It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Imagine our surprise when we woke up this morning and realized it was snowing! Many of you may think well ...what's so unusual about that? After all it is December! What you may not know is that we live in Sugar Land, Texas. Which is about 20 minutes South West of Houston ...land of heat and humidity! We had a few flurries here a year ago today, but in the eleven years since we moved here it's only snowed one other time ...several years back on Christmas eve. It was the highlight of our anual Christmas eve party! Here are some of the videos and pictures I took today. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy!

Scotland revisited -a video tour (part 3)

This is one of the bed and breakfasts we stayed in. Sorry! I know ...it's sideways but I don't know how to fix it. It's short so just lean your head over for a few seconds. I loved the flowers that were everywhere. I know it's hard to believe but they were all real. They have so much rain that they never have to water them. Amazing!

Here ...maybe this is a little better.

A bus tour of the world famous St Andrews golf course. Sorry, it gets a little crazy at the end and I don't know how to edit videos yet. No the bus didn't flip over ...I just forgot to wait for the camera to shut down before starting to put it away!

Putting on the 18th green

The home of the Queen Mum

Scottish heather

This is our rental car. We stopped by the side of the road to look at the beautiful hillside.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you had as much fun as we did. We'll end our tour on a high note ...with some bagpipes and wishing you all a fond fare thee well.

Scotland revisited -a video tour (part 2)

Gary in the wind by the river.

More Gary, more wind, more of the river

Couldn't get enough of this beautiful scenery.

We went on a hike that took us across a bridge that spanned this fast moving stream.

Gary and Whitney check out the view from the bridge.

This is a little alcove in the forrest where Scotland's poet Robbie Burns was inspired to write "Aber Felch" or some such thing (spelling?). Tough to read the plaque when I was moving at lightening speed. I was in a hurry to get down the mountain. Mother Nature was calling and there was water, water every where!

FREEDOM!!! The William Wallace memorial from one of the windows in Sterling castle.

This was the home of Mary Queen of Scots

This is a statue in the Glasgow museum. It's of a father and child comforting each other just after the child's mother had died. Very sad and beautifully sculpted.

It wasn't the "Y" mountain but it was the best we could do!

Check out Gary's great technique!

Whitney Lawn Bowling for the very first time.

Scotland revisited - a video tour (part 1)

An ice-cream shop near one of our bed and breakfast. Lots of interesting flavors: Ferero Rocher, Banana Marshmallow, Rhubarb Ginger, Honey Comb, Licorice -all sorts, Bounty Bar, and Chilli Chocolate. I think I'll pass on the Whisky Crunch!

The beautiful River Tay (spelled phonetically)

One day we hiked up to a dam over looking the town we were staying in.

The water as it began it's decent

Loud ...but interesting to watch

A night at the local pub (sorry ...it's little dark) but a girl who works in the pub is doing the highland fling while a man plays the bag pipes in the background.

The "Clapping Song" This is an amazing musician (can't remember his name) who was in town from Edinburgh where he plays for "Oor's Walking Tours" He followed the local talent with a fast paced, 3 hour singing, guitar, banjo, harmonica playing extravaganza! He was so funny and entertaining. He asked where we were from then started referring to Gary as "Texas"! We were so impressed with his show that we bought his 2 CD's to take home with us ...and he threw in a free t-shirt. What a deal! Gary told him that he wanted the t-shirt to wear when he plays raquetball -and the musician told him he'd be honored"

A short bit to show his skills as a banjo player.

Care to join us in a little sing a long?

"Take me Home Country Road" with Gary driving along the Scottish country side. As you will see Scotland has very narrow roads. Note the signs that say "slow" painted on the roads at each curve. This is to warn you that an on coming vehicle may be in your path. Usually the Scots drive in the middle of the road at great speeds until they see an on coming vehicle, then they try to move over. Obviously on the curves it's hard to see if someone is coming so they are hoping you'll slow down enough on each curve so you'll have time to avoid a crash! Oh boy!!!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great labor day weekend with visits from Eric, Mike, Jessica, Ben Grace and Sabrina. The only ones missing were Whitney and Stephen. We enjoyed having Mike's family here for a couple of days. They were in town for the blessing of Jessica's brother's new baby in Lake Jackson. Congratulations John and Emily on your new arrival.

Our beany baby barn is one of our grand kids favorite things. They love being able to pick some animals to play with when they come for a visit.

Ben made a compound for the lizards to play in.

Grace wanted to add a few finishing touches to his master piece.

