Growing up I had heard my dad refer to an avacado as ahuacate and though I assumed it was spanish, it was not, nor did I give much thought to the meaning of ahuacate. I think Hermes Neuticles would appreciate this NPR story.

BTW, R.I.P. S-K

Dare

I saw this website mentioned in a magazine the other day and had to check it out.

http://www.buttsacrossamerica.com/

Here and now I promise to buy dinner for anyone of our loyal readers that contributes a picture to this site. (random visitors to this blog excluded) I noticed that Texas is sadly underrepresented and Austin is not represented at all!

Good luck and happy mooning!

M

Hello gentle readers

We just got back from vacation and we should post about South Padre Island, the World Cup, the Gladys Porter Zoo, our anniversary, but none of that is nearly as interesting as our adventures over the past two days.

Yesterday, my boss handed me a clipping from the newspaper about a certain gubernatorial candidate making a stop in Abilene.



As expected the Jewish cowboy attracted an eclectic group of 50 or so people, everyone of whom was wondering why the person next to them lived in Abilene. We were the only delegates from our small county.

I felt compelled to buy something so he'd have something to sign. I bought Roadkill, but if Adam hadn't of asked for it back I would have had When the Cats away on hand.

M also bought some salsa.

Note by M:
I've met the man and I still have NO IDEA for whom I should vote in a few short months. I am excited though that for once I won't be voting against a particularly bad candidate...I can actually vote for a good one! I just don't know who that is yet.

Today, M came with me and my boss to Granbury on business. It was my first on location archival survey. It was also DM's first trip on one of these.


As you can see, we had a great time in this 4-seater despite it being smaller than a suburban.


We had to wear those headsets to talk to each other. The ride home was in a different plane that allegedly had air conditioning. We had to ride sitting backward this time and because of afternoon heat columns, I nearly lost my lunch, though I maintained my manly composure.

Note by M:
I kept an eye out for telltale piles of dirt near the airplane hangers, but it looks like the Night Flier hasn't recently visited the Metroplex or its surrounding areas.

For those interested in our vacation (Mom), we took a trip down to South Padre Island where the waves were lame compared to last year's hurricane Emily steroid charged waves. We watched a lot of World Cup and really got into it, well the guys got into it. The girls were watching the games through pornographic lenses (M doesn't dig soccer players the way a fellow female watcher did). I wasn't really pulling for any particular team, but it was really exciting when someone scored. My zeal for World Cup took me far beyond the vacation all the way to the headbutt heard 'round the world.

We also went to the Zoo for the benefit of my 3 year old nephew, who thankfully, is well behaved. Since the Valley's climate is quite similar to that of most tropical and African animals, the Gladys Porter Zoo is, in my opinion, one of the best zoos. The animals rarely have to be caged due to weather so there is the maximum of space used for a realistic habitat. Our nephew mostly liked the snakes. I liked this biotch.

Kinda reminds me of Contra. (And yes, those are its phosphorescent young writhing on its back.)

For our anniversary, we got to spend a quiet evening alone at a nice restaurant followed by fireworks...no not those kind, we had to share our room...and the walls were thin. I could hear my dad snoring through the walls in the condo next door. But seriously, its been 5 years! Some of you were there, some of you (well one) were not yet born, and thankfully none of you are now deed!

M note:
According to the book How to Lie With Statistics we have lasted longer than half the newlywed population. Now if only we could update our blog more often!

Rain, Sun, and Pikachu.

I had heard that there was a botanical garden within reasonable driving distance for us, so this Saturday we packed up the dogs and paid the Clark Botanical Gardens a visit. This was the first time we'd taken the dogs anywhere out in public with the exception of the PetSmart doggy training classes.

Oscar and Felix did remarkably well, especially since the place was practically deserted. There were however some guinea hens and a large white peacock that kept taunting them, saying "come and get us Felix, come and get us Oscar, the best part's in the rump."

The 35 acre garden was pretty amazing for what is supposed to be the west texas wasteland. We took only a few choice, highly scripted, photos.

This was under a waterfall, but the extremes of light and dark confused the camera.

We didn't get any plant-life photos, but if you like that kinda stuff, archivists can do more than just archive.

That night there was a really fun storm that came in. The rain was horizontal, the wind knocked stuff over, and we got to see lightning strike just yards from our front door. The bolt was pink.

While searching for hors d'oeuvre recipes online, we stumbled upon Pikachu Hors d'oeuvres. The page is set up as a delightful little satire of a scientific journal article and it was just too strange not to share.

Last week M was out of town in Austin recuperating from her surgery. I was back in Albany stone sober (no really!) the whole week. It was kinda fun. I got a lot of practice on the drums, worked on my little art project (4 years and counting), and played with the dogs.

On Saturday, I went to pick M up and as we were driving through Cisco we noticed something that we had never noticed before. See below.



We arrogantly thought that we were the first ones ever to get that joke but we couldn't have been because the warehouse was empty and the fragrant scent of recently dried latex, vinyl, and pleather had long dissipated replaced by other business endeavors of equally bad taste. Cisco is the town where there is a dollar general across the street (an actual street, four lanes, with a median, not a highway, no embankment on either side, no canals, no zombie turkeys) from family dollar (we did not get a picture. no free advertising for them).

Later, however, the aliens came back and opened the store, injecting a fresh supply of bondage equipment and other education toys. (for those recommended to this site by M, sorry I have to please a diverse audience.)



In dog related news, we recently had the dogs prove a natural phenomenon to us. Everyone know that you can scare the blood out of a horned toad, in fact, out of its eyes. And though Texas Monthly beat us to the punch confirming this seemingly impossible myth, it is true. Felix and Oscar cornered a poor endangered horned toad and it shot'em up good with blood. Got Oscar right in the eye. This really pissed them off and they clawed at it mercilessly while barking at it. "Hey!," they'd say over and over. But the toad was perfectly fine if not freaked out. I was too pissed off at the dogs to take any pictures. Sorry. I just didn't understand how they could attack an endangered species.

We'll get pictures of the next thing they attack, promise.*

Before I go, here is one picture to scare you and another illustrating the generosity of Albany.

The teachers all donated goodies to keep M fed and her mind busy after her surgery. If any are reading this and aren't totally offended by the above...Thank You.

*Promise not valid in Missouri or France.