later.  Grill?  Foil boat?  Hhhhhmmmmm.  The movie for the evening was 2012.  And how stupid is it that the engines can't be started if one door isn't closed???  PLEASE!!!
     Sunday morning started out just like Saturday.  The weather was cool and breezy and Avery slept until lunch.  Lunch being my specially doctored clam chowder.  Saute a little onion in some real butter until tender.   Add store bought clam chowder, then add a can/pkg of additional clams.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Woohoo!  Way better than the original.  Trust me.  Have a little left over for lunch today, thinking about adding some white wine to the mix. 
     Before Avery awoke, Tamie and I took a tour down the coast.  Crossed the San Luis Pass bridge.  (Which has a $2.00 toll both ways.)  Went down on the beach and drove for quite a ways.  Found one nice medium sized whelk shell.  No hermit crab.  Added it to the collection.  Also found an intact pen shell which should be pretty when cleaned up.  Took pics of all the shorebirds we saw for identification  back home.
   Late that afternoon, we loaded up again.  This time we took the metal detector and went to find treasure on the tip of the Island, just north of San Luis Pass.  Found a bottle cap and a washer near the water.  Shifted to just seaward of the dunes and found a number of nails and wire.  Also found what appeared to be a belt buckle.  After cleaning, the buckle turned out to be the flat plate from a door lock.   Anyone know what that piece is called?  It's the part that goes on the door frame that the lock from the door goes into.  FREE SEAFOOD DINNER FOR THE FIRST CORRECT ANSWER!
     Got home about dark and tackled dinner.  Grilled ribeye steaks.  Seasoned with salt and pepper and then rubbed with Brownwood's cherry honey mustard.  Once again, I amaze myself with my culinary skills!!  The movie of the evening was The Italian Job, which I had never seen in its entirety.  Great movie, especially when enjoyed with Avery's fresh out of the oven brownies.
     So now it is 10 am on Monday morning.  I am blogging, Tamie is on her laptop and Avery is snoring.  Well asleep, anyhow.  Can't actually hear any snoring because of the wind and rain.  Expect today will consist mostly of napping and reading.  Good thing we all brought 18 books each.  (And if you don't know us, you probably think I'm exaggerating.  NOT.)
     Have to add pics later.  It is taking way too long to download from camera to laptop.  8 pics of 350 during the time I worked on blog.  Not good.
   

Snow Day

Well, this is a little late, but I'm finally getting around to writing about our snow day. Better late than never!

So, on Tuesday of last week we had some snow in Waco, and I actually got half of the day off of work! It was a great break after many weeks without a holiday. We only ended up with about 3ish inches of snow, and it was all melted by the end of Wednesday, but it was fun while it lasted!

 

 (Drew's House)

If you drove down Austin Ave. on Tuesday, it was really entertaining, because almost every yard had a dirty snowman in it! The house next door built a large snowman that lasted for several days, just sitting in the green grass. We let Sherlock run all through the yard after we took a few pictures of the house, and he absolutely LOVED it!

 (Looks like a black and white Polar Bear)

 

(So handsome)

(He loves to chase balls - even if they're made of snow!)

After we played in the snow for a while, Drew and Jonathan decided to prove their manliness (or insanity) by going to ride mountain bikes in the snow at Cameron Park.

 

(Mountain biking in the snow)

(Sherlock and I went along to document the outing)

 

(Muddy)

It's a little difficult to tell from this photo, but the boys came back extremely muddy. They primarily ended up riding through puddles and mud...and Sherlock was just as dirty as Jonathan and Drew. All in all though, it was a fun day, and it was a much-needed break in the middle of my work week. For now, it is back to the swing of things, and I am just ready for the ground not to be soaking wet for a change. A little warm weather might be appreciated as well...

A Book List!

Well, we're trying out something new, so that perhaps my sister will get involved in the blog more often... We will see.

The new section is on the right side, and it is a list of books that we enjoyed reading (both recently and old favorites). We will try to change the list up monthly with new ideas and suggestions. If you have any other ideas, feel free to leave a comment!!

-Alyssa

Sherlock

So, it's about time for Sherlock to have a post of his own, as the newest member of the family.

We'll start from the beginning... For those of you who don't know, Sherlock is Drew's and my new puppy. He is half Olde English Sheepdog and half Standard Poodle, so he will be a large hypo-allergenic dog (meaning he doesn't shed!!). We found Sherlock randomly on the internet, and decided he was the one that we had been waiting for. I contacted the family and spoke to the wife, who had only good things to say about Sherlock (then called Mason). Next thing you know, we have made a deal, and Drew and I are driving up to Dallas to pick Sherlock up from the husband, Tim. That Sunday turned out to be a REALLY great day because we also were able to go with the Eubanks, the Giles and Shane to meet Hannah at the Dallas airport after her semester in Scotland. So, after a fun dinner at Chipotle with the group, Drew and I left to meet Sherlock.

The ride home went really well, and we quickly discovered Sherlock's knack for falling asleep in the car. We also discovered that he gets the hiccups when nervous (So cute). Once in Waco, we put him to bed, and after a few minutes of crying he went to sleep and slept through the night.

The weeks since then have been good, but pretty busy. He had his first vet visit (he weighed 10 lbs at 9 weeks), he learned to get used to a collar and a leash, he learned to sit and shake, he went to Bryan for Christmas, and he also had his second vet visit (almost doubled his weight, coming in at 18 lbs at 12 weeks old now).



