Fixtures, fixtures, and more fixtures

You may remember the new chandolier that my brother and I installed in the spring. Evidently that was only the tip of the iceberg. Since then I have installed two ceiling fans, new entry lights, and a new chandolier in the dining room. Typically these kind of projects are fast and easy to complete. That is, up until your mounting plate won't fit and you have to drill mounting holes, or until you drop a screw into the top of the fan vent that you have just wired in. It's always something when I am on the job...

Anyway, here are some of the newest additions to the house.

Hitting the Wall

During most summers I take on one fairly large-scale home improvement project. One year it was painting the house, another it was laying 1000+ sqft of tile. You get the idea. Lately, we have been having problems with dirt washing down onto the driveway from the hill that is next to it. So, I decided that I needed to put in a retaining wall to remedy this problem. This is what the area looked like as I started my own little "big dig".


Gallons of sweat, a hundred glasses of water (thanks to Miranda), a dozen bags of sand, and a one and a half pallets of wall block later, this is the finished project.


So far it has withstood two drenching thunderstorms and everything is still perfectly level. We still have some grass to plant, and some landscaping to do, but phase 1 of the wall is complete! Phase 2, which consists of the same wall in the backyard, will have to wait till it cools off a bit.

Hayden's Ride

What a ham!!! Hayden is growing up too quickly. Mama bought this "four-wheeler" for Hayden recently. He loves to ride on his Daddy's real one. You can see Hayden is ecstatic to have his own wheels.

At ten months, Hayden is crawling, pulling up, and riding backwards on his four-wheeler (Grandma reports that he hasn't quite figured out how to push himself forward, so he goes in reverse).

Hayden is adding words to his vocabulary. In addition to "DaDa" and "MaMa", he has added "NaNa", "dog", and "baby." Mama says that he started picking up pictures of himself and saying, "baby". Now, he picks up all picture frames and says, "baby."

Evidently, Hayden is parroting words, too. He and GrandPaw got into a discussion regarding reading glasses, with Daddy asserting, "You can't have these; they're mine." Hayden mimicked "mine". Daddy returned with "mine." Mama tells me this went on for several minutes, with Hayden grinning from ear-to-ear each time he said, "Mine." (I chuckle recalling the sea gull scene in Finding Nemo.)

I wonder how long it will take him to master "Auntie M" . . . (I figure that's easier than Miranda.)

Boy's Weekend

I got together with some friends from Texas Fly Report this weekend for a few days of fishing for trout and swapping lies. Six of us headed up to a cabin at Beaver's Bend Park in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Alas, Miranda was left behind accompanied by only Mason all weekend. In hindsight, that was probably a good thing. Fishing in 98 degree heat for finicky trout probably wouldn't be Miranda's idea of fun.

We all arrived on Friday night to the Centennial Cabin. This has to be the nicest cabin that I have ever stayed in. It had leather couches, a plasma TV, hot tub on the porch, stainless steel grill, loft, full kitchen with dishes, utensils, and everything else you could ever want. Needless to say, we weren't exactly roughing it this weekend.

On Saturday morning we packed up all our gear and headed for the river. Four members of the group had hired a guide. They got instruction throughout the day on where to fish, and what flies to use. Harold and myself had fished at Beaver's Bend before, so we (read: he) knew what we were doing.


Fishing was slow most of the day on Saturday. I caught one small rainbow trout in the Lost Creek section of the park, and Harold caught a couple in the middle section of the river. Everyone we talked to said it had been tough fishing lately. The owner of Three Rivers flyshop said that he took out four experienced flyfishers for a class Saturday morning and ended up without a single fish.

After debating flies - nymphs vs streamers vs soft hackles, dead drifts, stocking schedules, drift depths, water temperatures, etc, we decided that the coldwater trout simply didn't really like the 98-degree days we have been having. I can't say that I blame them too much.

