Hi from the hounds

Plata and Mayday just wanted to say hi!!!!!
It has been rainy and cool today. Tomorrow promises to be clear with real Texas spring weather. I will be riding in a Yellow Dog with 30 students to the McNay Art Museum....yeah!!!

Just newsy stuff

Last night we attended Kristi and Mickey Gerdes' wedding at the Baptist church. It was officiated by the Methodist pastor and had our own Presbyterian minister in the audience just in case intervention was needed.(vbg) I had helped with the floral arrangements and bridesmaids'/groomswomen's bouquets.....yes, listed on the official bulletin of the wedding were two groomswomen along with 4 groomsmen. Both of the groomswomen wore formal black evening gowns while the men wore tuxes. The bridesmaids were in strapless black with white embroidery across the top of the bodice and around the lower part of the tea length skirts. Their bouquets were light pink tulips tied with black organdy ribbon. I did not wire the tulips, so the trick was to get them to stand up and not droop. All went well. Kristi's dress was one of those that only a very small percentage of the population could fit into and look exquisite. The two pics are of Kristi dancing with her oldest daughter and Mickey dancing with his mom. Oh, Charla, parents of the groom listed on the bulletin were Mr. and Mrs. Farris Bennett and Ms. Becky Gerdes. Grandma went to the wedding with me. Ray was trying to take care of problems with spinach harvest. When I got home from the wedding Ray was ready to go to the reception, at House Pasture Cattle Co. Max Stalling was good, but not as outstanding as I thought he would be. My favorite in the evening's music was at the wedding. Catlin Rutherford and Prentiss Varnon played guitar throughout the entire wedding....no piano or organ. Prentiss sang "If I Needed You" and "You Take Me Where I Want to Be". I could sit for hours listening to Catlin play. It was a great evening.

Then, today....... I received an email from the College Board saying .....

(little drumroll here....)

Dear Laura Dabney,

The College Board is pleased to announce that your Art History course is authorized to use the "AP®" designation for the 2007-08 academic year. The College Board applauds and recognizes your efforts to provide your students with the academic rigor and college-level experience that is the promise of AP. I thank you for the time and effort you put into participating in the AP Course Audit.

YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAA

and on the 7th day she rested.

What a day!

Today started at 4:00 am. And, as you know, my body just doesn't function well at that time of the morning. Today Ray and I (assisted by a young human resources trainee) went to Austin to participate in A Taste of Texas. Every two years when the legislature is in session, the Ag related agencies and organizations organize a meal on the lawn of the state capital to showcase Texas products. We provided the green beans. And do I ever mean Green Beans. We opened about 300 cans of green beans that we heated in 5 roaster ovens, rotating and refilling for over 2 1/2 hours. The FArm Bureau office where we heated the green beans faced the Capital building- with the windows of the board room framing the south view of the Capital. Ray would haul the heated beans, usually on a dolly, down a service elevator from the 5th floor to his pickup. Then drive around the block to where the serving tents were set up on the west lawn. The estimated number served was 1200. It was awesome. Because it is on the lawn of the capital, it is open to anyone who wants to come to eat. It is intended to give the legislators an awareness of Texas products, but in reality it also serves to feed many of the area office buildings, tour buses, homeless, whoever shows up.

And to top it off, we traveled in Ray's new 4-door diesel Dodge pick up...... new smell and all. We were beat when we got home, so I took a nap until the last 3 minutes of the Aggie basketball game. What a heart breaker. Better get to bed.