Pure Awesomeness

Instead of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, I chose to do some fishing at Lake Texoma. Texoma is located on the Texas Oklahoma border and has an abundant freshwater striper population. I have fished the lake many times in the past, but this was the first time fishing below the dam (technically I fished the Red River). I had heard reports of big catches of schooling stripers. It isn't the prettiest area in the world, but I didn't come for the scenery...


I caught one freshwater drum from shore, but kept noticing people hauling in stripers when they waded farther out into the river. After wading out to where they were, I stood in one spot and proceeded to reel in about 35-40 nice sized stripers in the next 2 1/2 hours. Small fish were in the 2lb range with the average fish being 3 -3 1/2 lbs. But there were many fish in the 4, 5 and even 6 lb range. It was disappointing if you went three casts without a hookup - that's my kind of fishing.

I left them biting at about 5:00 and headed back home. My thumbs are shredded from lipping fish to remove hooks. They were both bleeding pretty badly at one point. But it was the good kind of hurt because I don't know if I have ever caught so many big fish in such a little amount of time. Below is a picture of the fly (bottom one) I was using for the first 25 or so fish. I decided to retire it before I lost it. It was still catching fish believe it or not...Sorry no fish pictures, I was too busy catching them today!!!

Thanksgiving Guests

Dave and I don't travel East for Thanksgiving. With Christmas just around the corner, it's just too much. Plus, Dave only has Thursday and Friday off, so we would have to travel at the peek times. So, we decided a long time ago that we would stay put for Thanksgiving.

It seems that 2005 is the only year that we've eaten by ourselves. In 2001, Eric, Kathy, and Barbara ate with us in Austin. In 2002, Eric and Kathy ate with us. Jose dined with us in 2003. In 2004, Bob & Judy and Mike & Letha came out to celebrate with us. In 2005, Josh & Sara were going to celebrate with us, but Josh's grandmother died, prompting a trip to New Jersey for them. In 2006, the clan came out to eat with us. So, we always cook. Just wouldn't be the same if we didn't.

This year we were able to host Matt and Rene for our feast. We also invited their dogs, Axis and Teela to join us. They are so tiny, especially compared to Mason. Mason spent the afternoon out on the porch and was moved into the laundry room when we noticed snowflakes falling outside. Yes, snow! If you were watching the Cowboys' game, you saw what was falling out here.

Axis and Teela

We feasted on traditional Thanksgiving fare: turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, green bean casserole, potatoes au gratin, cranberry sauce.

A few hours later, we were ready for dessert--both traditional (pumpkin pie) and non-traditional, but tasty. (I never did hear the official name of Matt's yummy dessert.)

Axis looking festive in her sweater.
Dave loves Axis, but she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. He's got to learn to play it cool with her.

Matt browns sugar on top of banana slices.

Matt's delicious dessert. A home-made caramel sauce topped with the sugar-coated bananas, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and crystallized-sugar doodles. How fancy!

So, as I reflect on things for which we are thankful: friends to share the holidays with, families who miss us but are understanding that we don't travel back, a warm home, too much food, and a life filled with endless ease.

The Kindness of Strangers

I know that humans truly are kind-hearted. However, daily we are confronted more with those lacking kindness than displaying it.

Tuesday morning I needed to bag up Dave's last pile of leaves. He had run out of bags after filling at least 8 bags Saturday when he raked the yard. I bought some bags and wanted to get these bagged up and by the curb for the garbage men to take away. I had one bag filled and began working on the second when I heard the brakes of the garbage truck on the adjacent cul-de-sac. "Man, if only I had gotten out here 15 minutes earlier, I would be finished and get these bags gone," I thought as I raked up leaves and stuffed them into the bags. I continued working as the truck pulled onto our street, dodged the construction vehicles, and went down the cul-de-sac. I looked up to see one of the garbage men approaching me wanting to know if he could take the bag that was filled up. I declined his offer since I didn't have it tied, but I was touched by his kindness and thought, my leaves might have missed the garbage truck today, but this man's kindness was right on time.

Friday Night Football Farewell

I've officially made it through my first season of high school football as an assistant principal. Friday night might be misleading since two of the games were on Thursday night. From August 31 to November 15, I've attended ten football games, missing only one. Dave has been on the sidelines with me for most of the games.

Some highlights from the season.

• At the first game, I held a fellow AP's precious daughter, Addison, for a quarter or so.
• At the Richland game, I almost got hit in the head with a ball when the kicker was warming up and I was standing way too close to the practice net.
• At that same game, I had the opportunity to discuss why a girl's skirt was too short with her and explain to her that there may not be a dress code for football games, but that there is a dress code for life and that wearing a skirt that short is not such a good idea with photographers, football players, and various other people are standing on the sidelines beneath you
• At a game in Keller, I spent a half in the elevated stands with students. I was educated as to why a boy was carrying a bottle of pancake syrup, and I even sniffed the bottle of syrup to ensure it's contents were indeed syrup and not another liquid of a similar color. (When a lineman tackles an opponent, he mashes him flat like a pancake. The students were bringing the syrup to top off the many pancakes they hoped to see that night.)
• At a second game in Keller, I spent the halftime show counting the number of band students wearing "high-water" uniforms. I noticed that one of our band students wears a long skirt instead of the traditional pants.
• At the Grapevine game, I stood sentinel during the third quarter keeping our kids on one side of the stadium and GHS kids on the other side. There were many creative reasons why kids just had to get to the other side.
• I had the opportunity to spend two nights at the Fifth Quarter following the football game supervising students while they danced, ate, and hung out. I got home at 1:43 following one of these.
• I learned that threatening a student with "I'll escort you out of the stadium and you won't return tonight," is a pretty good way to get a kid to do what you need him to do.
• I had a conversation with our boys' spirit group about what a t-shirt with "I (recycle symbol) Girls" could possibly mean.