Even Uncle Eric got to take a break from the Army and come home for the weekend.

The Sergeant got in some PT with Grace's help. He let her jump on his back then did about 30 push ups. Pretty impressive!

Uncle Eric unleashes the giggles!

I'm not sure which was more fun ...seeing the kids and grand kids or going to Dallas to watch BYU beat Oklahoma. Either way it was a great weekend!

Trip across the pond ...Scotland!

Here are a few of the many pictures and video we took on our recent trip to Scotland. We had a wonderful time walking, hiking and climbing to the many interesting sites along the way. It's a beautiful country and the people were so nice.

The Scottish version of bowling

Overlooking one of the many beautiful Locks (lakes) in Scotland.

A reenactment at the William Wallace memorial

Whitney is wearing our clan scarf.

The sign Gary is standing by is warning of the dangers of death if you climb over the fence! Alrighty then.

I loved this little flower garden. It was so beautiful!

The beach by St. Andrew's golf course.

An Abbey surrounded by an ancient cemetery.

Castles, castles, and more castles

More to follow ....

Well Hallelujah!

I have been having trouble with my computer for the last couple of months so I haven't been able to post any updates on my blog. Today I decided to turn it on to check the status and was surprised to see that for some reason it is up and running. Whoo hoo! So ...I will post as much as I can in the time that it gives me before it crashes again!

Copper had a little bit of excitement this summer. He can add one more notch to his dog collar for yet another critter caught in the back yard. This time it was an armadillo which I believe is the official mascot for the state of Texas. I heard lots of barking and commotion early one morning and when I went out to see what he was up to I could tell he had something cornered in the backyard. On closer inspection I was shocked to see a good sized armadillo burrowed into the corner by our fence. I was able to convince Copper to come inside and chill in the laundry room for awhile to give the armadillo a chance to calm down and escape.

Several hours later ...the critter was still there so Gary and I got a couple of shovels to try to encourage him to leave already. The poor thing was really wedged in there and there was no getting him out. You may have heard that armadillo's are a natural carrier of leprosy. It's really true and was confirmed by my vet who told us to avoid coming into contact with it. Surprisingly there are no records of dogs catching leprosy from armadillos.

After many unsuccessful attempts to try and pry the armadillo out of the hole he had dug himself into I remembered ahhhh ...the secret weapon! Oh yes, just ask any possum in Sugar Land and he'll tell you all about it. I advised Gary to stand back as I turned on the spray attachment on my garden hose and let the poor thing have it. Yep he flew out of there like a Chinese rocket. Course he headed straight for my picket fence and into my vegetable garden. Yikes! Gary ran around to the side yard and between the two of us we kept scaring him back and forth under the side fence until Gary was able to scoop him up in his shovel and toss him in the back of his truck.

 Notice the 'bite" marks and scratches courtesy of Copper)

He told me to stand guard while he ran in for his keys so it couldn't escape then we would drive him somewhere out in the country and release him. I'm thinking sure ...easy what can happen? He isn't that tall ...no way is he climbing out of there. WRONG! That critter was flying all over the bed of the truck, scrambling up the side with his long claws. It was hand to hand combat and he nearly won. (Well ...shovel to claw combat!) He was strong! Luckily Gary came out just in time and threw the recycle bin over him. That seemed to calm him down long enough for us to make a get away. We were laughing as we were driving along thinking ...what if it gets out and jumps out and lands on the windshield of the car behind us? It would totally freak someone out and cause an accident. Kind of like the scary stories we used to tell at girl's camp: "The Claw"! Speaking of claws ...check out the toe nails on this guy:
Catch...



........and release!

The dog days of summer

This summer has been unbearably HOT! Seriously we feel like we are melting and it's only July. Our poor dog Copper has been miserable. I finally had to break down and take him into the groomer to get his "summer hair cut". When I dropped him off I told the groomer that he hated having a bath, getting shaved and being handled, especially by strangers. (Under stress he has been known to bite!) I didn't know if he would let her get the job done or not. I refused to allow him to be tranquilized. After all ...he's going to be 12 in November. She assured me she would be kind and gentle and if he didn't tolerate it well she would just stop and call me to come and get him at no charge.