We had planned on cooking "hobo stew" (pot luck veggie stew) for dinner that night at the cabin. I want to know what genius came up with the idea of having hot stew for dinner when we had been fishing all day in the sun and heat? We all decided to head into town to find a better alternative for dinner. We saw an ad in the yellow pages for The Oaks Steakhouse that was "Famous for our Steaks". Imagine that, a steakhouse that is famous for steaks. I have seen it all now.... Citysearch gives it 3 1/2 stars - I think they are being generous. But I can highly recommend the coconut cream pie.

I got up early on Sunday morning to do some fishing before heading back to DFW. Fishing was a bit better today. After moving to an upper stretch of river (where the water was cooler), I caught four nice sized rainbows in about 2 1/2 hours. The last fish of the day was a fat 16" rainbow taken on a #16 Copper John fly (which I then promptly lost in a tree).


There were other things caught this weekend. Unfortunately, crawdads don't put up too much of a fight - at least not until you try to unhook them. Then they become extremely ticked off.

I have come to realize that no trip to Broken Bow would be complete without someone losing something. After landing the 16" trout, I put my net down to take a picture of the fish. What I didn't realize was that the net very quietly floated away while I wasn't paying attention. After wading about 1/4 mile of river, I finally found it stuck on a rock in the river. It's never a dull moment around here... I retreated from the heat around 1:00, and made the long drive back to DFW.

These were the most productive flies this weekend. It still seems a bit crazy to me that a trout will eat a fly that imitates a bug that is 1/8" long.


The Broken Bow area has become a favorite retreat of mine. The rolling mountains and hills combined with the huge pine trees and quiet setting make it an ideal place to get away from it all. These outings have always been tons of fun. It seems like at every outing, I make new friends and learn tons of things about whatever species we are fishing for. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

The Camel Club

Several years ago, I read The Winner by David Baldacci. The novel caught my interest because it is set in Athens, Georgia. In the novel, a man approaches a poverty-stricken woman offering her the winning numbers to the lottery. Of course, her life changes following that.

Baldacci's novels are fast-paced and give interesting perspectives on events that are happening in today's world. After The Winner, I read all other Baldacci novels in print. Then, in waiting for the next book, I must have gotten side tracked and didn't pay attention to what he has recently written. Luckily, Nancy loaned me a copy of The Camel Club while I was visiting in July. ( I think I might have turned her on to Baldacci, but I'm not certain; it might be the other way around.)

The Camel Club is set in post 9/11 Washington, DC. It was interesting to recognize the locations mentioned in the novel since we were in DC in May. The first few chapters pull you into the novel's action. But a few chapters later, you're still reading chapters introducing the six (or more) threads to the story's plot. I knew that if I kept reading, I would be rewarded it all of the threads were woven together into the story, and I was not disappointed. I won't spoil the novel, but I do highly recommend Baldacci for summer reading.

The Holiday

Dave is fishing in Broken Bow this weekend. He felt/feels guilty about leaving me home alone. I've tried to assure him that I'm a big girl and that I will survive. While he's away, I get to indulge in guilty pleasures.

I read last night until after midnight, with the overhead light on in the bedroom. Given, I did wake up at 2am, with the light still on because Dave wasn't home to come in, tuck my book mark in my book, and turn out the light. But, thanks to the new ceiling fan complete with a remote control, I was able to turn the light off without getting out of bed.

I woke up just before seven this morning and realized that Mason had not come in to visit me during the night. Dave and I always sleep with the door closed, but when Dave's gone, I leave the door opened. Typically around 3am, Mason comes in to say hello, then I tell him it's still bedtime, and he leaves.

After feeding Mason, I laid down on the couch to continue reading, The Camel Club, by David Baldacci. I took a nap for an hour or so, then finished the book. Since it was almost 11am, I decided I might need to take a shower and get dressed. After that, I washed a few dishes (they' been waiting since Wednesday night---so another guilty pleasure).

I had nachos for lunch and then watched Grease on DVD--both guilty pleasures.

