The Event ~ San Antonio & Texas Trails

It was a really nice rest and relaxation for Tim and I in Texas for six days last week.  We took our first "old timers" bus tour trip.  I say that because we were the youngest couple of the 13 couples on this tour trip.  I would guess the others were within 5 - 15 years - under 75.  I guess that's what retired people do ~ travel via organized bus tours.  But they were a lively group regardless of age!  We hope to be lively when we retire!

That said, we both thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip, including the people and friends we made.  Once in San Antonio, we traveled exactly 1,150 miles in and around the area.  We visited the largest King Ranch, the LBJ Ranch, the YO longhorn and exotic animal ranch (including giraffs, zebras, etc).  We spent the night at a really fun dude ranch with free booze from 5 - 10 p.m., a t-bone cowboy cookout, followed by more free drinks and a refresher course in country dance.  The following morning we  rode horseback about a mile down the trail to a real outdoor cowboy breakfast.   

We visited the Alamo, some "painted" churches,  an old mission, an art ranch, an apple orchard, and a small German town.  We were treated to the biggest and yummiest apple turnovers and apple dumplings at the orchard. We went to  Corpus Christi where we spent a night and toured the USS Lexington ( an aircrafat carrier used during WWII). 

Back in San Antonio, we enjoyed lunch at  a Mexican market,  spent three nights on the Riverwalk, and took a boat ride through the river.  

We met a very nice couple who live in San Antonio who bought hay from us; they came to the hotel to meet us and took us out for a Texas steak dinner.  We went to a country music concert that was very, very good.   We were treated to two other barbeque lunches on the King Ranch and the YO ranch.  The food was of course very good and always more than we needed!  The hotel in San Antonio had a daily "happy hour" that served enough food to make a meal and included up to three beverages of choice.  Needless to say, we had our share of margaritas each evening.   

We also enjoyed a private wine tasting.  It was actually quite nice to sit on the comfortable bus and watch the scenery go by while someone else drove; and visit with people from all over (there were 11 states represented among the 13 couples.)  We saw a whole lot more than we would have if we were on our own, as many of these places we would not have even been aware of. 

This is the summer Texas is experiencing it's worst drought and heat record in history.  It definitely was very dry.  We saw dried up rivers, and absolutely no water in any creeks or ponds anywhere; and cattle trying to graze on bare dirt-dry range dirt land that used to be lush pasture for the cattle.  The week we were in Texas, there was a reprieve from the heat, as the temps only hovered around 98-100 degrees each day, a relief from the over 100 straight days of over 100 degree temperatures.  We were glad it cooled off a few degrees!  Notice what this bony, skinny longhorn has to graze on below!

Tim and I both agreed that this type of travel suits us quite well, and we will definitely seek out similar tour vacations in the future.  This was definitely a top-notch tour company.  Let's see,  I think I will look closely at the Niagara Falls and Western New York, Sweden and Norway Spectacular or perhaps Hawaii. 

Yes, this little vacation was an eventful treat for us ~ a Texas-style event!  We had f-f-f-u-n.  Oops! 

The Event ~ Friendships Rekindled

What a pleasant surprise when we got the call last week from friends we haven't seen for eight years.  Dan and Beth Forbes were coming to town over the weekend, and I was ecstatic that their agenda included a visit with us.  Their trip was quick, so we got together over breakfast at our house on Sunday morning.  Of course, Tim was the cook ~ he cooks breakfast every Sunday morning!  (yes, I know I'm so spoiled and lucky!)

I was so excited to see them again.  We last saw them when we stopped at their home in Boise, Idaho in 2003.  We got to be good friends with Dan and Beth when they moved into the house across the street from us on Avenue K in Scottsbluff, I think in the spring of 1987.   I remember taking a chocolate pie over to them when they were moving in to welcome them to the neighborhood.  One of the best things I did because a close, long friendship resulted.  We were sad to see them relocate to Boise. 

We shared a wonderful breakfast and lingered longer for five hours of great fellowship catching up with them.  Renewing old friendships is such a heart-warming event.  I look forward to the day when we will make another road trip to the northwest that will include a stop in Boise again.  Friends are among the most precious blessings in life.  Too often too many friendships wane through time and distance.  So it's  a real joy and a blessing to renew and revisit friends of the past, and keep that spirit alive into the future.

Dan and Beth are among those pictured in my August 19, 2010 post "The Season of Friends."

The Event ~ Ten Years Later

The entire USA nation is gearing up to memorilize the 10-year anniversary of September 11, 2001, the terrorist attack on America through the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New Yorik, the Pentagon in Washington DC, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania which thwarted an attack on the Capitol, all resulting in the loss of thousands of lives of American citizens. 

