Happy Little Elissa!

Elissa was released from the hospital today! After being weaned off her oxygen supply and breathing much better she was released. She has to see her doctor in a couple of days, but the hospital doctor said she was OK to even go to day care tomorrow. She played a lot today, was a little weaker in the legs, but generally OK.

Poor Little Elissa!

Our niece, Elissa, has been at Texas Children's Hospital since Monday! It seems like she has been diagnosed with every upper respiratory disease known to mankind. Her 1st birthday was last Saturday. Sunday she stayed with us while her parents were at a birthday party. She was not happy and had a little trouble breathing. She had a Dr.'s appointment on Monday and went from there to the hospital by ambulance. She actually spent over a day in ICU. She is getting better, she played some today, but still needs oxygen and breathing treatments. Please pray for her!

I have been extremely impressed with the Texas Children's and with the Ronald McDonald House. For two nights Nick and Heather stayed in the Ronald McDonald House located in the hospital. 20 rooms and a large living area made to look like a house, not a hospital. All services are free! Definitely a class act.

Colorado 2006 Part IV : Gratuitous Daniel Pics

By popular Houston demand - Daniel Pics!


Daniel in the Pumpkin Patch












The Wheatley's (on hay)













The Wheatley's (on hay with pumpkins)













Daniel (with Pigs and Cameras)













Daniel (with Dave)

Colorado 2006 Part III: Hangin' in Denver

On Thursday after making it back to Denver we hung out with Anida and Daniel (Eric was out of town on business.)

After playing with Daniel after his mid-day nap we headed to a new toy store U.S. Toys - it was a good 1+ hours of fun! The store had a great combination of toys, educational items and party items.

Before the trip to Mesa Verde we bought a book at Whole Foods called "100 ways to be Pasta" - how can you pass up on a book with that name? Anida made us pick a dish to make for that evening and we ended up on "Bucatini Affunicati: Bucatini with Pancetta, Smoked Provola Cheese and Peperoncino," and had great fun cooking - it tasted great. I got to learn what bucatini, pancetta and peperoncino were - between Anida's knowledge and Blackberry Googling. (don't make fun of us, Heather!)

Here are pictures of this blog's two favorite pregnant cooks! (Barbara due 1/10/07 and Anida due 2/14/07)

Colorado 2006 Part II: Mesa Verde

Cliff Palace Dwelling








On Monday (with the gracious loan of the Wheatley Murano) we headed for Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado. As with driving anywhere in CO, the trip is half the fun! On the way there we stopped at Smuggler's brewpub in Telluride (very good) and Main Street Brewpub in Cortez (OK.) We also got some walking around time in Telluride, which was hosting 700+ people for the biennial International Snow Science Workshop (Who knew of such a thing? They study avalanches...) We spent the night in Cortez at a relatively tastefully kokopellied Holiday Inn Express (or should that be "kokopellified?" Either way pueblo Indian symbols were everywhere!)

Tuesday it was off to Mesa Verde. We visited several mesa sites and the Spruce Tree cliff dwelling. We called it a day early, as I discovered I had left the memory card for the camera in Houston. We already had plans for dinner with Barb's friend Terry in Durango, so we booked a room at the Mesa Verde park hotel and headed out. After touring around Durango (and finding a good deal on a memory card) we met Terry at Carver's brewpub (good beer.) I enjoyed getting a chance to get to know Terry, who Barbara worked with in Canyon Lake.






Terry and Barbara






On Wednesday we watched the sunrise from the motel - the view was awesome. We then took the first tour of the Cliff Palace cliff dwelling (see picture at top of blog.) Taking the first tour was definitely a good idea, as it allowed us to take pictures with no one else at the site as we approached it.

We then spent an hour driving to and visiting the Mesa Top sites, which show the evolution of the Anasazi Indian dwellings from pit houses to cliff dwellings. The Anasazi were ancestors of the Pueblo and Hopi Indians, among others.

We finished our visit by hiking to a petroglyph site, about 1.5 miles from the central park facilities. It proved to be more strenuous than anticipated - If Barb had been 1-week more pregnant we would have had to turn back! As it was, we made it fine and actually passed the only people we saw on the trail.

Petroglyph!

We headed out and made it to Grand Junction Wednesday night. Hotels were scarce due to an Orowheat convention (!?) so don't ask Barbara about her feelings on the motel we stayed at! We ate at the Rockslide Brewpub (beer - pretty good, nice atmosphere.) Thursday it was back to our Denver home at the Wheatley's

Colorado 2006 Part 1: BeerFest

Saturday morning Barbara and I flew to Denver to visit the Wheatley's, go to the Great American Beer Festival, and tour SW CO.

