SOLD

After 10 years, it is time to say good bye to the Austin house. We had many good times there and worked so hard to fix it up. I'll never forget the deck that we built and all the fun parties we had every Spring.

Good bye front yard and the native Texas plants and wildflowers:

Good bye back deck and the numerous parties with Austin friends that we had on that deck:

Good bye Little Walnut Creek and the spring flash flooding in Texas:

Onward to Arkansas, y'all

Life of a Graduate Student

... captured in two pictures.

Well, I must admit, the beer filled refrigerator is a little exaggerated since this was when friends were in town over New Year. Unfortunately, the empty refrigerator is a reality and was taken this afternoon as I debated on what to have for lunch - will it be toasted english muffin or toasted bread?

Deer and the Dog

This morning, as usually, we let Jenny out to do her thing before we depart for our daily ritual. When I opened the door to call her into the house, four white-tailed deer were grazing in the backyard. Having deer in our yard is not uncommon so I always find it funny when Jenny just sits there wondering what do to. The deer were cautiously eating away, probably at the pecans on the ground, only 40 meters or so away. I finally, spooked them... only then did Jenny run to investigate.

Taken with my iPhone (which has no zoom) standing on the back door stairs. A forth deer is behind the tree.
Jenny (lower left hand corner) simply sitting wondering what to do about these visitors only a few meters away (upper right hand corner).

Arrrrruuuuu!

This is what it looks like when fire engines go zipping by our house. Sorry, no sound but one can easily imagine the cacophony of howling hound dogs.

Only In Austin...

Tom Hughes Park on Lake Travis, formally (and always to me) known as Marshall Ford. After a day of floating in the lake drinking cerveza Tecáte and enjoying the Austin heat, I was no longer white... simply red - and I'm not talking about Red Hucknall and the boys.

It was a great July 4th, 2008.

Our New Addition

After we lost Zombie back in April, we were thinking of getting another puppy. We visited the local shelter in Fayetteville and were waiting for a breed that we would be comfortable with. Sadly, many of the breeds at the shelter are larger dogs that have more aggressive traits - probably why they are at the shelter to begin with. More so, we were planning a big trip up to New England over Christmas break and certainly didn't want to do that with a new puppy in tow. So, we waited.

Until some friends from Austin called to let us know of a Basset Hound puppy that needed a home. The puppy was living at a workshop in Dallas and the owner couldn't keep the dog. Sharon called the owner and stated we wanted the puppy. The owner stated that he has drivers that go through Fayetteville all the time on their way up to St. Louis and he will send the puppy up with one of the drivers. Sounded easy! Well, "all the time" turned into one week, then two weeks until Sharon decided over the long Thanksgiving break to drive to Dallas (5 hours) and pick her up!


We named her Jenny and she is a bundle of energy! But thankfully all this energy often leads to long naps!

Bubba is taking to her slowly. He's an old cantankerous dog and is not very keen of a puppy running full speed at his face to play! But they are getting to like each other, especially when they are doing the thing they both like the most - sleep.