Monday 12-22-08

It is cold today! As of noon, the temp is 32 degrees F. The birds and squirrels are eating to keep warm. Linda & I are staying inside. Not much to do.

The deck of the bridge is complete! We can walk to the other side of the creek. I'm going to add rails and a small truss frame to add strength, although me and a 250 pound neighbor jumped up and down in the middle of the span and nothing broke! Ha!

Wed. we go to Hewitt and return Thursday. We'll spend Christmas Eve and Morning with Jon and his family. Then I work four days. Hope we're not busy.

Got to go. Bye!

Thursday 12-11-08

We had a little snow, sleet, and freezing rain Wednesday night. The following are some photos.

Now comes the strange part. Look closely at the first photo of the falling snow. You can see a small colored orb in the upper right quarter of the photo. Below is an enlarged section of the photo with the orb in the middle. I first thought that a speck of rain or snow had fallen on the camera lens and caused the image. I enlarged the orb part of the photo and was startled to see that the leaves on the small tree is between the lens and the orb! The round glowing ball is from something in the forest. There are no houses or other structures in that direction from our house for .57 miles. The photo was taken from the door into the living room and the camera is pointed almost due north. The bottom of the photo is even with the edge of the creek bank and shows the bottom of the tree trunks. The orb must be at least ten feet or higher from the ground, depending upon it's distance from the camera. I don't believe the glow is a reflection from an owl's eye because we would see two reflections. It could be the reflection of one eye from another bird or animal. It is not there tonight and Linda and I cannot find any light sources through the trees from that direction. In the two photos of the deck the camera is looking toward the same area where the orb was seen but from a slightly different angle. If any of you can enlarge the photo below, you can clearly see that the orb is BEHIND the small tree leaves.... Get my gun, sleep with the lights on tonight!!!

Oh, one more photo:
Bye!

Wednesday Update

WOW! Go to Google Earth, Street View, go to our address and you can see me and Linda at the end of our street. I'm working on the wooden fence and Linda is in the Saturn and has stopped to talk. The photo was taken last Winter. Spooky!!

Plus: The snow is still falling!

Wednesday 12-10-08

It is 7:30 p.m. and sleet and snow is falling heavily!! That's right! We are getting Winter weather! It has been sleeting for a few hours and now the snow is falling on top of the ice. I will certainly have some photos posted tomorrow. Suddenly, I feel cold!! Brrrr.

Tuesday 12-09-08

We left early Friday morning for Muleshoe. I was sniffing and sneezing. Spent Saturday eating allergy meds. Drove back Sunday. Linda started showing symptoms Sunday. Didn't get out of bed Monday until noon. Still taking meds but feel much better. The rain and sickness means the bridge construction is in an idle stage. Rain is expected most of the day.

We drove back from Muleshoe via a different route suggested by the GPS. We saw the most beautiful canyons and landscape! Did not know such pretty terrain was so close to our usual route on IH-20. We stopped in Guthrie, Texas for Wayne to change a tire on the pickup. On several the sides of several building constructed of native store were the numbers "6666". We were at one of the headquarters of the 666 Ranch. Read about it at:

http://www.6666ranch.com/

That's all for now. Bye!!

Tuesday 11-25-08

We went to Lindseyville (near Alto) at 11:00 a.m. to have lunch with Jean & JD. The Bar-B-Que sauce was better than most places we've visited this year. The restaurant is the country-home cooking-family operated kind.

Tomorrow we order the decking and the last of the lumber for the bridge. Rain is forecast for Thursday and then I work 4 days. SO, the bridge construction will be on hold for a while.

Today was a beautiful day - much nicer than either New York or London!! Ha!

Bye!!

Sunday 11-23-08

We have had beautiful Fall weather for the past few weeks. The trees are changing colors although most of them around here are simply brown!

Here is a photo of Ike having his breakfast this morning.

The Bandit River Bridge frame is almost complete. Next will be the truss frame and the deck. I can actually cross the creek with ease now!! Moving, placing, and attaching the 2"x10"x16 ft treated boards was not easy. The muscle ointment was used often and in great quantities!

Bye!!