I talked to Daddy for about an hour on the phone, which was nice. He shared with me Hayden's increasing vocabulary and other happenings on the farm.

Dave called to check in. Sounds like it's hot in Broken Bow, but the cabin is really nice. We'll have to go back sometime later.

I ran out to do some shopping--hitting Kohl's, TJ Maxx, Academy, and Wal-Mart--and picked up a DVD at Blockbuster that Tonya recommended.


The Holiday is a bit more "chick flick" than Dave has the tolerance for, and I loved it. Jude Law is very hot in the flick. Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslett) do a vacation home swap on the Internet following break-ups and find love in the bargain.

So, while Dave is on a short fishing holiday, I'm having my own holiday in the coolness and comfort of my own home.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

We woke up at 4:30 this morning to go on a hot air balloon ride. For my 30th birthday, I received a gift certificate for the balloon ride from Bob and Judy. After several reschedules due to weather, we were finally "on" for the balloon ride, provided by Brian Rohr. It was definitely worth the wait!


When the silver van with a balloon basket on back pulled into the Tom Thumb parking lot, I was a bit dismayed to see four other people approach the van. In looking at the basket, I was dubious as to how seven people would fit in the basket. Brian released a black helium-filled balloon to determine the direction of the wind. We went over some safety tips and loaded into the van. Since the helium balloon drifted north, we headed south in search of a place to launch. A subdivision under development served as our launch site.


The balloon was removed from the back of the van and attached to the basket, which remained tethered to the van. Dave and another passenger, Dick, a farmer from Iowa who was visiting his daughter in DFW, held the mouth of the balloon open while a fan blew air into the balloon.




Finally, the balloon was inflated.

Brian turned on the burners to heat the air; the balloon was upright in just a few seconds.

We all climbed into the basket; Brian's wife, Sherry, unhooked the basket, and we were off. Sherry followed in the van to pick us up when we landed.
As we rose higher into the air, it hit me that we were in the air. When I looked to the ground, my stomach flipped a bit. (That could have been attributed to the fact that I had woken up at 4:30 or the fact that we were up in the air with nothing been us and the earth but a wicker basket.)

Since we were all the way up in McKinney, which is on the upper east corner of the Metroplex, we were able to fly over some open fields like this one.

We also flew over several neighborhoods. It was funny to see all the dogs going crazy--running and barking at the large balloon in the air. People stopped to waive to us. A road construction crew watched our approach as we almost touched their road bed. A few of the men took pictures with camera phones. I'm sure it isn't every day that a hot air balloon crosses their path.
We approached this pond and decreased altitude to do a "splash and dash." Brian lowered the balloon down to just touch the surface of the water, before again raising us up into the air.


Dave and I smile for the camera.
Ahead is our landing site.
We skimmed over the top of this model home and landed.
After landing, the balloon was deflated by pulling on the top of the balloon.
The balloon was laid out on the ground, Brian squeezed all of the air out.
The balloon was folded up and put back into it's bag.
After this, we had the traditional champagne toast--actually, we opted for mimosas--while Brian gave a brief history of hot air ballooning and the tradition of toasts. Ballooning originated in France. In the late 1700s, the balloonists wore crash suits and helmets as they floated through the country side. When the balloons landed, they were often greeted by scared farmers carrying pitch forks, to fight off the alien invaders. As a sign of peace, the balloonists began carrying champagne from their native region with them to bestow as gifts. Champagne bottles used to be the same as wine bottles; however, the balloonists asked for a modification to the design of the bottle. The champagne bottle has the lip at the top so that the bottles could have a string tied around them to lower them down the the farmers.

Following the toast, Brian gave the balloonist's prayer.

The Balloonist's Prayer

The winds have welcomed you with softenss
The sun has held you in his warm hands
You have flown so high and so well
That God has joined you in your laughter
And set you gently back down
Into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

After that, we had a group shot.
(Interestingly, one of the passengers graduated from the high school where I now work. It's a small world sometimes.)