San Antonio River Walk - San Antonio, TX.

I thought I'd share a recent experience I had while traveling to San Antonio, Tx. A co-worker of mine mentioned a fun little spot to visit on the Riverwalk that serves great food & the employees heckle you about anything & everything. I'm a little shy when it comes to people making comments about my looks, my hair, or anything that might make me put my guard up higher than it is. With some hesitation, I thought "Pull up your skirt Sally & enjoy what life has to offer". I drove to the Riverwalk & searched for the infamous "HECKLE" lunch spot from hell called Dick's Last Resort! I'm very proud of myself getting over a hurdle I might otherwise have passed up. It was a BLAST! I wish DW was with me to enjoy my adventure. Fortunately for her, she had been to Dick's several years earlier. I shared my experience with her & we laughed hysterically. I won't go into the whole experience, but would like to share the first two minutes. One of the waiters watched as I approached the back entrance to Dick's & before I could even sit down, the waiter asks "Are you here for lunch?" I replied "yes". He replies "I can understand why with a mug like yours. What ya drinken?" I replied "I'll take a coke." The waiter replied "real men drink beer, especially on a Friday afternoon. What a Sally!" I chuckled. As I sat waiting for my coke, another man approached & a waiter asked him "You here for lunch?" The man replied "yes". The waiter replied "have a seat with this guy and make a friend". Now shy me had a lunch date I had not planned on. As we introduced ourselves to each other, my original waiter came out and asked our current waiter "what's up with these two?" He replied, "I'm not sure, but I think they just exchanged phone numbers!" My new friend & I laughed hysterically. From that point on, it was none stop hysteria! I enjoyed my lunch & laughs & thought I would love to bring a big group of friends here & let the wait staff have their way with us! I will definitely make this a vacation spot in the future. Below are some photos I took of Dick's Last Resort. Enjoy!

Holiday Inn - San Marcos, TX.

I was recently in San Marcos, TX for my job. I thought I'd post some photos of the room I stayed in. If anyone is planning on traveling here, beware of the Holiday Inn Hotel. I wouldn't normally post something that reflects negativity, but I think this is worth a look. Below are some photos of the room. Enjoy! People say traveling has it's rewards, I would have to disagree! (STRONGLY I MIGHT ADD)

This is a quick note I left behind for the cleaning staff. if you look closely you can actually see by their logo the toe nails left behind. Nummy!!

Nothing like a professional Dry-wall patch! (I think WORKBENCH INC needs to come to the rescue!)


The red stain & possibly some sort of bedroom activity stain left behind makes you want to leave your shoes on. Disgusting!


Not bragging here that our home bathroom is much better, but I have to tell you, wanting to come home to a clean bathroom alone will tell you traveling is NOT all it's cracked up to be.


The dirty ventilation and cracks in the ceiling make you feel all comfy as you snuggle into your plush penthouse suite.


Did I mention the light switch that almost took my life? I went to turn on the light between the two double beds & when I twisted the switch, something arced and gave me a shock of a lifetime. You will all be pleased to know that with the amount of traveling I have done, I didn't freak out and stayed in my plush penthouse for the evening, wishing I was home with my lovely wife. Traveling has it's benefits, but after 8 years, I haven't really figured out what they are. Happy motoring! God speed...........

1980's Fashion Show

It's finally the end of the weekend. We had a garage sale Sat & Sun and we are tuckered out. It was very successful & we were able to get rid of a bunch of our belongings. The night before the garage sale Karen and Dave stopped by to check out the progress. Karen was like a little girl in a candy store trying on all the old clothing we were trying to get rid of. We had some great laughs at the fashion show we put on. LOL! Our friends Dale & Sheri stopped by as well & Dale even got into the show flexing his muscles in the fluorescent Peanuts shirt. : )



******WARNING****** The following photo shows Karen at her finest. Isn't she the cutest Farm Girl you've ever seen?! It's amazing how much old clothes can actually bring out the beauty in one's soul. ENJOY! He-He


"Does this dress make my butt look big?"

Oh how we love our friends! They are the best anyone could ask for! Thanks for the laughs guys! We can't wait 'til we have fun like this again.

Keep on trucken...............

