John and Becky's Blog

Two girls, driving on the backroads of Texas in rain that is coming down so hard you can't see the center line of the road singing "I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Has Gone" at the top of thier lungs. Thank you Mr. Nash!

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin?for
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothin?but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin?but blue skies

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

Tags: brt, rain, sun

Tags: blue eyes cryin in the rain

While rushing about to get ready for work, a nice lady started talking to me in the locker room of the YMCA.  She'd just gotten back from Missouri and made the comment:

"It was awfully humid, but it was quite beautiful and everyone was so nice.  And of course, it was great to be out of Plano for a while."

"Yes, always nice to get away."

"Yeah, I get so tired of the tattoos and thongs and multiple piercings.  It was nice to be someplace where everyone seemed a bit more normal.  I guess that's terribly boring of me."

"Nah, kids always have their own fashion sense - just seems strange to us."

She gave me a curious look and said "The kids are fine - it's the parents I'm talking about!"

 Oh my. 

Tags: plano, standing in line, stories

What better way to spend a Saturday than with good food, good friends, and spiders :)

We decided to enjoy tea at Katie's Daughter (http://www.katiesdaughter.com/) in Arlington, TX.   A lovely tea room situated in an antique mall, the service and food were well worth the trip!   Since we were already half way there, we headed on over to the Fort Worth zoo (http://www.fortworthzoo.com/) to check out their new exhibit - Arachnitopia - displaying all different types of arachnids, from spiders to scorpions, to daddy long legs. And of course we had to see the rest of the critters too :) We had a great day - it seemed all the animals were determined to show off for us, posing for pictures left and right.  We even got to see two baby black bears playing on a tree while their mother watched over them. 

Tags: adventure, tea, zoo

Welcome the latest addition to the Baker family - Kimber, the redbone coonhound (http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/redbonecoonhound.htm). I have been wanting a dog for quite some time now (it's been 2 years since my last little girl, Taarna, passed away from lymphoma) so we drove to several shelters, meeting dogs.  Kimber was at Operation Kindness (http://www.operationkindness.org/), a no-kill shelter in Carrolton.  She was there with her brother and one other coonhound.  I'd never seen the breed before and was immediately taken by her beautiful face and sweet disposition.  I wish we could've taken two dogs - her brother is still there, being treated for heatworms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartworm).  Apparently, they had been dropped off at the Garland animal shelter by a couple who could not handle them any more.  They were within hours of being put down when a lady from Operation Kindness found them and brought them in.  So, I feel very lucky to have Kimber - she's really a great dog and has a fantastic attitude.  She's 9 months old, so still has *tons* of energy (which is good, because I need someone to run me around a bit :) ) 

Tags: dog, kimber, pet

I love nothing better than a tea party.  Except maybe a tea party where I get to do a little target practice with the girls.

I found out that Bullet Trap(http://www.bullettrapinc.com/) offers a "ladies night" on Wednesdays, so I couldn't resist setting up a second ladies tea shoot (for details on the first ladies tea shoot, see http://barbaritea.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html?SID=8b23db6e3470315aba3dc9c3b770f109) 

A wonderful time was had by all.  John did us the kindness of loaning us some items from his collections and providing instruction.  There are some dealy accurate shots in the group!  I, for one, never want to piss off Joanie after she expertly shot the heart out of the target with my Browning .22!  And Velma and Joanna were deadly with the 45.  And we won't even mention Becky's accuracy with the 9mm. 

After a satisfying couple of hours at the range, we retired to my house for a lovely afternoon tea (granted, it was at 8pm, but who's counting?)  Angela joined us and we had the full course - fingersandwiches, scones with lemon curd and clotted cream, and tiny desserts.  Great fun all around!

Tags: shooting, tea

When Becky M. (see her site at www.beckymadison.com) and Becky B get together, something fun is sure to happen.  In this case, a fun, wet time on the Denton Creek collecting fossils with the Dallas Paleontological Society (http://www.dallaspaleo.org/)! 

We started off on an overcast morning not knowing a thing about canoeing and only slightly more about fossil collecting. However, not know how to do something never stood in our way (coming soon - the story of sandboarding in Monahans!) , so after consulting on which end of the paddle goes in the water we were off.

It didn't take long, before we paddled ashore to find some fantastic ammonites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonite).  Ammonites, identified by their distinctive sprial-shaped shell resembling a ram's horn, are related to the nautilus in appearance but more closely to the cuttlefish  from an evolutionary standpoint.  You can find some really huge ones in the creeks here in the DFW area. They are beautiful and dramatic fossils.  Some folks even use them as a border in their gardens! 

We only tumped our canoe twice (well, one and half times, since the first time we were only partially soaked) before we really got the hang of it. ...

Tags: adventure, canoe, fossils

Standing in Line Posts: Perfect strangers like to talk to us while standing in line at the bank, grocery, etc. These are their stories 

Location: Blockbuster, waiting to rent some DVDs, Thursday during lunch
Storytellers: A lovely young teenage girl with a smile that glinted from metal and joviality, her mother, and her eye rolling younger sister

As I put my selections (Miami CSI, the first season) on the counter, the girl peered over my shoulder.
"Oh wow! Those are my favorite!" she exclaimed. "I've seen every one of the CSIs and every other forensic show on TV."
"Really, that's great - I love these shows too."
"I'm kind of obsessed with forensics." she confessed. "When I get into college, I'm going to study forensic science and become a CSI!"
Her mother smiled "That's right. I don't know why, but she loves all that gore and science stuff. She's looking into schools already."
"Yeah!" the girl enthused "I can't wait! I wish I could start now! Dead bodies and all that don't bother me at all."
The youger sister rolled her eyes meaningfully at me.

The check out guy smiled at me "Your selections are due back next Thursday."
"Thanks....

Tags: blockbuster, csi, standing in line

Tags: england, pooh, stonehenge