One of the best blessings of the internet is finding friends one would
otherwise never have met.  This morning I drove out to Weatherford
to meet with Kelly (Badgermum she is in Xanganese) and the youngest
three of her seven children:

In a couple of weeks I'll be heading to San Angelo, where Kelly's
husband has been stationed in the Air Force . . . he's retiring after
twenty-two years of faithful service to our country (THANKS, Mike!!!)
and there's to be a celebration in his honor.  It should be a
massively good time! 

Just for fun, here's the satellite image of where the Intrepid lost its
grip. Ignore the red thing, that was just the address I used to bring
up the map. The  white circle indicates roughly where the car
was. 

Speaking of cars and traffic and such, there was yet another 18 wheeler
tumped over in Dallas this morning.  Made a mess of traffic on
635, from what I heard on the radio.

18 wheelers are dropping like flies around here, no joke.  It's
becoming darn near commonplace to have one of the creatures toppling
over and blocking traffic for hours.

Of course, if they'd SLOW DOWN and quit driving like their long-haul
rig was a Corvette in disguise, that'd doubtless help a
lot.   There is no question in my mind but that truck drivers
are worse drivers than they used to be.  "Knights of the road"
they were once called.

Hah.  Those days are long gone, unfortunately.  

Sometimes as one drives around, things are seen which are hard to
explain.  On my way home from the Wal-Mart on Hulen, I saw this:

As you can tell, there is a police car parked and partially hidden by
the red SUV.  The police car had a police officer sitting in it,
talking to someone.  There was a man and woman talking . . .
mostly the woman, and with a lot of hand movements.  I can't
figure out what happened.  Couldn't have been a police chase, for
the driver (for such I assume one of that couple was) would not be
standing next to his or her car, with the police officer in his. 
Didn't look like an accident, as the grass appeared - what I could see
of it - undisturbed.

I haven't the faintest idea what was going on. 

Why call it a "farmers' market" if, so far's I can see, local farmers have nothing much to do with it?

For ages I've been meaning to stop by the Ridgmar Farmers' Market to
the west of Ridgmar mall, and this morning I actually did so.

Color me underwhelmed.  It seems to be mostly a nursery, with
flowering plants and trees, and the produce appears to be the same
stuff I can get at any local grocery store ... Driscoll strawberries,
for example.  There was a big "branded" box of yellow
onions.  Sunkist oranges.  A Texas farmers' market with
pineapples?

Didn't know pineapples grew around here. 

Well, that's just silly.  There's this fabulous, big house for
sale not far from Mom and Dad, which I've always admired, and watched
with great interest as it was built.  It's finally on the market,
so I could look on the internet for particulars.  It's over 4000
sq ft, with a circular drive, a 14 x 25 ft. master bedroom, a 9 x 25
ft. entryway.  A gourmet kitchen.

Two bedrooms.

TWO bedrooms?  In a 4000+ sq ft house?  What lunatic builds a
house that size and only arranges for TWO bedrooms? 

We're entering the home stretch with school.  This will be the
last full week for Dmitry, with school being dismissed for the summer
on Wednesday, May 18th.

That, BTW, is also the day of Dmitry's Bible final exam.

All sixty-six books of the Bible.  Memorized.  In order. 

Spelt correctly. 

You wouldn't believe how much trouble he has just saying the word "Deuteronomy," never mind trying to spell it. 

I realize, BTW, that I am not as assiduous in leaving comments as in
the past.  The reason is not that your various blogs are not being
read - they are, but at NewsGator,
the feed aggregator I use.  Anyway, please don't take my silence
as a sign you're being skipped . . . you aren't!  I've just got
lots of 'em to read, and I let NewsGator check 'em for me.

Yesterday evening Kirstin and Bethie stopped by to give me my Mother's
Day remembrance, and while the grown ups visited, Bethie amused herself
with the memory cards:

Naturally enough, I tried to get a full-face shot.  Hmmm....

Bears a remarkable resemblance to her Uncle Charles here, doesn't she? 

I kept trying, but to no avail:

She'd look pretty as a picture until I pressed the button.  How'd she DO that? 

I got tagged. 

**If I could be a scientist
If I could be a farmer
**If I could be a psychologist
**If I could be a librarian
**If I could be an inn-keeper
**If I could be a professor
If I could be a writer
If I could be a llama-rider
If I could be a bonnie pirate
If I could be an astronaut
If I could be a world famous blogger
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world
If I could be married to any current famous political figure

Well, lemme see here....

If I could be a scientist, I'd doubtless have made better grades in my
science classes, and not been informed by Sister Bernadette Marie that
I have no persistance due to my willingness to just look at the perch brain rather than remove it.

If I could be a farmer I'd grow cocoa beans.  Chocolate!  Chocolate!

If I could be a psychologist I might have a fighting chance of
understanding my boys. And my daughters.  Maybe my husband? 
Nah....

If I could be a librarian I'd increase the mystery section fourfold.

If I could be an inn-keeper.  Hmmm.  Nothing's there.  Can't imagine it.

If I could be a professor I'd find Sister Bernadette Marie and say "Nanny nanny boo boo!" 

If I could be a writer . . . hey, whaddaya mean, IF???  What do you call this, huh?

If I could be a llama-rider I'd need that psychologist.  What a weird thing to want.

If I could be a bonnie pirate I'd hover off the shores of  Hawaii. I love Hawaii.

If I could be an astronaut I'd just gaze at the stars in awe, remembering how the LORD has named each and every one of them.

If I could be a world famous blogger.  Ahem.  Again I say, IF?  

If I could be a justice on any one court in the world it'd be the Supreme Court, naturally.  Only the best will do.

If I could be married to any current famous political figure I'd dump him in a heartbeat in favor of Don.