And at the final game, our first round of the playoffs, I got the chance to stand on the sidelines of Texas Stadium. I intended to take my camera, but I forgot it. Thankfully, a coworker snapped this picture with his camera phone.
I don't think I had the opportunity to learn more about the game of football. I have to leave my football lessons (like when is the call going to be a block in the back) for college football on Saturdays. Who has time to watch the game when you're watching kids in the stands?

Bring on basketball season! (I hear it's even more fun to police. Goody!)

Night Fishing for Big Hybrids

I'm still trying to keep up my end of the "Book, Line and Sinker" blog. I haven't been able to go fishing too much this summer. With work, odd jobs around the house, traveling and everything else going on lately, fishing has gotten forgotten. Luckily my friend Christian invited me to go night fishing again on Cedar Creek Lake. This lake is known for it's large population of hybrid bass. These fish make a fight with a similar sized largemouth bass laughable. This of course, is the reason I love to fish for them. The harder they pull the more I enjoy the fight!

Fishing started out slow for most of the night. We each caught a few largemouth bass at several docks. Christian outfished me with numbers of fish by a large margin, but I ended up with the three largest fish of the trip. I'll gladly take that arrangement any day of the week.

One of two 2 1/2 - 3lb largemouth that I caught.

The biggest fish of the night was this 7lb hybrid that was caught off the last dock we fished.
All these fish were caught on an 8wt flyrod using small clouser flies.

Big D

Granny's trip wouldn't be complete without seeing the sites in Dallas. Monday was another beautiful, unseasonably warm day. I played hooky from work and spent the day with my family. Proving she was truly on vacation, Granny didn't get up Monday morning until 9am! I'm sure she can't remember the last time she slept that late.

After an early lunch, we loaded up and headed to Dealy Plaza, the site of JFK's assassination. While it is a somber location to visit, it holds a large part of American history. Daddy says he'd rather see the homes of Presidents rather than the assassination sites. But since no Presidential homes are nearby, he settled for Dealy Plaza.

After walking around a bit, we headed back to the car just in time to see a meter -Nazi plastering a parking ticket on my windshield. (I would swear I had 5 more minutes on the meter. To add insult to injury, three other cars in front of me had expired flashing, but no tickets and a Budget rental truck was blocking the street and had been for the entire time we were walking around--but none of them had tickets.)

A few blocks down from Dealy Plaza in Pioneer Plaza is this outdoor sculpture called "Cattle Drive." It's a breath-taking, larger-than-life depiction of a longhorn cattle drive. (You can read more about it here.)

A drive through the heart of tall buildings completed our quick tour of Dallas.

Granny Comes to Texas

My grandmother traveled with Mama and Daddy out to Texas this week. Daddy was surprised when she agreed to come out with them so soon after my grandfather's death. It turns out Granny didn't travel a lot earlier in life because Bert didn't care to travel. (My brother is very much like Bert, in this respect and many others, but that would be another blog entry.) Since it was Granny's first trip to DFW, we had to hit the highlights.

Saturday, we went down to the Stockyards. We arrived in time to see the afternoon longhorn cattle drive. Daddy and Granny posed for a picture in front of the Stockyards sign, and we browsed in a few shops. And, along the walk, we looked at the Trail of Fame stars. Though I've been to the Stockyards several times, I had never really noticed the stars. (I suppose I was looking up, not down.) I had to snap a picture of Mark Twain's star. While I've taught stories and novels by Twain, I'm perplexed about his appearance in the Texas Trail of Fame. I know he was a pioneer who traveled west from his home in Hannibal, Missouri, but I don't recall stories about Twain in Texas, just in Nevada and California. I'll have to do some research.

Birthday Blessings

Each year I am amazed at the blessings I receive each year for my birthday. While Dave and I spent a low-key birthday, I was remembered by friends and family.

This year I had four birthday cakes. My sweet friend Stacy brought a dulce de leche cheesecake to work. My thoughtful husband Dave brought home a small raspberry cake home. And our adopted family, the J's, provided both a delicious creme brulee cheesecake and a tasty sheetcake with "Biranda" written on it. (You can read about our celebration here.)

My sideboard is stacked with all the cards I received from friends and family. My wallet is full of money from my parents and in-laws for one heck of a shopping spree. I have a beautiful new box to hide my money in until I'm ready for that shopping spree. My car has a new CD player, complete with I-Pod capabilities. And, I have a fire pit just waiting to be used when the weather cools off. I even have a new picture for my office at work.

And, my heart is full of the love everyone sent my way.