Congratulations Chairman Danny!

At the last convention of Directory Publishers Danny was voted Chairman of the Board of Directors. He has let me know that I may now call him "Mr. Chairman". At the same convention he played in a golf tourny and one player told him if he sunk a really long putt he would be known as "Danny Darling" instead of Danny Bills. He sunk the putt. So now it's Mr. Chairman Darling!

Moth Invasion

Boo was barking and barking at the window last night - it was a little scary. When I checked it out I saw this moth on the wall. It was GIANT!! I chased it around with a plastic bag (held open to catch the moth) and finally it landed and I scooped it up and took it outside. That thing was so big and pretty - it looked fuzzy and was the size of my open hand. I'm wondering what attracted it to my yard, what it will turn into, and if it got away safely since it seemed to fly a little strange and the bottom of one of it's wings looks damaged (I didn't do it)

Anderson's first time in the Big Bathtub

You've heard "Pants on the Floor?" Well, this is pants on the head.

Aderson's first time in the big bathtub was a blast. He swam in circles and played with the toys. Guess this means Charlie doesn't have to bath him in the sink anymore.

And just LOOK at that HAIR!! It's all poofy when it is dry -

you really don't see how long it is until it gets wet.

Here's the little tadpole.....

I took my very first golf lesson the other day. It was so fun. I expected to embarrass myself by missing the ball with every shot but I did good. I only worked with one club - Danny says the 9 iron is pretty easy to hit - but it felt great to connect with the ball and see it take off. OK, so it usually went a little further to the left than I wanted, and it didn't go that far, but I hit it - that's a big plus in my book. That night I was sore and has a hard time sleeping. I need to work on my muscles so building muscle memory won't hurt so much. Between that and walking the dog every day, I should be in much better shape soon.

Great Weather Means it's time to Garden!!

Danny and I spent the morning in the garden today. He did most of the work. He turned the soil and got rid of the weeds, and then I planted. It feels good to have plants growing.

First I started with the compost - my compost is in the cool stage - time to empty it out and start a new batch. Danny also gathered some nice fresh manure from the ranch.

The year has been so wet, this "pond" has been full for a long time. The frogs were so loud I thought there was an alarm going off somewhere. Now it's almost dry. That's good news for our little trees who need to have well drained soil to avoid root rot.

I kinda got intense with the trimming on this poor palm. But it'll come back. The center leaves are already a bit green, and it's been trough worse times.

Guess I'm in the planting mood -

couldn't throw out the pineapple top if there is a chance it will grow.

Here's our little tomato and pepper plants. This year we got the tomato cages on right from the start so we can keep them off the ground.

I'm so proud of our fruit trees. They didn't freeze or drown. Now they're putting on pretty flowers. Just another year and these baby trees will be big enough to produce fruit.

The pecan tree hasn't gotten green yet - but it'll happen.

These little olive trees have the neatest leaves. They are kinda grey/green - and since grey is my favorite color, of course I love these leaves.

The loquat, however, is not my friend. It's four years old and never even tries to give us fruit.

Mint - it takes over but it also keeps the fire ants away

Cilantro is growing here - little baby cilantro. We eat so much of it we have it planted in more than one spot. They say plant every two weeks to keep a supply.

Basil is amazing. I know I'll have to transplant these guys soon so they can grow BIG.

These strawberries survived the coldest winter Austin has had. I think I should buy more of these plants. This pot full is not enough to provide more than one or two strawberries at a time.

We've been harvesting asparagus every morning and keeping it in the refrigerator in a cup of water. We have a bunch now and will be cooking it tomorrow

.

Dates with Grandkids

These last few weeks I got to have a date with some of the grandkids. KK and I did some beading and, of course, he wanted to cook. He kept talking about waiting for bubbles in the brownie mix he was stirring up - I didn't know what he was talking about but I went along with it. The next day I remembered that we had made pudding and I told him it wouldn't be done until it bubbled. He remembered that. What a smartie!! He also would not let me help - again. But didn't make any messes and the brownies were really good.

My date with Dani included shopping. What could be better for a couple of girls? Then we met John for lunch. Dani looked so cute - she has posing for the camera down to a T. That last picture really makes her look like a movie star - she's trying to get the camera out of her face and have some privacy. And don't you love the "bling"?

Anderson visited for a bit and I got to see just how mobil he is. The little guy scoots everywhere. At one point he scooted right into the pantry and shut the door. (I have no idea where that sticker on his head came from- it looks strange there.)

Chili Ristas

What can I say - it's a Texas thing. Gotta have chilis in the kitchen

San Antonio Temple

The genealogy bug has gotten me. I've been working on getting names together for the youth to take to their temple trip on the 1st of April. It's amazing how time passes. I sat down at the computer, signed on to new.familysearch.org, and the next thing I knew four hours had passed. Danny and I went to the temple Wednesday morning and did a session but I couldn't use the names I had found because they hadn't been prepared for endowment. I have a lot of work ahead of me. That Wednesday morning time was really nice - I think I'll do that frequently until I get all my names done. Then, of course, I'll find more names.

Dates With Danny

We went to watch Beezer and Xavier play basketball for the ward and afterwards we went looking for dinner. Found a great little Indian food place in South Austin. It's fast, and amazingly delicious. We'll be going back there a lot, I 'm sure.

Chicken Marsala Taki - YUMMMMM

We try to go someplace different every time - but sometimes you crave a really good place. The last date we had - just yesterday - we ate at Iron Cactus. They have an amazing Tuna Tartar. I think this is another place we will crave.

For our usual Friday night date we went to Alice in Wonderland, 3-D. I really liked the movie - very well made. The 3-D aspect was fun. Outside the theater there was a chalk artist working on a picture based on the movie. We just got to see a little since he was just getting started and it was getting dark. I wanted to go back the next day to see the finished work, but didn't make it. So sad.

Beading for fun

Amanda got me started beading. She's really really good at it Me?, not so much, but I do enjoy it. Today I attended my very first bead show downtown Austin. The REALLY big one is next weekend but I'll be in Houston for convention and miss that one. Probably a good thing. The picture shows the beads I bought today. Can't wait to get started playing with them, I only wish Amanda was here to guide me. I did not get the artist gene like she did.