Everything went swimmingly, for the 1st 2 hours. About 12:30pm I began suffering from food poisoning (probably from Pappasito's sausage breakfast tacos at Hobby Airport that morning.) After some violent illness and a couple hours of sleep, things were a lot better. By 4pm everything was fine and Tim and Elizabeth arrived from WY. We piled into cars, got to the convention center, only to find the festival sold out! Eric and I, somewhat frantically, spent the next 40 minutes buying tickets from passers-by, and actually came out OK. We all got in. Along with tickets we also forgot cameras and our pretzel necklaces. This being Eric and my's 10th year in a row we are allowed a few lapses!

The only Texas winners this year were St. Arnold Lawnmower in the Kolsch category (yeaa!) and 2 medals for Humperdinks in Dallas.

Read more about Beerfest HERE

For a list of winners go HERE

Tomorrow morning we head to Mesa Verde...

Trip to Cleveland to Visit Grandma Ross

Kathleen, Uncle Larry, Grandma Ross, Uncle David and Uncle Richard

We finally made it to Cleveland to visit Grandma Ross and many other of Barbara's Ohio relatives. This was my first time to Cleveland and my first time to meet Grandma Ross (Barbara mother's mother.)

We flew up on Thursday 9/14 and stayed through Sunday 9/17. We spent 2 nights at Grandma Ross' house in North Royalton. Uncles Larry and Richard live there also.

We first had lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery in the Flats, and then headed to Grandma Ross'. After visiting for a while, we visited the nearby Mill Stream Run Reservation, part of Cleveland MetroParks. Metroparks was created in 1917 when Cleveland was the 6th biggest city in the U.S. and is a huge park system ringing Cleveland.


Greenhouse with Snapdragons

Barbara's grandfather, after retiring from being a typesetter, start L Ross Greenhouses. It is operated to this day by Larry and Richard.

Friday we went to the Akron area and visited with Ted's sister Frances, her husband Bill and their two daughters, Liz and Anne. We had lunch at the Hartville Kitchen, an interesting diner and collectible sales place with roots going back to 1939.

Saturday Uncle Richard's twin brother David came over with his wife and youngest daughter, Emilee.

Saturday afternoon, as Ted and Kathleen headed to Ted's 50th high school reunion, Barbara and I headed to Lakeside. Ted and Kathleen both went to camps in Lakeside, on the shore of lake Erie, as kids and then Ted's parents retired there. Lakeside is a community started by Methodist preachers in 1873 and evolved into a chautauqua development - a religous based summer camp. Interestingly, during the summer visitors have to pay a fee to enter the village. Once one pays to get in they are treated to free swimming, shuffle board, mini-golf, plays and religious programs and speakers.


Pregnant Barbara on the Lake Erie Shore



Ted's Parent's Lakeside House



The Main Dock Facility at Lakeside

Homeless Donations

Today, after being approached by a panhandler at a gas station for money I was then approached by a fellow gas pumper who asked how I morally deal with that type of situation. He said he usually just brushed them off, but had recently become a preacher, and so gave the guy money.

My strategy? Every time I am approached for money on the street we donate to HomelessHouston

A&M v The Citadel

Last weekend (yes we are behind here) we spent Saturday night in College Station and watched the Fightin' Ags take on The Citadel - PastaNoodle's first Aggie game.




Barbara demonstrates a symbol from the Aggie Senior right of passage -The whoop














The Aggies, as expected beat the heck out of The Citadel 35-3. The Aggies also showed off their new end zone high-def 12th Man TV video screen - the 2nd largest in collegiate sports. It weighs in at 3,954 square feet and 110 feet tall. The new video ribbon board also debuted - 1,130 feet long along the perimeter of the first deck, the longest in college sports and the 2nd longest in the U.S.








I, of course, would be remiss if I did not also mention that the largest video screen in college sports and the largest high-def screen in the Western Hemisphere also debuted that Saturday at UT. Godzillatron is 7,370 square feet, about 86% larger than the 2nd biggest collegiate screen. Its electronics are kept cool by 40 5-ton a/c units.





The largest HDTV video screen in the world is at a horse track in Japan. It measures in at 8,000 square feet.









Ok, back to the weekend. In what is apparently an Aggie tradition, we took PastaNoodle's first annual picture in front of the statue of Sul Ross at the age of minus 4-months. Sul Ross, former Texas Governor and President of A&M.











Dave made his first, and Barb her 2nd, visit to the Bonfire Memorial. The memorial is dedicated to the 12 students who died when the 1999 bonfire collapsed while under construction. The portals, shown in the photo, each represent a student and face in the direction of that student's home town. The 1999 tragedy brought on increased camaraderie between UT and A&M and maybe even softened Barbara up enough to eventually marry a T-Sip. Dave attended the last bonfire in 1998.






We then visited the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. It was rather interesting and we only made it through the 1st half before having to hit the road. The most interesting thing to me was that Bush never held down a job for longer than he was Vice President or longer than I have been at ISP. From oil field salesman, executive, Harris County GOP head, UN ambassador, ambassador to China, GOP head, CIA leader to president he never had a job for longer than 8 years!

