The weekend.

First off, check this out. Cool eh? Wonder what else is buried out there?



Now, here comes the traditional weekend wrap-up. It was busy. It all started Friday, when Denise and I took mom out to eat at Dynasty. We don't go there so often any more. Dad always wanted to go there and eat the same thing, week after week. Mom and Denise want to change things up each Friday, so that's what we do.



It was my turn to chose the restaurant this time, so everyone knew where we'd be goin'.



You've seen this before. Same stuff, different day. Same fat, juicy shrimp, fried rice, egg rolls and the generals chicken. Mmmm, good!



Mom has a good time when we take her out like this. It's great to see her get dolled up and go out. We used to take dad out on Friday, leaving mom home to have peace and quiet. Now that dad is gone, she has all the peace and quiet she can stand, so I think she really likes goin' out with us.



I was fascinated this last Friday with the "bling" she had on display. She's always had great taste in jewelery. I asked her where this stuff came from and she told me that the bracelet with the black stones dates from just after she and dad married. She got it on their honeymoon. She laughed as she told me a story about my dad's older brother, Sam, telling everyone how many shoe boxes she came home with. She took pride in telling me that she'd payed for every one of them herself (she had a job as an accountant for a business in Temple when she and dad married).



After dinner we went to her house for a tipple. She busted out the Tia Maria, which is some damn good shit, I wanna tell ya!



We sat around, watching the cats prance around, sipping the good stuff, but then we said our goodbyes and headed down I-35 to Florence.



It was their Homecoming game, and many of my students were up for "King" and "Queen". Those two girls there are both Seniors in my Government class. The lucky Homecoming King ended up with two Queens. You should have seen the look on his face. It was hilarious.



For whatever reason, there were lots of strained muscles on the field Friday night. They were all drinkin' Gatorade, but they had someone fall out with cramps about every other play.



It was a close one. Florence flubbed their first extra point kick, and missed their attempt at two points after their second touchdown. The result, Rosebud-Lott beat them by one point, 13 to 12.

We went down to Austin Saturday to check out a gun show. They have one down there every third weekend of the month. It's not much of a gun show, but what the hell. I can think of a lot of worse things to do passing the time on a Saturday.

There was a show in Dallas last Saturday too, and I knew that some of the cooler vendors would chose to be there and not in Austin, but again, it was fun to walk around the show anyway. Denise ended up finding a cool Christmas present for her old mother in law, and I got a few bags of good hot peppered jerky. One pound bags for $20 each. Reinhold and Timco brand. Hickory smoked, hot and spicy flavor. The stuff tastes really good. Should last me a while.

After that we drove down Barton Springs Road and tried to fins a hotel we could stay at this weekend. We have tickets to a concert this weekend. Turns out we probably waited too long to try to get a room. There doesn't seem to be any rooms anywhere, unless you want to pay $250 to $350 for one night.



Anyway, as we drove North on Congress Avenue we got a great look at the state capitol. Denise asked if it was open and I said "Yes, so long as the legislature isn't in cession." The next cession doesn't start till January, so we decided to check the place out.

Go here and check out the pictures I took in the capitol building. It was a moving experience for an old Texan like me. I've been teachin' about this place for years, but hadn't seen the building from the inside since the late 1970s. It was fun to take Denise around and tell her all about it.

After that we drove back up to Killeen and got tickets to see "Righteous Kill" at the new multiplex theater in Harker Hights. After that we had dinner at the new Chedder's they've just opened. The film turned out to be a disappointment, but the food at Chedder's was great. We didn't get home till about 11:30. It was a long, busy day, but fun. Sunday was just a day to relax.

Anyway, I gotta go teach class. You guys have a great week and we'll chat later. Cheers!