My final admonition to her was to be sure to keep him away from other dogs because frankly he's been attacked too many times by dogs left to run loose in our neighborhood so he tends to snap first and ask questions later. She assured me that all would be fine since he was the only animal there at the time. Seconds after I handed her the leash a woman walked into the clinic with a big fru fru poodle that started hopping and jumping around and bounced right over to Copper. As they stood nose to nose I quickly said Ma'am you need to keep your dog away from mine. I'm really sorry but he just doesn't like other dogs and isn't very friendly. All the while Copper is baring his teeth and starting to growl at this hyper poodle. She looked quite offended and said, "But everyone loves Francois!" Fortunately the groomer quickly took Copper to the back before Francois lost one of his pom poms!

I headed home fully prepared that the phone could ring at any moment with a request for me to come back pronto to pick up my mutt. I already had an apology ready for the groomer who no doubt would be covered from head to toe in bandages from a.k.a. Copper scissor teeth! But unbelievably an hour went by ...then two. I was starting to get worried thinking maybe I should just drive by to make sure there wasn't a s.w.a.t. team out side with a negotiator from Petsmart yelling at Copper through a bull horn to open his mouth and release the groomer! After another 45 minutes went by I decided I'd better call thinking surely they need to close at 6 p.m. and if he isn't done by now they'd be locking him in for the night. Surprisingly they said he was a little nervous but did really well. What? Did they mix Copper up with Francois? This is the dog that my daughter had to sing to while I shaved him so I wouldn't get bit!!! They said if I didn't mind that he was still a little wet from his bath I could pick him up any time and by the way ...they are open until 7:00 p.m. Who Knew?

When I saw him I had to laugh. When they said they were going to shave him they weren't kidding around. Our "Copper colored" dog is down to his skin and actually looks white! Picture a chubby version of the Taco Bell dog that recently passed away and you'll have it just about right. Hmmmm ...maybe he should apply to fill the vacancy? Let me know what you think.

Here's the before and after pictures:

When we got him home he wouldn't look me in the eye. He also wouldn't look at the camera. My husband thinks it's because he regards me as the "alpha dog" of the family. I think it's because he's embarrassed because everyone is laughing at him! He may not look cool but at least he'll feel cool!

The Richards "family" reunion

We just got back after having a great time in Virginia, Washington D.C. and West Virginia. We were there for the Richards family reunion. (Whitney says we can't really call it a family reunion because this year the whole family wasn't invited!) I know pretty sad not to have us all together as in years past. Hopefully we can convince everyone to change it back to the original format for the next one.

It was a little disappointing to find with all the things there are to do and see in the D.C. area that we were only there for one day. Definitely not enough time to get everything in. Course a few sites were taken out of the mix which made it easier to choose what we wanted to do. For whatever reason President Obama won't let anyone tour the White House this summer so there went my top choice! The CIA and FBI buildings no longer give tours so there went numbers 2 and 3! We ended up going to the Capital which we've seen before but is always very interesting so I took lots of pictures.

Here we are outside waiting for our tour to start.

Next we went to the National archives where they had an exhibit on George and Ira Gershwin and another on the stars of Vaudeville (showcasing Bob Hope and his efforts to entertain the troops during quite a few different wars). Cheryl had someone lined up to give us a personal tour of the National Archives. He was going to go in and bring out an original copy of the Book of Mormon for us to see but he had to cancel at the last minute -the night before - so Cheryl ended up being our guide (which meant ...no Bof M for us!)

Then it was on to the library of congress. There all we could do was peek through the window of a balcony that over looks the library of congress. It was cool ...just like in National Treasure but sad that we couldn't go in and check it out. I really wanted to go through that little door!

We had all packed lunches so about 1 p.m. we stopped in a park on the banks of the Potomac and had lunch. It was a beautiful day but kind of sad because it was not far from where a commercial jet liner crashed into the river during the winter when it was icy and cold and quite a few people perished.

After that everyone else went to see the World War II Memorial then on to the NewsEum. While my sister-in-law Mary Ann and I were dropped off at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum. Their buildings take up an entire city block so as you can imagine we were busy running around trying to see everything. It was really interesting and we spent about 4 hours there. That week they were having their Continental Congress so members from all over the country were there for meetings and their convention. That night Pres. Obama was scheduled to address them (though I think he was still in Italy so I'm sure it was something "previously taped"!) The DAR research library

A period doll house donated to the museum

I'm sure this was a handy item in the 1700's!

A beautiful stained glass window in one of the period rooms

Here I am with Mary Ann in the Alabama room

Here are some new friends of ours from Alabama in ...the Alabama room!

We met this gracious DAR member in the museum. She was so sweet to let me take her picture. I forgot to ask where she was from but I loved her hat. Check out the matching gloves!

