Howdy from this here fencepost... **smile**

I am a few days behind on this post, but I am trying hard to stay on top of my blogging these days! :) *sigh* The crazy days of this home schooling mom! :)

This sweet miniature donkey is named Charlie. (More about him below).

Last weekend Hubby and I took a little "working" trip to Houston. We had a blast on our "time-away" even though it was a working trip. The boys went to Memaw and Papa's for the night and they had a blast!

We worked one of the Go Texan events in downtown Houston - Brookfield Properties caters a BBQ lunch for it's clients complete with Rodeo clowns, ropers, Longhorns, armadillos, donkeys a (girl) Buzzard named Oscar and awesome Texas BBQ! Hubby and I handed out plates and collected money from the people for the Houston Livestock Show Scholarship fund! The collection was close to $2000 this year! Woo-Hoo! At the event a local farm brings out a couple of longhorns for people to take pics with as well as 2 miniature donkeys. Charlie (pictured above) and Hee-Haw are the donkeys. They were so precious!

Here is Hee-Haw (so named because he gets REALLY loud with his "hee-haws" when he is hungry). They also brought out armadillos for Armadillo Races. Funny! I got to pet one. They do not have a hard shell like I expected. It feels more lik

e fish scales. The man I spoke with told me that the species of Armadillo that has a really hard shell (and rolls into a ball) is actually found in South Africa. Interesting! The farm that brought them out actually "rehabilitates" them. If they are hurt or injured they nurse them back to health and then let them back into the wild. Cool!

Another interesting animal (I wished I had got a picture, but I didn't have my camera out there when she was out. :( Boo!) was a 42 year old black-headed buzzard named Oscar. The story is "she" was thought to be a "he" when she first came to live at the farm. Then after about 20 years Oscar laid an egg - so they decided she was actually a gal! Funny! She was so cool looking - but don't get to close - apparently she is VERY mean and only her owner can get close to her. Did you know that Buzzards are actually an endangered species? And did you know that Buzzard and Vulture means the same thing? Buzzard is more of a "slang" or common term - I never knew this! Learn something everyday!

This is a picture of the fountain downtown Houston. It was really big and very pretty. I couldn't help but wonder...when the freezing temps blew through Houston a few weeks back did this freeze into a huge fountain of frozen beauty?

The night we stayed Hubby and I went out walking and found the most precious "diner" - it's called District 7 grill and if you go to Houston you have to try it out! It's got that classy

diner look from the outside - complete with chrome exterior and all! But the food is not the typical greasy spoon diner fare - sooooo yummy! And reasonably priced as well! I got a Parmesan chicken sandwich and it was absolutely delightful! I don't know what kind of rolls they use, but oh man was it good! They also have their own "spread" and it was super duper yum-o! Hubby got an Angus Moof Burger (Moof is short for Muffalata) and he raved about it! I kept waiting for Triple D and Guy Fieri to walk through the door! So yummy!

This is a picture of the church in the courtyard where we set up the event. It was so cool! The original was built in 1875 - can -you imagine! It was reconstructed in 1936 - the stained glass windows were absolutely beautiful!

Below you can see the corner stone!

It was just so pretty! I love old churches!

As I mentioned the boys stayed with Memaw and Papa while we were up there. They had a blast talking Memaw into all sorts of things like root beer, pancakes and jell-o! LOL

Bug had the best time working in the yard with Memaw and Papa - raking leaves, planting petunias and mulching leaves. After Papa got off work the next afternoon they worked on Papa's tiller and tried to get it running. I am sure to find Bug taking apart the lawn mower any day now. LOL They had the best time! While Red didn't like the yard work so much he enjoyed watching movies with Papa and playing Hide and Go Seek in the yard.

We had to rush back after one night because Bug had a race schedule with his RA's group. Bright and early Sat. morning Daddy and Bug headed to the Regional derby races for the Royal Ambassadors. He had a blast. His car didn't win any big awards, but he did take 2nd place in one of his races. He had a great time and enjoyed spending some quality time with Daddy.

Here is Bug's first derby car. He and Daddy shaped it and Bug colored it on his own!

He was very excited to take part in this event.

Bug is really excited to be a part of RA's at CCEC. He looks forward to the meetings each week and enjoys working on the character study here at home. He has earned 3 of his Lad bars so far - Loyalty, Friendship and Courage. We just started working on Responsibility. After that he has one more and he will be complete for Lad 1. It is a great curriculum and I really enjoy working on it with him. He has so far earned one service star for each lad bar. I am very excited for him! Red goes to the meetings with Bug (and I) but he is not quite ready to be a "part" of the group just yet. He is still a little young so I am not pushing him - I am amazed at what all he has learned already just by being in the same room.

Well that's the update for now...thanks for popping a squat with me for a nice chat! Enjoy your sweet tea and love your neighbor!

Till next time.... Wendy