Matthew's Big Catfish

My brother is just as avid a fisherman as Dave is. A few weeks ago, Matthew caught this big catfish from my aunt's pond. Granted, it is a stocked pond, but I really think this is the biggest catfish to be pulled out of there. And, Matthew literally pulled it out with his hands. I won't do the story justice. I think Matthew casted to the fish; the lure spooked the fish that then swam straight into the bank were Matthew was standing; he then reached down and grabbed it with his bare hands. He's braver than I. I would fear being stuck by one of the catfish's whiskers. Heck, who am I kidding? I don't like handling fish. I like to catch them, but I want someone else to take the fish off of the hook. I don't remember how much the fish weighed. (This story is becoming less and less interesting, huh?) Matthew thought Hayden should get in the picture since the fish appears to be bigger than Hayden. Hayden doesn't seem too captivated by the fish; instead, he's checking out Reb. I wonder what the dog thinks of the baby?

Hayden Finds his Foot

I think it's one of the developmental milestones for a baby when he finds his foot. Sweet nephew Hayden has done just that. The picture was taken a few days ago or even a week or so ago. Looks like he has not only found his foot, but also discovered how to take his sock off so he can further investigate the mysteries of his toes. As sweet as the foot-to-the-mouth-shot is, my favorite part is the baby fat you can see on his leg. I just think there's nothing cutier than fat, little baby legs. (I suppose I'm a bit envious that babies can get away with that "chubby" look; I keep waiting for it to be fashionable for grown women.)

TFR Weekend

Dave is an avid fisherman. In the past few years, fly fishing has become his passion. He reads and posts messages at TexasFlyReport.com, where he has made fishing buddies. Last spring we went on a group outing to the South Llano River State Park near Junction, Texas, to finally put faces and real names with the screen names. We had a great weekend camping, kayaking, and fishing. In the fall we met the group at Lake Whitney for more fishing and kayaking.

This past weekend, the group met in east Texas at Dangerfield State Park to fish for the elusive pickerel. Since we were gathering in February, one of the Dave's (there were four at this gathering), rented a cabin that sleeps 20, plenty of room for the 14 that gathered there. Dave also graciously cooked a pancake breakfast on Saturday and made muy delicioso breakfast tacos on Sunday morning.

I didn 't go fishing since I had reading to do for my graduate class; I also managed to snooze a bit in the sun. Dave managed to catch three fish in the afternoon.

After a hard day of battling winds of 20 mph with 30 mph gusts and of catching only one to three fish each, the fishers returned hungry. We whipped up some tasty stew using ingredients everyone brought. The evening was spent gathered around the fireplace and playing Rummy. Plans for the April outing on the Llano were discussed. Flies were tied. And lots of fishing techniques were shared.

On each trip, I have been one of two wives along for the trip. This time my female compatriot, Kelly, and I discovered a shared love for reading. It was great to talk about books we've read and loved and to plan a summer reading of a book. Kelly and her husband Dave live across Grapevine Lake in Lewisville. The Daves have gone fishing a few times in the past. Kelly and I are planning a day at their pool while the guys fish. I'm positive more books will be discussed.

Dave got up early on Sunday to try his luck again. The lake was as still as glass, though the fishing wasn't any better. After breakfast, everyone began packing up so that after fishing a quick get-away could be made. After loading up and saying goodbye, Dave paddled to the upper end of the lake where I met him with the truck. Before loading the kayak, I paddled around for a bit looking at the red lily pads that were growing beneath the surface of the water.

As nice as it was to get away for the weekend, it was just as nice to get back home to sleep in my own bed with no snoring to keep me awake.

Marmot

When something comes up three times in one day, you just have to blog about it; whatever it is . . .

Yesterday I picked Dave up at DFW bright and early following his trip to Detroit with Jimmy. On the way home, we stopped by teh vet to pick up Heartguard for Mason. Dave ran in to pick it up and returned to the car talking about the marmot in the reception area. He really doesn't know what the caged critter is, but he decided to go with "marmot." I laughed thinking he was making up a word--a cross between mammal and varmit. He laughed then telling me that marmot really is a word; however, he is unsure of the meaning.

Later in the day, Dave was kind enough to accompany me to the grocery store. Our Kroger has an International food aisle. Not only can you find Asian and Mexican food items there, you can also find British foods. We were looking at the assorted items--treacle, orange marmalade, Heinz beans--when we found a small jar containing marmite; "a yeast extract that is delicious spread thinly on toast." In the store, the jar did not bear this decription, so we joked that those bloody Brits were eating the helpless marmite.

We finished the day watching episodes of Entourage on DVD. While we were watching, Dave made me pause the DVD and "play that again." Having no idea what I had missed or what it was he wanted to see, I obliged wondering what he was going to show me about one of the bikini clad beauties around the pool. When I started the DVD again, I had to pause it at the sign for the hotel the boys were headed to "Chateau Marmont." We laughed at the occurance of this word three times in one day. A fluke? Maybe, but still a funny one.

This morning I decided to look up the definition for a marmot since Dave was derogatorily calling me one this morning. When he learned what it was, he decided I'm not a marmot after all.

It's the little things like this that make Dave so darn funny.

BTW, a marmot is "any bushy-tailed, stocky rodent of the genus Marmota, as the woodchuck," according to dictionary.com

Wedding Rings

A lady I work with was describing to us the look of mortification on her newlywed husband's face when he dropped his ring over the weekend. It reminded me of this story. Sadly, I don't remember exactly when it happened. I do think that we had been married for more than a year--maybe even a couple. I suppose if I really wanted to know when it happened I could consult the Visa bill. . . .