Later in the afternoon we all met up for a drive to the Arlington cemetery where Derrill's Brother Merlin and his wife Carole are buried. It was the first time that I've been there and it was very moving to see all of the rows and rows of crosses of people who have served our country.

It was a little eerie to be at his uncle's grave side and to see how close it is to the pentagon ...literally right there. They showed us the direction the plane came from just before it crashed into the pentagon on Sept. 11th. It flew directly over his grave and had to be so low at that point just before it hit. Gary's sister was visiting his grave the day before it happened on September 10th. So it was all very sobering to think about.

After wards no one wanted to take the hike up the hill with me except for Cheryl so I could visit the tomb of the unknown soldier. When we got there it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It was very emotional to see the soldiers walking back and forth guarding the tomb and showing their respect. I'm glad that I was able to see it.

The next day we went to West Virginia to go Kayaking. I decided to be brave and go and hope I didn't get tossed in the river (with a torn ear drum that wouldn't have been such a good idea!) Luckily it all turned out well and we only had one near miss and another really close call! It was a lot of fun and Gary and I were at the head of the pack almost the whole way down the river. In the end we ended up on the Potomac for a short distance. Cheryl was the only one to flip her boat (she was in a one man Kayak). For some reason the nose went under one of the rapids and the boat filled with water and flipped over. She was able to get out and ended up on some rocks but couldn't turn her boat back over. It was too heavy with the weight of the water. Her husband Wayne 6' 6" was able to wade out to help her get across the river then with Bruce's help got the boat turned over and headed down stream. Gary paddled me over to intercept it and I was able to catch and hold it until they could come and get it from us. I thought it was going to pull me right out of the boat but luckily I was able to grab a low hanging tree branch to anchor us.

When they were turning the boat over to empty the water out of course they thought it would be great fun to poor it over Gary and mayhem ensued! What Mom used to say really is true ..."If you keep that up, someone is going to get hurt!" Unfortunately Bruce lost his grip during the process and dropped his end of the boat on Gary's head and neck ...not so fun! Luckily he wasn't badly hurt. Right after heading down the river from that little adventure Gary steered us into some rocks and we went sideways and came sooo close to turning over! I was thinking, "Ok this is it, I'm going under! We ended up with the boat stuck and tilted sideways half way up on the rocks so Gary had to get out and into the river to get us straightened out and back on course. Everyone waited down river to see if we could manage on our own. Luckily no one else had to bail out and come to our rescue. Sorry no pictures ...didn't want to lose our camera in the river!

We got back to Harper's Ferry of John Brown vs. the armory fame to pick up Colleen. She didn't want to go down the river with us so by the time we got back to her I'm sure she was more than ready to go home! We had lunch with all of the flying bugs in W. Virginia (I'm sure some of them ended up being a garnish in our sandwiches!) then toured the restored civil war town and ended the day with ice cream. Yummm! The town was really pretty interesting. They had people dressed up in period costumes that were so sharp and could tell you every detail of that time and the people who lived there. They spoke as if they were from that era so it made it very cool.

That night we celebrated Grandpa's 82nd birthday with a nice dinner, games where we had to say something we remembered about grandpa, etc. They had a contest between the siblings called "What did dad say?" that ended up being pretty funny. I think Gary did the best and it was amazing to realize that I remembered a good part of the answers just from hearing Gary talk about his mom and dad over the years.

Sorry ...this is a little backwards. They started before I got back with my camera so I had them reenact the moment!

We wound up the reunion by going to the Washington temple together. This is such a beautiful temple perched on the top of a hill. At night it looks like a fairy castle up in the clouds. It has become a landmark for the city. To get there you have to drive through a beautiful park that winds up to the temple. I was surprised to hear as we made the drive that this is the park where they found Chandra Levy after she had disappeared and was killed. She was an aide to one of the Senators several years back.

It only took Gary and I an hour to get to his sister Cheryl's home where we were all staying for the reunion (we arrived around 11 p.m. so the traffic was light) but on the way back to the airport at the conclusion of the reunion it took about 3 hours! The traffic was terrible! We ended up giving up on our original plan and taking an alternate route to try and get around the traffic delays. We ended up turning in the car without refueling and had to run all the way to the gate. We got there 5 minutes before they loaded the plane so we felt pretty lucky. We thought we would either miss the flight or be stuck in random seats at opposite ends of the plane! So it worked out in the end. All in all it was a great trip. Cheryl and Wayne did a super job and we had a wonderful time. The only thing missing was the next generation and their kids! Hopefully they'll be at the next one.