Hurricane Prep Week

Quote of the Day: Dave - "We make a good team on this window boarding project." Barb - "I would rather we made a good team doing something fun!" Followed by pouty look.

We have made a decision not to evacuate for the next hurricane. Our house is sturdy and well removed from potential impact by storm surge from even the worst hurricane.

Barbara started the week by preparing our hurricane kit. Everything we need to weather a storm and potential disruptions in utilities and other services. No power for 3+ days and Barb will be headed out and I will be headed to the plant, most likely.

This Sunday we spent 8 hours planning and purchasing supplies for boarding windows and then working on it. 6 hours of cutting and screwing boards later we have 7 windows completed and 6 to go, including our three biggest windows. Many of the windows on the south and west side were deep enough that we could use Plylox clips - pretty cool stuff for us coastal bound residents!

Back from Florida

Walt Disney World--Triathlon and Touring

We returned Sunday from a great vacation to Florida. On the trip Joanne and Barbara competed in the Danskin Triathlon at Disney World. The race went well for both. Next, it was off to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney/MGM for Joanne, Barbara, Dave, Dan, and Margie.

A visit with Crush from "Finding Nemo" at Epcot.

Joanne cruelly deafens Mickey.

Behind the scenes tour at MGM lets us know what it's like to be near a truck explosion.











Sanibel Island

We later headed down to Sanibel Island for some relaxation in the sand and surf. The Wheatleys joined us their for bird watching, kayaking, sunbathing and general lazing around.

Daniel travels in style











Dave gets pinned by a one year old!













Joanne a.ka. Queen of the Kayak














Kayak company brochure shot










Barbara on the malaria trail.

Beach fun

Look out beach, here I come!

Daniel shows Anida where the best shells are.











Daniel--"Who is this dude holding me?"

How Do Gasoline Prices Compare Over Time?

Changes in the Price of Gasoline and Other Consumer Items Between 1982-84 and 2006

It's something most Americans take for granted: The cost of living goes up a little bit every year. But a look at price trends over the past two decades shows that gasoline prices have increased much less than many of the common items we purchase everyday.

Thanks to Tiffany Johnson and ExxonMobil

Elissa Baptism

Today Elissa Nicole Boyce was baptised into the Presbyterian Church. The ceremony took place a Grace Presbyterian. Pictures below obviously biased towards the new Godparents - Dave and Barbara. After the service the Boyce's hosted a luncheon party second to none (folks are still trying to finish off the ham!)






The Proud Godparents





















The proud family!











Waiting for baptism

Gasoline Price Update

Pictures for Joanne

zoom of nursing sheep















zoom macro of lizard















Close-up macro of flower

Easter 2006 - The Year of Elissa

Elissa in her Easter best!















Easter Elissa!

Barbara and I spent Easter with her family in Kerrville. On Friday we visited the Johnson Ranch. On Saturday was a sip and see so that the other citizens of Kerrville could visit Elissa.






Barbara and Elissa








Tad and Elissa













Grandpa and Elissa









The siblings and Elissa

Weekend Report

This was excercise weekend - the first weekend of Daylight Savings Time!

Barbara and Joanne did major training for their May triathlon. David got a long bike ride in and essentially tried to make up for a week of no excercise while at ISP's Pt. Neches plant last week taking part in a safety audit. Saturday we biked in Terry Hershey Park - a nice trail along Buffalo Bayou.

Saturday night we had dinner with the Boyces and Elissa. We should have pictures soon to post.

Last weekend was the spring Bayou City Art Festival (and David's 37th birthday - now definitely above the American median age of 36.2.) We purchased two pieces from Metalquilt, that are now hung with two contemporary pieces created by Joanne.

Houston Livestock Show

Elissa's first rodeo - she visits with Mrs. Moo - then, time for sleep

New Patio Furniture

New patio furniture! Aluminum frames that allow you to insert 12" x 12" tile for the surface. We used tile that matches the multicolored slate in our guest bathroom.

