Belton Texas

This is the view from the front of our rig as we sit in our lounge chairs in the morning enjoying our cup of tea.










Some of our neighbors on the hill surrounding us enjoy the same view but chose to invest a little more in their place to enjoy it!!!






I walked down to the water's edge the other morning to catch this shot of sunrise coming up over the dam. Cloudy days bring out the camera to capture shots like thses.








Signs like these preserve our 'private park' while it undergoes repairs to the damage caused by flooding that raised the water level 30 feet above flood pool level.







Our picnic table and path up to the rig and our vantage point to watch lake traffic each morning.






When the Corp of Engineers built the dam they put in these concrete walls as part of the overflow area. They attracted graffitti for several years until a civic project was begun to paint a huge mural on it. 'Artists' came from all over the US to participate. In reality it was a huge 'paint-by-numbers' project after the design was outlined in black and created in minature.






A couple of the panels are depicted here.














A trip to nearby Salado was a short diversion. This bridge was relocated to the city and now serves as a pedestrian bridge over a small stream. Beautiful old bridge.








Not too far up the street after crossing the bridge this house has found a use for all those old bicycles. Not sure I would wnat a fence like this around my house but it certainly is different.








Remember the old troll and billy goat gruff? Well I found him at the other end of the bridge. Now it seems like he was supposed to be UNDER the bridge but perhaps I am mistaken.





In case trolls are not your 'cup of tea' how about a human sized rabbit? You certainly find the strangest things wondering around the neighborhood.





And finally a rainbow with a difference. This one was very high in the sky and showed no sign of reaching the ground. How are you supposed to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if it never reaches the ground?

Family Photos

It is once again time to share a few photos of the family. These were taken by a variety of folks.









This is not exactly in focus but I love the shot so am including it.












A Dave and Lori shot.










We don't get too many shots of me and my two boys so when we do it is always special (for me anyway). Having Matty included with us is a big bonus.













The oldest Crawford boy and the youngest. This is James' evidence that Matthew's dad will be the cause of any future 'behind the wheel' incidences.







While visiting Sue and Charles, Becky noted that Sue had not been able to make it to a hairdresser - can you imagine! - so she volunteered to give her a new 'do'. A haircut and a little Becky magic and here is the result - looking GOOD!








Grandpa and Grandma decided to be the heroes and do the impossible by finding a puppy for the Gambers. Here Aunt Becky does a little cuddling.











Bradyn has really grown!!! His latest venture is into the world of badminton. After a bit of coaching he was playing like a pro. Note the 'rising on tiptoe' technique he has perfected.

Colorado to Texas via Missouri and Oklahoma

A stop in Missouri to visit family and friends was a welcome break after the long drive from Colorado (last hour or so into Kansas City in the pouring rain!!). After a brief visit with Missey we made the short drive to Lebanon to see James, Chery and our Lebanon friends. We stayed with Nancy at the Baptist Camp again and the Laclede Baptist Assoc men were having a gigging and fish fry. Since James had never even heard of gigging much less done any, it was a great opportunity for him to experience one of the truly redneck pastimes.





Here the boats are ready to go and James joins the other men for an hour or so of 'spearing the fish'.



Meanwhile I served as driver to transport the vehicles to where they would take out after the float and helped get things started for the fish fry. Several of the men provided fish from other trips (both gigging and fishing) so we had plenty of insurance in case it was a bad night for gigging (and allowed us to get a head start on the eating part of the night).




We managed to just barely keep fish coming out of the fryer as fast as the hungry men could down them. A generator and propane fryers sure were a far cry from my youth days when we had to rely on carbide lights and charcoal!


The men doing the gigging finally made it and we had managed to save them a few fish so they could eat before starting to clean the fish they had gigged. Everyone pitched in for the cleaning and they soon had the 100 or so fish cleaned and ready for the freezers.




Traveling down to visit Sue and Charles in Oklahoma we stayed on a lake we had visited before and found this camp getting ready for the goblins - even though it was more than a week away!


















Fall was definitely on its way as you can see from this shot.



















Along the way I found these two trees. Not much to say about a tree but, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are a couple of thousand words. No extra charge for the bicycle!