Well, It's been 4 months now trying to find a truck to haul our recently purchased car trailer & we've finally found one that fit's what were looking for. It's a 2001 Chevrolet 3500 Dually. It has 31,000 actual miles and is spotless. It has the 8.1 litre gas engine. Lot's of people have hee-hawed saying we should have bought a diesel, I agree if we were going to haul the trailer loaded full every other day or so. We think it will work just fine for what we'll use it for. We drove to Fort Dodge, IA. to test drive it & it only took 15 minutes for us to decidethat yes this is the truck we have been waiting for. It truly runs & drives beautifully. We'll post a picture of the trailer it will be towing soon. We want to hook the truck up & take a picture of the trailer & truck together.

Concrete Project

Well, here we are in the midst of summer. Our days seem like they are running twice as fast as they were a week ago. In anticipation of our big move adventure, we have so many projects we need to finish. One of the major projects we needed to finish was some concrete work next to the single attached garage. It was originally filled with 18" x 18" red colored paver stones. Over the years of being in place they eventually settled. After the last major storm that blew through, we had noticed some water on the floor in the garage. DH & DW discussed what & how we should handle this. We both decided that we had to investigate. After removing a few of the paver stones, we noticed that a trail of water had carved a river-sized trough under the stones running to the lowest point and eventually seeping into the block and draining into the garage. We decided it was time to remove all the paver stones and fill the whole area full of concrete eliminating any chance of this happening again. We hired our friends from Workbench INC in Owatonna, MN to tackle the job. Once again, we were delighted at how great it turned out. (See our blog of the bathroom remodel.) These guys are so good at what they do, we wish they were going with us! Below are the pictures of the events that unfolded.



After the paver stones were removed.



The dirt needed to be removed to allow the fill stone to be shoveled into place.



The fill stone has been delivered. YAY!


The fill stone has been put in place.


The concrete shows up.



Pouring and moving the concrete begins.



Just about filled with concrete.


Working the concrete to it's finished curing state. The finished product turned out better than we could have expected. The guys at Workbench INC have successfully helped us with another project that they went above and beyond, making sure it was finished to the utmost perfection. DH & DW recommend this company to take care of ANY projects big or small that you may have. Guess it's on to the next project. : ) Workbench INC to the rescue!

A bed of Roses!

Well the wonderful Holiday weekend is over but not without some creativity around the homestead. For several years, we've had a dirt flower bed in front of our house which until now we've had no real plans to renovate. We took a little trip to our local nursery where we've never been before to look for some flowers for the pots we put out every year. Well DW was ecstatic to find all the varieties of plants & flowers. We both decided that we could spruce up the front beds which had more moss than dirt we think! Here's a before shot.



While browsing the grounds of "TURTLE CREEK NURSERY" in Owatonna, MN. We found this rosy red mulch we thought would really "POP" the flower bed. We decided to buy enough bags to fill it in & see if our thoughts would actually work out as we had envisioned. Well, we were both pleasantly surprised at how well it was looking.
We had miscalculated, however, on how many bags we would actually need so DW ran back to the nursery just as quick as she could to pick up the remaining bags that were needed as the nursery was to close in 20 minutes. DW returned with a smile on her face & we finished spreading the mulch. We were so happy with the final outcome! Wonders never cease to amaze us about our creativity at times.


Now it's on to the next project! WooHoo.

Duck Duck Grey Duck!

Well, it's not the game we were playing today, it's the visitors that unexpectedly stopped by to take a pit stop on our freshly mowed lawn. We were amazed to see them in the area as we are not close to the river in town where the ducks hang out. Our neighbors, Catherine & Michael, were out & had seen them also. We said they are so gorgeous & Catherine stated that they are trying to build a nest in the new landscaping they put in last year. Apparently last night they had made a mess of the landscaping by trying to build a nest. Our neighbors don't want them. We can understand the reasons why, nobody wants a pond full of fecal matter & we ALL know how much crap a duck can dish out on one scale or another.

DH had stepped closer to try and get a much better picture & they actually waddled towards the camera and settled on the lawn as if they knew they were about to be Internet celebrities. They were so cute together. We wish they could stay! I asked Catherine if I should grab some bread and feed them? She sternly replied NO! No sooner had I asked and her little dog Cricket chased them away. Oh well, to appreciate seeing something we all take for granted made both of us smile and reflect on the day we went to the river & fed the ducks.............. The joys of Summer!