Elissa Video

Late last month the gang got together for Heather's birthday. Pastalaniec experimental video was shot of Elissa. Click here

Good Bye Roadrunner

After 4 years of service with Roadrunner we are giving up. Service outages have gradually become untenable.

If you email us at houston.rr.com our new email addresses are:
bpasta@gmail.com
dpastalaniec@gmail.com

Thanks!

Due to Popular Demand...

The first PastaNoodle registry has been created. Aunt Joanne helped us begin to register today at Babies "R" Us.

Click Here and then enter "Pastalaniec" or code "61747972"

If you should be so kind is to purchase something at the store you DO NOT have to give them your telephone number at the register - just politely decline.

If you are an experienced mother feel free to let us know we are smokin' da ganja by what we select or don't select.

Cheers, Pasta Parents

Houston Ozone Progress

HOUSTON OZONE EXCURSIONS SEEN ON ORIGINAL 9 MONITORS V. ALL 44 EXISTING MONITORS

Half as a hobby, half for work, I keep pretty close tabs on ground level ozone in Houston. While updating excursion data for the year I had a question - How does progress look if you look at only the 9 original 1997 ozone monitors? There are now a whopping 44 ozone monitors in the Houston area.

Using original monitors only the number of days in Houston with ozone excursions is down 48%, v. a 17% increase looking at all 44 monitors from 1997 to 2005. More of what you would expect given the dramatic emissions reductions at refineries, chemical plants and power stations.

PastaNoodle Week 18

Today PastaNoodle had his/her teir II ultrasound. The doctor said it is "perfectly fine" - which at this age means alot!

The picture is hard to see, I know. The face is easy to spot. The doctor measured all limbs and the skull and everything is A-OK.

Ted Boyce Birthday Weekend

On Friday Ted, Kathleen and Tadd came into Houston so we could celebrate Ted's birthday. We started out by going to an Astros' game on Friday night (hint: the Astros' lost.)

Saturday we took the day trip of Ted's choice, to the Sabine-Pass Battleground in far east Texas. Here, First Lt. Richard Dowling and 50 men defended Texas from four boats full of Yankee aggressors without losing a man - capturing 350 men and killing 61.

Dowling is the subject of the first public monument in Houston, dedicated in 1905. Besides the battle at Sabine Pass, Dowling was famous for his Houston bar, the Bank of Bacchus. Houston streets Dowling and Tuam (after his birthplace town in Ireland) were named after him.

We then visited the Sabine Pass Cemetery, the oldest continually used cemetery in Jefferson County. The cemetery had many folks killed during the 1886 hurricane and several Woodmen of the World tombstones, carved to look like tree stumps.

On the way back home we stopped at Valero's Pt. Arthur Refinery - one of the oldest refineries in America (and site of some of the biggest environmental remediation projects in Texas.)

Saturday night was BBQ time with Nick, Heather and Elissa. Drama insued when Barbara cut her hand while slaughtering an innocent avocado. Many thanks to the St. Lukes Clinic for a quick stitch in time.

Sunday, after brunch at Baba Yega, we toured the new addition to the Buffalo Bayou park systems west of Downtown, between Sabine and Bagby.

After Mass at the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral we dined at Brasil.

Bathroom Update

See pictures of the Bathroom remodeling job, almost done!

15-Week Check-up

Today Barbara and Pastanoodle had their 15 week check up with Dr. Tran. Everything was fine and Pastanoodle's heartbeat was at 150 beats per minute.

In about 3 weeks we will see another doctor for an intense 2nd ultrasound. It will determine any possible problems with our pregnancy. Our next appointment with Dr. Tran is at 19 weeks.

2006-07-17 More Sneak Preview

2006-07-16 #1 Old Masterbath Photos with Sneak Preview Photo

1 day? I meant one week, of course. Below are pictures of the master bathroom as we inherited it. The wall paper and blinds were both very high quality - but just so wrong for so many reasons. This led to the first quick make-over in 2003. The 2006 complete make-over is 1/2 done, and a sneak preview photo is shown below. The photo is of the shower being tiled with tumbled marble 6 inch tiles. So far, so good!

2006-07-09 Master Bathroom Good-Bye

Monday morning 7/10/06 work began on the paint-shedding roach-infested master bath. A disastrous attempt to paint the tile by the folks who flipped the house to us has led to a constant condition of ugly flaky paint. The house flippers did not even paint the green-ish tile floor - ugh! It appears that when the house foundation was raised in 1996 the shower drain was partially separated from the sewer pipe - leading to a sink hole under the house that breeds vermin. These and many other reasons have led to this project. Tomorrow - pictures of the bathroom when we bought the house. Not pretty!