So here are Sherlock's accomplishments at 12 weeks old:
1. Crate Trained (still having occasional accidents outside of the crate though)
2. Sits on command
3. Shakes on command
4. Lays down on command
5. Does not beg at the dinner table (but might steal the napkin out of your lap as a toy)
6. Rides in the car really well
7. Does not run out of the backyard
8. Sleeps through the night
9. Loves to chase tennis balls
10. I'm sure there are many more, but we can read about them some other time.

He really is very smart though, and has a sweet and playful personality. He absolutely loves people and any attention that he is given. The only thing he really dislikes right now is bath time and getting brushed.

Zimbabwe

Tamie and I spent the last week of June and the first week of July on different continents. I took a group of just graduated high school seniors to Zimbabwe. Tamie went with her handbell choir to Estonia. Very weird to be out of the country at the same time. (Just for the record, the Estonia bunch had five (5) injuries, the Zimbabwe group zero(0), which goes to show you the importance of good leadership!)
The McCarleys drove us to Houston to catch our first flight, Houston to Atlanta. Short layover in Atlanta and it was nonstop to Johannesburg, South Africa. Fifteen (15) hours of endless excitement, NOT. We stayed over night at some IMB guest apartments not far from the airport. We had dinner at The Boma. Great first dinner in Africa, because it was a huge buffet of local food. We had Kudu, Warthog, crocodile, and, not best of all, MOPANI WORMS. Not everyone bit the bullet (worm), but Jake, Ashley McCarley, Alyssa Eskelsen, RaisinMan and I toughed one out. The look on RasinMan's face says it all.
The next day we flew to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. We were picked up at the airport by Duncan and Tatyiana Pitts, missionaries to Zimbabwe. We were scheduled to stay in a "travelers lodge" called Youngways. Due to some confusion about payment, we ended up staying with the Pitts in their house. The guys took the living room and the girls had the extra bedroom. My position as team leader got me a bed in Duncan's computer repair/third bedroom. As a result, we really got to know the Pitts much better. Tatyiana cooked wonderful meals for us and we did our part by taking care of the dishes, and helping with preparation.
The first morning, we were up at 6:30 a.m. We had our first appearance of the trip at Petra Secondary School at 7:30 a.m. Bryce and Carrie did a great job sharing the idea of True Love Waits. Bryce did a neat demonstration using duct tape. Afterwards, we had tea/coffee with the Headmaster. We came back to the school at 2:00 p.m. for a varsity boys field hockey game against the CBC Falcons, Petra's local rivals. Since none of us had ever seen a field hockey game, it took a bit to figure out the rules, which are similar to soccer. (Only with sticks and a smaller ball.) Unfortunately for our new friends, Petra lost 0-4.













We had a great week in Bulawayo. Some of our activities include visiting the hope of Pastor Mark and his wife, Dorcas. They have adopted nine (9) HIV orphans, with another one likely in the near future. We went with Gloria and Florence to a home where a dozen boys lived who had been rescued from a life on the streets. We heard several of their stories and they were all heart wrenching. I remember one said he was living with his mother and step-dad. His mother went to Mozambique and never came back. He has no idea what happened to her. His step-dad abused him and he ran away. He came for a free meal at Bulawayo Baptist Church and met one of the other boys. As a result, he ended up being invited to stay at the home.
Florence and Gloria also took us to a squatter's town where they feed children every Monday. We helped with the kids and Duncan had the opportunity to share Christ with the group of adults who showed up with the kids. As a result, about 8-10 people came forward. Duncan was already working on plans to continue with their discipleship on the ride home. I spent most of my time with the group working with the kids. That is until two drunk guys showed up. I spent about 30 minutes talking and sharing with them. Their names are Edanna and Stephen. They asked me to pray for them, that they would lose their desire to always drink beer. I'm still praying for them and would appreciate your help in that regard.
Florence and Gloria also took us for a walk through the village. We met some of the people they are trying to help. They showed us the water hole where the community gets its drinking water. It's a small puddle that is filled from a hole in a water line that passes nearby. Periodically, the government patches the hole and then the men come and make a new hole.
One day we worked for the soup kitchen at Bulawayo Baptist. Didn't take an official count, but would estimate they fed about 150 people.
On Sunday we went to both services. The first was an older crowd. They asked the group to sing for them and that went over pretty well. Mostly because I didn't join in! In the second service, the group got up and led a song. Jake had the guitar and Alyssa was on the drums. We picked a song that they already knew and that was a hit, too. That night we came back for the youth service. Lots of fun and more great music. During the activity time, we taught them how to play crab soccer. The kids all took to that game with great enthusiasm! After the service we were invited to watch the USA play Brazil in the Confederate Cup Finals. The game was played in South Africa, which is just to the south of Zim. I video taped some of the cheers, and you can find it at the bottom. They were shocked when we were ahead 2-0 at halftime, but happy when the final score was 3-2 to Brazil.
I would have to write a book to describe everything we saw. Pray for the people of Zimbabwe. They are an amazing people facing incredible hardships. The economy has improved slightly since their currency was abandoned in favor of dollars and rands, but they know it could turn bad again in an instant. Combine all of our heart disease, diabetes and every kind of cancer together and multiply it by 10, it still doesn't come close to the devastation Aids has caused. Parts of Africa have started to show the benefits of the True Love Waits message, pray that it would catch on in Zimbabwe. Gloria said 80% of the people in the squatters' village were HIV positive. She was including the children.