We sent the Brits off to Minnesota this morning...

At the butt crack of dawn. Really. We were so deep in the crack the sun couldn't even shine in on us. There was also a thick fog, thicker than any I'd seen in a long time. I hesitated to say something about London weather, seein' how these folks are from up north. Yorkshire.

Their plane was gonna start boarding at 6:30, for a 7AM take-off, so we had to get up at 5 to get them there on time to get their luggage stowed and through security. It was a tearful departure. Which is to say that Denise and Carolyn teared up. Denise always gets very emotional at these times. I think she'd give her right arm to be closer to her family. But the job is in Killeen. And I guess me bein' here is a factor too.



Sunday was a relaxed day. We all slept in (well I did anyway), and then the girls produced a wonderful breakfast. You can see Martin here, fiddling with his silverware, waiting for his omelet.



Pretty damn good fare. We enjoyed a ham and cheese omelet with bacon, fried taters and buttered sourdough toast on the side. There were also cinamon rolls. It was all wonderful.

After that we relaxed some more. I went over to my house to see to the cats and pick up provisions. Meanwhile, the Brits were watching the Masters, rooting for yet another Brit.

Later in the evening we all piled into Denise's car and headed for Wal Mart. These Brits LOVE Wal Mart. Not sure why. Too much stuff to wade through I guess.



I took a shot of this Barbie Mustang GT convertible and sent the shot to Denise's daughter Lynn. I've been threatenin' to get it for her baby daughter Payton. Let it sit in a box till the kid's grown into it. Wadda ya think?

Anyway, after the shopping spree, we all went out to have dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. We all ordered steaks, and Carolyn and I enjoyed the special, with two little lobster tails on the side. Each one amounted to about two bites of lobster for me, but once you dipped them in the butter sauce, it was well worth it. Anyway, Martin and Carolyn were paying, so what the hell.

So, they're off now. We'll miss them, but we'll see them again. They're gonna spend this week in Minnesota, with some of Denise's old inlaws, and then they fly back to Old Ambion at the end of the week. Here's hopin' all their travels are easy and they get home safe and sound.

Of course, I'm back to work, sittin' here in the library in San Saba, between classes. It's already been a long day. I can't wait to hit the pillow this evening. Y'all be good and we'll talk again soon. Cheers!

Having lots of fun with the Brits.

We took mom to Cotton Patch yesterday afternoon. It was great food and a great time, even though mom insisted on payin'. I didn't want to let her, but what can ya do? I can't stop her from doin' What she wants. We'll pay her back when we get the chance.

We're all havin' a great time, and we'll miss Martin and Carolyn when they fly to Minnesota Monday afternoon.

Right now, Denise and Carolyn have gone to Temple to get mom and go to the mall. I'm postin' this while Martin plays with my big TV. Then we're gonna go to a pool hall and he's gonna school me some more.

Y'all have a good weekend. Cheers.

The Brits.

Of course, the reason why we went to Florida was to see Denise's Brother, sister-in-law, and the sister-in-laws family. Denise's eldest daughter drove down with her kids, so Denise got to spend a preciously short amount of time with her family. Of course, I love seein' these folks too, so even though it was short, expensive and tiring, I was lookin' forward to the trip too.

When we got there on the Friday, Denise's brother Martin was already there with his in-laws and a niece.

At one point, the niece started to play around with some hair pieces, pinning them on me and everyone else.

Blissfully, I failed to get any pictures of myself with the hair on, but I made sure I got some good shots of Martin. We all thought he looked like Ozzy Ozborn.

Martin's father-in-law Mick, a head banger from WAY back, looked like a natural.

I particularly loved this shot of Denise and Martin, chillin' on Friday night.

One of the things we did was sit around and watch that AC-DC DVD that I picked up at Wally World. It's always fun to watch Mick and his wife Irene bang their heads in bliss when this sort of music comes on. I love gettin' them in my car and turnin' up the volume.

They're all some two fisted drinkers, I wanna tell ya. I have to pace myself to keep up. Of course, coming from England, where the beer has a higher alcohol content, they're used to the hard stuff. Bunch of Guinness drinkers. They think our stuff is watered down.

That's Martin's wife, Carolyn, sitting between them there. She flew in Saturday.

It was a full house by Saturday night, after Carolyn flew in, with another teenager (the girl in the middle). She was some friend of thew family.

Yep, I was drinkin' too. We'd found Yuengling at Wally World and picked up a few 6-packs.

In the end, before we flew out on Sunday we celebrated Carolyn's birthday and fixed everyone breakfast burritos. Turned out they were a bunch of picky eaters. Some wanted no egg, and others wanted no cheese. I tell ya, they don't know what's good.

Next, I'll tell ya about the flight home. Cheers!

Oh yea, the election. Well, I did my part. I torn now between feelings of pride in seeing the process working, and pride in seeing a Black man elected president some 40 years after Martin Luther King's death. But I'm also pissed off that so many people made such an obviously bad choice.

I'm also pissed off that all we conservatives had to vote for was John McCain. The Republican party is broken folks. It needs to get back to it's roots and figure some shit out, or these assholes are gonna be running the country for another 40 years, like they did in the old days. God help us then.