Weekend Work Part XXXIIV

First job for the weekend (besides weeding) was installation of a new fan we bought in Kerrville
last weekend. This required also buying a light fixture to replace the fan. The results are pictured below, but me thinks that halogen spotlights will be replacing the new light fixture soon. These pictures do not reflect the awfulness of the bad 1950s light fixture and 1980s fan.

Installing the fan required reinforcing the electric box by Dave becoming one with the insulation. Sweat and celluose insulation don't mix well!!

Gillian Carter Sip & See

Sunday Tiffany, Michelle and Barbara hosted a "Sip & See" for Gillian Carter at Tiffany's house. 30+ friends and family arrived to celebrate the birth of Gillian. Pictures of the cute baby will be posted as soon as I get some (I forgot my camera...)

Weekend Work

This weekend we spent many hours in the backyard on weeding, mulch pile turning, etc. Also removed another 2-tons of cement chunks buried 1-2 foot deep in the SW corner. The first owner of this house had the original patio removed and then buried it along the fence line - miserly exercise?

We also completed the latest improvement to the Kitchen "hood" area. We first removed the non-working vent back in 2003 and installed a fairly ugly looking light to cover the resulting hole. More than 2-years later we finally bought a stainless steel microwave-vent to be installed above the stove. Installation? Not nearly as easy as the purchase, but now complete except for minor touchup to the woodwork.















Kitchen "Hood" 10/25/2003-----------------------> Kitchen Hood 10/26/2003















Kitchen Hood 3/1/2006---------------------------->Kitchen Hood 3/5/2006

Austin Trip No. 2

We went back to Austin for the 2nd time in two weekends for Lauren's 50th birthday party.

Friday night we caught the Asylum Street Spankers DVD release party at Ruta Maya's Coffee House in the new Penn Field development. Barbara had never seen them before, or as Greg put it "Barbara had never had to see them before." The concert was great, and Barbara enjoyed it too!

Saturday we ate and shopped on South Congress. The Great Outdoors nursery was quite a discovery. We then walked and drove around the Travis Heights neighborhood.

After working out at the Downtown "Y" on this gloomy Saturday we ate dinner at Opal Divines and then headed to Lauren's house.

Lauren's 50th was quite the event, with many in attendance. It was fun to re-meet folks I had not seen in years.

After the gloomy Saturday, Sunday dawned as an extremely nice day - sunny and 68F. Barbara and I went to McKinney Roughs for the first time and hiked 5.5 miles on the Coyote, Cypress, Pine Ridge and Bobcat trails to explore the site. The nature center led to the following two discoveries for Dave: 1 ) snapping turtles eat ducks and 2) rat snakes climb trees and eat bird eggs. Wow. World view change.

Austin Half-Marathon

6:00am traffic jam trying to get to the starting line of the half-marathon in Austin. The start was delayed 40 minutes. Barbara jogged over a mile to get to the starting line. I saw people still 3/4 of a mile away from the start 10 minutes after it started!

The temperature never got above freezing, see the ice crystals on Barb's hat after she finished. She cut over 16 minutes off her time from the Houston half-marathon!

Gasoline Prices 2006-02-12

Let's have a Beer!

Enough of all these cute baby pictures on other blogs! How about a vintage Baby Dave picture, with original caption by my Babci Pastalaniec.

Gasoline Prices 2005-06

POWER COST $/KWH

Just a quick update (after paying the power bill):

Sunday Barbara ran the Aramco half-marathon. She beat her goal by and is now headed to the Austin half-marathon next month.

After living with a non-openable garage door for a month, we finally had a repairman come out Saturday to look at it. Summary "We can't fix a door this old!" We called Precision, whom he recomended. Two springs, 12 rollers, two drums, two cables, 3 sets of bearings and $750 later our 51 year old door is as good as new and quiet. (ouch!) The door itself was fine, just all the hardware was so out of date that everything that broke had to be replaced in pairs due to different sizes, etc. Our 51 year old springs were replaced with springs that "should" last 20 years and have a 10 year warrenty - compared to an average spring life of 7 years. After 3.5 hours the repair man (when told of the other company's response) said "I thought about running, too."

Texas Longhorns - National Champions!

And Peace now reigns in the Pastalaniec Household - temporarily