Maddie's Backyard

For the Anonymous commenter known as DAD (aka Maddie's Grandad and backyard benefactor)

This Past Week

I rigged a chicken wire type device on my back gate to keep the bunnies out of the yard.

I ate pumpkin ice cream and it was weird.

I checked out the new outlet mall just outside of El Paso and it is huge with lots of good stores - generally not cheap though. They have a BCBG so maybe I can use that to entice my sister to visit.

I started keeping track of the number of miles I run each week - thanks to the help of my nifty Garmin Forerunner from Santa Dad last Christmas. I am trying to work up to 30-35 miles per week.

I did some more little tasks to try to get my house fixed up - very time consuming with lots of stages.

I started planning my Christmas shopping.

I lamented the dearth of toddler toys not requiring batteries - I was trying to shop for a new-big-brother gift.

I realized that my planned Thanksgiving trip to South Padre Island overlaps with my planned trip to Psychonomics in Long Beach - aaaggghhh!

I hosted a tapas party at my house last night - it was red wine and potluck with friends/neighbors/colleagues Kim Cheryl Ed Dom. I made a hot dish with chorizo potato & rosemary and a cold dish with mozzarella tomato garlic & olive oil.

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Apres Sail

From left to right: Ed - Melissa - Madeline - Marco - Wes

We had another Caballo lake day on Saturday and the hand gestures are our new gang sign - we are expressing that we are missing our sailing friends who are not there with us - Tom and Chieri and Kevin.

It was a beautiful day but the water is getting cold!

This Past Week

I renewed my driver's license.

I took Maddie to the vet.

I ate Indian food, Chinese food, and Thai food, but not all at the same time.

I went to hear a favorite Las Cruces band, formerly called Flashlight, currently called Chain of Fools.

I discovered that bunnies are coming into the yard in the evening, which necessitates shooing them out of the yard before letting Maddie into the yard. I don't mind live bunnies but I don't want dead ones.

I bought peppermint ice cream. I have been looking for this every Christmas season for the past few years, but maybe the stores had already sold out by the time I started looking.

I bought five discounted Spode Christmas china salad/dessert plates and so now I have a complete set of six.

The first outlet mall opened between Las Cruces and El Paso and seems to have a great assortment of stores.

The happiest news is that my friend/colleague gave birth to her second son this week and mom and baby are doing well. Erik was born on 10/10/07 and joins mom Laura, dad Keith, and brother Ian who was born on 03/03/06.

Water Start at Caballo Lake

I went to Caballo Lake on Saturday to sail with friends and did my first ever "water start" at the lake. I've done one many times at South Padre Island where the winds are steady and strong but never before at Caballo Lake where the winds are usually weak and/or gusty. The picture shows me trying to control the board with my feet while trying to maneuver the sail with my arms to catch the next gust of wind. If I can control the board and the sail, then the gust of wind will practically lift me up onto the board. And that is exactly what happened next although I do not have a photo of it.

New Area Code

Today the area code for Las Cruces (and the whole rest of the southern and eastern parts of New Mexico) changed to 575. Both the old 505 and the new 575 will work here for the next year however. The northwest quadrant of the state gets to keep 505.

Evolution

"Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
- Isaac Asimov

Our House

Good Quote

"If I were scrupulous about paying bills, balancing my cheque book...and the rest, I would spend my entire life rolling the rock of diligence up a hill of someone else's making."
- James Wood, The Book Against God