This event is one that is etched on the minds of every American who was alive, still alive, and old enough to remember the events of that day.   It will not be soon forgotten, and in the last ten years we have been reminded of it almost daily as America continues to fight the war on terrorism to protect our country and its people.  It is debateable how successful this campaign has been in ten years. 

In my mind, this is the most tragic, devastating event that has occurred on American soil.  It has its place in American history books.  My grandkids and great grandkids will read about it, but will never comprehend it. 

Life goes on, one day at a time, but its amazing how tragedy can be forever etched on the mind, more so than historical victories.  I can remember exactly where I was on that day ten years ago; and also exactly where I was when John F. Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963; when the space shuttle Challenger exploded  in mid-air shortly after take off Februry 1, 2003; when Robert Kennedy was shot in California June 6, 1968; when Princess Diana was killed in a Paris car crash in a tunnel  August 31, 1997; when hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans August 29, 2005.

But where are the victories and celebrations of America?  Are there any beyond the announcement of the end of World War II?  (I wasn't around for that one, but it's in the history books!)

We can vividly remember the celebrations within our own families - the happy times, the memories created.   But beyond that, our brain seems to etch tragedy over triumph.

I saw a church sign just the other day that said "God doesn't promise to protect us from storms, but he does promise to get us through storms."    9-11 brought the nation together under one God - for a fleeting moment in time.  It was a very brief moment in time when the nation in unison actually turned to "one true God" in prayer and supplication. "One nation under God."  Then it was back to business as usual in efforts to remove God from everything important ~ like government, schools, families, businesses.  Don't get in my way God.  I'll call you when and if I need you ~ that seems to be the common thread among so many people, including many, many Christians.

Now, as we prepare to "celebrate together" the ten year anniversary of the most tragic event occurring on American soil, we will hear many refer to the "grace of God", "prayer", etc for another fleeting moment.

I thank God for life, and for getting me through the storms of life, because it is the storms of life that  draws one closer to God.  Drawing close to God and STAYING there (close to God) is the challenge.  How often we drift off in left field.   He is surely disappointed when we do not acknowledge His hand in our life.

So anyway, as we all share in the media hype, the special programs, rewatch the chilling events on tv, bow our heads in praise and thanks to the God of all nations, ask for His continued blessings on this country, I hope we all acknowlege that God is still in control and He will continue to be with those who seek Him in many more storms of life to come.  Remember, God doesn't throw things in our path to disrupt it and then walk away.  He has a plan for us. 

Now let's remember the victories of life, the pleasant events, and count our blessings, all of which are undeserved but continue to be poured out from the hand of God.

The Event ~ Startled by a Rattlesnake

Last week I was startled when I walked upon a snake while out on a real estate call with Tim.  Not a big snake ~ only about an inch in diameter and about two feet long.  He was pretty much stretched out, half in the weeds and half on the sidewalk.    I've encountered snakes in the past, and it's always startling, but they are usually garden snakes, or bigger bull snakes.  I even picked one up, years ago in Bayard,  off the garage step only to have it twist it's head around and bite me in the finger ~ a puncture on each side of the finger.  A snake is suppose to be picked up by its head, but I guess I wasn't close enough to the head to immobilize it.  Actually, a snake isn't suppose to be picked up at all!!

So I walk up on this snake, startled, and stand there for all of at least two minutes, first wondering what kind of snake it is, and then wondering if I should just proceed to walk around it ~ between it and the building which was about two feet of walking room.  I thought to myself, that the walking movement that close might cause him to strike.  In those two minutes of me just standing two feet away wondering what to do, the snake was constantly hissing his black tongue at me, his beady little eyes not losing contact with me. 

The rattle was there, but then, I've never heard a real rattlesnake, and all snakes tend to make some funny kind of noise, so I still wasn't sure if I should just continue to walk aroaund it towards the car. I thought just don't bother him and he won't bother me.   The rattle continued and I really got concerned, so I backed away and went back inside the building where Tim and the owner were talking.  I asked if he had rattlesnakes in the area, and he said not that he was aware of.

We all went back out, and the snake had since coiled up beside the building in the same place.  Sure enough it was a rattlesnake.  The owner got a shovel, hit it over the head and then cut the head off with the shovel blade.  Then Tim tells me that small rattlesnakes are more deadly than big ones, and that snakes can strike up to at least the distance of the length of their body.  Like the two feet distance between it and me!!

So all that time I was within instant striking distance of that snake, way too close for way too long.  And being barefoot in open sandals, he could have struck like lightening, and I wouldn't be around to be writing this now.  Gees, that gives me the creepy willies! 

Genesis 3:15 says: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."  Women and snakes have been bitter enemies since Eve encountered the snake in the Garden of Eden and succombed to its temptation. 

That snake almost bruised my heel, but we bruised its head instead!  That is one event I don't want to repeat!