One Sunday afternoon, Dave worked in the yard laying paving stones down around the gates in our backyard in Austin; Mason liked to dig under the gates. Luckily, he's a big dog so he could never escape, but we didn't like the muddy mess he made. (Ah, we had Mason, so we had definitely been married more than a year.)

Being the meticulous builder that he is, Dave was digging down into the dirt to place the stones. He laid a base of sand to even out the pavers. Finishing the job, he came inside, showered, and cleaned up for the day. As he re-dressed, he missed his wedding ring. He went into the closet to extract it from the pocket of his jean, where he distinctly remembered placing it. The ring wasn't there. He looked around in the closet. No ring. We straightened up things in the closet, searching for the ring. Nothing.

Retracing his steps, the only place it could be was in the backyard. Perhaps he didn't take the ring off, but he remembered taking it off so that it wouldn't slip off. Up came all of the perfectly leveled pavers. No ring. We rented a metal detector to use in the back yard in our quest for the ring. Nothing. (We did find lots of roofing nails, but no wedding ring.) For days we inspected the mounds that Mason leaves behind wondering if he might have eaten the ring. No ring.

Days went by, and we accepted that the ring was gone. I remember thinking I could replace it for Valentine's Day or our anniversary, but I didn't. One day a few months later, on Sunday morning, I took my navy Aerosole pumps from their box to put them on to wear to church. Imagine my delight at finding Dave's ring in the shoe box!!! (Imagine Dave's chagrin that I can remember which shoe box the ring was hiding in, but not WHEN the ring got lost, after all these years.)

Dave must have really taken the ring off and put it in his pocket. When he took off his jeans and tossed them into the dirty clothes basket in the closet, it must have fallen into the opened shoe box. When we "cleaned up" the closet to "find" the ring, we actually hid it from ourselves. Isn't that ironic?

A Studious Saturday Night

Boy, there's a lot of learning going on around here tonight. I have spent the morning and evening working on homework for one of my graduate classes. I've finally answered all of the questions that I can and am awaiting clarification from the professor as to how to answer the others. Tomorrow, I need to read a few pages for my Tuesday night class.

Before you think, "Poor Miranda has been working so hard," let me interject that Dave and I ran errands for about four hours this afternoon. So, I haven't been reading and studying all day. I've also taken some study breaks to make a few posts on the blog, window shop at ebay, check Devin and Lesa's blogs, have Dave edit some photos, get a rebate ready to mail, look for dumb bell racks, Zebra Zazzle highlighters, and Pilot Purple pens online. All those great little distractions that are so much more enjoyable than actually getting the work finished. But now I am finished for the night. Maybe. I still have a big mug of hot chocolate to drink. Maybe I'll crack open that other book and get that done so I can grade papers tomorrow! Yippee.

And, lest you think Dave is a homework-orphan, he's studying, too. He's trying to learn all that he can about the stock market in preparation for a two-day class he'll be attending. He's taking notes. Kinda makes me feel guilty for the goofin' around that I've been doing.

Is it May 26th yet?

Happy Anniversary

Ground Hog Day is special in my family--it's also my parents' wedding anniversary. I've questioned why they chose Ground Hog Day; Mama says she didn't realize that it was THAT day. Last night she questioned their choice of February since the weather is always questionable when they want to go out of town.

Here are some pictures from their wedding day (should I say evening), 1974. Mama made her wedding gown. They were married at my maternal grandparents' home.

Check out Daddy's hair and side-burns. While quite fashionable for 1974, they were also a source of controversy in the family. My paternal grandfather refused to attend the wedding since Daddy wouldn't cut his hair; seems like a waste. But let's not dwell in the negative.

You'll also see my Aunt Lesa escorted Mama and Daddy out the front door. I wonder if Mama made her pink dress, too. And check out that mini-dress with matching jacket. If only I could see the shoes. I hope Mama is wearing the silver square-heeled pumps that she wore with her gown. I used to dig those shoes out of the cedar chest to look at them. I wonder where they are now.



















And, this is a picture of Mama and her cousin Norma Jean. "Normie" was Mama's maid of honor.

More Snow in North Texas

Thursday afternoon I had the privilege to sit in a conference room with a window during our weekly administrative team (A-team) meeting. It had been raining much of the day. The temperature was hoovering around freezing, so we were fascinated by the large snowflakes that were mixed in with the rain. We looked out a bit later to see only rain, later there were more snowflakes mixed in with the rain, and finally around 3:30, it was snowing!

The big, fluffy flakes fell for the next two hours. I worked until almost five and drove home watching the snowflakes fall. Shortly after I arrived home, the snow ceased to fall.

Dave stayed up until about 3 am working, watching more snow fall. When I woke him at 6:45 after I was mostly ready to go to work, he questioned me as to whether or not we were having school. Since I had no clue that it had snowed overnight, I was overjoyed when I looked out to this sight. The roads were clear, so school was on. I took a few pictures from the front porch before I went to work. It's a good thing, since most of the snow was gone by lunch time.

We live a bit north of the metroplex, so we got more snow that the areas where we work. It seemed as I drove to school that the snow on the ground was left over from the previous evening, not fresh.

It's going to keep on until we really get some snow around here! (Though that might necessitate the use of our second weather day in April. I'd really like to have a long weekend then.)